Archives for October 2025

Happy Friday and Happy Halloween! 🎃 Whether you’re dressing up, passing out candy, or watching spooky movies, here’s to a day filled with fun and fright. What’s your Halloween plan this year?

In This Issue: Trick-or-Treats and Team Spirit | Deal of the Day | Charging Cable | How to Recycle IT Equipment | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Trick-or-Treats and Team Spirit

Happy Halloween! 🎃

I’m really looking forward to this weekend. It’s shaping up to be one of those perfectly chaotic, memory-making ones. First up, we’re hitting the neighborhood for trick-or-treating with my wife and kids. The kids are already bouncing off the walls about their costumes, and I can’t wait to roll out my secret weapon: a 3-foot-tall Gremlin that’s guaranteed to give the neighbors a good scare (and probably a laugh, too). There’s just something about Halloween night, the excitement, the laughter, and that feeling of being a kid again that makes it one of my favorite times of the year.

Of course, I’ll be eating obnoxious amounts of candy right alongside the kids, because let’s be honest, that’s part of the fun. But more than anything, I’m trying to slow down and really live in the moment. Life moves fast, and weekends like this are the ones that stick with you. The laughter, the sugar rush, and those little moments of joy are what make it all worthwhile.

After the Halloween fun winds down, it’s back to cheering on my girls at their softball tournament. Watching them play and seeing their hard work and teamwork pay off fills me with pride in a way that’s hard to describe. And to wrap it all up, we’ll be at church on Sunday, grounding ourselves, giving thanks, and starting the new week with full hearts.

Matthew

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Say goodbye to carrying multiple cables with the 3-in-1 Charging Cable. Designed with USB-C, Micro-USB, and Lightning connectors, it powers all your devices with one convenient cord. Perfect for travel, work, or home use, this durable red nylon-braided cable resists tangles and stands out from the rest.

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Learning Center Article – How to Recycle IT Equipment and Why We Should

Any time you end up with IT equipment that you can no longer use, you need a way to dispose of it. You can take electronics to a lot of landfills, but as you will see later, that’s not an optimal idea. Instead, it would probably help if you could recycle your equipment. It would prove good for the environment, and it might even be an efficient way to get rid of equipment you might not want…and make a little money or store credit at the same time.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Ford to make new engines in India with $370 million investment. 
• ​​​Netflix taps bank to explore bid for Warner Bros.​
• ​​Chocolate‘s reign over Halloween is under threat from inflation, tariffs and high cocoa prices.

We’re one day away from Friday! Celebrate Thursday (and spooky season!) with National Candy Corn Day. Will candy corn make it into your Halloween stash this year? 🍬

In This Issue: Halloween Hustle to Holiday Magic | Deal of the Day | Rack Screws with Washers | Benefits of Blade Servers | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Halloween Hustle to Holiday Magic

Halloween’s looking a little different this year! My 15-year-old son, who’s played soccer his whole life, decided to start kicking for the high school football team, and they’ve got a home game on Halloween night! So instead of handing out candy, we’ll be under the Friday night lights cheering him on. It’s a change from tradition, but we’re excited for this new season in his life.

And as soon as that final whistle blows, it’s officially holiday mode for me! 🎄 The very next day, Christmas is going up. I can’t wait to pull out the decorations and fill our home with festive cheer. It’s truly my favorite time of the year. Cozy nights, twinkling lights, holiday candles, holiday creamers for my coffee, warm blankets, and all the magic that comes with it. It’s never too early, right??!!

Have a great week!

Mandy

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Kendall Howard 10-32 Rack Screws and Cage Nuts provide durable, high-quality mounting for servers, shelves, and network equipment. The hardened steel screws feature easy-to-use Phillips Truss Heads, while the zinc-finished cage nuts offer strong, snap-in threading for secure installation in cabinets and racks.

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Learning Center Article – Benefits of Blade Servers in Your Data Center

No matter the type of business or application, when you need a server, you have to choose from an extensive list of options. Finding the right way to design and maintain your servers is an undertaking. While you weigh your options, it’s worth your time to take a closer look at blade servers. They are designed to save space, but that description hardly does them justice.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Tesla recalls nearly 6,200 Cybertrucks because the light bar may fly off. 
• YouTube offers employees voluntary buyout as company embraces AI: “The Next Frontier”​.
• ​​Microsoft‘s massive AI spending draws investor concerns as cloud business booms.

