Andover’s Summer Concert in the Park
Posted on July 8, 2017 by Ching under Events.
I actually got to volunteer at the Summer Concert in the Park this year! Last year I had a bunch of other stuff going on so I couldn’t go. Misty was my proxy and volunteered on my behalf. This year my schedule had some flexibility and so I made sure to sign all three of us up to volunteer.
It was super busy. We worked for five hours straight, selling beers, and didn’t get to take any breaks — but it was so much fun. It’s probably one of the most fun volunteer gigs I have ever done.
This is the fifth year of the event and they actually brought a couple of big names out to perform for everyone: Clint Black and John Michael Montgomery. I really have no idea who these guys are, and neither does Brian, because we don’t listen to country but, apparently, these guys are HUGE and SUPER FAMOUS in the country music scene. Anyway, that’s why we didn’t care to take any breaks. We didn’t even care if we could hear the music or not. LOL. We just worked, worked, worked.
Here are couple of pictures.
This second one is actually from Misty’s phone. I didn’t take hardly any pictures at all because I was too busy working. My main job was to fish out the Coors and Miller cans from the giant beer tub.
I was so busy that I had dunked almost my entire arm in the tub more than half a dozen times before I realized that I was submerging my watch and it was soaking in water for extended periods. Thankfully, Brian and I both have Series 2 Apple Watches, which are water resistant. This was a good call on his part because I would have been perfectly satisfied with a Series 1. He’s the one who insisted we get the water resistant version.
We’ve both had our watches for several months now but this was the first real test of the water resistance feature that my watch has ever had to endure. It made it through with flying colors.
You’ll notice that we’re all wearing blue shirts. It’s because the Andover Rotary Club, which is the Rotary club I belong to, takes advantage of this event to raise money for our club community service projects. We always wear our blue shirts at our club volunteer events.
Brian isn’t a Rotarian and doesn’t have a blue shirt but the Symphony in the Flint Hills volunteer shirts for this year just happened to be the same shade of blue so I made him wear that one. He fit right in.
It was another stormy night. Though not as bad as last year, the concert had to be cut off 30 minutes before the scheduled end time so that the park could be cleared. We were one of the last ones to leave because Misty and Brian were trying to help empty out the tapped kegs. Crazy kids!
They drank so much that Brian actually got sick. Lucky for us, he puked in the grass and not his car. That would have been so disgusting and hard to clean. At least the storm washed his vomit away. In his defense, he planned to eat dinner at the park but we were so busy that he didn’t have time to get something to eat. He drank on an empty stomach, which can make anyone — even the most experienced alcoholics — sick. Although, he is kind of a lightweight compared to all of our other drinking buddies. We both are. I’m usually done after two drinks.
Misty is a bit of a drinker herself. She drank so much that she went home without her shoes. We found her flip flops in the back of Brian’s vehicle (the three of us carpooled to the park) the next day. That was pretty funny. Good times!
We can’t wait to do it all again next year!
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Tour of My Favorite Radio Station
Posted on July 7, 2017 by Ching under Things to Do.
Theresa, Tony, and I got a brief tour of KMUW a couple of weeks ago. Here are some pics from that visit.
The station is really neat.
Their huge kitchen is definitely a focal point.
One of my favorite parts of the tour was seeing all of the mugs from various years.
I have a couple of these and the artworks are awesome. Anyway, it’s cool to see all of them from previous years. It made me realize how collectible they really are.
And, of course, every self-respecting radio station needs an award wall.
This is the hallway that leads to the studios.
Our guide did a fantastic job of explaining everything. I kind of wish I that I would have taken notes, or at least posted this blog entry immediately after it happened, because now I can’t remember half the things he told us.
This is one of the studios.
Theresa looking legit.
Here’s Tony.
I’m not sure he’s the best person to put in front of a microphone. Good thing everything was turned off!
Here’s Tony perusing the vast CD collection.
Heather Eden, KMUW announcer and operations manager.
Jonathan Huber, host of Morning Edition. I listen to this guy a lot.
The best features of their conference rooms are the conference tables which are made of old bowling lanes. They salvaged the floors from Thunderbird when it closed. It’s pretty amazing.
If you’ve never been to the KMUW office in Old Town, I highly recommend it. Go when you have a few minutes to spare and ask for a tour because they’ll be happy to do it. I’m sure everyone is so happy with that new digs (not so new anymore) that they’re happy to show it off. The new office is definitely much nicer than their old space on 17th Street across from the Wichita State University campus.
What are you waiting for? Head on over there!
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8° Below
Posted on July 4, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
Ice cream is another great way to beat the heat. There’s a new shop that opened up at Union Station just down the street from my work. I got to check it out with a couple of coworkers, Tony and Theresa, a few days ago.
It was actually Theresa’s idea. We had planned to go as a group but, when the day came, some people backed out so it ended just being the three of us. Theresa originally wanted to drive over but Tony and I talked her into walking. It’s really not that far of a walk from work.
