Gonzalez Y Gonzalez
Posted on January 30, 2015 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
I’d never been inside New York New York before. It’s actually pretty cool in there. They have the fake skies that make you feel like you’re outside though you’re inside the casino. The restaurant facades are made to look like you’re walking along a city street.
We ended up at New York New York because that’s where the Mexican restaurant Gonzalez Y Gonzalez is located. Gonzalez Y Gonzalez is the restaurant they picked for our first group dinner. The food is pretty good and the prices are reasonable. Here are some pictures.
I had carnitas (above) while Isaac had fajitas (below).
Dinner was good. I’m not sure what everyone else did after dinner. I was exhausted from the trip so it was an early night for me.
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The Grand Wok and Sushi Bar
Posted on January 27, 2015 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Ended up eating at the Grand Work and Sushi Bar a couple of times last week because (a) it was conveniently located inside the MGM Grand where we stayed a couple of nights and (b) the food wasn’t bad.
Here are a couple of pictures… The photo above is of Amy’s crunchy. It’s like a California roll with crumbs on top. The one right below is their shrimp tempura roll. It’s a little different than the same roll at Wasabi because Grand Wok adds carrots to theirs. The roll was good but I prefer it the other way, without the carrots.
I ate there the first time with Marsha, Amy, Isaac, and Josh. Everyone decided to do their own thing the second time around, so Tammie and I ended up having dinner together at Grand Wok after our walk along the Vegas strip.
One of the best things about Grand Wok, besides sushi, is that they offer lots of vegetarian options. They also have lots of other items on the menu for those who don’t really feel like eating sushi. The only downside is that it’s a little pricy, but everything in Vegas is so that should come as no surprise.
If you’re staying at MGM, the Grand Wok and Sushi Bar is a good option.
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Three Time Zones in Three Days
Posted on January 25, 2015 by Ching under Travel.
I recently arrived back home from a work trip that spanned three different time zones in three days. I love traveling and wouldn’t mind it one bit if my work wanted me to travel 80% of the time, but this is the kind of traveling that make people who love to travel hate traveling. LOL. We moved to a different hotel every day so, in the three days I was away from home, I slept in three different hotel rooms. We made the best of it, though. Despite this being a work trip, we managed to have a ton of fun.
We stayed at the MGM Grand on our first night. I’d been to Las Vegas a few times but this was my first time staying at MGM. There were several conventions going on in the area so the hotel was completely booked. I know. It’s amazing considering the MGM has over 5,000 rooms. The conventions going on must have been seriously massive conventions.
I got a room with two double beds because it was what they had available at the time. I’m not fond of having two beds in my hotel room but we were only going to be there one night. On the up side, I had a great view of New York New York and Excalibur.
Mel and Isaac came up to admire my view and take pictures.
We all drove to Saint George (Utah) the next morning. The drive was breathtaking.
I found a video of the exact route we took on YouTube. Check it out.
Pictures do not do the sights justice. It just has to be experienced.
Here’s a picture of my coworker Josh, taking a video.
We spent the second night in Saint George. My hotel room at the Hilton Garden Inn had two double beds again. However, there was a mixup with our hotel reservation and they had it for the previous night instead of the correct night so I was just relieved that there were rooms available for us.
This is the view from my hotel room in Saint George.
We drove back to Las Vegas the next day. We returned to the MGM for our final night. I had a room with a king bed this time. Hurrah!
Most people don’t mind having the two beds in their hotel room because they use the other bed to lay out all of their stuff. I just don’t like how much floor space the second bed takes up. Look at all the room I had in my king bed room. I could have had a Zumba class! King rooms are so much more conducive to in-room workouts for times when you don’t feel like going to the hotel’s gym or when the hotel doesn’t have one or when you didn’t pack workout clothes. You can workout in your underwear in the privacy of your room. Rooms with double beds do not allow for this. Not that I worked out at all during this business trip, but it’s nice to have that option. LOL.
