Let’s Catch Up
Posted on November 7, 2015 by Ching under Community, Life.
This blog is ridiculously behind. I’m going to attempt to catch us up.
Did you all see that awesome rainbow that happened last month? It was on October 22. It was an amazing double rainbow. One really vivid one and then another faint one around it. It was a full rainbow too. You could see the arch from end to end. I usually miss these things but I’m so glad that I got to see it. It’s the most beautiful thing I’d seen in a while. I even got a picture of it; though the picture really doesn’t do the rainbow justice. It was amazing. I hope you guys got to see it too.
I love rainbows because they always brighten my day.
Speaking of brightening someone’s day, my extended team (extended because Faith and Amy joined us) and I did a volunteer service day at the Kansas Food Bank. We packed several “Bob Box” pallets from eight to noon.
It was a wonderful team building activity. We not only got to work with one another but we also worked with these ladies from a local church who regularly volunteers the food bank and some employees from Cox Communications who volunteer during their lunch hour. The church ladies arrived around ten o’clock and the team from Cox arrived around eleven. We had such a blast the four hours just flew right by.
I took this photo before everyone showed up. We had a pretty good assembly line going on with just the six of us.
We spent the day bonding as a team offsite so it was a nice break from the daily grind. I like it when we do fun team building activities like panting or crafting and such, but I really like team building activities that involve community service or volunteerism because then we’re not only having fun bonding but we’re also giving back to the community at the same time.
Here’s a picture of us with Kansas Food Bank President & CEO Brian Walker accepting our $1000 donation.
The best part about Westar Energy is that the company encourages employees to do volunteer work and has several matching programs. One of these programs is a team building service match. If we have five employees from the same department do a four-hour service project for a nonprofit then we can request for a $1000 grant from the Westar Energy Foundation to match our time. Of course, the organization and the project have to be vetted first, but it’s great that our company is supportive and encourages community service and volunteerism by donating funds to the projects and nonprofits that employees support.
This was on Friday, October 23. It was a great day for doing volunteer work and bonding with my team. Not so much for the diet, though.
The six of us went to District Taqueria for lunch. I’d never been there before but had been meaning to because it’s owned by the brother of my former dental hygienist. I’m so glad Nykole recommended it. The food was delicious. I have a separate blog post for that because I went back with Brian a week later for my birthday lunch.
Dinner that night was a Granite City with Brian’s Edward Jones office family. His boss (who is also our friend Rune) wanted everyone and their families to get together and meet. Dinner guests consisted of Rune (financial advisor and boss man), Kristen (Rune’s wife who also used to work in their office and still fills in from time to time), their son Eirik, Deb (the senior business office administrator at their office), her husband Mike, Brian (new kid on the block), and me (supportive spouse).
It was a great start to what would be a crazy-busy weekend consisting of groceries with grandma (which Brian usually does while I teach my Saturday morning Zumba class), brunch at the Good Egg, Connie’s 50th birthday extravaganza at the Kansas Star Casino, the Boo and Brew Ball (a benefit for Dress for Success Wichita), packing for Topeka, and bowling. I’m blogging separately about the birthday party and the Boo and Brew event because I have quite a few pictures to share.
We have been so busy lately that the year has just flown by. I’m hoping we’ll catch a break here eventually because we are so behind on house chores it’s not even funny. My having to work in Topeka four days out of the week doesn’t seem to help matters any. More on that in another post also.
We caught up a little bit but not quite enough. Hopefully I’ve have more time to blog this weekend so we can get completely caught up.
Until then, have a fabulous weekend everyone!
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Krispy’s Fried Chicken & Seafood
Posted on November 4, 2015 by Ching under Reviews.
Brian and I finally got to try Krispy’s Chicken & Seafood. We were told that it’s the best kept secret in Wichita. The best chicken ever.
I must admit, I was impressed with the offerings: deep fried calamari, deep fried stuffed blue shell crab, chicken and waffles. Where else can you get that? The prices are really cheap too. You can’t beat the value.
Here are a couple of pictures of the inside. It’s pretty unassuming. Like a hole in the wall.
The interior is pretty consistent with the exterior of the place. You wouldn’t really think much of it. In fact, if it hadn’t come highly recommended, I don’t think Brian and I would even think to go inside. Locals rave about it though so we had to try it. We had to see for ourselves what all the fuss was about.
The verdict? It was just okay for me. Maybe I was supposed to order chicken and waffles? Perhaps that would have made a difference. I ordered chicken because that’s what they serve but it was pretty mediocre. The mashed potatoes were just okay too. I really wanted the fried mac and cheese but they were out.
I didn’t plan on order mashed potatoes. Maybe the disappointment of not having the fried mac and cheese clouded my judgement. Who knows? I really was unimpressed.
I do want to give this place another chance, though. I’m thinking of order seafood next time. The deep fried stuffed blue shell crab sounds promising. Though the price makes me worry a bit because they always say that you get what you pay for and that price seems really low to me.
It may be a while before we return. Brian, who was far more unimpressed than I was, isn’t too excited about going back. That, and this joint is clear on the South side of town which isn’t really the best area and there’s not really anything out there that we need so it’s kind of out of the way.
Maybe next year we’ll have forgotten how lackluster our first experience was and we’ll be ready to go back again. LOL.
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WPD Crime Lab
Posted on November 1, 2015 by Ching under Things to Do.
Brian and I got to spend time at the WPD Crime Lab a couple of weeks ago. It was one of the coolest sessions of Citizen Police Academy, second only to the time we spent at the Wichita Sedgwick County Join Training Facility at Lake Afton.
We got to see the various ways that they can capture finger prints.
Did you know that they can even finger print the inside of duct tape?
We also got to see various gory crime scene photos that night, which Brian got to see more of the following week when they talked about homicides. I missed that session because I was in Topeka for work.
