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Happy Wednesday!

(November 4th is National Common Sense Day…enough said with that one.)

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I was brought to tears as I read a simple children’s book about America becoming a country to my girls yesterday. I believe I’ve mentioned before that the curriculum I chose for us this year is an elementary level introduction to US History. They’re learning about the Declaration of Independence and the men who wrote and signed it, about the Liberty Bell, and what we know about the origins of our flag. I don’t consider myself overly patriotic, but I do get emotional when I hear certain patriotic songs – or surprisingly, today, when we read about the British surrendering to General George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown. I think it’s the passion and grit associated with the stories from our history that gets me.  

Why did these people, settlers here in America, leave England and other countries in Europe to travel to a new, unknown, unfamiliar land? What drove them to choose a hard season of life for hopes of an ultimately better one? Did they ever regret the decision to come over?  

Where did the passion displayed by people like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson come from? Were they all passionate people by nature — or did they long for something different enough to do whatever it took to make it happen? How did it feel to lead an army for 8 years against another more well equipped and trained group of soldiers? Surely the thought of being defeated crossed General Washington’s mind, yet he pressed on.  

Gumption. Passion. Grit. I admire these traits.  

I hope that I am known to have gumption, to be passionate and have grit in the things I set out to do. But there’s more for me. More than these things that I admire and can bring me to tears, more than the things that helped create the start of a whole new country. For me – I hope that I am known for my enduring faith, a faith that brings about righteousness that only God can give. And it’s for this reason that I press on.   

“…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:13-14 

[Read more…] about CEO Daily Update – 11.4.2020

Elections, Painting, & Allergies | Disinfecting Solutions | QSFP 40G | Make It About Relationship | News to Start Your Day

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Happy Tuesday & Election Day!

Good morning, friends. Big day today. Election Day. I hope each of you will exercise your right to vote. Craig and I both voted early, and man am I glad we did. It is shaping up to be one of “those” weeks.  

You know what I mean right? One of those weeks where it seems like everything is happening at once. Somehow November seems to start that way for us every year, and it really doesn’t stop until December 26th. I look forward to that slow, schedule free, last week of the year! 

We’re having some painting done this week. It is the last step in a year long repair to multiple rooms in our home. We bought this home in the summer of 2019 and pretty soon we realized that there was water damage around the door in our bedroom. Once we opened it up and realized the actual cause, it was a much bigger problem than we expected. Two large windows upstairs had improperly installed flashing. There was extensive damage in the walls in our bedroom, the kitchen, and in our girl’s bedroom. Studs and headers had to be replaced, roof panels had to be removed and decking repaired, two windows had to be removed and reset. Big stuff. Needless to say, I am definitely happy to finally be to the painting stage!  

(Gray paint PSA for those looking for a good one: I used SW Light French Gray for the first time and I LOVE it! We also have the oh so popular SW Agreeable Gray in our home, along with SW Silver Satin. I’ve also used BM Gray Owl before. I’m definitely all heart eyes over the Light French Gray right now.) 

Have you seen the 2021 Colors of the Year? 

Are you all ready for Thanksgiving? Just 24 days to go. I am getting early “Black Friday” sale emails often. I took advantage of one today, and I thought I would share it with you all. When Craig was trying to understand what was going on with him (before his Crohn’s diagnosis), he did a food sensitivity test from a company called Everlywell. At that point we knew the issues he was having, and we knew our daughter had some food allergies. It seemed like a good step to take. Once he learned what his body was reacting to, he changed his diet and it truly changed his life. He’d been taking Zyrtec daily for nearly 15 years and was able to stop it. His runny nose, sore throat and ear infections from the congestion were gone. He also started losing weight rapidly. In total he’s lost about 60lbs.  

The test measures your IgG response to certain foods and gives you a ranking of high, moderate, and normal reaction to them. This is different than an IgA food allergy test done on the skin. Our daughter’s food allergies were diagnosed with a skin test, and it is considered a true food allergy when there is an immediate response like you’d have with the skin scratch test. This IgG test is more of a long term immune response to inputs (i.e. someone who eats wheat and has joint pain a few days later). You can learn more about it here: Everywell Food Test. I just ordered one for myself. (Please, please, please don’t say I shouldn’t eat cheese.)  

Use code EARLYBIRD through 11/8 for $50 off $149+ or $75 off $250+. ***This post is not an ad nor is it sponsored in any way, just sharing a code that came to my email for a product we’ve used and found value in. 

[Read more…] about CEO Daily Update – 11.3.2020

New CK President | UV Sanitizer Wands | 10G Transceivers | Decision Framework | News to Start Your Day

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Happy Monday & Start of a New Month!

***Tomorrow is Election Day*** – Exercise your rights and please plan on voting. This is not just for you, but for your children and their children. (That is, of course, is if you haven’t already voted.)

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Well, it’s the beginning of a week and the beginning of a month. Two new beginnings – and there are just two months until the end of the year. I feel ready to end 2020 well, with purpose and momentum towards our goals.  

