Archive for "Date Ideas"
Ching’s 1st Time at Putt-Putt
Posted on August 1, 2010 by Ching under Date Ideas, Games, Things to Do.
I’m experiencing a lot of firsts in my 30s. I won’t list everything that I’ve done for the first time, because I’ll just bore you to death. Suffice it to say, I’m feeling and experiencing things I’ve never experienced before. And I thought my life would get more and more dull as the years pass. Definitely not the case.
A few years ago I got to experience going to the drive-in for the first time. It was a really neat experience. I’ve decided that I really like going to the drive-in. Athough, I find that I have to ignore all the other people because some people are strange.
The other night while we were there we saw a hefty woman wearing a cami and lounge pants. This wouldn’t have been so bad if her cami covered her stomach, but the cami proved to be too short and looked like a half-top on her. Her large belly was hanging out and made her stick out like a sore thumb. She could not be missed in the sea of people. Brian pointed her out to me when she walked by our car to go to the concession stand. I had to look away out of embarrassment. I was embarrassed for her. I would have wrapped up in a blanket or something.
“Maybe she’s pregnant,” I told Brian.
“That woman is not pregnant!” he insisted. “Maybe she was pregnant at some point. She definitely isn’t right now.”
Naturally, when Cory and April, and Jay and Becca showed up, they all pointed her out as well. You couldn’t miss her. It makes me think that if we started a People of Starlite web site, it would be serious competition for peopleofwalmart.com. LOL. I think the drive-in customer demographic is same as that of the Kansas State Fair. No offense to all the normal people who go to both events. Just sayin’…
Brian loves people watching. I think that is his favorite part of going to the drive-in. I like it for the value. You can’t beat three movies for $8. And, with the air mattress and several pillows, I can be completely comfortable. I know of only one place where you can lie down (somewhat) during the movie — the Director’s Suite at Old Town Warren. Also, the temperature was absolutely perfect the other night. We didn’t even need our blankets (we brought several because we’re nerds).
Anyway, I really wanted to tell you about my first putt-putt experience. It was still really hot at 5 PM but we had a lot of fun. Chad met us there so the three of us hung out (Jay and Becca couldn’t make it). As luck would have it, the Sheriff’s Department was doing a fundraiser: unlimited rides and miniature golf until 10 PM for $15 per person. What a deal! The only things excluded were the driving range, the batting cage, and arcade games.
Brian, Chad and I got to play both courses of miniature golf, ride go karts, and bumper boats. It would have cost a lot more to do all of those activities. I totally sucked at putt-putt, but it was so much fun. All though I came in last every time (Brian won the first round and Chad won the second), I would go again. Practice makes perfect, right?
Since it was still hot outside and we were hungry, we decided to take a dinner break at Fox & Hound. After dinner we returned for more putt-putt. The temperature had dropped some so it wasn’t as hot, but the mosquitoes were out. I got ate up pretty bad. Here are some of the pictures that we took yesterday.
By 9 PM we decided to call it quits and head back to our place for RB2. We evetually got bored with RB2 and moved on to Tekken, but Brian and Chad quickly got tired of me kicking their butts and wouldn’t let me play with them anymore. =P
Anyway, putt-putt was pretty fun. I’d probably go again before summer is over. All in all, I had a fantastic Saturday.
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2010 Bradley Fair Summer Concerts Week 2
Posted on June 12, 2010 by Ching under Date Ideas, Things to Do.
Unlike the Symphony in the Flint Hills, the Bradley Fair summer concerts are free and only a couple of minutes drive from our place. During the first week of the 2010 concert series, it was just Brian and I with a couple of sandwiches, some Pringles, and our water bottles. We rode our bikes to Bradley Fair that day and after having to bike home in the dark that night after the concert, we decided that probably wasn’t the best idea. (Note to self: invest in headlights for our bikes.)
This time around, we brought a cooler for our Pepsi, deli spirals (Sam’s Club), water, blue chips, salsa, spinach dip, plastic cups, paper plates, several picnic blankets, our folding chairs and on and on and on.. We weren’t sure who was going to show up and we wanted to be prepared for anything (or anyone). Well, actually, there were two people we knew for sure would be there. Brian made a date with Don, someone he made friends with the week before. Brian is probably the most social anti-social guy I’ve ever met. Seriously.
