Archive for the year 2006
Anniversary Recap
Posted on August 14, 2006 by Ching under Flickr, Life.
Our fourth anniversary was spent at Harrah’s this year. For the most part, Brian and I try to do something different each year. This year we decided that we wanted to do a real-life, honest-to-goodness poker tournament.
This trip was planned around a 3:00 pm poker tournament Harrah’s. We were really worried that we wouldn’t make it in time, but we did. Brian and I paid the $45 + $5 entry fee and the rest is history.
Well, my entry fee was history anyway. I got knocked out within the first hour. It was very disappointing. Brian saved the day by winning second place, though. It was awesome! At one point, I actually had a gang of people (other players who had gotten knocked out from the tournament) cheering for him.
So here’s quick recap of past anniversary celebrations..
Last year we spent two nights at the Historic Campbell Castle.
Got a couples massage at Healing Waters, went to the Wichita Art Museum, took pictures at the frisbee-golf park, played some poker the Loft and had dinner at Granite City and Sumo among other things.
In 2004 we stayed at Country Club Plaza. We did some major shopping. I think this was my very last big shopping spree (brian lost his job not too long after). We enjoyed food at PF Chang’s, Cheesecake Factory, Kona and Reverse.
The year before that Brian and I had dinner at Red Rock, went dancing and stopped by Priscilla’s for some new toys.
So there you have it. The last four years of anniversaries, Brian and Ching style.
We had initially planned on going on another cruise for our fifth anniversary but now I’m rethinking the whole thing. I’d rather not go in July or August because there will be way too many children on the ship. I’m thinking September might be a better month. However, I’ll be in school next year.
So we are thinking of probably hitting Vegas in August 2007 and saving the cruise for September 2008. Hopefully Brian will win us some money in Vegas so we can pay for our cruise in 2008…
Yeah, right! Better start saving now. =P
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When Bad Things Happen to Good People
Posted on August 13, 2006 by Ching under Life.
It seems Sunny has finally bit the big one; and at the most inopportune time to boot. Brian had been having problems with Sunny for some time. It came to a head on Tuesday when he decided to drive to McDonald’s for lunch. Sunny choked in the middle of the drive-thru. Brian had to push him out of the drive and into a stall to abate the hungry, irritated patrons. He had to walk back to work and everything; a lot more than he bargained for.
Thankfully he was able to hitch a ride home from one of his coworkers. I wish I would’ve been able to help. Alas, I was working the late shift at work and didn’t get off until 8 pm. After a failed attempt to tow the car home, Brian finally called a tow truck. They waited for over an hour and the truck never came. I finally got home from work and they were still waiting.
Frustrated, Brian asked me to call another tow truck. As luck would have it, I was able to get a tow truck to come in 15 minutes and at less cost. The company that Brian originally called quoted $60 and the tow company I called only charged $45. Besides that, Statefarm reimbursed us for the towing so we weren’t really out anything.
Of course, there is still the matter of the car. How to get Sunny running again. After replacing the battery, Brian and his dad have isolated the problem. We need to replace the alternator, but we can’t do it. So we have to take Sunny to Tracy’s for some major surgery. That will cost an arm and a leg, I’m sure. This time insurance won’t cover it so we’re on our own. I’m not looking forward to the cost, but I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to come through this alright. Everything has a way of working out so long as you just stay positive.
Anyway, Sunny has been through a lot as you can see from the slideshow above (the car wreck of 1999). Sunny has driven to quite a few places in her eventful ten years of life. I’m sure we’ll be able to survive this and get at least two more years.
Hang in there, Sunny!
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Winning, Anger and the Crack Addicted Chimps!
Posted on August 13, 2006 by Brian under Family, Games, Life.
On Thursday August 10 my wife and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary. We had decided that we were going to take a trip to Kansas City and play in a poker tourney their and stay at Harrahs Casino. We have been to Kansas City several times but not to this end, normally we stay around the plaza and don’t venture farther than that. This time we had to go to North KC which took us thru a totally different Highway System. Let me start here and say that the KC Highway System had to be designed by Crack Addicted, ADD inflicted Chimpanzees! It is the most insane thing that I have ever seen in my life. We were following directions that were given to us by Google Maps. At one point it told us to look for the I35, I70, and I210 exchange. So we did. Come to find out this is an intersection where ALL THREE highways intersect into one freaking point and continue for several miles. Then they all branch out again but not in the normal fashion (oh no!). Instead for example, if you entered from the right which was I35 you now had to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get all the way over to the left to catch I35 again. If you entered from the left then you had to cross over to the center and so on. Then there were the on ramps! These were not normal on ramps, these things stretched on for miles and seemed to twist and turn and contort so that you thought you were on a roller coaster not an on ramp. At one point I felt like throwing my hands thru the sun roof and yelling WEEEEE as we went around the on ramp. Then we get to the final annoyance of the
KC Highwaysystem, the signs. At one time we were following the signs to get back to the highway when all of a sudden the highway sign that we were following just disappeared. We are in the center lane of rush hour traffic and we are completely lost. Our highway just vanished and I could not see any options for another turn. I ended up going around the block to only run into another sign for our highway. We were completely dumbfounded. We HATE the KC highway system. Needless to say that after that we did not leave the hotel for the rest of the trip.
