Archives for October 2025

Midweek already? Time flies when you’re making things happen. How’s your week shaping up so far?

In This Issue: From Sunshine to Showers | Deal of the Day | RJ-45 Dust Cover | What is Backhaul | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – From Sunshine to Showers

Hello Wednesday!

How’s everyone doing so far?

My weekend was so productive. My mom asked me last week to buy her a new clothes rack. We first tried looking around our area, but because of the limited store options, we ended up ordering it online. It was delivered on Saturday. While my mom was doing general cleaning in their room, I assembled the rack and ended up getting a few scalds on my fingers. On top of that, my asthma was triggered by the dust since we also cleared out boxes that hadn’t been touched since we moved here.

Sunday was pretty chill. In the morning, we had breakfast in the yard while enjoying the warm sunlight. Before lunchtime, we grilled fish, okra, and eggplant, still outside in the yard. But after lunch, the sky turned dark, and it started to rain heavily with thunder and lightning. I don’t know why, but I’ve noticed that as I get older, I’ve become more frightened by heavy rains. Even without thunder or lightning, the sound of rain alone scares me.

Does anyone else feel the same? Aside from the sound of heavy rain, have you also developed anything that makes you feel scared or uneasy?

Kat

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Protect your network infrastructure with these durable RJ-45 dust covers. Designed to fit standard RJ-45 Ethernet ports, these black caps help block dust, dirt, and debris, preventing potential damage and ensuring long-term port reliability. Ideal for use in patch panels, switches, or any unused RJ-45 port. Each pack contains 50 covers.

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Learning Center Article – What is Backhaul (FAQ)

We all use the internet all the time, but how much do you know about the infrastructure? How does your device actually communicate with other devices around the world? The full answer to that question is long and complicated, but you can understand a major portion of the internet and networking by learning about backhaul. It’s a key design component, and when you understand it, you can build better networks and find more efficient and effective ways to get devices to communicate.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Google launches Nanobanana image generator in Google Photos and Lens. 
• ​​Mozilla’s Firefox adds Perplexity’s AI answer engine as a new search option.​
• ​​Dunkin’ gets spooky with its new Candy Bar Latte, returning Spider Donut, and Halloween Munchkins Bucket, with festive merch dropping October 16.

Sweet news—it’s National Dessert Day! Treat yourself to something delicious; after all, a little indulgence can make any Tuesday better. What’s your favorite pick-me-up treat?

In This Issue: Weekend Wind Down | Deal of the Day | AC Power Cord | How to use DAC Cables | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Weekend Wind Down

Good morning & Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone’s week is off to a wonderful start!

It was another really great weekend for me! I’m officially into half marathon training, so I woke up on Saturday morning and did my long run which actually felt pretty good given the cooler temps we’ve been enjoying in the mornings! After that, we went to lunch at Jim N’ Nick’s in Athens for a belated birthday celebration for my mom and brother.

My nieces ended up coming home with me for a sleepover which is always so much fun! We ended up having some family and friends over to watch the Georgia game on Saturday evening. We ordered in pizza for the kids and enjoyed hanging out. We were all exhausted though, so we didn’t make it to the end of the game!

Sunday was another great day. We went to church, out to lunch, made a Starbucks run, and enjoyed an afternoon at the park! It was a simple, but sweet weekend!

I’m feeling recharged and ready for the week ahead! Hope you all are too!

Rebecca

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The AC Power Cord adheres to rigorous safety standards, providing robust protection against electrical hazards and thereby enhancing the safety of both your equipment and workspace. One end of the cord is equipped with a 5-20P plug, which is intended to be compatible with standard power outlets, while the other end is outfitted with a C19 connector.

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Learning Center Article – How to use DAC Cables

Fiber optic networking runs the world, but designing and maintaining a network is not a simple task. You’ll have to compare a lot of different equipment choices, and considering the power and equipment demands, it can be easy to go over your budget. Finding ways to save money without sacrificing performance is essential, and one tool that can help you with this is the DAC cable.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Walmart and OpenAI team up for AI-powered shopping in ChatGPT. 
• ​​Nvidia’s ‘personal AI supercomputer’ goes on sale October 15th.​
• ​​US biotech Nabla Bio, Japan’s Takeda expand AI drug design partnership.

Fresh week ahead! As we mark Columbus Day, may your Monday be a smooth start filled with purpose and progress.

In This Issue: How Do You Puzzle? | Deal of the Day | Recessed Low Voltage Cable Plate | Rack Unit | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – How Do You Puzzle?

To puzzle or not to puzzle? And if to puzzle, do you puzzle correctly?