CPA is really cool. I look forward to joining the alumni association if they let me graduate. So far I’ve only missed one session. We are not allowed to miss more than two. Our next session involves canines. Looking forward to meeting some highly trained dogs. I’m glad I will be in town for it.
Anyway, I highly recommend CPA. I hope you guys consider signing up for it.
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Ride Along with Sedgwick County Sheriff
Posted on October 27, 2015 by Ching under Things to Do.
A few weeks ago, Brian and I had our ride alongs with Wichita Police Department – Patrol North. Recently we had our ride alongs with the Sedgwick County Sheriff. I really enjoy ride alongs because you learn so much, especially what not to do. LOL.
Brian and I both asked for 5 beat but I guess only one of us could do it. Brian ended up being assigned to the ride along on that beat. I ended up assigned to 609, which actually turned out better because we were assigned to the jail and could go anywhere we wanted to go.
One of the surprises of the night was finding out that the shift sergeant went to high school with Brian. They were actually in ROTC together. The way the sergeant told me about how he recognized Brian’s name and asked if Brian went to Derby High made me think that they actually liked each other back then and weren’t sworn enemies. That was cool.
Dinner was another surprise. I didn’t expect that we’d be able to have dinner together, let alone eat at all. The deputies on the South side apparently try to meet up for dinner when they can so Brian and I ended up having a nice dinner with five of the Sedgwick County Sheriff deputies: the deputies that he and I rode with, met up with three other deputies one of whom also had a rider. There were eight of us altogether at dinner. Though we had to eat pretty fast, none of the deputies had to be called away so we were all able to enjoy a nice dinner together with great conversation. And, I was glad that I got to spend time with Brian last night without having to run into him at a crime scene.
Ride alongs are always educational. Here are just some of the gems I filed away in my brain from last night’s adventures.
• Sheriff deputies see everything. Even things we don’t even notice.
• They can quickly change direction by making some crazy u-turns of the “don’t try this at home” variety. It doesn’t matter if it’s a main road with a good amount of traffic. Before you even realize what’s happening, you’re going in the opposite direction. We did this a few times. It was wild. Brian said that during one of the times his deputy did it, he actually had to brace himself against the dash because it was so swift.
• If you have any warrants and somehow end up driving in front of a Sedgwick County Sheriff squad car, you’re hosed. They run almost every license plate they come across. Yes, they do this while they’re driving down the road.
• Do not drive slowly in the fast lane. As annoying it is when this happens to me, it’s a hundred times more annoying when you’re a law enforcement office who’s trying to get somewhere quickly. If the deputy is in a hurry to get somewhere, you won’t get a ticket; however, if they’re just riding around, you will get a ticket because this really pisses them off. Be smart and move to the middle or right lane because the deputies like to drive fast and you’re not going to be able to pace them. Trust me.
• They’re not allowed to pass on the right, which is why the slow drivers in the fast lane are even more frustrating.
• Some deputies are really funny. Brian and I were lucky enough to ride along with a couple of really cool ones. The deputy I rode with had an awesome personality and we got along great.
I’ve done three ride alongs now — WPD Patrol South last year, WPD Patrol North a couple of weeks ago, and Sedgwick County Sheriff last night. I have to say, the one last night was the most memorable and most fun one I’ve had.
It’s not very often that you get to ride in a car that’s going 100+ miles per hour.
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Guess Whose Birthday is Just Around the Corner
Posted on October 25, 2015 by Ching under Life, Things to Do.
In other news, mom got us new bedding as my early birthday present.
Molly likes it.
For Boss’s Day last week my team got me a deliciously beautiful fruit bouquet. Brian doesn’t really eat fruit so I just shared it with everyone at work. The chocolate covered strawberries were my favorite.
Brian and I went to the opera for that evening.
He’d never been to the opera and neither have I so it was a first that we got to experience together. We saw The Grand Duchess , which is a great introduction to opera because it’s light hearted and comedic rather than tragic.
Kaitlyn Costello was marvelous in the lead role. None of the other actors were even close to the level of performance that she gave. They do such a good job with makeup and costumes that I didn’t realize she played Anita in West Side Story last year, which was my absolute favorite show last year.
Speaking of music theater, while we really enjoyed the opera, Brian and I decided that we prefer music theater because then we don’t need subtitles. LOL. Jokes aside, Music Theatre Wichita does a phenomenal job of bringing the best productions to town.
Speaking of performances, I really wanted to see Norah Jones on Thursday but we were not lucky enough to get tickets. They sold out within a couple of hours. Instead I got some tickets to Light in the Piazza, which is another opera incidentally.
I’m hoping that Nickira will want to go to it. We’ve seen a couple of Music Theatre Wichita performances together (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Big Fish) but this will be our first opera if she agrees to go. I hope she does.
Lots of things going on this coming weekend, as is typical these days in Wichita. However, the event I’m looking forward to most is my vacation day off work on Friday!
I don’t usually take my birthday off but it happened to fall on a Friday this year so it’s the perfect opportunity for a three-day weekend. Brian and I were initially going to go to New York until we realized it’s the weekend of the great New York City marathon, which explains why we couldn’t find a decent hotel for less than $600 a night in the entire city. Even though our travel plans got nixed, I decided to keep my vacation day because I really need a break from work. The long days have finally caught up to me.
I still won’t get to sleep in because, in true Ching fashion, the day is already jam-packed. Meeting at the YMCA at 8 AM, massage at Sveta’s at 10 AM, taking Brian to District Taqueria for lunch, quality time in the afternoon, dinner at Sabor, then dancing at Oeno. Don’t even let me get started on Saturday and Sunday activities.
I may need to have a makeup vacation day after this vacation day. LOL. Until next time. Have a fantastic week, everyone!
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