Fun Pictures from Great Plains Regionals
Posted on July 3, 2021 by Ching under Hobbies, Travel.
Here are some fun pictures I took at Great Plains Regionals last weekend. Friday was women’s doubles day.
Here’s a pic of Eldonna and her sister Theresa.
Janelle and Karen = Fireball X5.
They won gold in the women’s doubles 3.5 35+ event.
With my partner Kimberly.
Kimberly and I earned silver in the women’s doubles 3.0 35+ but there is no golden ticket for second place. We still had a lot of fun, though.
Kimberly and me with (from left) Chandi, Michelle, Sharon, and Kim.
Chandi and Kim won gold in the women’s doubles 4.0 50+ event.
Saturday was mixed doubles day. There were so many rain delays and they sent so many confusing emails that my partner Ryan and I almost forfeited our first match.
Mixed day was a bit of a bust except for Michelle and Ramon winning gold in 3.5 35+ and Dave and Lori (#TeamBelew) winning gold in 4.5 50+.
Speaking of rain delays, this was Brian pretty much all weekend. On mixed day, it was both wet and cold. Thankfully, Michael brought a nice cozy blanket.
This pic actually remind me of the pic below from St. Louis. At least Brian is smiling in the above photo. Maybe because we are in Colorado. Just kidding!
Anyway, we stayed for Kimberly and Eric’s mixed doubles event. I think they were the last ones in our group who were still playing late in the afternoon.
Although mixed was a bust, we did meet this nice lady Natalie. She shared her wonderful booze with us.
I got a vodka and soda drink while the guys got some unique beers. Natalie had a great beer selection. She was super nice and told us to help ourselves to the cooler.
Anyway, it took quite a bit of convincing to get the guys to move over to the courts where Kimberly and Eric were playing because the guys didn’t want to venture away from the cooler full of booze.
The funny thing is, we had talked about going to the liquor store to buy some booze but then we weren’t sure what the rules were on that with us being at a public park and a college campus. I guess we were meant to have some court-side drinks because the universe brought Natalie and her booze cooler into our lives.
Sunday was men’s doubles day. Since I wasn’t playing, Brian and I spent most of the day sight seeing. We did go back to watch some men’s doubles action later in the day when we found out that Matt (Conrad) and Dave (Belew) were still playing. They would have been finished a lot sooner but there were, once again, multiple rain delays that day.
Monday was men’s and women’s singles day. I ended up taking silver in 3.0 35+. The Canadian lady Pam, who got silver in 3.5 35+ with her husband, ended up beating me. There were six of us in our pool so we were playing a round robin format of one game to 15, win by two (which actually is better for me because singles is a lot of work and best 2 of 3 games to 11 is killer). After four rounds of play, Pam and I were both undefeated. She was my final match.
It was kind of like a championship match, I guess, because whichever one of us won that match would take the gold medal and the other would take the silver. She was way better than me. It wasn’t even a case of I just made more unforced errors than she did, her shots were better – period. She was way better than all of us in that bracket skill-wise.
In hindsight, I wish that I would have played 3.0 19+ because the girl who won gold (Christina) was someone I had beaten in Arizona earlier this year (11-6, 11-2). She got bronze and I got silver. There were only two girls signed up for 3.0 19+ so even though she was 35+ she played in the 19+ bracket. Super smart. Since there’s only three of them competing, everyone was guaranteed a medal. I kinda wish I would have done the same and switched to 19+ also, but then I had no idea I would run into Pam. I feel like I am a pretty good contender in 3.0 35+. I just get really unlucky that I am constantly running into players who are better than me.
I’m going to get a gold medal at one of these big tournaments one of these days. But for now, I suppose I’ll just have to settle for silver.
Speaking of medals, Brian and I finally got tired for hanging them on our stair post and ordered me a display hanger off Amazon. It looks puny right now because there aren’t many medals hanging on it but once it’s filled up I’ll take a pic and post it.
I had a tournament pretty much every weekend last month. I’m taking a break this month and maybe only doing a couple of charity ones. Until next time. GNG.
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Cerberus Brewing Company
Posted on July 2, 2021 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Cerberus was hands down our favorite brewery and food spot in Colorado Springs. We ate there on our first night and Brian wanted to go back everyday.
It’s not very spacious inside but they had nice outdoor seating. I think it would have been better had the weather not been as damp and rainy but we made the best of it.
Kimberly, Eric, Brian and I had to sit outside because there was no room inside.
Brian had to take a work phone call so he didn’t have time to look at the menu. I took charge and ordered food for us. I told him he would like it.
We got the cheddar ale soup.
And the truffle parmesan fries.
And the pork belly spring rolls. The funny thing is Brian didn’t realize there were portobello mushrooms in his cheddar ale soup. He thought he was eating pork belly probably because he heard me say pork belly when ordering the spring rolls. He ate them without question and, I think, he kind of even enjoyed the taste even though he “says” hates mushrooms.
Eric got the bison burger and fries, while Kimberly got the reuben rolls.
