CK Daily Updates

Happy Wednesday! We’re halfway through the week. Keep powering through those to-do lists and hanging in there. The weekend is just around the corner!

In This Issue: Do you have a green thumb? | Deal of the Day | Dell N743D 10G, SR, SFP+ Transceiver Module | Understanding Client-Server Networks | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Do you have a green thumb?

Happy Wednesday!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and a great week so far! I’m not sure that I’ve shared this before but I am a bigggggg plant gal. Indoor/porch plants, that is! My plants and I have been through several moves together and I think my favorite part about each of them is that they all have a story! I’ve gotten them from the various places I’ve visited and it’s so fun remembering each place and the memory of getting them.

Anywho – on my recent trip to visit my parents in the Florida Keys we went to my favorite place to visit, Island Home. This place is incredible. It’s basically a massive plant garden with all the plants you could ever imagine. On this particular day, they had a clearance section of a ton of plants that just looked like they needed a little extra TLC that they were selling at a very steep discounted price. Fiddle Leaf Fig trees are always plants that speak to me. They are so pretty, simple to understand, and look pretty in your home. I’ve always wanted one that has more than one limb or sprout of growth on it, on that had branches. Well it was my lucky day! In this clearance section, they had the perfect one! It has 4 limbs with several branches growing out and she’s a beauty. Now, she needs some love…but in no time, I’ll have her looking good as new!

Do you have a green thumb? What are all of your plant tricks/hacks?

Ashley

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Dell N743D is a 10 Gigabit SFP+ transceiver module that provides 10GBase-SR connectivity using multi-mode fiber (MMF). This transceiver module features duplex LC connectors and operates on an 850nm wavelength. This module is also hot-swappable so it can be switched out with ease.

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Learning Center Article – The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Client-Server Networks

In today’s digitally interconnected world, client-server networks have become the backbone of modern businesses. Whether you’re streaming your favorite show on Netflix or accessing critical data in the cloud, client-server networks are at work behind the scenes, ensuring the seamless flow of information. But what exactly are client-server networks, and why are they essential for businesses?

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• OpenAI said Tuesday that it’s started rolling out advanced voice mode for ChatGPT. It’s available for users with ChatGPT subscriptions, which start at $20 per month.
• Marking the latest foray into space exploration, NASA is preparing to launch its first mission to explore Jupiter’s moon, Europa, to determine if it harbors conditions suitable to support life. NASA’s Europa Clipper is set to launch on Oct. 10 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will be carried into orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.
• Come December, M&M’s Peanut Butter & Jelly will be joining the candy aisle. The first new flavor since 2022!
• Google said in an antitrust complaint that Microsoft uses unfair licensing contracts in its Azure cloud computing business to stifle competition.

Happy Tuesday & Happy National Punctuation Day! From commas, semi-colons, to the love of exclamation points – today we celebrate all things punctuation. 🥳

In This Issue: Quirky Adventures | Deal of the Day | Yealink Busylight | The Expert Guide to 100G Switches | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Quirky Adventures

Good Morning & Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is having a great week so far! Can you believe we’ve officially made it to Fall!? It still very much feels like Summer around here, but I’m hopeful for some cooler, cozier days ahead!

This weekend was full of quirky adventures for me as I went to check out the Museum of Illusions in Atlanta on Saturday. It is quite the experience with all sorts of exhibits that play tricks on your eyes! One of the exhibits called the Ames Room makes it look like you are shrinking or growing as you walk across the room. It’s all about perspective but is pretty mind-blowing to see in action! Our favorite was the Vortex Tunnel which is a space-like spinning tunnel that you walk through and it completely messes with your sense of balance. They tell you to hold onto the handrails and I can see why! It’s a must-try if you make the visit!

Sunday was a different kind of adventure as I took my nieces to Babyland General in Cleveland, GA. It’s the home of the Cabbage Patch Kids. It’s a very quirky, unique place but is full of childhood magic! It’s set up like a hospital and nursery and has a giant tree where the Cabbage Patch kids “grow” out of cabbage at the base of the tree. They even have nurses who help “deliver” the dolls right in front of them which they loved! They each got to pick a baby to “adopt” and bring home with them. It was so fun to watch the joy on their faces throughout the whole experience!

Rebecca

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Yealink BLT60 busylight allows users to let others know they are on a call to reduce interruptions and increase productivity! This busylight comes with a 1.8 meter cord which allows users to place the light wherever they please on their desk so that it can be easily seen by others. This busylight will also flash red when a call is coming in. This can allow users who are not near their desk to identify that they are receiving a call and return to their desk to answer it.

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Learning Center Article – The Expert Guide to 100G Switches

In today’s world, businesses need fast, reliable, and scalable networks to keep up with the growing demands of new technologies. With more data being used due to cloud computing, AI, data analytics, and remote work, having a high-performance network is essential. That’s where the 100G switch comes in. It helps transform your network into one that’s faster and more efficient.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• New Zealand scientists discover new ‘spookfish’ living deep in the Pacific.
• After a little more than a dozen years and a couple of substantial price chops, former Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan has officially landed a contract for a sprawling mega-mansion he owns in the Highland Park suburb of Chicago, about 2 miles west of Lake Michigan.
• The Defense Department plans to send a few dozen U.S. troops to the Middle East in the coming days to be ready to help Americans flee a region bracing for a significant escalation in the simmering conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
• Tropical Storm Helene could form later today and it is forecast to strengthen into a major hurricane before it strikes Florida or the northern Gulf Coast later this week.

