My Friend Chris Wilson
Posted on April 12, 2022 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
I attended a safety meeting at one of our service locations last week and ran into my friend Chris Wilson. I met Chris through pickleball and played with him for months (yes, MONTHS) before I realized that we both worked for the same company. Of course, we were working at different locations so we never ran into one another.
It wasn’t until another pickleball friend (Paul Haas), who worked for the same company, retired that I found out Chris worked at Evergy also. I was looking for someone to play pickleball with me for the Wichita Corporate Challenge and I asked Paul to play because I knew of his Evergy connection, having recently celebrated his retirement. However, Paul was like, “Why don’t you ask Chris? He still works for Evergy.” That’s how I found out. I totally had no idea we were employed by the same company until then. But then, I guess that’s what happens when your company employs over 5,000 people. You don’t really know anyone.
Anyway, Chris has been my “go to” guy for anything pickleball-related that the company sponsors. Evergy chose not to participate in the Wichita Corporate Challenge last year but, had we participated, I would have asked Chris to play with me. With the increasing popularity of the sport, more and more people are work are getting into pickleball so I guess we might have to do tryouts next time. But, back when I first discovered pickleball, I only knew of Chris and Paul and me.
When I first discovered pickleball, Paul and Chris had already been playing a long while. I was a beginner playing at West YMCA when I found Paul’s church on the West side of town — a super secret place to play pickleball that’s not even listed on Playtime Scheduler. It was my first time there and everyone knew I was not any good but they were nice enough and let me play anyway. On my very first game, they paired me with “the best guy there” — because that’s what you do with the worst player, in order to make the games more fair — and that was literally my introduction to Chris. For a long time, he was the best player I knew.
Shortly after (I’m still very much a beginner) he asked me to play in a tournament with him. It happened to be the Senior Games. At the time, I couldn’t decide if I should be flattered that he felt I was good enough to play with him or if I should be offended that he thought I was old enough to play in “senior” events.
Once I had a bit more experience, we did end up playing in some tournaments together — both sanctioned and unsanctioned — besides just the Wichita Corporate Challenge and charity tournaments. We even teamed up for Middle States Regionals. Although, it wasn’t longer after that when I got benched. Chris decided he needed a more “age appropriate” partner. By age appropriate, I mean someone who could play in 50+ events with him.
The bigger tournaments have both age and skill divisions such as 19+, 35+, 50+ and so forth. I guess he was tired of playing 35+ with me, specially when he could do so much better in 50+ events. To be fair to all competitors, players can play down in age but they can’t play up so I could not play 50+ with him. If we played together, he would have to play down to 35+ with me. It really didn’t make any sense when there were several 50+ players he could team up with.
The dissolution of our partnership was an amicable one and it actually proved beneficial to me because it gave me the opportunity to play with some higher level mixed doubles partners. It’s great to have a “young buck” with young legs to play with in younger age groups. Anyway, despite having divorced each other, Chris and I still team up from time to time for events like the Picklepalooza. And maybe the Wichita Corporate Challenge again this year (if there aren’t any other employees who want to represent our company).
Even though we have both moved on and are playing with different partners competitively (we actually had to face off against each other not too long ago in the Oak Tree tournament in Edmond), Chris is still one of may favorite pickleball players to play with and against. He’s good people and I am grateful that he has been part of my pickleball journey.
Until next time, GNG.
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Social Tap Revisited
Posted on April 11, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.
My first time at Social Tap was a happy hour with my Leadership Wichita pals and I didn’t get to try any food. I made sure to rectify this on my second visit, which occurred months later. My first visit was last year around September. The weather was nice and we got to sit out on their patio. I can’t wait for fabulous weather like that again. This time around we dined inside.
This second visit was prompted by working up an appetite playing pickleball. I was starving and I talked Bo Tolbert, Kendra Wicks, and Ryan Kellenbarger into going with me to Social Tap for post-pickleball lunch. It was a particularly windy day so their garage doors were down and I think pretty much all the guests dined inside that day. We arrived at a good time before all the basketball fanatics showed up.
One of the things I like most about Social Tap is that they encourage you to be completely self-sufficient. You don’t have to go up to the counter or wait for a server to order. You do everything directly from your phone.
They have QR codes on each table that you scan, not just to look at the menu, but you order directly through your phone. They know where to deliver the food and drinks ordered based not the QR code that’s been scanned because, while the menus are the same, the QR codes are unique to each table.
Here are some pictures of food that we enjoyed that day.
I got the pepperoni and pineapple pizza. It had a fancy name on the menu which I do not recall. I’d never had food there before so I was a bit worried that I would be disappointed but their pizza is actually quite good. I was very happy with this choice. Below is a picture of Ryan’s pizza. I don’t remember what he got either.
I thought it worth mentioning that Social Tap has $5 mimosas and bloody Mary’s on the weekend. I’m not a bloody Mary person. The one you see in the pic is Ryan’s.
Kendra got a hotdog (pictured above) and Bo got a burger (below).
The food actually comes from the restaurants at Braeburn Square (named after the old campus golf course that used to be there many, many years ago) — Sungrano Pizza and Wheatly’s Burgers. I’m not sure if they reciprocate by letting you order drinks from Social Tap if you’re at their locations so I just automatically go to Social Tap instead to be on the safe side.