I didn’t get pictures of our drinks but Brian and Kimberly both got the maibock (it was the closest thing they had to an amber) and Eric got the porter. I don’t like beer so I had a seltzer.
I’m a sweet tooth so I always have to have dessert. They had a delicious bread pudding served with ice cream. It was the perfect finale for our delicious dinner.
Two days later we were back at Cerberus again because Michael and Ryan hadn’t been there yet and we wanted them to try it.
Everyone was drinking beer but I opted for craft cider.
We asked for a table inside this time because it was once again cold and wet outside. Brian actually went back to our hotel to grab me some sweatpants.
Here are some pictures of food from our second visit.
Ryan got the bison burger. Michael got a regular burger with truffle fries upgrade.
Brian really liked the cheddar ale soup so he got it again.
Eric got the French onion soup.
Brian really wanted to try the Colorado poutine so we got it. It looks like soupy fries. LOL. It was great but had a spicy kick from the chorizo.
Eric and Kimberly shared the brisket grilled cheese, which I think is the best thing they serve at Cerberus. I was hoping to get it on our third visit but we cut our trip short and didn’t end up going again before we left.
Brian also got the pretzels.
And I got reuben rolls. I thought I would like them better than the pork belly spring rolls because those were kind of spicy but the reuben rolls were spicy too.
Anyway, that place is so good. If we find ourselves back in Colorado Springs again, we are definitely going back. We totally tried to eat there everyday of our trip.
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Picklemania MMXXI
Posted on July 1, 2021 by Ching under Community, Events, Hobbies.
My Rotary club held our first pickleball fundraising tournament a couple of weeks ago at Terradyne Country Club and it was a huge success. We had a goal of 64 players (32 teams) and we actually had 70 players sign up.
Here are some pictures from the tournament.
We had eight courts for the tournament so we had two brackets going in the morning and also two brackets in the afternoon. In the morning, we had a competitive bracket and also an all women’s bracket.
I loved how some of the ladies wore matching outfits like Michelle Pease and Lesli Toubassi (aka Tou Pease in a Pod).
Karen Fox and Jody Vinson (aka Drop It Like It’s Hot) won the women’s bracket.
As you can tell, we love our Electrum paddles.
After a long championship battle against Kim Knotts and Chris Heck (aka FSU) that ran all the way past lunch, Lori and Dave Belew (aka Notorious D.I.N.K.) won the competitive bracket in the morning.
My friend Erica and I won our bracket in the afternoon, which felt a little silly to me. I think I won’t play in the future. Mostly I signed up because I wasn’t sure if we could get enough players.
Erica and I wore our matching BIA shoes for Steve. LOL.
Mike Ellison and Adam Korfhage (aka Mike and Adam) won the all men’s doubles bracket in the afternoon.
I am so grateful to everyone who played, volunteered, and came out to support our event. I’m look forward to making this an annual fundraising event for our club.
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Birthday Celebrations
Posted on June 25, 2021 by Ching under Events, Family.
We had a lovely dinner with the Dills last Thursday. Jay and Becca wanted to get together to celebrate Brian’s birthday since they couldn’t make the birthday celebration happy hour at the Belmont. Brian’s mom and dad arrived that day to spend Father’s Day weekend and to celebrate grandma’s birthday so they joined us for dinner. I had no idea Jay was buying. It was very nice and generous gesture.
It was great to catch up. I feel like we never really get to see them any more. BTW, check all the short hairstyles. Seems like Mama Dill, Becca, and I all have the same idea for the summer.
Saturday night was grandma’s night. We celebrated her 99th birthday at Carrabba’s. It’s a huge deal because it her last double-digit one. Their relatives Jill and Cinda joined us for dinner.
Here are some pictures of grandma reading her birthday cards and opening presents from everyone.
Our friend Joe photo-bombed one of the pics when grandma was reading one of her cards. She and Brian had no idea that he was behind them.
Here’s a video of grandma opening her presents from Dave, Donna, and the cats.
One final video from dinner on Saturday night.
We are so blessed that grandma has her health (for the most part) and that her mind is completely sound. At my Rotary club meeting last week, we learned that one in three people over the age of 85 have some form of dementia. Granda’s eyesight may be failing and her body is as frail as that of any almost centenarian but her mind still as sharp as it ever was. I hope that, if Brian and I ever live to be her age, that we are as blessed with a strong mind as she is. Until then. GNG.
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Rotary Luncheons are Back
Posted on June 23, 2021 by Ching under Community.
It’s so great to have our in-person Rotary meetings again. The past year has been a real challenge. It was difficult to engage club members without meeting on a regular basis. I hope with regular programming, everyone will start coming back.
Last week we had a great presentation from Jenny Shipman with the Alzheimer’s Association. She shared information about the diseases and helpful tips on how we can reduce our risk. While no one is immune from aging, there are several things we can do now like exercising, eating well, being social, and stimulating our minds by learning new things and doing brain puzzles.
We have several great speakers visiting our club over the next couple of months. I’m hoping that we will start to see our members at the meetings again. Here’s to a great Rotary year.
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