FLIP + CHING

Firebirds

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Ching under Date Ideas, Food and Drink.

I had to take Brian on a proper date after making him sit through The Chalk Garden last weekend. Plays are not really his cup of tea. He was a good sport about it, though.

We started out date night with dinner at Firebirds. Brian had never been there. His parents tried it for the first time on their last trip to Wichita and really liked it so I figured he probably would too.

Here’s a photo of their signature drink.

Here are some pictures of our food.

We started out with crab cakes. Their crab cakes have great flavor but what I really like most about them is how chunky they are. There’s huge hunks of crab meat and not much filler. Just the way a crab cake should be.

Their bread reminds me of an extra large pandesal.

Brian had the smokehouse chicken sandwich.

I really wanted the crab cake salad because Darcy really liked it the last time we were there. However, I had to pick something else since we had crab cakes for our appetizer. Ended up getting the Colorado chicken salad which is really good too. It’s not as good as my favorite chicken salad at Red Rock Canyon Grill but I thought it was delicious and I’d order it again.

Firebirds Wood Fired Grill on Urbanspoon

I ate light because I was saving room for dessert. I’ve been having sweet cravings lately.

The big daddy chocolate cake really hit the spot. The cake is so huge that Brian and I couldn’t finish it. I had to take the rest of it home.

I wasn’t overly impressed with Firebirds when my coworkers and I ate there for lunch a while ago, but I was really pleased with our experience the other day. Our server was attentive and friendly and the food was good. Brian really liked it. Our dinner at Firebirds was a great start to our date night.

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Over a Decade of Photos

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Ching under Life, Memes.

Every now and then I’ll participate in Throwback Thursday on Facebook. Throwback Thursday is a meme where you post an old photo. Today I wanted to do something more. I’m giving you links to over ten years worth of photos, thousands of them, on my Flickr photostream. But be warned, it might just make you hungry.

2002:	July (39) August (70) December (19)
2003:	January (4) March (63) April (6) May (10) June (98) July (5) September (1) November (14) December (20)
2004:	January (18) February (31) March (6) April (4) May (101) June (7) July (19) August (107) September (211) October (391) November (178) December (60)
2005:	January (75) February (74) March (43) April (136) May (120) June (368) July (160) August (172) September (33) October (55) November (51) December (166)
2006:	January (152) February (192) March (178) April (132) May (340) June (330) July (286) August (164) September (91) October (238) November (79) December (290)
2007:	January (79) February (44) March (165) April (82) May (312) June (439) July (781) August (247) September (342) October (186) November (354) December (463)
2008:	January (248) February (102) March (99) April (611) May (520) June (1049) July (919) August (672) September (199) October (1481) November (523) December (896)
2009:	January (216) February (229) March (374) April (510) May (1255) June (592) July (1258) August (945) September (663) October (1592) November (240) December (588)
2010:	January (718) February (1600) March (915) April (222) May (296) June (332) July (691) August (774) September (590) October (858) November (557) December (922)
2011:	January (381) February (466) March (474) April (709) May (380) June (520) July (853) August (198) September (289) October (698) November (292) December (440)
2012:	January (235) February (383) March (474) April (263) May (560) June (235) July (176) August (277) September (299) October (223) November (131) December (248)
2013:	January (192) February (162) March (190) April (249) May (177) June (379) July (195) August (512) September (333) October (256) November (318) December (534)

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Chevreul’s Pendulum

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Ching under Videos.

Brian has always been a bit of a nonbeliever in The Secret. He believes in it more now, but he used to make fun of me for being completely convinced that it works. But then, how else would you explain all the great things that happen to us?

While at the Customer Experience and Touch Point Mapping meeting last week, we were introduced to Chevreul’s Pendulum. I never could prove The Secret to Brian until this exercise. As soon as we did it, I thought to myself, “This is it. This is exactly how The Secret works!” I couldn’t wait to show Brian.

This is a photo of him giving it a try. If you’ve never tried this before, let me know. It’s amazing. If you are unfamiliar with The Secret, check out the video below. You probably think I’m nuts, but it really works. I promise!

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Customer Experience Revolution

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Ching under Projects, Videos.

There’s a customer experience revolution taking place at work and it’s very exciting. I spent a couple of days in Topeka with thirty some of the most brilliant people who are committed to enhancing customer experience across all touch points throughout our organization. Real changes are taking place. It’s a long time coming and I’m really honored to be part of history in the making.

Roy Barnes facilitated our two-day customer experience touch point mapping exercise. I remember hearing him talk about customer experience for the first time at the AGA EEI Conference in Fort Worth a couple of years ago. His talk was captivating. He basically put into words what I’ve felt we were missing. As I sat in the audience mesmerized by the ideas presented, I remember thinking “I wish this guy would talk to the people I work with.”

As luck would have it, Amy was tasked with organizing our group training that year and she hired Roy Barnes to present on customer experience. Fast forward to now and Roy has talked to dozens of people at my work and we’re now in the process of mapping our touch points and creating a consistent customer experience that lives up to our customer experience intent statement throughout our organization. I am beyond excited to be part of this endeavor.

It makes me think of when we met with the Starwood execs and showed them our call center almost two years ago. At the time they were still trying to decide between a handful of cities for their next call center location. It meant a lot for the Wichita community because it meant hundreds of jobs. Today they’re not just established in Wichita, they employ over four hundred people including my sister and brother-in-law. I am moved at the thought that I was part of that.

I hope to look back years from now and say, “I was part of that transformation.” I was there the day that we made that step to change the way we do business. The say we declared our intent.

Anyway, for those of you who aren’t sure what this customer experience mumbo jumbo is that I’m talking about, here’s a video that pretty much sums up why this is important. This video by NICE Systems sums up what’s going on in the customer experience realm right now. This is basically a small part of what we’re talking about.

Our objective is to map all of our customer touch points and put a strategy in place to ensure that we deliver an experience that lives up to our customer intent statement across the board, in every customer interaction and every touch point. It’s a tall order but we’re going to make it happen. And, I’m going to be part of this revolution.