Archive for "Family"
Dinner and Bowling
Posted on June 23, 2007 by Ching under Family, Flickr.
Dinner and bowling tonight was a lot of fun. It turned out better than I expected.
Last month, Brian and I received a free dinner certificate from Kobe. It was addressed to Brian for his birthday. Neither of us could figure out how they got his information. I mean, they knew his name, date of birth, and our address — that’s a lot of detail considering that it has been a few years since we’ve been there.
When Jen was over picking up some clothes last weekend, I mentioned to her that Brian and I would be dining at Kobe’s sometime to redeem his free birthday dinner certificate. She thought it would be a great opportunity for everyone to get together. Mom had mentioned getting together for some bowling so we all agreed to do it on the same night.
Before we knew it, there was twelve of us going to dinner. Brian’s parents came, Chad, Ray, Jen, Jan, Carla, Paul, mom, and dad all came. I was actually amazed that we got dad to come out. He usually doesn’t ever leave the house. Dinner was great. The food was pretty good and our chef wasn’t bad either. Probably the only thing that could’ve made it better was if I were able to drink. 😉
Jan didn’t go to the Alley with the rest of us because one of the puppy buyers was potentially coming over that evening to get Tips and Walnut. Donna and Carla decided not to bowl, but the rest of us did. I was actually surprised that dad decided to bowl. He gave up bowling a couple of years ago. I guess he couldn’t just sit and watch. He rented shoes and found himself a house ball. It was fun. Dad had the highest score on the first game (amazing considering he was using a house ball), and Ray had the highest score on the second game. Ray almost bowled a 200, but even though he didn’t (he ended up scoring a 184) he still smoked everyone.
I didn’t do too badly considering it has been at least three years since I bowled last. My first game was a 134 and my second game was a 154, so I bowled about my average. Mom is right, you don’t really lose it. It’s just like riding a bike.
I think I’d like to get into bowling again. When I get out of school and I have more spare time, maybe. It would be fun to join a league… Or maybe just bowl for fun more often than once every three years. I probably won’t be going to the Alley for bowling, though. Their rates are much higher than everyone else’s.
Anyway, it’s a thought.
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Celebrating with Family
Posted on June 17, 2007 by Ching under Family, Flickr.
Here are some select pictures from our family gathering yesterday. We were celebrating Brian’s birthday, his grandmother’s birthday, and Father’s Day all in one. You may view all the photos here.
Everyone met up at B&C BBQ for lunch. Everyone being Brian’s grandparents, Brian’s parents, Chad, Brian and I. Mom and dad came, too. So that was nice. It usually takes an act of God to get dad out of the house. I’m really glad they could make it.
We gave everyone their gifts which Brian and I purchased and wrapped almost a month ago. We went the easy route this time and just got movies for all the dads. We got Happy Feet for grandpa, Smokin’ Aces for Dave, and The Greatest Game Ever Played for my dad. Since everyone is getting into golf, Logan and Jen included, we figured it would be appropriate. Plus, it is such a great movie. (more…)
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Salina Road Trip Recap
Posted on June 2, 2007 by Ching under Family, Flickr, Food and Drink, Travel.
Brian’s parents wanted to celebrate their 34th wedding anniversary by driving to Cozy’s in Salina and invited Brian and I to tag along. Now if you tell someone that you are driving 3 hours to eat some burgers, with gas at over $3 a gallon, they’re going to think you are freakin’ nuts. This is pretty much the reaction that Brian and I received from folks we told about our road trip. Our Cozy Inn burgers, as good as they were, have got to be the most expensive burgers I’ve ever eaten. Good thing they were on mom and dad. ;-P
Of course, I managed to talk everyone into checking out some of the Salina tourist traps to make the most out of the drive. No one believed me that there were things to do in Salina. Just type “things to do in salina” on Google and you’ll find several suggestions.
The three places we visited were the Smoky Hill Winery, the Smoky Hill Museum, and the Central Mall aquarium. The trip was loads of fun.