We walked to Heroes first for cheap lunch. Friday is .99 cent tacos day. Then we walked over to 8° Below for dessert.
We have many ice cream shops in town and there’s plenty of good ice cream to be had. What’s novel about 8° Below is that they serve rolled ice cream. It looks really pretty but it does take forever to make.
Let me show you pictures and then I yak at you some more.
You can pick from the signature flavors or create your own from the vast array toppings, mix ins, and drizzles.
Then you get to watch them make your ice cream. That is, if the store is not too crowded. The shop isn’t very big.
Here’s a picture of Theresa, Tony, and me that was taken while we were waiting for our ice cream. There wasn’t a line at lunch but it still takes a while to get your ice cream because they make it to order.
That was definitely a down side for me. Rolled ice cream is cool and all but I’m not a fan of waiting. I prefer the places that have the ice cream already made so, when I tell them what I want, I have my ice cream in my hand within a matter of seconds.
I had the mango tango. Theresa had the thanks a latte. Tony had the brownie mix, which I believe is what is pictured above. I didn’t take pictures of all of our ice creams because you’d only be disappointed. The ice cream was tasty but the presentation never looks as good as it does in the pictures.
The verdict? I didn’t like the wait and I thought the ice cream was overpriced. I suppose you are paying for the experience and novelty of watching your ice cream be made and rolled right before your very eyes. If you don’t care either way, then it’s pretty pointless. Just go where they have delicious ice cream at a cheap price like Braum’s or Baskin Robbins.
I probably won’t go back unless Brian just absolutely wants to go.
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Summer Heat Relief
Posted on July 3, 2017 by Ching under Community, Free Stuff.
Pictures from our free fan giveaway at the Salvation Army a couple of weeks ago.
I only volunteered to help with the one in Wichita, but we’ve distributed free fans in Topeka, Newton, Salina, and a few other cities. I think work still has a bunch more fans to give away so they may be visiting a town near you here in the next few days. Be on the lookout!
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Brian’s 43rd Birthday
Posted on July 2, 2017 by Ching under Events, Family, Food and Drink.
There were a ton of things going on this year and multiple birthday celebrations. Brian and I started out by having a quiet dinner at Granite City (East) on Friday, June 9. He wanted a “just the two of us” dinner.
Well, the two of us and his giant beer.
Pics of our dinner…
The next day was Symphony in the Flint Hills. This was more for me than Brian but he was a good sport about it. His reward and birthday present was a deluxe massage with Johnson Nguyen at Sveta’s. I got to try Johnson a couple of months ago when he first started doing massages at Sveta’s and I wanted Brian to experience his style of massage because my massage was very good. Brian said it was a great massage but Mindy Nuce is still his number one choice. He said Johnson is now his second though, for those times when Mindy isn’t available.
He didn’t get a big present this year like he did last year but we had that trip to Alaska that we’re still recovering from. Trips are not cheap!
Fast forward to June 13, his actual birthday. I actually ended up double booking because I promised to keep the PowerGEN trivia night thing going for work and we agreed on Tuesday night trivia at the Pumphouse on June 13 as our next trivia night. Then Jimmy Washington, who is on the board of directors for the Wichita Orpheum, offered us tickets to the Celebrity & Chef Cook Off.
Since it was Brian’s birthday and I was completely hijacking it with work events, I figured that I should at least let him choose what he wanted to do. He picked the Celebrity & Chef Cook Off, naturally. It’s one of his favorite fundraising events.
Lucky for me, Ryan Muzzy (one of my coworkers and fellow PowerGENer) was more than happy to take charge of trivia night. That freed us up to attend the Orpheum benefit.
The Lexus parking lot was open that night but we got a hangtag anyway because we are nerds. As we were walking to the arena, we were stopped by this couple who asked if they could park there and I would have said yes because no one was there to check tags anyway and the gate was open but Brian told them they had to have a hangtag and made them park somewhere else. He’s mean like that. But it’s his birthday so he can do whatever. LOL.
Here are some pictures of all the amazing food. As with every year that we’ve been, we don’t really get to try everything. We usually give up before we’ve even sampled half of what’s there.
I had to take a pic of their sign because I enjoyed this immensely. I may have Brian take me there this weekend because now I’m craving it.
I may or may not have gone back a few times for this dessert. You know I went at least twice because I got a couple of photos.
Brian and I ran into our friend Bill Ramsey at the event.
Here’s a picture of our handsome group.
Usually we stay for the whole thing but I felt bad for bailing on the trivia night so I talked Brian into stopping by the Pumphouse on the way home.
We arrived just in time for the final two rounds. The PowerGEN team just went by “PowerGEN” and didn’t come up with a clever name this time.
That’s Leo and Tammie’s team, the Oatmeal, at the next table. You can see Leo in the pic above with Tammie next to him. She has her back to the camera. I think that might be Scott to the right of Leo. He’s been going to Tuesday night trivia religiously. Their team always does really well. I think they were in second place when we got there.