Happy Wednesday! Today is National Cat Day—the purrfect excuse to shower your feline friends with extra cuddles and treats. Do you have a cat at home? Tell us about them! 🐱

In This Issue: From Hawkins to Halloweentown | Deal of the Day | Wall Mount Rack | Slim Ethernet Cables | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – From Hawkins to Halloweentown

Only two more days until Halloween! 🎃

To get into the spooky spirit, I started rewatching Stranger Things this week. There’s something about returning to Hawkins, with its eerie music, mysterious labs, and flickering lights, that just fits this time of year. It’s not super scary, but it has the perfect mix of mystery and nostalgia for October.

My fiancé and I also have our own Halloween tradition. Every year, we watch Halloweentown together. It’s light, fun, and full of childhood magic, which balances out the darker world of the Upside Down perfectly.

Whether you’re into spooky adventures or cozy throwbacks, now’s the perfect time to grab a blanket, pop some popcorn, and enjoy a good Halloween movie night.

Sterling

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The 16U V-Line Wall Mount Rack is a durable, space-saving solution for IT and A/V setups. With an 18″ depth and 300 lb capacity, it keeps equipment secure and organized while improving cable management. Its open-frame V-Line design allows easy access, and dual-mount rails with 10-32 tapped holes and cage nut options provide flexible installation. Ideal for small spaces and budget-friendly setups.

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Learning Center Article – Benefits of Slim Ethernet Cables

A major part of network design is picking the right cables. Some cabling decisions are made for you, as you want to minimize costs while maintaining specifications. Many times, you will only have one viable cable choice after you consider bandwidth needs, run length, form factor, and all the rest. A perfect example involves Cat6 cables. When Cat6 is ideal for your performance and cost needs, you can still choose between cables of different diameters. In particular, slim Ethernet cables provide interesting benefits that can translate to major performance changes for your network.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Musk launches AI-powered site ‘Grokipedia‘ to counter Wikipedia. 
• ​​Thermo Fisher to buy clinical services provider Clario for up to $9.4 billion.​
• ​​​Dunkin’s holiday lineup, featuring new treats and returning favorites, arrives nationwide on November 5.

It’s Tuesday, and it’s all about sweetness! 🍫 Celebrate National Chocolate Day by treating yourself to your favorite kind—dark, milk, or white. What’s your ultimate chocolate indulgence?

In This Issue: Crocktober: Wendy’s Edition | Deal of the Day | Velcro One-Wrap Straps | Cisco Lifecycle | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Crocktober: Wendy’s Edition

Happy Tuesday!

This past week we had the annual Crocktober! Chili cook-off! And every year there has been one reoccurring joke: what would happen if somebody just went to Wendy’s and bought a bunch of chili? Well, curiosity finally got the best of me.

At no point did I think I would actually end up winning. But it turns out Wendy’s chili is not that bad! And I want to say to everyone who competed this year, thank you so much for being a good sport about this and for sharing in the life with me.

Obviously, next year, I will not do this again. I will also be contributing gift cards to the first, second and third place winners to make up for my shenanigans. lol

PS: I did go back to Wendy’s and let the person behind the counter know that they technically won first place.

Hope everyone gets a good laugh out of it.

Aaron

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

These yellow 3/4″ x 8″ reusable straps make managing, replacing, and troubleshooting cable runs quick and easy. Designed for durability and long-term use, they’re perfect for server rooms, wiring closets, or workstations. Reliable, cost-effective, and easy to use, these straps are a must-have for network admins and installers who want a cleaner, more efficient setup.

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Learning Center Article – What Does the Cisco Lifecycle Mean?

Every device has a lifecycle, and Cisco publishes lifecycles so that network engineers and admins can stay ahead of developmental changes to any specific model. For the most part, the Cisco lifecycle is simple. Buy a product you want, and support is available. Eventually, every product reaches the end of its lifecycle, and that is important to understand. Cisco has a lot of terminology attached to the end of life for any product, but there are five specific dates that can help you plan around obsolescence and ensure that your hardware remains in support.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• DoorDash is donating $1 million free meals and waiving delivery fees for 300,000 grocery orders placed by SNAP recipients.  
• ​​PayPal strikes payments wallet deal with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, shares surge.​
• ​​​Amazon says it will lay off 14,000 employees as it invests in AI.

A brand-new week is here! Mondays are for fresh starts and new goals. How are you kicking off yours today?