My family and I recently spent a few days with friends at the beach, and during that time some of us worked to finish a 1,000-piece puzzle of a beach scene. I enjoy puzzles, but at home in my everyday life, I don’t always have time to work on them. It was nice to focus on something fun and different from the usual. We picked up this particular puzzle at a thrift store on Friday, and I really wanted to finish it before we left on Sunday afternoon.

To get something done quickly, you need to be efficient, right? In my mind there is a standard way to do puzzles—with a few acceptable variations I’ve encountered over the years when puzzling with friends. I feel like there’s only one way to start: the edges. If you don’t agree with that, you should probably stop reading. 😜

My next move is to separate an identifiable color or section of the puzzle. Then I start to pay close attention to color nuances so I can get the right pieces into the right area. If I’m working with just the colors for that section, I’ll use the picture first to find where pieces go, and sometimes I’ll use the shapes if they’re unique. I don’t feel like this is unusual, and I’ve taught my children the same method.

Back to the arrival of our friends and the need for more hands to get this thing done before we left: my friend, who is an avid puzzler (she almost always has one going), started separating the final 200–300 pieces into shapes—0 nubs, 1 nub, 2 nubs, 3 nubs, and 4 nubs. I was in shock. Who does a puzzle this way!? She reorganized my nuanced color piles into these nub piles and even got my kids in on the action. face palm

By this point I was pretty distracted because I was packing up in between puzzling, so I allowed this craziness to happen (haha). They did finish pretty quickly. But it made me start wondering—maybe my way isn’t as standard as I thought.

Do you puzzle? Do you puzzle correctly? What’s your method?

At the end of the day, I enjoyed the time and laughs with our friends and the kiddos. And of course, there’s the satisfaction of taking chaos and making order—that’s the real heart of puzzling for me.

Here’s the puzzle we completed. It is a White Mountain brand, which is one of my favorites!

Christin

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Create a clean, professional look for your media installations with the Recessed Low Voltage Cable Plate with Recessed Power in White. This dual-purpose wall plate combines recessed power and low voltage cable management into one streamlined solution—ideal for wall-mounted TVs, projectors, and AV equipment.

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Learning Center Article – What Is a Rack Unit (RU)?

When you’re building up networking or server equipment, it’s common to mount everything on racks. The racks seem like they have the same sizing and hole placements, and that’s because these things are actually standardized across industries. Because of these standards, many things are measured in “U.” For instance, you might see a 2U server. To understand exactly what that means and what you can do with this information, it’s important to explore the concept of a rack unit.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Snowflake launches Cortex AI for financial services with secure AI capabilities. 
• Tesla reportedly commences production ramp-up at its Shanghai gigafactory.
• ​​Restaurant prices keep climbing as inflation bites, and nearly half of operators plan to raise menu prices again.

Friday’s here! It’s also National Walk to a Park Day. A stroll outdoors is a great way to welcome the weekend. Any weekend plans that include some time in nature?

In This Issue: Looking Forward to the Weekend! | Deal of the Day | Cisco 1941 Rack Mount Kit | Advantages of Multi-Gigabit Switches | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Looking Forward to the Weekend!

It’s finally Friday!

It’s shaping up to be another busy, exciting few days, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Coming off an incredible Anniversary weekend, I’ll be working at an indie pro wrestling show, helping bring the action to life and supporting some amazing local talent. When I’m not at the show, I’ll be cheering on my girls at their softball tournament and working with my boys out on the soccer field.

Between the roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat, and the sound of cleats hitting the grass, it’s going to be a weekend full of energy, teamwork, and family time. These are the moments that make all the running around worth it, a perfect mix of passion, purpose, and the people I love most.

Matthew

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Cisco 1941 19″ Rack Mount Kit accessory kit is specifically designed to seamlessly mount your Cisco 1941 router into a standard 19-inch equipment rack. The rack mount kit comprises two sturdy rack-mount brackets accompanied by the necessary screws. By utilizing the rack mount kit, you can consolidate all your networking equipment in a single location, streamlining management processes and facilitating troubleshooting efforts.

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Learning Center Article – Advantages of Multi-Gigabit Switches in Business

When you’re building a business network, there’s a lot to consider. Something you’ll want to consider is when and where to think about deploying multi-gigabit switches. These are switches that get well beyond the 1 Gb standard that you see in many business applications today. As internet usage continues to expand, that standard is rapidly becoming antiquated.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Netflix brings video games to TVs for the first time. 
• ​Google launches Gemini Enterprise to ramp up its AI in the workplace.​
• ​Mini red robots making giant waves in hurricane forecasting.