We have a couple of things to celebrate here at CK. Last week I missed mentioning it here, but it was our birthday! We have been in business for 19 years. Crazy to think it has been that long, yet wasn’t it just yesterday!? Our first pre-owned equipment deal was bought and sold out of Craig’s apartment in October 2001. By December of that year we had a house with a home office. We later enclosed our garage (twice, ha, that’s a story) for office space and moved to an office park in between the two different garage enclosing projects. We had so much energy back then. Ha! Eventually we ran out of space in that first little home, and we moved into a bigger house and leased an office. That was February 2006, by fall of 2007 we were out of space again and moved into the space we have now.  

Now if you’ll indulge me in another CK story time: Somewhere between the office park space and moving back into our home office/enclosed garage, we met a guy named Chris. He was a sales person at big box retailer of technology products, and he made an impression. Seeing something special in him, Craig struck up a conversation – turned out, he was in school to get his Cisco certification! We met him after work that night for dinner, and soon he was another member of the team. We worked together for about a year that first time before he left for another, more hands-on, opportunity. He moved up in that company, and eventually left for a better opportunity. Around that time Craig decided he’d really like to work with Chris again. He set himself a reminder to email him every month to ask when he was coming back. One day he gets a reply, “can we go to lunch?” 

Soon Chris joined our team again, and it was better than the first time. He’d gained a ton of experience in the other companies he’d work in, and our business had grown and matured as well. Chris is the type of guy who can take on a project, learn all there is to know and get a role around it whipped into shape. He did this in several areas of the business … and then decided he wanted to work for himself. We were sad, but also we were happy for him. (We are always happy to see people go for their entrepreneur dreams!) About a year later, he reached out to say his business was doing well, but he missed working with a team. Third time is a charm?  

Chris has most recently been serving as our Sales Director. He’s poured himself into it, investing time with available consultants to learn, and has (as expected) brought much needed clarity to the role. Today he begins a new adventure, and that brings us to another topic of celebration … we have a new President at CablesAndKits!  

We hope you’ll join us in congratulating Chris on his new role and welcome him as the leader of what we call the CK business unit (the product, marketing and sales channel teams). Congratulations, Chris! We are thrilled to still be on this journey with you and look forward to what is to come. Here’s to new beginnings! 

[Read more…] about CEO Daily Update – 11.2.2020

Unexpected Blessings | Goggles on Sale! | Cat8 vs Fiber? | 2020 Top Halloween Candy | News to Start Your Day

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Happy Friday & Day before Halloween!

October 30th is National Candy Corn Day! I know it’s a love/hate relationship with this Fall candy – either you really like it or really hate it.

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It’s Friday, y’all!  

I have to admit that I had full intentions of discussing a different topic today, but about the time I sat down to write, our power went out. The quiet stillness of the night took me to a place of appreciation for the unexpected blessings of the day.  

I spent the afternoon yesterday with Gary and Craig in a strategy session for our corporate interests. It was a good session. We made progress on some key items, were aligned in our thinking and left with some clarity around some current projects. I did also leave with a little bit of regret.  

Being back in a day-to-day working mode has me in a state of push and pull with family life, homeschool life and work life. Can I actually pull off the things I’ve committed to? Am I doing enough fun/meaningful/important things with my kids and husband? Was school today what it should be? Is this thing or that thing causing me to have a bad attitude in another area? Can I keep up this pace? I made some commitments in our meeting today that left me wondering if I’d over committed and perhaps was going to be missing out on important things with my kids in this season of life.  

When the meeting was over and I was able to reconnect with the kids, I suggested we read some of our library books. My oldest daughter chose a Fancy Nancy book instead of one of the books we had checked out. She wanted to try to read it herself. Sounded good to me. She is in second grade this year, is bright and a kinesthetic (hands on) learner. She has struggled with reading more than some of her peers. I have even been wondering if she has dyslexia. We switched up our reading program this year, and she’s been enjoying it. So, needless to say, when she wants to attempt reading, I won’t say no. You guys, she read the book! It was the first time she’s worked her way through a whole book. She’s memorized some simpler books, used pictures to help her remember often read stories, but this time she really read. The look on her face nearly brought me to tears. THIS is why I homeschool. I want to be there for moments like that. We had a dance party to celebrate, she ran down to daddy’s office in the basement to tell him and then we danced some more. An unexpected blessing.  

We decided to go to dinner tonight in the next town over. During dinner someone at the next table stood up and walked over to us. I looked up and had to do a double take. A life long friend and her husband, who live about half an hour from us (yet we somehow manage to hardly ever see), were there for dinner as well. She and I grew up in a very small town about six hours from where we currently live. She’s one of those people who knows all my secrets (and will never tell), and it feels like home to sit, chat and enjoy her company. Her husband is great as well. We always have a good time when we’re together. They joined us at our table, and it was great to catch up. Another unexpected blessing. 