In This Issue: Spicy Week, Sweet Weekend | Deal of the Day | OM1 Multimode Fiber Patch Cables | OM4 Fiber | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Spicy Week, Sweet Weekend

Happy Monday!

Last week we held our annual Crocktober event at the office, and it was a big hit! We had a ton of folks participate in the chili cook-off contest, and this year’s results sparked a little bit of friendly controversy. For the first time ever, someone entered Wendy’s premade chili—and believe it or not, it won! Apparently, the consistency and familiar flavor won everyone over, earning the most votes. Needless to say, we’ll be updating the rules for next year to make sure premade entries don’t take home any prizes. All jokes aside, everyone had a great time, and it was awesome to see so many people come out and participate. I’m already looking forward to next year’s Crocktober, which we try to make bigger every year.

As for the weekend… it wasn’t my best one. I ended up staying home and resting while battling a cold. Meanwhile, my wife and kids still made the most of it—they went to the “Boo! at the Ballpark” Halloween event at Coolray Field on Saturday and had a blast. On Sunday they also went to a trunk-or-treat at church, which was moved indoors because of the rain. The kids came home with a ton of candy and it’s not even Halloween yet!

I hope you have a great day and a wonderful week!

Cris

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The OM1 Multimode Fiber Patch Cable with duplex LC to ST connectors supports data transmission speeds up to 1 Gbps. It’s ideal for data centers and telecom networks, offering reliable performance and signal quality over distances up to 2,000 meters. Built with durable materials and UPC polish precision zirconia connectors, it ensures consistent, high-quality connections.

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Learning Center Article – OM4 Fiber Cabling, Connector Types, & the Future of Cable Management

There are different types of fiber optic cables available in the market. You will commonly come across the single mode and multimode types of optics. However, the multimode is further divided into many types. It consists of the core and cladding that helps to increase the density of the fiber optic cable. One of the most popular and recently introduced types of fiber optic cable is OM4. We have all the information and characteristics of the OM4 fiber cabling that you should know about.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• IBM announces new platform for financial institutions and regulated enterprises entering the digital asset economy. 
• ​​Google Gemini will launch in GM cars next year.​
• ​​​Amazon to invest $1.6 billion in Dutch operations, FD reports.

We made it to Friday! It’s National Food Day, a great reminder to savor something fresh, healthy, and delicious as we wrap up the week. What special meal do you plan to cook this weekend?

In This Issue: Weekend Moments That Matter | Deal of the Day | Snap-on Bridle Ring Data-Cable Saddle | Why Use Shielded Cable for Networking and Data Safety | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Weekend Moments That Matter

Hurray for Friday!

In the middle of busy workweeks and packed calendars, it’s easy to forget how important it is to slow down and truly recharge. For me, that time away isn’t just about rest. It’s about reconnecting with what truly matters: faith, family, and fun.

Weekends are my chance to hit pause and soak in the moments that refill my tank. I love heading to church with my family, taking time to reflect and reset for the week ahead. Afterward, it’s all about being together, building epic Lego creations with my boys, cheering on my girls from the sidelines at their softball tournaments, and diving into a good comic book when the house finally quiets down.

These simple moments, the laughter in the dugout, the clatter of Lego bricks, and the comfort of Sunday worship, remind me why balance is so important. They keep me grounded, grateful, and ready to bring my best self-back to work on Monday. It’s not just about unplugging. It’s about filling up with the things that make life meaningful.

Matthew

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Effortlessly enhance your cable management with this Snap-on Bridle Ring Data-Cable Saddle, designed for 1.5-inch bridle rings. These saddles provide additional support and protection, making them ideal for organizing and routing low-voltage data cables in residential, commercial, or industrial settings.

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Learning Center Article – Why Use Shielded Cable for Networking and Data Safety

Currently, the use of high bandwidth applications has been on the rise, and network systems have started venturing into factory environments which have called for the use of shielded cables. In this new installation sector, the cable is used in areas with high electromagnetic interference (EMI). Even with improved ability to reject noise and handle gigabit Ethernet, these cables will not function properly in areas where there is high EMI if not properly shielded. A shielded cable will help in these high EMI installations ensuring safe and efficient data transfer.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• New ‘ghost tapping’ scam warning: How to protect yourself. Read more. 
• ​​America’s inflation is back at 3%. That’s higher than normal but not out of control.​
• ​​Target announces hundreds of layoffs.