Rotary Club of Andover
Posted on August 21, 2015 by Ching under Community, Things to Do.
Decided to join the Rotary Club of Andover. Heard about Rotary Clubs for years but hadn’t joined until now. I’m grateful to my coworker David for inviting me.
I met the current district governor David Yoder at our meeting a couple of weeks ago. He gave me a bandana and a couple of of pins. One is our district pin and the other is the “Be a Gift to the World” pin. It’s our theme this year.
The Rotary Club of Andover is part of Rotary International, an international service organization whose purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. The district governor gave us a really good definition of a Rotarian during his presentation.
What is a Rotarian?
A Rotarian is a person who…
Digs wells from which he/she will never drink;
Vaccinates children he/she will never meet;
Restores eyesight for those he/she will never see;
Builds housing he/she will never live in;
Educates children he/she will never know;
Plants trees he/she will never sit under;
Feeds hungry people regardless of race or politics;
Makes crawlers into walkers half-way around the world;
Knows real happiness that, as Albert Einstein once said,
“Can only be found by helping others.”
The “service above self” philosophy really appealed to my passion for community service and volunteerism so it made sense for me to join the club. Though the Wichita Rotary Club probably would have made more sense because the meetings are closer to work, I chose to join the club in Andover because of its small size and proximity to my home. The Wichita club already has hundreds of members. The Andover club has a more intimate feel and I think I can really make a difference there.
First thing on the agenda is to help sell tickets for our annual fundraising event, Haus of Brews. Tickets are $25 each right now but will go up to $30 after September 11. All proceeds go toward funding our club’s community service projects. Contact me if you’d like to attend. We’d love to see you there.
If you’d like to learn more about Rotary, let me know. You can be my guest at our next meeting. We love having guests. Before I go, here’s a quote from Rotary International president-elect K. Ravi Ravindran:
When you gift your time in service… you touch lives.
When you gift your resources… you uplift lives.
When you gift both with love & compassion…
YOU, yourself, become a gift to the world.
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Leadership Wichita 2014
Posted on August 21, 2015 by Ching under Community, Leadership, Things to Do.
Last year I completed Leadership Wichita. I had some amazing experiences, made some new friends, and got a really cool plaque for my office. Besides that, I wrote a letter to my future self that’s significantly shaping my choices this year (and years to come).
First let me tell you about Leadership Wichita. Leadership Wichita is a leadership training program through the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce that is unlike any other leadership training program I’ve ever experienced. There were eight sessions in total and I got to participate in some amazing, enlightening, life-changing activities that I would never have experienced otherwise. I didn’t take a lot of pictures because I didn’t want my classmates to think I was weird but I did take a few that I’d like to share with you.
I got to spend half a day at Wichita West High School and learned that, despite all of its challenges, USD 259 is actually a great school district. They’re this really cool thing at West High where you declare your academic focus (whether it be Business and Culinary Arts, Engineering and Manufacturing, Fine Arts and Communication, or Health Sciences and Human Services) and you get to take classes toward that focus during your high school years. It’s a really great opportunity to learn whether you really have the passion or aptitude for something. For instance, had I known sooner that Engineering wasn’t for me, then I wouldn’t have wasted four years in college pursuing it. The students in the Business and Culinary Arts academy learn skills that they can use to become entrepreneurs right out of high school, if they so choose. It’s really cool.
But it was the kids that I got to spend time with that really impressed me most. Since there were 30 of us in our Leadership Wichita class, we were divided into four groups. Some of us got to spend time with each of the academies. Our lunch that day was prepared by the Business and Culinary Arts students assisted by some of our Leadership Wichita classmates. They prepared their award-winning school lunch that they were invited to Washington, DC to present at a national competition. The lunch had to meet budget (so that schools could afford to feed it to thousands of kids), nutritional requirements, and also be delicious. They served us buffalo chicken mac and cheese, some kind of red cabbage and corn salad, and a peach crisp topped with granola for dessert. It was a surprisingly delicious meal for about a dollar a person.
I wasn’t part of that group but I was lucky enough to spend time with the Engineering kids who were some of the smartest students I’d ever met. They were taking Engineering classes in high school that I didn’t take until college. They were learning CAD and printing things with their 3D printer. As a parting gift, they gave me one of these puzzles that they designed and made in their classroom. I got to design and make one of the pieces on the computer. It was awesome.
We also got to spend time at the Wichita/Sedgwick County joint training facility at Lake Afton doing shoot/don’t shoot simulations. The exercise was really nerve-wracking and gave me a greater appreciation for the stress that our law enforcement officers go through. They really don’t get enough credit for the work they do.
Another session was spent doing mock interview, receiving feedback, learning about working with the media, and we got to watch a live newscast at the KWCH station at the end of that session.
This is a picture of Ryan Bond, one of my Leadership Wichita classmates. We voted him into to the Leadership Wichita Board of Trustees.
This is a picture of me with one of my social media idols, Lou Heldman from Wichita State University. We’d met years ago through Twitter but since neither of us haven’t really gone to any tweetups recently our paths hadn’t crossed much. He was one of our presenters for our Leadership Wichita session about media. It was nice to run into him and listen to him speak on a topic that he’s very passionate about.
This is me with another one of my classmates who I really connected with, Stacy Gear. She is such an amazing person and super funny, too.
This is me with Michelle Stroot, another classmate who is quiet but also amazing. We were the two shortest people of the group.
Mom and dad both got to attend my Leadership Wichita graduation banquet.
My friend Faith came. My boss Ginger was there. Isaac and his wife, and Don and his wife were at the graduation banquet also.