My room was at the other side of the hotel this time around so I had a different view. Not as good as the other night, but still good. I could see the Stratosphere from my room.
This trip is by far the most exhausting work trip I’ve ever taken, but the experience was great. I met some of the most amazing people in Saint George and I couldn’t have asked for better travel companions. Work trips aren’t typically fun but somehow we always manage to make the best of it. I have such awesome coworkers!
P.S. In case some of you were wondering about the title of this blog post, we went from Central Time (Wichita) to Pacific Time (Las Vegas) to Mountain Time (Saint George) and then back again.
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Cars for Charities
Posted on January 18, 2015 by Ching under Things to Do.
My little sister and I had the opportunity to do volunteer work together the other day at the Starbird-Devlin Rod & Customs Charities Car Show. It’s an annual car show held at the Century II Convention Center. I’m not sure if it benefits the same charities every year but this year all the proceeds from the event are going to the Arc of Sedgwick County, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Starkey.
I find volunteer work not only rewarding but I really enjoy it. I always have fun, but most specially if the volunteer work entails working at an event. Besides the satisfaction you feel for helping, there are perks such as being able to participate in the event’s activities. Having experienced some really amazing volunteer opportunities has made me prefer doing volunteer work to going to the movies or hanging out at the mall. Well, I’ve never really enjoyed hanging out at the mall. I usually limit my trips to twice a year to get my ring cleaned and inspected at the store where it was purchased.
But I digress, Brian didn’t share my passion for volunteer work at first but I’m slowly turning him around. It used to be that you couldn’t get him to volunteer to do anything. Now he’s more open to it. I had to start with the really fun stuff like Zoobilee. After he realized how much fun you can have volunteering for things, he’s starting to warm up to the idea. I’m hoping that my little sister will begin to see the value of volunteer work and that you can have fun while feeding your soul. She has many years ahead of her and can really make a difference in this world.
We were assigned to the Kids’ Zone on Friday night so our volunteer work was really less work and more play. Our shift didn’t start until six o’clock but I picked Kira up an hour early so that we would arrive at the even early and have a few minutes to look around. I wish Brian could have been there with us. I know nothing about cars and couldn’t tell a Corvette from a Camaro (okay, I’m exaggerating) but Brian would have been able to name them all off as we walked past. They all look cool to me.
People did some really creative things with their display. Kira asked to pose with several.
It should be no surprise that she wanted a picture with the pink car because pink is her favorite color. I couldn’t tell you what kind of car that is, though.
She wanted a picture with this big truck also.
The Corvettes are always well represented at these events.
We also ran into the Holder family. Andrew had his station wagon in the show. We had to get a picture with his car. LOL.
Speaking of Andrew, he started an auto detailing business a couple of years back. He detailed several cars for the show and I’m sure his own. I hadn’t seen his work in person until now. It’s amazing. If you guys need your cars thoroughly cleaned, Andrew Holder is your man. You can get more info on his Facebook page: Holder’s Auto Detailing.
This isn’t even half of the cars in the show but I wanted to show you guys the variety of entries. Today is the last day to of the car show so if you haven’t been, I highly recommend checking it out.
They have plenty of activities for the kids also so you won’t even need to leave them at home. There are characters working around to take photos with and entertain the kids.
We caught up with a few of them.
Other activities for the kids included a coloring station (that was our assignment), face painting, bracelet making, model car making, bounce house, car racing, shooting baskets for prizes, and various other games. They also have some scheduled entertainment throughout the day like magic shows and such. We didn’t get to see one while we were there on Friday but they had a stage area set up for it. I was thinking that must have been for Saturday or Sunday. There’s also a bicycle exhibit and a car model exhibit next to the Kids’ Zone. It’s really cool.
I forgot to mention the photo station where they had cutouts of several cars and kids can take photos with them like they’re inside. We only took a photo with one but there were several of these that you could choose from.
