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Rum Tasting (Belated Birthday Present)

Posted on July 28, 2023 by Ching under Events, Food and Drink.

What do you get a guy who already has everything for his birthday? Well, this year, I decided it would be a rum tasting. Brian and I have never really been much into material things and usually gravitate toward experiences instead and so, this year, his surprise gift from me was a rum tasting experience at home.

We didn’t really make any plans last month other than celebrating with family. Unlike me, who enjoys never ending celebrations until the end of time, Brian is more low key. I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said, “Absolutely nothing.” Therefore, as part of this year’s gift to him, I honored his request and I planned absolutely nothing on his birthday. I did want to surprise him with a rum tasting and it worked out that the first date that would work was in July so we managed to avoid his birthday month altogether.

My friend Dustin Herman who manages R & J Discount Liquor was our rum tasting tour guide. He told me we could have up to ten people so we invited Jay and Becca Dill, Justin and Tina Huntington, Ramon Lozano (who was staying with us that weekend), Kyle Stakel, Dustin’s GF Katie, Ed and Cindy Egan, and Molly and Cory Sager (they were in town too). Molly and Cory ended up heading back to Great Bend a day early and then Cindy and Ed didn’t end up making it on account of Ed not feeling the best. We actually thought we were going to end up with too many people at first because of out of town friends who I found out last minute were going to be in town to play in Scott’s charity pickleball tournament but, after the last minute cancellations, we ended up with just the right number.

There were 16 teams in the pickleball tournament so we had to start an hour earlier than planned. The early start resulted in everyone needing an afternoon nap. Ramon was no exception.

We decided to provide pizza and wings and a fruit and cheese tray to make sure no one drank on an empty stomach before Dustin took us around the world tasting rums from various regions.

We also had some sliced pineapples, mangoes, and charcuterie to chase down the rums we sampled. That was a good call because the rums were very strong.

We tried some rums from various places..

Barbados – Mt Gray Eclipse, the Real McCoy
Jamaica – Wray Nephew, OFTD
United States – Cutwater Tiki (San Diego, CA), Coppel Muse (Fort Collins, CO)
Puerto Rico – Don Q Cristal

It wasn’t actually part of the tasting, but Dustin also brought a bottle of Ron Zacapa (Brian’s favorite rum) which is from Guatemala. He poured some for Brian to try alongside the Real McCoy for comparison. Surprisingly, Brian decided he liked the Real McCoy better so the experience resulted in Brian finding a new favorite rum.

After the tasting, Dustin and Katie made Mai Tais for everyone. They were strong!

It was our first time hosting a curated rum tasting at our house and we didn’t know what to expect. The whole experience was fabulous but my favorite part was when Brian tasted the Zacapa and the Real McCoy one after the other. I didn’t think he would find something that he would like better than his favorite rum so that was a pleasant surprise.

Brian and I enjoyed it so much that we are already thinking of hosting another. Not sure what spirit we will do next. Maybe bourbon. Until then, GNG.

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Y’s Men Pickleball Tournament at Chicken N Pickle

Posted on July 28, 2023 by Ching under Events, Pickleball.

Here are a few pics from the Y’s Men pickleball tournament at Chicken N Pickle a couple of weeks ago. As charity tournaments go, this is a pretty good one because Scott Wolford organizes it and he makes it as close as possible to a real tournament format — double elimination with best 2 out of 3 games to 11 in the main bracket and then one game to 15 in the consolation bracket.

Besides the format, the competitive group (social is in the afternoon) in the morning draws some of the best players in town. So, unlike other charity tournaments where you don’t even break a sweat, you really get a good challenge when you play in this one. For instance, our first round match was against the Sagers (above). After losing that match in three games, we went into the back draw (aka opportunity bracket) and played Susie Ternes and Matt Von Feldt (below).

Chris Wilson and I hadn’t played together in some time because we’ve been playing with other partners. It was fun reuniting for this event.

We were 2-2 for the day but I felt that we played pretty well and I had a great time. I live-streamed the matched on court 3 that morning, which you can rewatch here.

Here are some timestamps:

0:35 Daniel Nguyen and Fong Witte defeated Scott Wolford and Jen Tiano (main draw)
1:05 Zach Nguyen and Ling Wei Kong defeated Daniel and Fong (main draw)
2:00 Ching and Chris Wilson defeated Daniel and Fong (backdraw)
2:35 Katie Merrill and Ramon Lozano defeated Ching and Chris (backdraw)
3:08 Dave and Lori Belew defeated Nathan Peters and Jenny Cole (winner bracket final)
3:45 Scott Wolford (filling in for Zach because he had to leave) and Ling Wei defeated Nathan and Jenny (backdraw)
4:05 Championship Match between Scott and Ling Wei vs the Belews

Scott and Ling Wei had to beat the as yet undefeated Belews twice because they were coming from the back draw. Incidentally, Scott was paired with Jen (Tiano) and they were eliminated prior but then Zach who was paired with Ling Wei had to leave early so then Scott end up filling in for their final matches. He could since his team was already knocked out.