As for our poker tourney that is a story in itself. So let’s get started at the beginning. We get their and get our entry paid and find out the seating and rules for this tourney. Ching and I were hopeful to win but were realistic in the thought that we probably would not as this was a new experience for us (playing in a tourney of this magnitude around players that come here to make a living off of this). We both get seated and give each other good luck kisses and start. After about an hour I look over to see Ching walking toward me. I could not believe she was knocked out so soon. I thought to myself this is incredible, she is by far a better player than me and she is already out. It’s just a matter of time before I go out. I managed to get luck on my first 2 hands and get high card Ace for the win followed by pocket Aces for the second win. After that everything went dead and I barely played a hand. I told Ching to stay close so if I got knocked out I wouldn’t have to go far to find her. Break came and I decided to see what she was doing. There was no cell coverage in the building so I had to locate her the old fashioned way, by using my dammed eyes (what is this world coming to). I only had ten minutes and as time went by I got increasingly frustrated and worried then it just turned to anger. My ten minutes were up and I was so pissed that I decided that I was just going to dump the game hunt her down and tell her just how pissed I was. I ended up getting the big blind on the second hand returning from break. I didn’t have many chips so I went all in. One guy asked if I was going to look at my cards and I looked at him and said with a resounding tone “Nope!†This sparked several callers at the table and several worried people that eventually folded. All in all I had 4 callers and the other three could bet. One guy didn’t have much in chips left and after the flop he went all in as well. One guy folded and the other called. The 2 that were still able to bet turned their cards over and the dealer laid out the turn and the river. The short stacked guy lost to a pair of aces, I figured I was done and turned over my cards to discover that I had king jack. This was great because the table had 2 jacks on the board which meant I got three of a kind and won the bigger pot. I looked over at the guy that won with the aces (who was also the guy that asked if I was going to look at my cards) and he was glancing at me with an almost disgusted look on his face. Like he should have won just because I didn’t not look or something. This kind of put him on tilt because after a few hands he was gone at the table and they condensed us. I had 4 more all-in’s and survived. It was an incredible run. Top six paid out and I turned to my wife and said “Watch me get knocked out on the bubble!†I was the target, I was the short stack and everyone wanted me dead. Every time I went all in I was sure I was gone but every time I pulled back more and more chips. There were 10, then 8, then 7 then all of a sudden I was in the money. I couldn’t believe it. Then all of a sudden it was 5, then 4, then 3! I looked at this one guy next to me as my wife is cheerleading in the background and he says “your like that dammed hang-nail that won’t go awayâ€. I looked back and said to him “no, I’m more like that last cock roach that you have sprayed smashed and poisoned and he still won’t dieâ€. He laughed and every time I won a hand after that he would turn to me and say “Why won’t you just dieâ€. I turned to the tournament director and asked him “How much does 3rd get†(thinking to myself that third is better than nothing). He tells me the denomination and no sooner did I say that, the guy to my left gets knocked out and it’s down to 2 people. I immediately turn to the director and ask again “How much does 2nd place getâ€. This got lots of laughs and I continued till I was finally knocked out in 2nd place. I couldn’t believe it. I came in to this game as the under-dog beating out 38 other players to take home 2nd place and $414.00. I was amazed and I don’t think it really hit me till I got back to the room. Ching thinks that it was my pissed off bought that got me thru it and wants to start pissing me off more before we play poker now. I told her I would rather not. I immediately called my folks who were also amazed. I mean I never win anything at poker, the occasional home game but nothing major like this. It just show that you can never underestimate that desperate cock roach, other wise he will come back to life and take it all.
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Getting Lucky
Posted on August 9, 2006 by Ching under Life.
This is a repost of an old journal entry dated January 7, 1999 originally posted on Chingay.com.. I’m reposting it in honor of my mom who recently received a speeding ticket while driving through Eastborough.
Mom is the last person I’d expect to get a speeding ticket. After all, she drives like a grandma! Oh, wait! She IS a grandma!
Those Eastborough cops are relentless. Sometimes we get lucky. Sometimes we don’t. Anyway, mom, this is for you.
Guess what. I got pulled over by a cop on my way home a couple of nights ago. It was horrible. I wasn’t even wearing my seatbelt. I never do. I know I should, but it’s soo restrictive specially when you’re wearing a heavy coat. And you know how I like to sing at the top of my lungs and dance around (as though I’m a lunatic just released from an asylum suffering a seizure) when I’m alone in the car? The safety belt, while it’s for my own benefit, doesn’t really allow for a lot of mobility and just gets in the way.
