Tournament Recap – OKC Picklemania
Posted on August 14, 2023 by Ching under Events, Pickleball.
I had a blast playing in Picklemania at the Life Time in Oklahoma City last weekend, a tournament I wasn’t even set to play in. My friend Mandy O’Neil and I just happened to be texting each other and so it got me looking at the tournament. I found one of the guys from Wichita, Nathan Peters, signed up for men’s doubles but not mixed so I asked him if he would be interested in playing mixed doubles together. With a women’s doubles and mixed doubles partner lined up, I decided to make the trip down since I didn’t have any plans that weekend anyway.
Originally, Brian and Saki were going with me but then Brian’s office move got pushed back to August 4 weekend so then he couldn’t go. It worked out that he had to stay in town because the two iPickle Nation team members we had Amanda Ades and Fernando Martinez were both unavailable to run the Nation Builder that weekend. Amanda had a wedding and Fernando was out of town fishing with his son and, since I was playing in the tournament in Oklahoma, Brian had to fill in for all of us. I’m pretty sure that everyone being out that weekend was main the reason I didn’t sign up for the tournament to begin with — because I had to be around to run the round robin at Riverside — but, with two amazing players as partners, I had to figure out a way to make it work.
I met Mandy at some tournaments and got to spend time with her at one of my friend Tanner Rice’s DUPR events last year and she seemed to me like such a fun person to play with so I’d been looking for an opportunity partner with her so I was glad when the opportunity finally came knocking. And then Nate single-handedly smoked Dustin Herman and me at the ICT Classic tournament so I was excited to actually be on the same side of the net as him this time.
Here are a couple of pictures from Saturday that Mandy’s husband Justin took of us with some of the teams in our division.
I’d never played 4.5 women’s doubles before but that’s the level Mandy wanted to play. For our first time playing together, I thought we did really well. I enjoyed playing with her a ton. She prefers playing on the left and I prefer playing on the right so I felt like we were a perfect match.
Here are a couple of action shots of me and Nate on Sunday. Nate and I did really well for not having played together either. We were second in our pool and made it to quarters in a 4.5 mixed doubles division stacked with 18 tough teams.
We defeated the Luelfs (Caroline and Ryan) in the first round of the single elimination bracket and then had to face a couple of tennis players (Alex Bowers and James Seagrass) in the quarters. It was like having to play against two Nates across the net from me which, as Nate put it perfectly, is my Kryptonite. We ended up losing to them and they ended up going on to win gold.
These are some highlights from mixed doubles play on Sunday:
Besides all the fun, competitive play, I enjoy Picklemania for an opportunity to reconnect with some of favorite pickleball players and fellow Chicken N Pickle ambassadors outside the state. Below is Karen McAllister, matriarch of pickleball’s “first family” in OKC.
This next one is of Antonio Lares, Jared Smart, and Ramon Lozano.
If you are a pickleball player looking to play in a fun tournament, I highly recommend checking out one of the Picklemania events in OKC. It is one of my favorite tournaments to do. I already can’t wait until the next one.
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Sushi at Wasabi
Posted on August 11, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I tried to take Brian (and Jenni, who was meeting us for lunch) to Sushiya (this new sushi place in Old Town Square that took over the old Hana Cafe space) a couple of weeks ago but I guess they don’t open until 4 pm on the weekends. We were in the mood for sushi so we ended up at Wasabi. Now that’s a place I haven’t visited in years! Here are some food pics…
We ended up buying Jenni lunch because I wanted to return the favor for her buying me a copy of this book I posted about on Facebook but then a week later she gave us her old iPad and pen thing so I feel like she just had to have the last say. Just kidding, LOL.
Grown up Jenni has been around for several years now but I feel like I’m still getting used to it. I’m so used to being the older sister and giving her hand-me-downs (which she still welcomes my old clothes that I’ve gotten too fat to wear) that it still feels weird when she gives me her hand-me-downs. I like hand-me-down technology though because it always fits!
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Rally for Hope and 21 Years
Posted on August 10, 2023 by Ching under Confessions, Life, Pickleball.
I don’t always play in charity pickleball tournaments unless (a) I get peer pressured into doing it, or (b) I have a personal connection to the charity organization. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Hanbeen You and I played in the Rally for Hope pickleball tournament benefitting HopeNet that was held at Chicken N Pickle.
HopeNet is a faith-based nonprofit organization that provides mental health services (coaching and counseling) to anyone at any income level. While I’ve not personally used HopeNet’s services, their Director of Community Impact Jo Lynn Bright, was the therapist/counselor that helped Brian and I get through some challenges we faced over ten years ago so I feel a special connection to the organization. Besides that, I feel like there is a need for mental health services to be accessible to everyone and not just those who can afford it. We all need help at some point in our lives and we may not necessarily have the resources to get the help we need so I am extremely grateful that HopeNet exists.
On this day, our 21st wedding anniversary, I feel extremely blessed and grateful that we are where we are today. And we would not be here if not for Jo Lynn.
Anyway, on a less series note, I played in the charity tournament because I really wanted to support HopeNet but we also got free food and free shirts (pictured above). Seth Mountain and I wore ours the next day at the iPickle Nation round robin at Riverside and ended up unintentionally matching. And then, I found out later from Nathan Peters (who I recently partnered with for another tournament so more on him next time) that the first place team got $200 each in prize money so I am definitely playing in this tournament again next year. LOL.
P.S. Thank you to Hanbeen for partnering with me. No thanks to Steve Vetter and Jen Tiano for knocking us out of the bracket. (Steve and Jen T took second and Nate and Jen Reifschneider took first.)
P.P.S. Happy 21st anniversary to us. Our marriage can now legally drink. Cheers!
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Forge ICT
Posted on August 9, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
My favorite lunch buddy Chris Townley is visiting his brother in Japan right now so I’m lunching solo for the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I want to share some pics from one of our last lunch adventures.
We recently went to check out Forge ICT, a restaurant that took over the old District Taqueria space.
They added some drapes on the front entry/windows but, other than that, not much has changed with the interior. It still looks very much like how it did when it was District Taqueria.
The menu, however, is quite different. The new restaurant is more upscale and serves steaks instead of tacos.
In addition, they have a great selection of mocktails because refraining from drinking alcoholic beverages is fashionable these days.
Chris and I started with some crab cakes followed by our respective lunch entrees.
He had the tomahawk pork chop while I had the grilled chicken picatta.
Overall, the food was good but the prices aren’t cheap. I think I’ve gotten spoiled because I can have a $5 lunch at Rain on taco Tuesdays. I would say Forge is a place where you go to have a nice lunch or dinner where you don’t really care how much your lunch is costing you. It’s not an everyday lunch place. Let’s just put it that way. That said, I really miss the District Taqueria lunch special. LOL. Alas, it is gone and it is what it is. Until next time, GNG.
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Public – Open for Lunch Again
Posted on August 3, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I am so happy that Public is open for lunch again. Not much has changed but when they first reopened after the pandemic, they were initially only open for dinner.
As soon as we knew they were back open for lunch, Chris Townley and I decided we had to go. So we had lunch there a couple of weeks ago.
Here are some pics of our food.
If you’ve never been to Public, I highly recommend checking them out. The food is amazingly good and they source their ingredients locally.
At Public, they bring you your bill inside a book. They brought mine in this book. It’s actually a business book (it’s about selling insurance) but I thought the title was interesting. Definitely an attention grabber so it got me curious. Jenni was nice enough to buy the book (not this particular one but she found a used copy on Amazon) for me so I’m reading it now. I’ll share my thoughts once I finish. Until then, go check out Public. GNG.
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