Don and Carol are the nicest people. We agreed to meet by the same tree as the previous week. They showed up as promised and brought Don’s delicious homemade beef jerky. It was very good, but a little too spicy for my taste. =P Brian and Armando seemed to really like it.
Speaking of who showed up, our group got bigger this time around. Jen and Armando came and shared some mochi ice cream with us. I got to try the mango flavor. It was yummy! Thanks, Jen and Armando!
Jay and Becca came out again and joined us also. They didn’t keep us up till midnight this time, though. Thank, God! =P
Jay eating a mochi ice cream ball.
He’s the most entertaining eater ever.
Ronnie and April came out and brought Addison also.
Addison loved watching the geese. It had been a while since I’d seen her so she was very shy toward me. She was hugging on Jay and Becca and I was jealous because I wanted some hugs, too. =P
We had a blast on Thursday. You all definitely need to come out and join us. I think the grills (Don and Jay both have “paper grills”) are getting busted out next week.
P.S. Don’t forget the OFF! Your best bet is probably Walgreens, if you’re coupon users like Brian and me. If you don’t like using coupons and have a Sam’s Club membership, you can get a fan unit and four refills for only $10.48! If you’re not a coupon user and don’t have a Sam’s card, you’ll just have to find a good sale somewhere. =P LOL.
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Bradley Fair Outdoor Concert
Posted on June 5, 2010 by Ching under Date Ideas, Things to Do.
As luck would have it, we had a beautiful day on Thursday. It was a little hot in the early evening, but as the sun went down, the temperature was perfect. We thought the concert started at 6:30 pm (I’m not sure why I had that time in mind). The performance didn’t actually start until 7:30 pm, so we were an hour early. Typical because we are nerds and are usually thirty minutes to an hour early to everything. =P
It worked out great because we were one of the first ones there. We got the perfect spot across the water from the concert area. It wasn’t so perfect when the sun was still up because it wasn’t as shady as some of the other areas. It was absolutely pefect when the sun was gone, though.
There was a small tree next to us which was the perfect place to rest our bikes. Yup. We were uber nerds and rode our bikes out to Bradley Fair that night.
Brian read his book while we were waiting for the concert to begin. I took pictures, as always.
We got to meet mom and Tita Esper’s friend Lily, who set up right next to us. She gave us Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Yum! Brian got Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavor and I got Cherry Garcia. These things are neat because they’re the perfect size and they come with a spoon. We also got to have some coffee-flavored Dove mini ice cream bars. Lily was generous and super nice. I think even if we didn’t know the same people, she still would have shared her treats with us.
Brian also made friends with this man sitting next to us. He’s a huge classic car afficionado so he and Brian talked about cars most of the evening. He and his wife seemed like good people. I just love all the nice, wonderful people you meet at the Bradley Fair outdoor concerts.
Brian and I decided that we will drive next week and bring goodies to share with the people around us. Also, biking back to our place in the evening was not much fun. That drive in Wilson Estates is quite dark at night and it’s very hard to see. If we ever venture out biking that late in the evening again, we’ll need some headlights for our bikes. I think what made biking back worse was this guy in a Sandals vehicle kept harassing us. He yelled obsecenities at us almost the entire way home. What a weirdo! At one point this crazy whack-job even jumped out of the shadows to startle us. It worked. He scared the bejeezus of out me and I about fell off my bike. I managed to stay on and just kept pedaling my buns off. LOL.
I’m just kidding about the pedophile who was following us home. It was actually Jay. He and Becca joined us at the concert after they finished their mystery shop at Granite City. They kept us up past our bed time. =P
All jokes aside, we had a really good time on Thursday night. Next week will be even better. We will bring lots of food and goodies. We will bring our folding lawn chairs and some extra blankets. We will bring a cooler full of drinks to enjoy throughout the evening. We will bring Citronella or OFF to keep the bugs away. Since we plan on driving, we can bring a ton more stuff. And, best of all, now that we know when the music begins, we’ll try not to be so early.
What about you guys? Wanna join us? See you next Thursday!
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I Bike Douglas
Posted on May 23, 2010 by Ching under Date Ideas, Things to Do, Wishlist.
Brian and I almost didn’t make the I Bike Douglas event today. As we were about to leave, we realized that my bike’s back tire was out. Brian suggested that we stop by Bicycle Exchange on the way. They have a location on Central, right by the Canal Route exit.
