Archive for "Hobbies"
Traveling to Arizona
Posted on February 24, 2021 by Ching under Food and Drink, Hobbies, Travel.
Last week I traveled to Arizona for my first out of town pickleball tournament. It was one of the big ones too — the first Pro Pickleball Association (PPA) tournament of the year — with over 1200 registered players. It was a bit stressful trying to get out of Wichita with so many flight cancellations due to the winter storms. My 7 AM flight on Wednesday actually got canceled but luckily Brian was able to rebook me on an noon flight. The only downside is, instead of arriving in Arizona around noon, I wouldn’t arrive until 6 PM but I was grateful to be able to get there at all.
Obligatory airport pic. (Photo credit: Brian)
This is what Wichita looked like when I left.
Massive construction at the Denver airport.
Quickie airport lunch — hotdog and fries.
The first order of business upon my arrival at the resort — dinner and drinks at Roy’s. The drinks were delicious and pretty but expensive.
Karen was completely hooked on these lobster potstickers.
I got us some calamari to share.
My katsu chicken dinner.
Special bread pudding dessert.
Chocolate souffle.
Lauren Stratman joined us for that first dinner.
We had a nice time visiting over delicious food. I was so grateful I made it to the resort without any issues. I heard about the problems everyone was having with their car rentals and Ubers and I’m glad that Brian and I prearranged a car service pickup for me. Anyway, more about the trip next time. GNG.
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Doubles and Bubbles at CNP
Posted on February 23, 2021 by Ching under Hobbies.
Chicken N Pickle had a fun little tournament on Galantines Day. It was the Doubles and Bubbles women’s doubles pickleball tournament. There were 20 teams that participated — 10 in the intermediate bracket and 10 in the competitive bracket. The format was round robin games to 7, followed by a single elimination tournament. Games to 7 are not ideal because it goes by really quick but with so many teams playing, there was no other way to get all of those games in.
What a great turnout!
Heart Killers – Kim Blackmon and Karen Fox – won the competitive bracket after battling it out with Shot to the Heart – Michelle Pease and Jenny Cole.
In the intermediate bracket, 2 Cooks in the Kitchen (Melissa and Amy) prevailed over Come On One More (Wanda and her partner).
The best part of this tournament was that your entry fee included a glass of mimosa which, I think, everyone enjoyed.
Anyway, be on the lookout for more of these fun little tournaments at Chicken N Pickle. Michael does such a great job of running these events. I was bummed I didn’t get to play this time but can’t wait until the next one.
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National Girls and Women in Sports Day
Posted on February 11, 2021 by Ching under Hobbies, Things to Do.
I had to work on MLK day so I ended up with a comp day which I later used on February 3, National Girls and Women in Sports Day. I’m not sure why this isn’t already a national holiday but, either way, I took the day off work as my own personal holiday anyway. As with most of my days off, I planned a full day of playing pickleball.
The day started with women’s doubles with Karen and the Jens at 7:30 AM and then a special NGWSD edition of Queen of Courts at 11:00 AM. I didn’t play stellar but I played decent. I was on the top court with my pseudo-daughter Huyen as my partner. We payed against Jenny and Michelle for the title and they came out on top. We had 16 women on 4 courts and I got to play with various people throughout the event. Some of the women I played with, I’d never met before until then. I got to play on every court but the bottom one and it just worked out that I was on a winning streak at the end and finished on the top court.
After QOC Janelle, Tiffany, Debbie, and I had lunch and drinks at Jose Pepper’s. Not really the best idea since I had singles with Kayla at Nahola immediately after.
I never get to have lunch with these ladies though, so I took advantage of the opportunity. It’s rare that I get a weekday off and I get to do some day drinking.
Here are some pictures of food. It had been a while since I’d been to Jose Peppers so I didn’t really know what to get. I told our server I just wanted meat and rice and he made it happen so that plate pictured above is mine.
The other ladies ordered off the menu, except for Debbie’s drink. She likes to make up her own drinks. Luckily, most bartenders are happy to oblige.
Kayla killed me at singles, which was no surprise. I’m just happy that I didn’t vomit. I finished the day by teaching my Wednesday night Aqua Zumba class at the Harry (Georgetown) VASA location. I got to enjoy doing my favorite things with the best people. It was the perfect day off. ‘Til next time. GNG.
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Happy 2nd Birthday to Wichita Pickleball
Posted on February 1, 2021 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
Happy second anniversary to the Wichita Pickleball facebook group!
I brought cake to league that night in celebration of our group’s anniversary and also as a belated happy birthday to Tiffany. That night also happened to be “newbie night” for the month of January. The event had a great turnout.
Check out these pics.
Since it was Tiffany’s belated birthday, she had the honor of cutting the cake.
Karen doesn’t like a lot of frosting so she had a very specific request. She wanted a middle piece and, more specifically, the part with the word “ball” on it.
It’s great to see so many new people being introduced to the sport. Our Facebook group has grown a lot since it started a couple of years ago also. It’s definitely worth celebrating! I can’t wait to see what the future holds. Until next time. GNG.
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Niupipo Pickleball
Posted on January 18, 2021 by Ching under Hobbies, Reviews.
A few months ago the Niupipo people contacted me about posting a video review of their paddle on Instagram. I had never heard of this company before so I didn’t respond right away. In December, Frank Anthony Davis (FAD) announced his new partnership with the company so then I remembered that they had contacted me. I reached out to see if they still wanted me to post a video review. I think Brian has rubbed off on me in that I am always really careful when dealing with companies I’m not familiar with. It’s funny how an endorsement from a friend can make all the difference. Shortly after I sent them my home address, they sent me a pickleball set that included two pickleball paddles and four balls.
Here are some pictures of the pickleball set they sent me:
The popularity of pickleball has exploded exponentially the last couple of years. It’s crazy how many new paddle companies are now out there and new ones continue to pop up. I remember when I was looking for a starter set a couple of years ago, there were only a handful of options on Amazon. I ended up buying an Amazing Aces pickleball set because it seemed like a good value and, honestly, there weren’t many options available. I really wish I had known about Niupipo at the time. Then again, they might not have been around yet.
Niupipo sent me their MX-19 set. I really wish that I would have seen this option back then because I might not have outgrown my paddle so soon. I got my Amazing Aces set for $70 and, for $10 less, I could have gotten this better set from Niupipo.
The set came with two high quality fiberglass and honeycomb paddles, four balls, and a carry case. The paddles felt lighter than my old Amazing Aces one and felt better in my hands overall. Though the grips felt too thick for me in both but the paddle grips are pretty standard and the issue of thickness can be easily remedied by removing the factory grip cover and replacing it with thinner grip tape.
Believe it or not, what I liked best about this set is that the two paddles came in different colors so it’s easier for me to tell which is Brian’s and which is mine. Our two Amazing Aces paddles were exactly identical. For someone who is just starting out with pickleball, who isn’t ready to invest in a $100-$200 paddle, this is a really great set to have. I highly recommend it.
These paddles would have been really great for me to have when I first started playing a couple of years ago. At this point, I’m really enjoying playing with my Electrum. After having played with a few different paddles (Selkirk S1C, Prokennex Pro Speed, and Encore Engage MX 6.0), I really like my Electrum Pro the best. However, I’m paying it forward and spreading the pickleball love by donating this paddle set to a lady who is helping some beginners at her church get into pickleball. Many beginners don’t have their own equipment so this will be a good set for them to have as loaners for those folks.
Until next time. GNG.
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