Scott and Ling Wei won the championship match by first winning the best 2/3 match and then also the game to 15.

Congrats to the champs and thank you to everyone who played (not sure how many played in the social tournament in the afternoon but competitive had 16 teams that morning).

Thank you to Scott and the Y’s Men for putting this tournament on and giving Chris and I a reason to throw it back. Until next year!

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Ryan’s Birthday Weekend

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Ching under Community, Events, Pickleball.

I just love when friends come to visit. A few weeks ago we had a surprise visit from the Sagers. They were in town the same weekend as the It’s a Big Dill pickleball tournament at the Wichita Country Club. They were supposed to stay at the Egans but the Egans were in Tulsa for a concert so they weren’t in town. They made a game time decision to stay with us instead. It was quite spontaneous but everyone’s always welcome at our house.

They ended up meeting us at WCC and hanging out for a bit. We had early supper at Wichita Brewing Company, one of my most favorite pizza places. They also happen to have great craft beer so it’s a winning combination.

I love when the Sagers visit because they are so fun. After supper, we hung out at home and played cards. They taught us how to play Pitch. I love learning new things and I love card games so I can’t wait to play it again.

It was a pretty quick visit for the Sagers. They stayed over on Saturday night and left on Sunday. But then later that same week, Ramon Lozano came into town. He didn’t have any specific plans, other than I think he wanted to get some practice time with Kyle Starkel. They both played in a “Bring Your Own Partner” DUPR session I had at the Pickle Club that I organized at Zach Nguyen’s request.

While he was in town, he got invited to a bunch of pickleball games and also Ryan Kellenbarger’s birthday celebrations. Yes, celebrations with an S because they were celebrating all weekend long. Anyway, Ramon is probably one of the most spontaneous people I know. He doesn’t really plan too far ahead. So he arrived on Wednesday and stayed through Sunday — without any pre-planning. I think this was the longest length of time he had ever stayed with us. I was actually surprised he had enough clothes with him.

I love cake so I volunteered to bring the cake for the pickleball celebration.

Solo pic of Ryan with the cake above and a picture of our group below.

Later that night, we met up with the gang for more birthday festivities.

Here’s a pic of Ryan and Ramon with our friend Ty Richardson.

Ryan with Ian Carr and Austin Jones.

Group picture of those who stayed for dancing. Jared Smart and Kendra Wicks came for dinner but didn’t stick around. They left shortly after Brian and I arrived.

Dawn Hazlewood with Ramon and Ryan.

Last pic is an obligatory selfie of Brian and me. Cos, you know, we just have to do it. Until next time, GNG.

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It’s a Big Dill Pickleball Tournament

Posted on April 24, 2023 by Ching under Community, Events, Pickleball.

The It’s a Big Dill Pickleball Tournament at the Wichita Country Club which benefits the Wichita Children’s Home fell on April 1 this year. This was my third year helping with the tournament and every year it’s a little bit different and every year we encounter different challenges. Last year one of our biggest challenges was having so many teams (four divisions worth) and not having enough courts. The WCC team tapes up 8 temporary courts to supplement the 3 permanent ones so we always have just 11 courts.

The first year that I helped, we only budgeted half a day and the tournament ran until a little after 1 pm. I couldn’t stay that year because I had a Saturday morning Aqua Zumba class at the time that I couldn’t get out of (or it might have been some other commitment that I had later in the day). I remember I was only there to get it kicked off and then I had to leave.

Last year we factored in lunch and allowed for play until 2 pm. Despite having a limited number of courts, everything ran smoothly and on schedule. I remember looking at my watch as we were pulling out of the parking lot to leave and it read 2:01 pm. That meant we were able to award medals and start tear down in time for everything to wrap up by 2 pm as planned.

This year they wanted me to work an exhibition match into the tournament schedule. Two of our top pros Jay Devilliers and Patrick Smith were being auctioned off at the kick off party on Friday night and the winners of the live auction would get to play with them during the lunch intermission at the tournament on Saturday. Because of the exhibition match, we added an extra hour to the schedule and planned to wrap everything up by 3 pm.

But that wasn’t even the biggest challenge I had to face. I always like to print all my round robin schedules in Excel ahead of time so I’m not having to cross-reference team numbers against team names. Well, about 15 minutes before the start of the tournament, I found that we had an extra team in the men’s doubles division. One of the sponsors didn’t sign up to play in the tournament ahead of time but showed up that morning. The sponsors donate a lot of money so we couldn’t turn them away. I basically had to scrap my pre-printed worksheet for the men’s doubles and just used a generic team round robin from printyourbrackets.com for the men’s division. At least I only had to do that for one division and mixed and women’s didn’t have to be modified.

Amazingly enough, everything once again ran super smoothly and on schedule. Bryce and Michael from the WCC were fabulous at keeping things going and helping me put matches on as soon as courts became available. We were able to finish all the round robin play by noon and start the exhibition match as the players enjoyed their lunch.

The exhibition match was a nice addition to the tournament day. Not only did it raise $10,000 for the Wichita Children’s Home (both of the winning bidders paid $5,000 each to play with Jay and Pat) but it also gave the players a nice break for lunch so that they didn’t feel like they had to rush through their food.