It was such an amazing experience. All of the sessions were great (well, except for when they fed us jail food – LOL – JK – even that was really good too). During one of the sessions we got to write letters to our future selves, which brings me to the title of this blog entry. I had challenged myself to become more become more involved in the community. I have lived in Wichita for over 20 years now. It’s time that I invested in our community because this is my home. I’d always wanted to be more involved but I just kept putting it off and putting off. Well, after reading my letter to myself, I decided that procrastination time was over.
I made a couple of significant decisions this year. I joined the Andover Rotary Club. I had planned on telling you all about it in this blog post but now that I’ve made it so lengthy I decided I probably best save it for later. I also joined the Kansas DUI Impact Center board of directors. I’m also helping to connect others in my organization who want to get more involved in the community with nonprofits that they’re passionate about so, while I can’t be on ten nonprofit boards, at least I have people I know and trust who will be helping these other nonprofit organizations serve the community.
I owe my 2015 self in part to my Leadership Wichita experience. I cannot say enough about this program. It was really life-changing for me. Among all the things I learned, I learned that I can do so much more for the community than what I’m already doing. The experience ignited something that was already in me. It just needed a catalyst, which is what Leadership Wichita did for me.
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Good Deeds
Posted on August 18, 2015 by Ching under Community, Things to Do.
Did I mention that I work with the most amazing and generous people on the planet?
Last week the Customer Relations Center (CRC) collected a ton of school supplies and filled over 125 backpacks for Washington Elementary. It’s the same school we’ve supported for the last few years. Each year we collect more and more school supplies. We had record-breaking participation in our school supply drive this year. Amy really did a great job of getting everyone involved and excited. Everyone was pumped about participating and we some great friendly competition between the various teams which resulted in even more school supplies collected.
Today Amy and a bunch of people from work delivered all the school supplies we’d collected to Washington Elementary. Delivery day coincided with the “dance party” that the QA team was hosting for the CRC so I couldn’t go but I really wanted to be there to see the kids’ smiling faces. Despite not having been there it still feels good to be part of such a thoughtful and caring effort.
I was able to contribute two backpacks full but some of my coworkers contributed three to five to ten times that amount. I probably could have done more but I had already spent over an hour at Walmart. Brian happened to be at his bowling league that evening so he didn’t really miss me.
Although, I did factor in his preferences in picking out the two backpacks. Finding all of the specific school supplies on the list to put inside the backpacks seemed like a scavenger hunt and it took forever. I spent such a long time looking for stuff that I completely forgot where I parked my car afterwards.
Anyway, I’m so impressed with my coworkers. I can’t imagine how much time (and money) they spent at the store to contribute all the school supplies that we collected last week. There’s no two ways about it. My coworkers are the best!
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Churn & Burn
Posted on August 18, 2015 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
Churn & Burn is probably the best ice cream shop that you’ve never heard of or tried before. That could be for several reasons: their location, which is not really in the best part of town, and it’s not a chain. If you’ve never been though, it’s definitely worth checking out for several reasons: they have a really cool coffee and ice cream concept, they make their own ice cream (which is actually pretty good), they do cool stuff with liquid nitrogen that’s really fun to watch, and they have vintage arcade game tables.
My friend Jeri kept posting about it on Facebook so we finally just had to check it out. Plus, we really had no reason not to. Churn & Burn is technically on our side of town.
They have lots of delicious flavors. Their ice cream kind of reminds me of the ice cream that Marble Slab (in Bradley Fair) serves.
This is that thing they do with liquid nitrogen.
Brian getting ready to play some games.
Incidentally, Jay and Becca actually know the owner. They saw our Facebook post while we were there and decided to pop in since they were in the neighborhood. They used the opportunity to say hello to the owner and visit with me and Brian also. It was great catching up with Jay and Becca. We hadn’t seen these two jet setters in a while.
Anyway, don’t mind the tacky plastic sign. They were on the other end and just recently moved to this end of the strip. Don’t judge a book by its cover, remember? We just learned this. Also, don’t judge a book by its location. This part of town may not be great but this place definitely is, so come check it out.
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The Kamayan Truck
Posted on August 16, 2015 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Have you tried food from the Kamayan truck yet? It’s probably the best food you’ve never tried. I highly recommend checking it out. It’s my new favorite food truck because they serve some of my Filipino foods that I can’t get anywhere else. Here are some pictures of dishes that they offer to whet your appetite.
These are the Asian tacos. Not really Filipino but it usually helps to serve people something familiar. I prefer the pork dishes, though.
Brian and I have tried a few things. I don’t have any pictures of the porchetta because, the day I got them for us, I had to drive across town to Brian’s office and, by the time I got there, I was so starving. Brian was starving too. We were so hungry we just scarfed up the food and, by the time I remembered that I needed a photo, all we had were empty boxes. We ate every bit of it; including the achara, which I love.
Achara is a Filipino food condiment made from pickled green (unripe) papaya. You can see some of it in the photos above. It’s so good. If you’d like to make yourself some, here’s a link to one of the recipes online; or you could save yourself the effort and just buy some from Kamayan. Theirs is really good.
If you want to track the truck down, like their Facebook page to follow them around town just like I do. The best time to try them is for the bigger events like Food Trucks at the Fountain because they save the lechon (pictured above) for special occasions.
Lechon is the best. It’s my favorite thing ever and there aren’t many places you can get it. That’s why I look forward to when I can get it from the Kamayan truck. The skin of the lechon is the best part. You must try it and let me know what you think in the comments.
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