Raising Money for LLS
Posted on March 21, 2022 by Ching under Community, Events, Pickleball.
The pickleball community came together for a great cause earlier this month. On March 6, LLS Students of the Year candidate Josie Morris hosted a pickleball tournament at Chicken N Pickle to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. As you can tell from this short video, everyone had a great time and the tournament was a huge success!
I am pretty sure Chris Heck had the most fun out of everyone. He was drinking the entire time! I don’t think there was ever a moment that he didn’t have a beer in his hand. Actually, he wasn’t playing with beer in hand (that’s a totally different pickleball tournament) but his drink was always close by so he could take a drink every couple of points.
The funny thing is, he wasn’t even supposed to play with me. I had signed up for Noi Sourinthone, my friend from Tennessee who recently moved to Wichita run pickleball programs for the city, and I to play together. However, he ended up having to fly back to Tennessee for a funeral the weekend of the tournament so he had Chris take his spot.
It worked out great that we already had matching shirts. Karen thought I had them made special but they are actually shirts we had from 2020. In fact, they are so old that rule #2 on the back is now wrong and needs to be revised.
Chris and I ended up winning the tournament. Chris is one of the best players in Wichita so the outcome wasn’t a surprise. I think it would have been more of a shock if we didn’t win. Although, I think the result would have been the same had Noi been able to play. Being new in town, he hasn’t met everyone and they have no idea what an amazing pickleball player he is.
Besides raising money for LLS, my main goal that day was not to let Noi down. I was goofing around mostly and almost messed it up. Thankfully, I had a great partner and we ended up taking first place and earning a couple of gift cards to 6S Steakhouse donated by our friend Jen Reifschneider, who is the executive chef at the restaurant. You’ll probably remember her as the old executive chef at Woodfire Grille at the Kansas Star Casino.
Last night, a bunch of us got together for dinner at 6S to support Jen’s restaurant and also so Chris and I could use our gift cards. However, Chris forgot to bring his gift card so I guess we’ll just have to go back. LOL.
6S is a special occasion sort of place but, if you go during “first call” from 4:30 to 6:00 pm when they have $5 drinks and $8 appetizers, you can actually get out of there without spending too much. I might have to take Brian there on a date another night soon. Until then, GNG.
Comment on This
Trying a New Coffee Shop
Posted on March 19, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.
I started working from the office two days a week starting this month. We were actually supposed to return to the office a couple of months ago but it kept getting postponed because COVID cases kept surging. Now that COVID has become endemic, things are starting to return to normal — somewhat.
Before the pandemic, I was working from the office five days a week. Occasionally, I would work from home if I wasn’t feeling well or if the roads were not drivable. I think our new normal, at least from the perspective of the department I’m in, will be working from the office a couple of days per week and remotely the rest of the time. For now, anyway.
My boss sent me a “Return to Office Survival Kit” care page which I think she sent to everyone a long while ago but I didn’t get until recently because I hadn’t been in. Every single item was so perfect and thoughtful but, as you might have guessed, I went for the chocolates first.
Honestly, what really helps me survive workdays are coffee runs and walks with my friend Chris Townley. It’s something that we hadn’t been able to do having worked remotely over the last couple of years. Now that we’re both back in the office, we have resumed our coffee runs.
We had to make up for the last two years and so we ventured out quite a ways for our first trip out. We walked all the way to Mokas, this new coffee shop by the Advanced Learning Library.
Here are some pictures of the cute interior.
By the way, Mokas serves food so you can get more than just coffee there.
This table would be perfect for Mexican train dominoes but it’s a tad narrow.
I’m always on the lookout for good tables for Mexican train dominoes. LOL. Anyway, I didn’t get to try it but the food looks good. Chris got a breakfast sandwich which he ate as we walked back to work. He said it was good.
I have trouble eating and walking — unless it’s a burrito or an ice cream cone — so I can’t eat unless we stay. We will have to go for lunch sometime when we have a bit more time to spare.
Food pictures next time. Until then, GNG.
1 Comment
New Pickleball Courts at WSU
Posted on March 15, 2022 by Ching under Pickleball, Things to Do.
I finally had a chance to check out the beautiful pickleball courts at Wichita State University. There are four lighted pickleball courts on campus, nestled between the Heskett Center and the softball stadium. I had no idea how amazing these courts are until I had the opportunity to check them out for myself a couple of weeks ago. I love how much space there is around each court.
Huge thanks to Ryan Kellenbarger and the ladies — MariAnn Heeren, Greta Siemens, Karen Fox, Lesli Toubassi, and Kimberly Howe — for going with me that night so I wouldn’t have to check out the pickleball courts by myself.
I’m going to try to go back there again tomorrow night with some gals for women’s doubles. I’ll keep you posted. Until then, GNG.
Comment on This
Breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn
Posted on March 11, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Here are some pictures of our breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn in Edmond, Oklahoma during the weekend of the Oak Tree pickleball tournament.
Breakfast wasn’t included in the room rate but it actually wasn’t bad at only $10 with drinks included. And, I really liked that I could pretty much put everything (except for cheese because I don’t like cheese my omelets) in my omelet and there was no extra charge. So both days I had a ham, bacon, AND sausage omelet with tomatoes and spinach. It was so good!
Until next time, GNG.
Comment on This
Pictures from the Oak Tree Tournament
Posted on March 10, 2022 by Ching under Pickleball, Travel.
We drove to Edmond, OK a couple of weeks ago for a tournament at the Oak Tree Country Club. I played singles on Friday, doubles with Jen Reifschneider on Saturday, and mixed with Ramon Lozano on Sunday.
I played four best 2 out of 3 matches and finished in third place in 3.5 singles.
My first match was against Lauryn Davis and then my second match was against her younger sister Bradey Davis.
I lost to Lauryn so the match against Bradey was my first in the back draw. I was a little bit confused that we were playing best 2 out of 3 instead of one game to 15 but I just rolled with it.
This next match is against Melissa Hawk. After playing against Melissa, I had to play against Lauryn again. This time it was for medals. I ended up losing to Lauryn a second time and got bronze.
I ended up playing against Lauryn again in women’s doubles the next day and ended up losing to her a third time. It was a super close match, though. We lost the third game 11-9.
With the exception of our first match, all of our women’s doubles matches were really close actually. We lost to the second place team 12-10 in the third game, and we lost to the third place team 13-11 in the third game. We were so close in our three losses. Those games really could have gone either way.
The next day Ramon and I played in mixed doubles and ended up taking silver. I love playing with Ramon. Not only is he a great pickleball player but he is also good listener and supportive partner. You can find videos of all the matches here.
There were 14 teams signed up for the 4.0 division. They ended up splitting us up into two groups of 7 based on the team’s average age. Ramon and I were in the 40+ Average Age bracket along with our friends Heather Griffin and Chris Wilson. Our other friends Jen Reifschneider and Jared Smart, and Kim Knotts and Daniel Nguyen ended up in the Under 40 Average Age Bracket. I thought it was weird at first but it actually worked out for the best because all four of us came home with medals. Heather and Chris took bronze in our bracket and, in the younger bracket, Jen and Jared took silver while Kim and Daniel took bronze.
This tournament was a bit of a mess but it’s always fun when you get to play with good people. I saw some familiar faces and also made some new friends. I can’t wait until the next tournament. Until then, GNG.
1 Comment