Almost there! Thursdays are perfect for slowing down a bit and reflecting on the week’s progress. What’s been a highlight for you so far?

In This Issue: Steak Dinners & Corn Mazes | Deal of the Day | Screws for Cisco | RAID | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Steak Dinners & Corn Mazes

Good morning and Happy Thursday! This past weekend was a nice, slow one for me. My boyfriend and I celebrated our 3.5 year anniversary this weekend by picking up some local steak and making a classic steak, baked potato, and parmesan-roasted broccoli dinner. Since we’re both busy college students, we like to take some time every month-iversary to cook or do something simple together. It’s our favorite way to put the computers away and focus on spending quality time together. It was a delicious meal and an amazing way to start the weekend.

We had such a nice start to the weekend, we of course had to finish it off good too! UGA Miracle, the organization I’m part of that raises money for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, had our first big Family Day of the year. We held it at Washington Farms in Watkinsville, which I would highly recommend to anyone local to that area! The farm had everything from a pumpkin patch, mega slides, corn pits, bouncy areas, the corn maze, and so much more.

I can’t lie; I was very intimidated after hearing stories of other people getting lost in the maze for hours in past years. Luckily, our group made it out in one piece in about 30-40 minutes! Even though it was a rainy day, lots of people in Miracle still showed up and showed out. It was great getting to hang out with the families that we champion, especially at such a fun place! I’m looking forward to the upcoming weekend as well, as there’s more activities and exciting things ahead!

Rachel

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

These are the screws that are included with the Cisco 3560/2960 compact switch rack mount kit (RCKMNT-19-CMPCT=). If you have the rack brackets for your unit but have lost your screws, order these as replacements. This is a package of 2.

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Learning Center Article – What is a RAID?

When it comes to computer systems and servers, you have a lot of data to manage. It’s normal to want robust backups so that you never lose important information. At the same time, backups are costly, and they can slow down server systems. In order to find the best options for various goals, you can manage storage disks in a number of different ways, and one of the most trusted and popular options is to implement RAID.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• After a summer respite, bird flu is back. 
• Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are falling to Earth at an alarming rate.
• ​Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ software under investigation for traffic safety violations.

Midweek gratitude check. Today is National Hero Day, honoring those who inspire us by going above and beyond. Who’s a hero in your life worth celebrating today?

In This Issue: Christmas Came Early | Deal of the Day | Cat8 Ethernet Patch Cable | Fast Ethernet Switches vs Gigabit Switches | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Christmas Came Early

Happy Wednesday, CK friends!

Here in the Philippines, the Christmas season starts as soon as the ber months arrive. Families begin decorating their homes and yards with festive ornaments and planning what to serve on Christmas Day. That’s how much we Filipinos love this holiday!

Last weekend, my mom brought out our Christmas tree and started decorating it. Last year, our color theme was red, green, and gold. This year, I wanted to go with white and gold, which means it’s shopping time for new decorations. Good luck to my wallet! For now, my mom just set up the tree and decorated it with what we have while we slowly collect new pieces.

We also put up solar Christmas lights along our fence and on her plants (she loves her plants!). Plus, we bought an LED “Merry Christmas” sign for outside our house, our first ever. We used to only see those in malls and restaurants, but now we finally have our own. It made me realize that while we still have a long way to go, we’ve already come so far.

Seeing all the Christmas lights and decorations around fills me with joy and gratitude. Nothing beats the feeling of the yuletide season: the cool breeze, the colorful lights, and the warmth it brings to our hearts.

How about in your area? How early do you start seeing Christmas decorations? Is it your favorite holiday too?

Kat

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Cat8 Ethernet Patch Cable delivers blazing speeds up to 40 Gbps with 2 GHz bandwidth over 20 meters. Built with 24AWG pure copper and a durable CM-rated PVC jacket, its advanced S/FTP shielding ensures superior performance and reliability. Perfect for data centers and high-demand networks, it’s also backward compatible with all previous Ethernet categories.

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Learning Center Article – Fast Ethernet Switches vs Gigabit Switches

Most devices are connected wirelessly when they can be, but there are still plenty of occasions where it makes sense to run Ethernet cables. This could be related to security concerns, network reliability, or connection speeds. Regardless, you have some level of freedom in how you design Ethernet networks, and a lot of it boils down to the switches you select. In general, you can choose between fast Ethernet and Gigabit switches.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• ​Amazon Pharmacy to launch electronic kiosks for prescriptions at One Medical locations. 
• United and Instacart team up to bring loyalty members more rewards and more convenience, including $0 delivery fees.
• ​​Coca-Cola to introduce mini-7.5-ounce cans in US convenience stores.