Archive for "Things to Do"
Wheat State Wine Company
Posted on April 29, 2017 by Ching under Things to Do.
Rain was in the forecast but we didn’t let that stop us. I’m glad we pushed through with our plans to see Piper Leigh and the Smokin’ Section because it turned out to be a beautiful day for a country drive.
We saw Piper Leigh and her band perform for the first time last year when they opened for Jared & the Mill at the Orpheum.
We’d never been to Wheat State Wine Company before because of the hour-long drive to Winfield but, since Piper and her band were performing, we thought we would make an exception.
We were worried about the rain so I ended up wearing my rain boots but it turned out to be a beautiful day and the weather was perfect.
We arrived during soundcheck and got a really good spot.
The place is really lovely. Brian and I couldn’t believe we’d never been until that night. We will definitely be back.
Here’s a picture of my awesome rain boots. Also, Brian really liked the print on my Lularoe leggings. I do too. They’re super fun!
I loved all the lights, which helped to create the perfect ambiance.
I ended up getting a bottle of the Flat Pick. Brian had a glass of beer but opted out of getting an entire bottle of wine because he was driving. On the plus side, if you don’t drink the entire bottle, they can repackage it for you so you’re not driving home with an open container.
They also let you taste the wines if you can’t decide what you want.
The winery is open for free wine tastings and tours Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from noon to six o’clock in the evening. They also allow visitors to enjoy their wine and picnic on the grounds. Brian and I will definitely be back.
The 2017 summer concert series also has a fabulous lineup of musicians so I know for sure we will be back for another one of these events. I can’t wait.
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Pictures from the Society of 1895 Luncheon
Posted on April 17, 2017 by Ching under Community, School, Things to Do.
I had to be in Kansas City on the day of the Society of 1895 luncheon at Wichita State University. Fortunately, Brian was able to attend for the both of us. This is a selfie that he sent me on his way to the event.
Brian snapped a few photos while he was there, including one of his name tag.
He was texting me the photos to make me feel like I was there with him also.
Since this was kind of my thing, Brian didn’t want me to miss out.
It looked like a great turn out. I found out after the fact that Jill Frasco and Bill Moore were both at the event, which made me feel really bad for missing out.
Brian took a picture of the little blurb they printed about us in the program, but also took home a couple of the programs (one for us and one to give to grandma).
Here’s what the cover of the program looks like.
Brian ended up sitting with Lou Heldman, one of my most favorite WSU figures.
Lou made sure that Brian left with an extra one of the parting gifts that all the guests received at the event so I would have one as well.
Brian took a photo of the fancy-looking framed certificate that we received, which he accepted for the two of us.
Here he is with Wichita State University President John Bardo and the President of the Wichita State University Foundation Elizabeth King.
I think this is one of the official event photos.
You can see more photos from the event on the Wichita State University Foundation Facebook page here. To learn more about the Society of 1895 and the Wichita State University Foundation’s Planned Giving options, click here.
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April Fool’s Day Thunder Hockey
Posted on April 16, 2017 by Ching under Things to Do.
The Wichita Thunder Hockey games are one of the many free match activities that I can take Nickira to but it seems she gets less and less interested in it every year. LOL. Nevertheless, we usually go to at least one game a year. The nice thing about it is sometimes we run into other matches we know. Like this last time we ran into Siera (our former Match Support Specialist) and her little.
We started off with a quick dinner at the Carlos O’Kelly’s restaurant by her house. Brian and I had never been there. We’d only been to the one on our side of town.
I felt compelled to take a bunch of photos because the interior was a lot nicer than we expected. It’s probably the nicest Carlos O’Kelly’s restaurant we’ve ever been in.
Don’t mind Brian. This is his RBF.
Nickira wanted some kind of pasta diablo dish for dinner but she said it wasn’t spicy. Brian and I shared the fajita trio pictured below. We had chicken, beef, and pork since Brian doesn’t really like shrimp.
Quick selfie.
We had so much extra food leftover and we had a little bit of time so we boxed up our leftovers and ran into back to Nickira’s house so her mom and brothers could have them later when she got off work.
Then we were off to the Wichita Thunder hockey game. Here’s a selfie that we took while Brian went off to get us some Dippin’ Dots.
After we finished our ice cream, it didn’t take long for Nickira to lose interest in the game. She decided to braid my hair instead.
She did stop briefly to try to catch some coupons or whatever it was they were dropping from the ceiling.
Jenni, Adam, and Ava actually joined us (Jenni actually likes the hockey games and knows who the teams are) but they left well before the game was over. We stayed pretty much until the end and then took the picture below on the way out.
Nickira is that age now that she is a little bit moody. She was quite chatty and jovial the night that we went to the hockey game. When I picked her up from her house yesterday, she was really quiet and wouldn’t talk to me. It turns out, her cousin Charlie had spent the night and she wanted to stay home and play with her. I told her that I wish she would have said something before we got all the way to my side of town because we could simply reschedule.
The original plan was to grab lunch and then take the dogs to the pup park but Brian and I were kind of having second thoughts about going to the pup park because of the weather forecast so I turned out fine that we had to cut our visit short. After a quick brunch at Livingston’s Diner, we took Nickira home. Charlie was still there so she was happy.
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My First Escape Room Experience
Posted on March 19, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.