On the visit with Bo, Kendra, and Ryan, I somehow missed the $5 mimosa memo so I order a more expensive blue drink (I can’t remember what it’s called also) which was good but I would have much preferred to spend less.
Therefore, when I returned with Brian and Karen a few weeks later, I made sure to order a mimosa instead. They have various flavors to choose from. I got the pomegranate and Karen had the pineapple.
Karen got the pepperoni and pineapple pizza this time.
Brian and I shared the Kansas bird pizza on tavern crust, which kind of reminds me of lavosh. Brian and I decide that “tavern crust” is just a fancy way of saying “thin crust” pizza. Anyway, though it doesn’t photograph well, this pizza was actually not bad. Although, I still like the pepperoni and pineapple pizza better. I like that crust and that pizza overall. However, Brian has an aversion for pineapple on pizza so we had to get something that we could both agree on and that happened to be the chicken and bacon one.
I am really happy that there’s stuff on the WSU campus now, specially since the best pickleball courts in the city are located on campus and I see myself spending a lot of time there in the future. LOL.
I’ll have to try some other things on the menu so I can get new food pictures. I’ll also have to try the rest of the mimosa flavors. Stay tuned. GNG.
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Rain Cafe Revisited
Posted on April 9, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink, Life.
Now that I’m back in working the office again, I’m getting to visit some restaurants downtown that I have not visited in a while. One such place is Rain Cafe and Lounge on Kellogg. My coworker and friend Chris Townley and I went there for lunch a few weeks ago.
Chris got a burger and fries and I ordered the chicken skewer item, not because I felt like eating chicken, but mostly because the table next to us ordered it and, when I asked, our server mentioned it was the most popular item on their lunch menu.
I’m glad I ordered it because it was really good. The teriyaki flavor was excellent. If we make another trip back, I would not hesitate to order this again. Until next time, GNG.
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Downtown Cocoa Dolce
Posted on April 7, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.
The downtown Cocoa Dolce is one of our most favorite spots to visit. Not only do they have the most decadent truffles but they also have great cheesecake. And, it’s hands-down my favorite place to get a mocha because they have 10 different flavors to choose from. Besides that, they also have cocktails and drinks that you can pair with chocolates. If you do the pairings, the truffles are only $2.50 each. Anyway, I can’t do the pairings during the day but I am seriously contemplating going back this weekend to enjoy a flight with Brian for date night.
Since Easter is just around the corner, they currently have their seasonal Easter treats on display. I would love to get one of these chocolate bunnies.
Most of their products are available for purchase online, except for these giant bunnies. I think you actually have to visit the store to snag one of these bad boys.
I forgot to mention that Cocoa Dolce also have a great selection of gelato which can be paired with caramel or peanut butter whiskey (or any other spirit for that matter). I like my gelato with Bailey’s personally.
Speaking of Easter treats, I would love to get a box of these colorful macarons.
Their lounge has tables equipped with outlets so it’s a great place to work remotely for those who wish for a change in scenery.
I can think of nothing better to spark inspiration than the delicious aroma of fresh coffee and truffles. Anyway, Brian and I are due for another visit to this place. I may have to talk him into a wine or beer truffle pairing this weekend.
Until next time, GNG.
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Dining by the Alphabet – Part C
Posted on April 6, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.
It’s taking us quite some time to do this whole “Dining by the Alphabet” thing. Part of it is, we don’t want to count any places when we are doing takeout — we have to dine in and we have to purposely go specifically for the dining project. Like if we happen to eat somewhere that starts with the correct letter but we didn’t plan to use it for the project, then it doesn’t count. For instance, if we happened to eat at Carrabba’s because we eat there all the time and it works for the letter C, we’re not going to count it just to cross off a letter. We are going to purposely select a place that either we’ve never visited or we don’t visit all the time. Thus, we started with Albero Bistro for the letter A and then Blue Hook for the letter B.
We had a couple of options for the letter C — Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, where we haven’t been in years, or College Hill Deli, where Brian has never been.
As you can see from this awesome mural, we ended up choosing College Hill Deli. Here’s a picture of Brian carefully studying the menu because it’s his first time there. Although, I don’t know what he does since he usually gets the same thing at every Mediterranean restaurant we visit.
The interior space of the restaurant is not huge but they do have outdoor patio seating which is great on nice days.
We began our dining adventure with a plate of hummus with chicken. Their hummus is great and one of the best in town. The chicken had excellent flavor.
Brian got the chicken shawarma wrap with fries. Surprise, surprise.
I got the chicken biryani, which was excellent.
College Hill Deli has a dessert case stocked with all sorts of delicious pies. We didn’t have room for dessert on this visit but Brian and I decided we will have to have pie next time. The chicken and hummus was quite filling so we could just have that and dessert and be completely satisfied.
We have many more letters of the alphabet to go to complete this project but, suffice it to say, Brian’s first time at College Hill Deli was a huge success. He loved the food and it’s definitely going to be one of our go to places for the future. Until next time, GNG.
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