Even if you’re not into cars, it would be fun to go to the Kids’ Zone and hang out. It’s something different than the usual weekend activity with the kiddos. There’s so many cool things to do at the Kids’ Zone that the coloring station was pretty slow. That’s actually why we got to play.
We had so much fun that we stayed 30 minutes past the end of our volunteer shift. Kira really wanted to build a model car so toward the end of the evening I told her she could go to the model car make and take station while I manned the coloring station. It had slowed down enough so I was able to pack up the coloring station and join her at the model car making station.
There were three different cars you could choose to build and, wouldn’t you know it, this little girl picked the most challenging one. Five minutes before the closing time (Kids’ Zone closed at eight o’clock on Friday night) and she was no where near done. The man said we could take it and finish it at home but he didn’t mind staying to help because he’s there until ten. I felt guilty because I’m sure he had other tasks. It sure was nice of him to offer, though.
Kira wanted two more cars so she wanted me to start building some too. I told her we wouldn’t finish in time. I think she just wanted me to start some so we could take a couple of extra cars home. They weren’t giving away model car kits. They’re there to make on site and then you could take the finished car with you. Of course, if you didn’t finish then you could choose to finish it at home. In Kira’s case, we were able to assemble the car but we didn’t get to put the stickers on. She gets to do that later.
Anyway, I had to explain to her that they couldn’t give all the cars away because they needed some for kids to do the next day and the day after. She is so thoughtful, though. She is always thinking of her brothers and her cousins. Any time we go somewhere we can take stuff, she always wants to take extra so she can share it. I knew she wanted the two extra cars for her brothers.
This clever little girl who charmed the man at the car model make and take station into practically building her car for her almost talked him into giving us a couple of car kits to take home. Seriously. Had I gone along with her scheme we probably would have had three cars instead of one. I’m not much of a rule breaker, though. And, the man said he wasn’t supposed to give out the kits so I didn’t want him to do anything he wasn’t supposed to do. Plus, it wouldn’t be fair to the other kids.
I wish that I would have gotten his name so I could send him a thank you note. He was the nicest, most patient person ever. And, he practically built Kira’s car while still let her participate in the easier parts of the build so she had a sense of accomplishment.
We had so much fun that Kira didn’t want to leave. If she had her way, we would still be there today. If you have no plans today, I highly recommend checking out the Starbird-Devlin car show.
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Feeling Lucky
Posted on January 7, 2015 by Ching under Life.
I would have made it to work by 9 AM this morning after my annual exam. I ended up just a few minutes late because of sudden car trouble. Minor trouble, but it freaked me out nonetheless. And, today was the worst day for it because it was freezing outside. I forgot my earmuffs and didn’t have a hat or scarf on. I felt like my ears were going to fall off.
When I left the doctor’s office, I headed North on Webb Road to catch K96. I could tell there was something wrong with my car immediately. The steering wheel felt shaky and there was this exclamation point alert that I hadn’t seen before displayed on the dash. I called Brian to ask him, but he wasn’t sure either. I ended up finding a first parking lot I could find, which was on the corner of 29th and Webb. I took a picture of my dash and sent it to Brian. He said it was just the tire pressure. Brian said that taking the car on the highway might warm up the tires and help normalize the pressure but the steering wheel felt really shaky and I wasn’t comfortable driving on the highway. I remembered that the car dealership is just one block over so I had the brilliant idea to drive there and ask them to help me. It was the best idea ever.
The car dealership figured out which tires needed more air and they took care of it for me. It took a few minutes so I took advantage of a chocolate croissant while I waited inside. I was on my way back to work in no time.
I’m so glad that I thought to take the car to the dealership. First of all, I didn’t have a tire pressure gauge on me so I would have had to borrow one from someone. Secondly, I would have had to find a gas station and then would have had to air up the tires myself in the freezing cold. It would have taken me at least twice as long.
Munching on a chocolate croissant while my tires were checked and filled was a far more pleasant option. Thank you to the wonderful people at the Wichita Luxury Collection for saving my behind today.
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