I’d been wanting to try an escape room ever since the first one opened in Wichita a few years ago. Back when I led the Quality Assurance team in the Customer Relations Center (CRC), we talked about going to Wichita Room Escape. However, they were only open on the weekends at the time. They were first starting out and all the founders had day jobs. I’m not sure if the business is still owned by the same owners because the sign on the front door says Seed Entertainment LLC but their web site has Kingdom1 LLC. Either they’ve changed owners or they’ve grown because they are now open during the work week.
I’ve been team-less for a couple of years now. I’m still technically a member of the CRC team but I haven’t had team members reporting to me for a while. I was so grateful when Darcy invited me and Jeff (our department administrative assistant, who tends to not get invited to things either) to be part of her team building exercise. And, I was even more thrilled when I found out it would be a room escape activity because I’d always wanted to try it.
Darcy booked the Autopsy room for us, which is about a medium difficulty level. We were told the room has about a 30-35% success rate and that everyone who has escaped has used all their clues. After a short briefing about how to operate the various locks that we would find in our room, we were off to the races.
I’m not going to reveal too much here so as not to ruin the fun for others but I will say that it was a ton of fun solving puzzles with Jeff and #TeamAwesome, the team name that Darcy’s team has dubbed themselves. It was so exciting every time we solved one of the puzzles and unlocked one of the locks because it led to even more clues. There were times that we would get stuck and had to use one of our clues (you get to ask for help three times) and then, armed with some guidance, attacked our puzzles with renewed vigor.
The key to remember is to not be stubborn and wait too long to use your clues. There are dozens of puzzles to solve and locks to unlock. You can’t waste 20 minutes being stuck. If you are stubborn and what until the last five minutes of your allotted time (you have exactly an hour to escape the room) to ask for your first clue, it may not be as useful. They’re giving you a clue, not the answer, so you still have to process the information. I don’t know about you, but it’s harder for me to solve puzzles under duress. So that is probably the best advice I can give. Do not wait too long to ask for a clue when you get stuck because it may be too late.
Since we escaped, we got to write on their wall and that was really cool. We are now members of an elite club of room escapers. LOL.
Even though we escaped the room with plenty of time to spare, it was challenging enough that we still got a rush and sense of accomplishment out of the experience. When we were down to the last 10 minutes of our time, we had no idea how many more puzzles had to be solved or how many locks were left so we did feel a sense of urgency at that point. No one panicked and we got out after roughly 51 minutes and 27 seconds in the room.
I was very impressed at the sheer number of locks and puzzles that they managed to squeeze in to the room. There were clues everywhere. The clues hidden throughout the room also consisted of a good variety to where you weren’t solving the same types of puzzles. And there were some combinations where the clues were laid out in multiple ways so there was more than one way to arrive at the solution. They had us working together and using every bit of that room. It was very stimulating and definitely one of my most favorite team building activities to date.
After working up an appetite solving puzzles, we headed to Dempsey’s Burger Pub next door for lunch. Here are some pictures of our delicious food.
I had the salmon burger, which I enjoyed immensely. Dempsey’s serves amazing burgers but the Burger Stand in Topeka is still my favorite. I mean, they have ping pong there and Dempsey’s does not. LOL. As far as gourmet burgers go, Dempsey’s is probably as close as it gets around here, though.
After lunch we headed over to Central Standard Brewing where Josh’s girlfriend Alicea met up with us. We played a round of Uno before I had to leave to pick up my little sister (but that ended up being canceled last minute because of something that happened at school) so I really could have stayed for another round of Uno. Anyway, I had so much fun hanging out with #TeamAwesome that day. I hope they invite me to another one of their team building events again soon.
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Stupid Cupid 2 Mile Run
Posted on February 19, 2017 by Ching under Events, Health, Things to Do.
My friend Andrea talked me into signing up for the Stupid Cupid 2 Mile Run at Sedgwick County Park on February 11. I truly was perfectly satisfied running on the treadmill but Derek and Andrea had both been trying to talk me into signing up for a race. I’d been reluctant because I’m not really fond of running outside. Anyway, when Andrea told me about this one I figured what the heck. It’s only two miles. If I absolutely hate it, then it will be over soon enough.
Anyway, Andrea couldn’t take that Saturday off work so her husband Donavan ended up running in her place. Here’s a picture of the two of us together.
My coworker Joe who has recently started running signed up for the run as well. Above is a picture of him with me and Brian. Brian didn’t run but he was there for moral support and to cheer me on, of course.
Derek and his friend Vicky were also there. I think they signed up for the race months before I even heard about it. Above is a pre-race picture of the five of us. From left: Joe, me, Donavan, Vicky, and Derek.
Derek is a running fanatic. He actually ran eight miles before the race because he’s training for a marathon and wanted to run fatigued. Even so, he still managed to finish first in his age group and fourth overall.
Here are a few more photos of the race. See if you can spot some of us.
Here’s Derek and bowtie guy. They finished back to back.
Here’s Donavan as he approached the finish line.
Here are a couple of pictures of Vicky as she approached the finish line.
Here’s Joe approaching the finish line.
And here’s me.
I didn’t have any specific goals, with it being my first race and all. I was pretty slow, as you can see from my race results below. Joe and I are celebrating anyway because this was a first race for both of us and now we’re no longer race virgins.
Anyway, since I didn’t absolutely hate this experience, I figured that I would give running outside a try so I went on Joe’s 5 AM run the other day. I didn’t hate it either so I may run with him again this week. He’s on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday running schedule. It’s supposed to be rainy on Tuesday so we’ll see.
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