Here’s a link to the exhibition match video for those who want to watch it. Below are pictures of the winners of this year’s tournament.

Mixed Doubles

First Place – Matt Nola and Jackie Hall
Second Place – Dave and Lori Belew
Third Place – Tanner and Britney Blaske

Men’s Doubles

First Place – Mitchell Born and Klee Watchous
Second Place – Zach Nguyen and Noi Sourinthone
Third Place – Ron McMahon and Daniel Ritchie

Advanced Women’s Doubles

First Place – Karen Fox and Vickie Hancock
Second Place – Beth Fischer and Zoe Rohr
Third Place – Chandi Bongers and Krista Crawford

Intermediate Women’s Doubles

First Place – Krista Onofrio and Kristin Conrad
Second Place – Brenda Bishop and Margaret Dechant
Third Place – Trish Mueller and Karen Taylor

So grateful to our wonderful pickleball community and generous players for supporting the Wichita Children’s Home pickleball tournament. We had a another successful event. I’m already looking forward to next year!

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Katie’s Birthday Weekend

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Ching under Events.

My friend Katie Merrill decided to celebrate her birthday weekend in Wichita this year. We started the weekend with an awesome two-hour lesson with Chris Heck.

I had initially booked the lesson just for me and Katie but our friend Genevieve Eskridge spent the weekend in Wichita too and Chris was nice enough to let us make it a trio. Thanks to Genevieve for these pics.

After our lesson, Katie planned to take a nap but we ended up learning line dances from our other friend Josh McAllister instead. He came up to Wichita to spend the weekend and celebrate with us, too.

Genevieve, Katie, and Josh

Genevieve and Katie both live in Tulsa. Josh lives in Oklahoma City. We also have another friend Ramon Lozano from Hays who spent the weekend as well.

Wichita actually turned out to be the perfect location to celebrate because it’s centrally located and an easy drive for everyone. The funny thing is, we had more people staying with us than we had rooms so, earlier in the week, I tried to figure out when everyone would arrive on Saturday. I told them the last person to arrive would get the couch. Ramon was like, “I’m coming on Friday.” LOL. He didn’t want us to give his room away.

Here are a few more pictures from dinner…

Colby Fugit, Jenny Cole, and Chris Heck

Jenny and Austin Corley

with Jenny and Colby

Ryan Kellenbarger, Ed Egan, and Ramon Lozano

Brandi and Ty Richardson

with Josh McAllister and Cindy Egan

We had a lovely group gather for dinner at Doma to celebrate Katie. I will post pictures of food next post. For now, we are going to continue with birthday weekend festivities.

After dinner, several of us went to Club Rodeo for some dancing.

These guys are wild. Genevieve, Brian, and I didn’t stay late.

I think we left around midnight. The rest of them stayed and shut the bar down. I know Brian, who is kind of a worry wart, stayed up waiting for everyone to come home. I was tired and just went to sleep. I was half asleep and half awake around 2:30 AM and he was like, “Your friends still aren’t home.” I’m pretty sure I mumbled something like, “They can get in through the garage,” and rolled over and went back to sleep.

Brian, the responsible person that he is, stayed up and when he heard the garage door open sometime after 3 AM, was like “Your friends are back. Ryan is here too.” He went down to check on them because he said Josh didn’t look too good. He must have had too much to drink. I’m glad they had enough sense to just come to our house and people didn’t drive home drunk.

Genevieve had her room upstairs. Katie and Ramon each had their rooms in the basement. We put Josh in the living room because he said he didn’t mind sleeping on the couch. Ryan spent the night instead of going home. They all looked pretty rough the next day.

Josh ended up crashing on the Xorbee chair, while Ryan took the couch.

They were like, “Whose idea was it to play pickleball this morning?” LOL. Hey, that’s what Katie wanted to do. I guess next time, the plan will be to play pickleball and then go to dinner and dancing, and not the other way around.

Even with staying up late the night before to make sure everyone was okay, Brian got up early to make breakfast. Papa Brian did such a great job of taking care of us all that weekend.

Everyone looked so rough. You can tell the people who stayed out way too late.

We all met up at the Sandbox in Derby for some birthday pickleball. Katie has a lot of friends in Wichita but also had some friends come up from Oklahoma (Kali Wilson and Tanner Rice) and western Kansas (Cory Sager) for the day — in addition to those who spent the weekend in Wichita to celebrate.

Anyway, I was working on a website for Katie for her birthday (ktpickleball.com) which I tried to finish in time for her birthday weekend but didn’t through no fault of my own. However, Tanner did come through for me on the “bag of dicks” gag gift for Katie. I had joked I was going to get her a “bag of dicks” for her birthday. Tanner got a good deal on them from his rock lady so all the ladies at pickleball that day got a mini penis as a party favor. LOL.

Anyway, it was such a fun weekend. I had a great time and hope that Katie did too. Here’s a fun video montage I made of all of the adventures and birthday festivities that weekend. Next year Katie will be turning 40 so I think we are all planning to go to Hawaii. I cannot wait!