Here’s Ryan, Teresa and Ted. PowerGEN was doing pretty well. They hadn’t breached the top three yet but they were close enough in score to be in the running.
PowerGEN was in fourth going into the final round, which is a really good place to be because you have a great shot at placing depending on what happens with the top three teams. The final round is where you get to wager some of your points, up to a maximum of 20 points. This is why I say that fourth place is a good spot. Obviously, if you’re close to the bottom, 20 points isn’t going to make much of a difference but if you’re within the top five and the spread is not that vast then you could really pull off an upset.
I was super excited when the trivia master announced “movies” as the final round category. We would have been hosed with sports but Brian and I know a lot about movies so I was like, “We got this!”
They gave us four Charlize Theron movies in random order and we had to list it in order chronologically. The movies they gave us were:
- Mighty Joe Young (1998)
- The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
- Monster (2003)
- Aeon Flux (2005)
I’m a huge Charlize Theron fan so I was pretty familiar with her filmography. I knew that Mighty Joe Young was the oldest and Aeon Flux was the newest. However, I wasn’t so confident about the two movies in the middle. I was very familiar with Monster though because, besides Charlize Theron being made to look ugly, that had one of my favorite Journey songs it: Don’t Stop Believing.
Brian was convinced that Monster was after Aeon Flux but I felt so sure that Aeon Flux was released after. Anyway, Alex was with me so the two of us overruled Brian. LOL. In the end, we went with The Legend of Bagger Vance after Mighty Joe Young and that’s what we submitted. I was very confident about our answer but I was nervous about the wager.
Ryan, who was a fantastic leader, finally put his foot down and said, “We didn’t come here to take third!” We ended up wagering the full 20 points.
I think everyone else got the final question wrong because all the point went down but ours. PowerGEN ended up taking first place that night.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Everything lined up perfectly. The right people were there and the right trivia questions were asked but, ultimately, I think it was Ryan’s leadership that made the difference.
Brian’s actual birthday was Tuesday but we’ll fast forward to Friday because not much happened between his birthday and Friday. Well, stuff happened but it wasn’t birthday related.
Anyway, April Padgett from the Wichita State University Foundation reached out to me to tell me that Brian’s picture with Dr. John Bardo and Elizabeth King that was taken at the Society of 1895 luncheon back in April was finally ready and she could drop it off. It was printed just in time for Brian’s birthday. How perfect!
We met up for coffee at Mead’s Corner and she gave it to me then. I texted Brian to tell him I had his special luncheon photo and it was in a neat little holder so he could display it at his desk but he said he had no room so he let me keep it. It has been on display at my desk ever since.
Brian took the day off work on that Friday because that was the day of our big family celebration. We were having a BBQ in honor of Brian’s birthday, grandma’s birthday, and Father’s Day weekend. We were actually expecting a visit from his parents who live in Oklahoma but their plans fell through. At first his mom was staying home but his dad was still making the drive up for the weekend. But then his mom got really sick and his dad couldn’t leave. We were bummed when we found out a few days before the event that David wouldn’t be able to join us but we understood. Luckily, we didn’t have any major presents — just gift cards — and those are easy enough to mail so that’s what we did for him instead.
The party still went on though because Brian had already bought all of that food and everyone else was still coming. Everyone else being Brian’s cousin/nephew Zach, my sister Jenni, my mom and dad, and of course grandma.
Brian got a Boston creme cake. Yes, like his favorite donut.
Mom made Filipino spaghetti. She made a ton so we had a bunch left over. I ended up refreshing it on Sunday night by adding another jar of meat sauce and I shared it with Faith and her kids when I went to work on Monday. She said they loved it.
Brian grilled three full slabs of ribs.
They ribs don’t all look the same because he couldn’t fit the third rack in our small charcoal grill so he had to start those in the oven and then finish them off in the grill. Those actually turned out the best. The meat literally fell off the bones and melted in your mouth.
We also got a pan of our favorite mac n’ cheese from Costco.
We also had other BBQ-type foods like baked beans, green beans, and corn on the cob. And then had Hawaiian sweet rolls, which are our favorite. I didn’t get to take pictures of everything but you get the idea.
One of the milestones we celebrated was grandma’s birthday. She turned 95 on June 19. Can you believe it?
We just got gift cards for her and our dads so they could get what they wanted. Grandma’s was to Dillon’s where she gets groceries and other things. Dad’s was to Lowe’s because home improvement is kind of his thing. For Brian’s dad, we got Cabella’s so he could get more ammo. It’s way easier to mail a gift card than ammo.
I wanted to play some Uno but some people were party poopers. We ended up playing heads up. Just me and mom and Jenni because no one was really interested in playing games.
Anyway, that was the conclusion of Brian’s fun birthday week. Can’t wait to do it all again next year. I’m thinking of throwing a nautical themed birthday party because it’s going to be his 44th, which in poker-speak is sailboats.
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