Shortly after arriving home, our power went out. As Jason mentioned yesterday, we had a tropical storm come through Wednesday night. The winds were howling, trees were bowing, but we never lost power. Strange for the power to go out the night after the storm. Maybe electrical crews are fixing a line or the wind blew over a weakened tree. For me it was yet another unexpected blessing. Calm, stillness, quiet, a break in routine. It’s been nice to just sit and reflect on a day of unexpected blessings.  

[Read more…] about CEO Daily Update – 10.30.2020

Opposites Attract | Easy-to-use Sanitizer Dispensers | The Mighty OM3 Fiber Cables | News to Start Your Day

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Happy Thursday!

October 29th is National Cat Day! For all of you cat lovers out there, today is your day!

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I’m sure you all have heard the saying “you have to spend money to make money”. My husband adds another step; he spends to make, but he ultimately makes money TO spend money. That may seem like a silly sentiment to some of you. Of course you make money to spend it! But that isn’t true for all of us. Some of us really enjoy saving. Dave Ramsey says it this way: when it comes to money, most people are either a nerd or a free spirit, and in most marriages, opposites attract!  

Craig and I did an Entreleadership 2-day course with Dave here in Atlanta many moons ago. It was fun, and we learned a lot. Craig had trouble during that course admitting he is a free spirit. I’m not sure why. I think it is one of his most endearing qualities (except when it drives me crazy). He’s now more mature and has fully embraced his free spirit spending. In fact I’ve heard him say to multiple people recently “when I’m not making money, I’m spending money!” Do I look panicked? I kind of feel it.  

I’m definitely a nerd when it comes to spending. I like to save up, I love spreadsheets, and I do enjoy buying things I want so long as it doesn’t breach the threshold of comfortability in my savings account. After Craig finished the barn cleanout project here at our house, he started to focus his attention on a new hobby. Some of you who are more tech-oriented may appreciate this. He installed a Plex server on a newly built PC, bought a Western Digital portable drive with Plex already installed (this is for our RV), and he’s buying up Blu-ray DVDs from people for $1-$2 per movie to rip them down to files to store on his personal media server. (Me? I really like the buy/rent button on Amazon for movies, ha.) In all the tech ways, Craig definitely IS a nerd. 

One thing led to another with the media server movie project, and he’s now commandeered our guestroom in the basement and is turning it into a theater room. Maybe now you can understand more fully why when he’s telling people “when I’m not making money, I’m spending money!” I start to feel a little anxiety. Just how much does it cost to build a theater room? I guess I will find out soon enough. I’m itching to start planning and get a spreadsheet going to keep this project on track, and I’m eager to get Craig back from sabbatical so he can focus on the making money part of this journey.  

[Read more…] about CEO Daily Update – 10.29.2020

End of Year Thoughts | Update on MagiCare Wipes & Nitrile Gloves | Stop Staring Out the Back of the Bus | News to Start Your Day

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Happy Wednesday!

(October 28th is National Chocolate Day!  Woohoo! Now that’s a holiday!)

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I’m not sure about you all, but this week is flying by for me. I can’t believe it is Wednesday already!  

For years now I have observed and commented that this time of year seems to go by quicker. I think it is perhaps the extra family activities combined with the time change and less daylight hours that make it feel that way. The planner in me tries to prepare for the upcoming rush of activity by making lists and knocking out as many pre-holiday tasks as I can while the realist in me prepares to hang on for the ride. I “plan” to expect the unexpected.  

PSA: If you live in a state that observes the time change, it is this weekend! 

At CK we have several big projects open that we hope to see good progress on by year end. The “great PPE exit” is well underway, thanks in no small part to you all. Rebecca noted this week that we’re almost out of wipes and sprays, our glove stock is dwindling, and masks are selling well. We still have a good stock of smaller (3oz and 8oz) hand sanitizer bottles. Stocking stuffers? 🙂 We are currently ahead of our targets on this project and are grateful for it! 

Besides PPE we’ve also been working on some behind the scenes technology upgrades. Several smaller projects are moving right along and one big project may give Jason (you know him by now right?) and Cris, our Technology Product Manager, a few gray hairs by the end of the year. Even with the delays and unexpected setbacks in this project, these guys have kept pushing forward and making progress, have been rock stars in pushing and supporting our pivot swerve into safety supplies, and they’ve maintained positive attitudes. I am thankful to have both of them on our team.  

On this hump day, as we’re all staring at the end of another month and the end of the year right in the face, I encourage you to take a minute to find something or someone you are thankful for. If it is a someone, take another minute and tell them. May it make your day and theirs a little brighter. 
 
Until tomorrow, 

Christin 

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Today’s Product Updates from Rebecca:

Happy Wednesday! You all sure have been buying up the PPE deals! We just dropped the sale price for MagiCare 75% Alcohol Cleaning Wipes! We have plenty in stock, ready to ship!  

[Read more…] about CEO Daily Update – 10.28.2020