Happy Monday! We hope you had a wonderful weekend. Did you do anything eventful? We’d love to hear about it. Cheers to a great week ahead!

In This Issue: Trenches, Technology, and Time with Friends | Deal of the Day | Rack Mount Cage Nuts with Screws | FAQ: What is an Auto-sensing Ethernet Port | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Trenches, Technology, and Time with Friends

Happy Monday!

I spent time helping to dig out a rather long trench to install drainage pipes at our new church building site this weekend. Luckily we had a small excavator onsite that made quick work of getting through the dry Georgia red dirt. We had to make sure that the trench was a little under 2 ft deep to start, and then we gradually dug a little deeper as we went on so that the water would drain properly towards our retention pond. This was some hard manual labor and a lot of us commented that it would have taken a larger team of folks several days to dig something like this with just shovels. I suppose they did this sort of thing back in the day and it’s made me even more thankful for technology! Even though I didn’t do that much digging, I am still sore from Saturday, one of the great perks of aging!

Later that day I went to have dinner with some old friends and made some new ones at a hot pot place. We had some great conversations and played a board game called Space Base afterwards. It was great catching up, but I was super tired. I crashed mostly on Sunday and went to church on Sunday, rounding out a very eventful weekend. Hopefully I’ll recover by this upcoming weekend from all the activity, haha!

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

Cage nuts and screws are the “nuts and bolts” of your equipment room. They are responsible for making sure your equipment is safely attached to your equipment rack. This particular configuration (cage nuts and 10-32 screws) are not only the most common, but also one of the most flexible configurations.

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Learning Center Article – FAQ: What is an Auto-sensing Ethernet Port

When you’re browsing features and specifications for your networking equipment, you might come across something known as autosensing. What is it, and why does it matter?

It’s a feature specific to Ethernet devices. It’s pretty common these days, but it is important to have on any network that services multiple endpoint devices, and when you know how it works, it can help you plan out your own network that much better.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• M&M’s will release a warming new Toasty Holiday Peanut flavor. The new flavor offering features the deliciously rich taste of roasted peanuts infused with cinnamon, vanilla, spiced sugar, and caramel.
• For the first time in 10 years, Uncrustables has announced a new flavor – Peanut Butter & Raspberry Spread Sandwich.
• Foot Locker celebrated its 50th anniversary this month and is looking to ensure that it will survive in the decades to come after their breakup with Nike.
• Princess Kate has made her first public appearance since announcing that she had completed chemotherapy and would be returning to some public duties. Joined by her husband, Prince William, she was seen attending a Sunday service at Crathie Kirk, a church near the family’s royal Balmoral estate in Scotland.

Happy Friday & Happy Weekend! We hope you had a great week and are looking forward to a wonderful weekend ahead. Have any plans? We’d love to hear about them!

In This Issue: Staying Busy | Deal of the Day | Cisco 2821 Integrated Services Router | All About Ethernet Jacket Ratings | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Staying Busy

Good morning, everyone!

I hope your week has been going well so far. Life is always busy around here with my three kids—two in soccer and the oldest cheering for her middle school team. We’re hopping between games Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. In our downtime, we love spending time with family and friends. We’re also counting down the days until our beach trip during fall break in October—it’s something we’re really looking forward to!

The weather is finally changing, and we’re loving it! I hope you all get a chance to soak it in and enjoy the outdoors too. Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week!

Brooke

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco 2800 series is a range of modular routers that provide a range of features for small to medium-sized businesses and enterprise branch offices. It is a modular router that can be configured with a variety of different WAN and LAN interface modules to support a range of networking needs.

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Learning Center Article – All About Ethernet Jacket Ratings

When you’re planning a network, you usually think about the equipment you need and how you can connect it. That’s already plenty to consider, but it turns out that your responsibilities run deeper than that. You also have to think about safety.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Amelia is an artificial intelligence tool designed to help third-party sellers quickly resolve issues with their accounts and fetch sales and inventory data. Amazon said it’s launching the product in beta for select U.S. sellers, before introducing it more broadly later this year.
• Apple greeted customers at its stores around the world for the debuts of the iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10 and AirPods 4. The new products were announced at an event earlier this month and have been available for pre-order since Sept. 13.
• JetBlue plans to open its first airport lounges in its more than two decades of flying. The first clubs will be at New York’s JFK Airport starting late next year, followed by Boston.
• Cats have nine lives — and apparently they have 900 miles in them, too. Benny and Susanne Anguiano, a couple from Salinas, California, were reunited with their missing cat after he mysteriously traveled that far. Read more here.

Ahoy, mateys! Wishing ye all a Happy Thursday and an even merrier Talk Like a Pirate Day! 🏴‍☠️ Whether ye be swabbin’ the decks or settin’ sail on new adventures, may your day be filled with treasure and smooth seas ahead.

