Family

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In Memory of Papa Osing

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Ching under Family.

Dad created this video slideshow before he left for the Philippines.

The End of an Era

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Ching under Family.

I found out about my grandfather’s passing via Twitter.

I am more shocked about the means by which I found out, than Papa Osing’s passing. After all, it is the natural course of things. We are born, we get old, and we die. The life cycle is as predictable as it is certain. But to find out through a tweet. Wow.

My mother didn’t call me on my cellphone, nor did she call me at work. I found when I checked my text messages on the way home. Before you guys freak out, Brian was driving (as always) so it’s not like I was texting and driving.

In mom’s defense, she knows I don’t like taking personal calls at work (unless, of course, it’s urgent). I’m a bit of a workaholic. Even Brian knows not to bother me when I’m at work. When he calls me, he knows he has 30 seconds (at most).

My cellphone is always on silent, so it’s not the best way to reach me. It might get turned on briefly at lunch, but it otherwise goes unnoticed inside my purse as the day progresses.

This news, urgent or otherwise, might have qualified for an actual phone call. It’s not like I could do anything, but it might have been nice to know before the rest of the world did. Then again, I probably wouldn’t have been available to take the call anyhow. Perhaps a tweet or text was best.

Papa Osing’s passing marks the end of an era. It marks the end of a more conservative way of life and the end of old-fashioned communication.

Dad is flying to the Philippines this Thursday to the tune of $2500. That’s what happens when you have to fly across the globe on such short notice. Too bad transportation hasn’t advanced as quickly as communication. Teleportation would come in handy right about now.

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Brian & Ching’s Anniversary Weekend

Posted on August 9, 2009 by Ching under Family, Life.

We started the weekend by going to The Buzz after work party at Heroes. I’m so glad we did, too, because I ended up winning a couple of tickets to the Midwest Rockfest. Sunny is the best!

Anyway, we had tickets for the baseball game on that same Saturday also. Brian and I both would rather go to the Midwest Rockfest, though, so he’s going to give the baseball tickets back so that one of his coworkers can use it instead.

After having dinner at Heroes, Brian and I went to Dukes to watch The Fabulous Fleshtones perform. We stayed out way too late, but had lots of fun.

We started the next day by getting couples massages and facials at Serenity. It was really good and we felt very relaxed afterward. Serenity was a good choice.

That evening we had an anniversary dinner at Bonefish Grill. The service was a little lacking, but the food was fantastic as always. Brian and I started with Bang Bang Shrimp, their signature appetizer. I had a cup of the lump crab corn chowder before my meal, which I regretted because then I was full even before my entree came. Brian opted to skip the salad. He had the 8 oz. filet mignon, which is still his favorite steak in town. I know, right? Steak at a seafood joint. I had the tilapia (since mahi-mahi was not an option). It was good, but I couldn’t finish it so I had to take the rest of it home.

Another thing that Brian loves at Bonefish is their creme brulee. He doesn’t generally like creme brulee, but he loves theirs for some unexplainable reason. He says it’s something about the texture. It’s smooth and not custardy like other creme brulees.

We spent most of the day on Sunday at mom and dad’s house in Derby. Dad recently bought a new grill and we figured that we could break it in. We grilled some burgers, hotdogs, and pork chops. We almost grilled some corn too, but stopped ourselves before we got too carried away.

I think the best part of the day was being able to spend time with family and friends. Tita Sol came and hung out for a while. The Cannadys came so we got to see the adorable boys. We got to meet some new people also: Armando and Jennifer. They are moving here from Louisiana so that she can pursue a doctorate in Human Factors Psychology at Wichita State University.

My mom is like the unofficial Filipino ambassador of Wichita. Seriously. We are always meeting new people through her. We got to learn a little bit about Jennifer and Armando. As it turns out, they are from the same island that we’re from in the Philippines (Negros) and they were married on August 9, 2008 so our wedding anniversaries are only one day apart. Isn’t that a weird coincidence?

We checked on the in-laws house and cats on the way home, and then also stopped by to help grandma with her email. She couldn’t figure out how to close her Outlook Express window.

We ended the day by having ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery and found out some great news. Il Vicino will be opening where Harold’s used to be at Bradley Fair. This means Brian and I will no longer have to drive downtown for pizza. Hurrah!

Next weekend will be another busy one since we will be at the Midwest Rockfest all day on Saturday and then we plan to spend Sunday morning at Tanganyika Wildlife Park. I am so excited!

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Our Busy Saturday

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Ching under Family.

We went to visit Tita Sol and Molly on Saturday. It was a crazy busy day.

Since we were already at the West side of town, Brian and I decided to have lunch at Bamboo Stix. After that, we picked up Sangria ingredients at Wal-Mart (for Kurt-a-palooza) and dropped them off at our house on our way to Brian’s grandparents to setup their new “old” computer.

Brian’s mom recently got a new laptop, an Inspiron 15 just like Brian’s except she got a red one. (I think Dell owes us because all three of us got new laptops within the span of a few weeks.) Anyway, since she got her new computer and the grandparents’ computer was ancient (it was our old desktop that we gave them after buying a new desktop several years ago), Brian’s parents decided to give Donna’s old desktop to the grandparents.

Mainly, we just had to replace the CPU because our old monitor was 19″ and it still works great. So we were over there on Saturday afternoon making sure that grandma had access to all of the things she needs: internet, email, and games basically. She was super happy that we set her default email font for sending and receiving emails to 18 pt size, that way she doesn’t have to strain her sight when reading emails.

When we were restoring all of her favorites/bookmarks, we went to the Wymore Arbor State web site, which is the web site of the Nebraska paper that they like to read. We all got a kick out of the Braille on the screen. That’s really helpful. LOL.

If they really want to cater to the vision impaired, they just need to change their font size to 18 pt or higher. Speaking of, grandma has really gotten good use of the special keyboard that we got her several Christmases ago. The keys have extra large letters printed on them.