We had to wait a while for the tire to be fixed, but it wasn’t too long. While we were waiting, Brian checked out some bikes. I think he wants a new one. After talking about it, though, I think he will be fine with a new bicycle seat and handle bar.
I love that Brian is just as logical and pragmatic as I am. Replacing the handle bar and seat should be pretty easy. Besides that, it’s way cheaper than having to buy a new bike altogether. Although, he did find this one bike that he liked. I just have to keep him from buying it. =P
Since we had to make a pit stop at Bicycle Exchange, we were too late for the 2:30 pm bike tour. The lady at the WDDC office was nice enough to tell us where there were going though, so we could try to catch up. The group was easy enough to find. You don’t often see a large pack of bicyclists riding around downtown. We caught up with them at Century II.
Here’s our tour guide being interviewed by a local news station.
This is me with my 15+ year old bike. It’s the same one I’ve had since high school. I should probably buy a new bike, but I’m too cheap. Besides, my bike still rides fine (except for the seat, which is a bit uncomfortable), and it doesn’t look run down because I hardly ever rode it. I think this is the first time that Brian and I have gone biking in over five years.
The second bike tour at 4:00 pm took us through some interesting alleys. The theme of the bike tour was photography, so we had ample opportunity to take photos at each stop. (I didn’t bring a real camera. I just used my phone instead.)
Thanks to Chad Molen for taking this photo of me taking a photo of the fire escape.
Here’s the fire escape photo I took. This is my favorite out of several tries.
Since this is the first mention of Chad Molen in the blog, here’s a proper introduction. Chad Molen is Brian’s coworker and friend at Viega. I think he used to be over customer service. I’m not sure what his current position/job is, though. The only thing I know is that he seems to be into a lot of the same things Brian and I are into.
One of the perks of participating in these sorts of events (for me) is meeting new people. Here’s a photo of Brian chatting it up with one of our fellow bikers.
I really enjoyed the bike tours. I would be too afraid to ride around downtown otherwise. You’re talking about someone who is afraid to cross the street walking, let alone doing it while on a bike. There were a couple of times when we were riding on street with the other vehicles that I was afraid I’d get run over. There was comfort in riding in a pack, though. Brian pointed out, they’d have to run everyone else over as well. That’s highly unlikely.
I’d like to get into biking more so that I can be more comfortable and unafraid. But then, I’ll probably need a new bike. My old bike is good for occasional biking. If we go bike riding a couple of times a week then I’ll want an Electra Townie bike so that I can ride upright, rather than bent over like on my bike. It’s a lot easier to enjoy the scenery when you’re riding upright. Actually, it would be cool to have two bikes: one for cardio and one for leisure/sight-seeing. Maybe after we get a house and have ample garage space and I have extra money (that last one is the biggie; I’m just way too frugal to buy a bike when I have a perfectly good one that I can ride around in; I might do it if I had some extra cash, though) I can get me my dream bike.
For now, a new bike seat should suffice. My butt really hurts from all the riding around we did yesterday — one of the downsides of not riding regularly. I’ve been told that the more you bike, the more your butt gets used to it.
What about you guys? Do you enjoy riding bicycles? Where do you go biking? Let’s get together and go biking sometime!
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September 26 is Museum Day
Posted on September 14, 2009 by Ching under Date Ideas, Things to Do, Wishlist.
Wichita State University’s Lake Afton Public Observatory (LAPO) will be participating in Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day. You know what that means? Cheap date!
I’m not keeping up with the Cheap Dates Blog anymore. It’s pretty much abandoned. I will continue to share my brilliant cheap date ideas here, though.
It’s a real shame because I think this is the day that we’re playing paintball. I’d never been to LAPO before and this would’ve been an excellent opportunity to go check it out. I guess LAPO isn’t going anywhere so I can check it out at some point. I could even wait until next year. LOL.
Anyway, go here to print your Museum Day admission card and here for a list of museums participating in this year’s event.
These are the placed I’d want to check out around these parts:
I’d been to all of these except for LAPO and the Cosmosphere. I’m still hoping that Brian will take me on a date to both places at some point before we’re too old to appreciate it. My eyesight continues to fail and get worse each day. Maybe we’ll get to go before the year is up.
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