In This Issue: Grateful Hearts | Deal of the Day | Cisco 3750X/3850 Stack Power Cable, 150CM | FAQ: MDF vs IDF | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Grateful Hearts

Happy Thursday! We hope you’re having a great week.

Gratitude is about recognizing and appreciating the good things in life, but we all know there are times when it’s hard to find those positives. Whether we’re dealing with stress, challenges, or just an off day, practicing gratitude can help us shift our focus. Even on difficult days, there are still moments—big or small—that can remind us of the good around us.

We asked you all as well as our team what you’re grateful for. Here are some of the responses:

• Finally getting a good night of sleep last night after a long stretch of rough nights/interrupted sleep!
• Some sunshine this morning and the cool weather this season is bringing.
• Soup season!!!!
• For our people and culture at CK. That absolutely everyone works hard to do their part to make / keep this company awesome!
• Successfully finding my favorite seasonal energy drink at the store yesterday (it’s like going on a treasure hunt to find it) so I will be well caffeinated today!
• My ideas are being implemented at work.
• I got to do some fishing this week!
• I’m going to go horseback riding soon in the mountains when the leaves are changing colors.
• For my family and friends! Life is so much better when sharing it with people you love.

Even when it’s hard, taking a moment to reflect on the positives can make a world of difference. We’re grateful for you!

The CK Team

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco 150cm Stack Power Cable connects multiple switches with StackPower technology in order to share power between them. Switches with StackPower Technology allow for power supplies to be stacked as a shared and common resource. By using this StackPower cable, you can connect switches with the StackPower technologies.

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Learning Center Article – FAQ: MDF vs IDF

In the world of IT, acronyms are everywhere. It can be hard to keep up, so sometimes, you need to break down the acronyms to solidify what they mean and why they matter.

Applying that idea, today, we’re going to talk about MDF and IDF. These are key areas in large-scale networks, and while they sound similar in name (and appear similar in function), the key distinctions between them mean everything.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• The WNBA is adding its 15th team in Portland. It is the league’s third new franchise as part of its most recent expansion effort. The team, which is yet to be named, will begin play in the 2026 season.
• YouTube announced artificial intelligence features for creators on its Shorts platform that tap into Google’s DeepMind video-generation model.
• Amazon is increasing wages for U.S. warehouse workers to more than $22 an hour. It is also adding a new employee perk that will give them a free Prime subscription.
• Engineers at NASA have successfully fired up a set of thrusters Voyager 1 hasn’t used in decades to solve an issue that could keep the 47-year-old spacecraft from communicating with Earth from billions of miles away.

Happy Wednesday! We’re halfway through the week and we hope it’s been a good one so far. If we can be praying for you this week, please let us know!

In This Issue: What are you grateful for? | Deal of the Day | HP BladeSystem 10GBase-SR SFP+ | NaaS (Networking as a Service) | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – What are you grateful for?

Happy Wednesday!

I’ll be honest, I don’t have lots to share today. For the past few weeks, I’ve been updating you on our grand travels. They were great, but I couldn’t be happier to be home. Last week we spent the week in the beautiful Florida Keys. I’ll always be grateful to know this place and admire it’s beauty. It’s a true blessing that my great-grandmother lived here for so many years and established all that she did for us to be able to enjoy.

It’s a big rainy here today, but I sure am soaking up the cooler temps. It was SCORCHING hot last week…like I’m talking 106-108 degrees. And the humidity was unreal. Anyway, here are a few things I’m grateful for this week:
New furniture that’s making this place start to feel like home.
Our little man! Life with him lately is just so unreal. The development over the last few months is actually shocking. And boy is walking a game changer. But…I wouldn’t want it any other way.
The falling leaves. There’s just nothing more beautiful than that start of leaves changing colors and falling…plus it brings all things apples and pumpkins and I’m a big fan.
Your turn! What are you grateful for this week?

Ashley

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Deal of the Day

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The HPE 455883-B21 is an SFP+ transceiver module that provides 10GBase-SR connectivity using multi-mode fiber (MMF). The 455883-B21 module feautres duplex LC connectors and operates on an 850nm wavelength. This easy to install module is also hot-swappable so it can be switched out with ease.

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Learning Center Article – NaaS (Networking as a Service)

Networking can prove challenging, especially when your business and networking needs grow. It takes a lot of expertise, not to mention time, money, and energy to design, build, and maintain a professional network.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Krispy Kreme took the lead this year in terms of pumpkin spice season, launching their beloved Pumpkin Spice Cake Doughnut and Signature Pumpkin Spice Latte on a record early August 12
• Nerds is adding two new products to its lineup, and candy lovers are excited to try them out! The confection brand has announced the release of two limited-time Gummy Clusters flavors just in time for football season: Grape Strawberry Blitz and Berry Punch Rush.
• The Golden Arches is offering a golden deal for one day only. On National Cheeseburger Day, Sept. 18, McDonald’s customers who order using McDonald’s app can score a 50-cent Double Cheeseburger.
• Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines can go through with their planned merger, but they must maintain the value of their airline reward systems and preserve several key routes.