CablesAndKits Blog

Today’s Topics: Tough Days | Yealink T4 Series VoIP Phones | Smart Phones for Video & Conference Calls | News to Start Your Day

Happy Friday…finally!

January 15th is National Strawberry Ice Cream Day! If you pass on Vanilla and Chocolate, then today is your day. Take a break and celebrate with a strawberry milkshake or ice cream cone.

It’s Friday! I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like I need a few days to recover from this week. TGIF and all that, right?

It was a super busy week for us here at CK, lots of good stuff going on. Personally though I feel a little down. A couple of my family members are sick with COVID, thankfully nothing serious for either of them but they’re still top of mind. Our local schools are going to all digital for at least a week, and last night I heard that a friend’s mom is in her last hours due to COVID. Uncertainty, gloomy weather, sickness, death. It’s all a bit much sometimes. But today I’m choosing hope.

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”- ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16:9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I hope it is okay to share some of the not so good days with you. I pray each of you has hope to hold onto, that your families are well, and that you’re finding joy in your journey.

Today’s Topics: Dogs vs Cats | Transceiver Showcase – SFP-10G-SR | Take That Temp! | How do SFP’s work | News to Start Your Day

Happy Thursday!

January 14th is National Dress Up Your Pet Day! You don’t have to wait until Halloween to dress up your pet. You know you have done it…don’t be shy…share those pics with us!

Do you guys ever get lost on YouTube watching cat videos or other random, mindless content? I’ve definitely been lost on YouTube before but never for cat videos. I wanted to have a short, light hearted message today, so I thought it would be a good excuse to tell you about my dog. Then I somehow lost half an hour looking at dachshund videos. There’s a first time for everything I guess.

We have a 14 year old dachshund named Cooper. Watching the dachshund videos made me miss his younger years. When he was around two years old we added another dog to the family. She was a longhaired black and tan dapple dachshund, and was so calm and sweet. She had gone blind over time due to a problem with her retinas, and a few years ago she accidentally wandered outside of our backyard fence and was lost in the woods. I still miss her. Cooper is loud, stubborn, quirky, demanding, funny, excitable, and protective. He totally doesn’t know he’s a little dog, and loves to catch bubbles that the kids blow in the yard. I know his time left with us is limited and that makes me sad. He’s an old man now (complete with old man problems), but he’s still a little feisty.

Are you a dog person, a cat person, or a no pet person? I think this very scientific article (I mean it is in the name right?) with lots of pretty graphics proves there are different types of pet people. What do you think, is it accurate?

Hope you have a great Thursday!

Christin

CK Insider Info | Announcements | Updates:

• Introducing Yealink Phones! HD Audio & video, perfect for Zoom and Teams calls.
• Don’t forget Fiber cabling prices have dropped by 20%!
• Free shipping on PPE – use coupon code PPESHIP
• PPE Coupon for 20% OFF your order of $250 or more of PPE products. coupon code: BEPREPARED

Product Spotlights & Updates:

Today we are going to look at one of our most popular transceiver modules, the SFP-10G-SR! The Cisco SFP-10G-SR module gives you a wide variety of 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity options for your data center, enterprise wiring closet, and service provider transport applications. This module boasts a variety of features and benefits, including being the industry’s smallest form factor, which results in the greatest density per chassis. The SFP-10G-SR is hot-swappable and can be switched out with ease. Cisco 10GBase-SR SFP+ modules also feature Digital Optical Monitoring (DOM) functionality, which allows you to monitor the signal strength, the temperature of the SFP, and the transceiver voltage.

Today’s Topics: Goals & Frameworks | 1080P HD Webcam Deal | Stock up on Sanitizer | Difference Between LSZH & OFNR | News to Start Your Day

Happy Wednesday!

January 13th is National Sticker Day…we know your CK stickers have to be your favorite stickers in your collection.

Happy Hump Day! We’re cruising through the week now. I spent a good portion of the day yesterday preparing for a meeting later this week. I was focused on arranging the meeting to align with a catchy sort of phrase (or phrases) that we use internally to describe how we approach revenue, gross margin and net margin. The phrases may have been stolen or tweaked from other material at some point. This is my disclaimer: I do not know their origin and am not claiming they are original, but we do use them ourselves. We say: define the bottom, drive the top and manage the middle.

Define the Bottom

What is your net margin goal? Know where you’re headed.

Drive the Top

Where are the revenue dollars coming from? What products or services are you selling and to whom are you selling? Who is driving?

Manage the Middle

Keep those expenses in check! If you know where you want to end up, and you know what road you’re taking to get there, this would be the nuisances of the road trip. Don’t get taken off course by the sign that tempts you to go see the largest ball of yarn in the US … unless your goal is to take a spontaneous road trip.

In working through this list, I was struck by the thought that the concept really fits any goal. (Perhaps this pairs unintentionally well with pondering the ponderables from yesterday.) Any goal you have could be what you’ve defined as the “bottom”. Next you’ll need to understand what top level, leading actions begin and fuel your journey to that goal. Lastly, be intentional about your journey there. Don’t spend time, energy or resources that you don’t have – and don’t waste what you do have on unrelated, unimportant experiences.

I hope this framework and my ramblings help spur you towards a goal you may have. Sometimes the road is long, but it is worth it. Stay the course, be intentional and look forward to that final destination!

Today’s Topics: Pondering the Ponderables | OM4 40G Fiber | Sanitizer Dispensers | Different Types of Fiber | News to Start Your Day

Happy Tuesday!

January 12th is National Pharmacist Day! That is a group of people we can really be grateful for this past year! Thank you to all the Pharmacists out there!

At the beginning of each year, Craig and I try to take some time to ponder the ponderables (as he says). Pondering … life, work, family, faith, community, giving. We take note of things learned from the previous year, think about what we’d like the new year to look like, and we put things into action to achieve our goals.

This year Craig had been asked a question and he turned the question to me: if your debts were all paid, you had $10 million in the bank and 10 years to live, what would you do with your life? I had an immediate big picture kind of answer, but the question has also stuck with me. What are the nuisances of how I would live my life in those circumstances? The unspoken question here is: ok now what? What’s keeping you from living that way today? Certainly we wouldn’t all be able to live immediately as we fully would in a real life scenario like the one I described, but there are almost always ways to take steps towards your dreams and goals, towards your “best life” as they say.

So, I encourage you to take the time to “ponder the ponderables” by picturing a scenario where you’re free from some of life’s big burdens but have an urgency to live now. Life is short. We’re all going to be gone from this earth at some point. How do you want your life to be lived? What legacy do you want to leave behind? And most importantly, what steps can you take right now to make that happen?

Big thoughts for a random Tuesday, right? I hope today is a good one for you, friend.

Christin

CK Insider Info | Announcements | Updates:

Introducing Yealink Phones! HD Audio & video, perfect for Zoom and Teams calls.