I think Smoky Hill Vineyards and Winery was my favorite part of the trip. We got to sample a variety of different wines. We also walked around the property a bit and checked out the vineyards. Mom and dad bought a couple of bottles of wine to take home with them.
The Smoky Hill Museum was really cool also. They had some really neat exhibits. I love the antique stuff and the reproductions.
Central Mall is just like any other mall, except it has a really neat aquarium by the food court. The aquarium is home to several species of fish indigenous to Kansas. The mall also has plenty of areas for children. It is very kid-friendly unlike some of the malls we have in Wichita. The stores are nothing spectacular, though. I think people mostly just go there to hang out.
Anyway, we had a really nice time on our day trip. We also had a nice treat on the way to Salina. We happened by the Black Kettle Festival in Moundridge. We stopped to check out the antique planes. Of course, I took the opportunity to take some photos. Overall, I think everyone had a great time.
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Advocate for Unaccountability
Posted on April 17, 2007 by Brian under Family, Games, Life, News.
OK, I know I don’t Blog much but every now and then I come across something that I just can’t keep my mouth shut about.
If you have been under a rock I’ll fill you in on the latest happenings so that my rant will make since. The other day a Student of the Virginia Tech School woke up and decided that it would be ok to shoot 33 students. That’s the short and skinny of it and that’s all you really need to know for my rant to make since. So here’s my rant!
Jack Thompson one of the largest protestors of video game violence and video game sex is claiming that this incident in Virginia is caused by video game violence. That this grown man (I consider anyone 18 or older grown enough to know right from wrong) played some video game like “GTA”, “Bully” or “The Warriors” (yes this was modeled after the 70’s film of the same name) and then went insane and shot up all of these people. Here is one point that good-ol Jack seems to forget! If the shooter seriously was affected by video games then he wouldn’t have shot himself. That’s right; you can’t commit suicide in video games. Instead he would have run out of the building in front of all the cops and started shooting at them thinking that he still has the ability to start the level over again, only to realize in the last minutes of his life that he is not in a video game. But these thoughts do not come to Jack, no! Instead Jack blames the video game industries and the distributors of the video games for contributing to the violence that he feels is caused by video games.
On Jacks web site he posts that he has tried to sue video game companies (and other various companies that he feels is offensive) for too much violence and too much sex. He admits in his site that he had sued Rappers; video game companies like RockStar Games and has yet to win a case. He goes on to show that other cases that he has fought for like the Columbine High School and Washington Sniper Shootings have been dismissed as well. He even goes as far as stating that the “God Mode” cheats available in some games that make you invincible lead to extreme aggression and violence. He even states that he uses a “Games Made Me Do It” defense when defending violent murders. Here is a direct quote from his site.
   “Jack is also one of the foremost proponents of the “Video Games Made Me do it” defense, which has so far failed to convince any judges. This defense is employed in an attempt to lessen the sentence of violent murderers, shifting the blame over to video game makers and distributors.”
How messed up do you have to be to try to get Violent Murders off and free by blaming video game companies. Why are we not blaming the murders for the events that they caused, what happened to taking responsibility for your actions? What happened to accountability for ones own mistakes? What happened to blaming the parents for the improper upbringing or telling the world that he was a good kid but fell into the wrong crowd. (more…)
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Mid-Kansas MVPA Web Site
Posted on April 10, 2007 by Ching under Family, Flickr, School, Toys, Web.
Sorry I have been out of commission lately. My free time has been spent working on the new MKMVPA club web site. It now looks cleaner and simpler. It is much easier to navigate also. I moved it to WordPress instead of Blogger and the layout is just a standard WordPress template so it is pretty low maintenance. I like the look overall. Brian is not too fond of it because the old web site was his design creation. So naturally he liked the old one better. I liked it as well but I think the members found it to confusing in terms of navigation. The color scheme was a little too dark for my taste also.
Of course, this is the most stressful time of the semester as well. We have several projects due and final exams are just around the corner. Work has been pretty hectic, too. Most days leave me completely exhausted. I’m actually supposed to be working on one of my many class projects right now but I thought I would check in since it has been a while.
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