I didn’t even see the police car. He was driving North-bound on Rock Road, while I was driving South to my house. I was on the right-most lane and a bit distracted by the beauty of the full moon and the clear evening sky. Grooving to the music of Camp Lo, I wouldn’t even have noticed him had he not made the swiftest u-turn I’ve ever seen done in my entire life. All I could manage was an Oh, shit! under my breath and immediately, as sort of a reflex action, I turned down the volume of the stereo. But no, I didn’t remember to nonchallantly put my seatbelt on. As I rarely put it on, I didn’t think I was capable of inconspicuously putting it on. I just thought, Fuck it.
I slowed down, of course. Having him chase me all over Derby wouldn’t help me in the least– that I knew for sure. So within seconds, he was right behind me with the colorful lights atop his vehicle whirling away amidst the darkness that engulfed us. I pulled over off to the side, on the gravel road-shoulder, a few yards from the 71st and Rock intersection.
It took him a while to get out of his car and knock on my window. I think they do that on purpose, just to rattle your nerves. Finally, he came. I rolled down my window (I know, I don’t got power windows, doesn’t that just suck?) and squinted at his flashlight. He told me that he clocked me at seventy on a fifty-five (which I doubt is true– I didn’t think I was going seventy– I mean, I was going fast but not seventy– it might have seemed seventy from his perspective because he was, after all, driving toward me– but I didn’t argue– it would do very little good) and routinely asked for my driver’s license, which I cooperative handed him– after I fumbled through my purse for a minute or so (after I did the 32 flavors wallet project, I just hastily tossed everything into my bag– who would’ve thought I’d get pulled over?).
He looks at it, then looks at me. He begins the standard interrogation with, Do you still live on Valley Stream Drive? I nod, hoping and praying he wouldn’t check the trunk and find Barry’s body. Just kidding. Forget that last part. I just nodded. And no, I didn’t kill Barry. Although I wish he would quit stalking me already. He’s like, I know your mom. Right then I realized, he had been one of the cops that helped my parents out during that ordeal with Jen. I think he might have received a Christmas basket (you know, one of those food baskets with salamis and cheese and stuff? those things are not cheap) as a token of their gratitude.
Do you know that this is a 115-dollar ticket? he asked, glancing at my driver’s license in his hand another time and then added, What am I gonna do? He looked pensive for a moment, considering everything, and proposed a deal. He told me that he would just give me a warning ticket– I wouldn’t have to pay anything, it’s just a little piece of paper to remind me to drive safer next time, observe the posted speed limit and always wear my seatbelt. Man, was I relieved. Whew! Thank gawd, for that Christmas basket. I don’t think I could afford to pay another goddamn fine.
Am I lucky or what? I could not believe it. I was sure he would write the ticket, too. I mean, just in the last three months Jen got three written against her. They were all over a hundred bucks, too.
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Bebot’s Thousand-Mile Check-Up
Posted on August 2, 2006 by Ching under Life.
Speaking of firsts.. Brian took Bebot to his thousand-mile check up the other day. I worked night shift that day so Brian brought me Chipotle for dinner. I don’t know what I will do without Brian. He takes such good care of me.
Yesterday he went to Books-to-Go to pick up my books for fall. Then he asked what I wanted for dinner. I wasn’t hungry so I told him to bring two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for the CSRs. He really did. On top of that, he took Bebot to the gas station to fill up the tank. I think it’s been over three years since I gassed up my own car. Isn’t he just wonderful?
Brian is this beautiful man who takes care of me, runs errands, puts up with all my crap and crankiness, listens to all my woes (and bad-beat stories), laughs at my stupid jokes.. The list goes on. Oh, and did I mention to this day, after being together for seven years, he still opens my car door for me?
Although, he quit doing it for a while after we got Bebot. I found out that the only reason he did it was because we didn’t have keyless entry and he always had to unlock me door for me. After riding together a few times, I made a comment about how I really missed him opening my door like a gentleman. Now I realize why I don’t like keyless entry.
That was all it took, though. Now he’s back to opening my car door and letting me in like a gentleman, keyless entry or not. It’s nice to know that he still cares what I think.
Speaking of things that haven’t changed.. We still talk in bed. You know, when you’re laying there getting ready to zonk out? We like to chat about stupid stuff. That’s our time. In fact, we did this very thing last night.
He was yapping about something. I can’t remember what. I was tired, having just arrived home from work because I had to work the evening shift again. Anyway, we were laying in bed, holding each other. He was in the middle of a story when I suddenly felt nostalgic.
I go, “You know, I remember us having these talks in bed when we first started seeing each other. I used to think to myself, I wonder when he’ll stop yapping and when we’ll start having sex. That’s kind of how I feel right now.”
He started laughing. He’s like, “You can’t even keep your eyes open!”
“You know, baby, it’s not my eyes that need to be open for sex. As long as my legs are open we’re good to go.”
See I’m hilarious even when I’m half-asleep.
Anyway, I won’t elaborate on the story further. You all know what happened next. Needless to say, we both went to bed happy and content. The end.
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