FLIP + CHING

Tulsa Pickleball Classic 2023

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Ching under Pickleball, Travel.

Just a few snaps from Tulsa Pickleball Classic 2023. This is the second year for this tournament. I had a lot of fun playing in it last year. Also, it was super organized and ran very smoothly so I wanted to check it out again.

With Gloria Otis on Friday, Singles and 50/50 day at Tulsa Pickleball Classic.

With Donnie Lesperance, Jenny Marcos, and James Moore.

Me and James.

With Donnie in our awesome Wichita Pickleball team shirts just for the event.

With Molly Sager on Saturday, Mixed Doubles day at Tulsa Pickleball Classic.

Tanner Rice was supposed to play with me but hurt his back so he and Matt Mauldin helped me find a last minute sub. Mohammad Luqman was nice enough to fill in. Tanner decided to come out to the tournament and hang out and got these action shots of Mo and me on Mixed Doubles day.

Karen Fox, and Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance had the perfect hang out spot by the courts on Sunday, Women’s Doubles day. It was a shady spot next to a giant mister fan — a cool spot for the cool kids.

I tried to get Bo Tolbert to fill in on Saturday when I found out that Tanner wouldn’t be able to play but he couldn’t take off work. He cold only play on Sunday, gender doubles day. It would have worked out perfectly if he could because, having played together a few times, we were already familiar with each other’s playing styles. Will have to reunite with this kid at some point, or maybe for 50/50 when the time comes and I’m the upper end of that team up.

Got a photo with one of my pickleball heroes, Jenny Marcos, on Women’s day. This woman is simply amazing. Donnie and I had to play against her and Ryan Luelf (they won Gold) in 50/50 and I was too starstruck to string shots together. She won 99% of our exchanges but I did get the better of her on a couple of dink battles and so I was pretty proud of myself for that. Her shots are just too good!

I had a ton of fun playing with pickleball daughter #2, Kendra Wicks. We’ve been trying to play more together to prepare for Nationals this November so we played PPA Kansas City Open together and also did a couple of sessions of women’s doubles league at Riverside Tennis Center.

Side note, she hated the pink outfits that I got for us to wear at the Diamond Amateur Championships in Florida last year (they were just too girly and frilly for her) so I let her pick out our Nationals uniform. This blue dress is her choice. Tulsa Pickleball Classic was basically our dress rehearsal.

Our division was one of the last to finish. We couldn’t wait until the championship match was over because Brian and I didn’t want to drive home in complete darkness so we just waited long enough to grab our medals and took off soon after we finished our Bronze medal match.

After we lost to Genevieve Eskridge and Nikki Baker, they moved on to play for Gold/Silver against Molly Sager and Cindy Egan. Molly and Cindy went completely undefeated that day. The four of them took a podium pic and Genevieve used her amazing Photoshop skills to add me and Kendra to that podium pic. She did such a great job that you can’t even tell this picture is Photoshopped.

In summary, these were my events/partners this year compared to last year’s events/partners/results:

	2023	2022
*Friday*	Advanced 50/50 with Donnie Lesperance (1-2)	Intermediate 50/50 with Robert Mansfield (2nd place)
*Saturday*	4.5 Mixed Doubles with Mohammad Luqman (1-2)	4.5 Mixed Doubles with Tanner Rice (0-2)
*Sunday*	4.0 Women’s Doubles with Kendra Wicks (3rd place)	4.0 Women’s Doubles with Huyen Nguyen (1-2)

I pretty much played the same events/divisions as last year with the exception of moving up to Advanced 50/50. Despite not moving up significantly in events, I’m actually pretty proud of my overall performance. I feel like a much stronger player than I was last year. While I was playing in these same divisions before and didn’t feel completely out of place, I didn’t feel like I completely belonged either. However, I am becoming more and more comfortable at this level as I get more experience and more matches under my belt. I can tell that I am getting better year over year and month over month. Each day I play, I truly feel like I am better (even if ever so slightly) than I was yesterday and that makes me happy. I am super proud of the progress I’ve made even though I’m just inching my way up at a snail’s pace.

I’ve learned and accepted long ago that some people are going to improve exponentially and move up in a matter of months (maybe even weeks) and just take off like rocket ships; whereas, there are people like me who will improve incrementally at a slow and steady pace. And that’s totally okay because I’m not in any kind of hurry. I’m enjoying every minute of this journey. Until next time, GNG.

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Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Ching under Things to Do, Travel.

Where were you the weekend that the news broke out of Jimmy Buffett’s passing? Fittingly, we were all at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville at River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa. Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance stayed there the weekend of Tulsa Pickleball Classic via hookup from Tracy Garrison and Nikki Baker. They were so generous to share their free accommodation via a couple of out-of-towners.

Since I made that connection happen, Tiffany and Donnie were nice enough to let Brian and I hang out with them at the resort. Katie Merrill and Ryan Kellenbarger came and hung out with us also.

It worked out fantastic for us because the pool at our hotel was closed.

I’m not a huge fan of casinos but this place was super nice and I would totally stay here again. If not for gambling, at least to hang out at the resort pool.

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Tulsa Eats

Posted on September 14, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.

I’m not really a huge fan of chain restaurants and would prefer to visit local eateries when out of town but, as we do not have a Cheesecake Factory here in Wichita, Brian and I decided we would make an exception.

It’s been quite a long time since we’ve been to a Cheesecake Factory. The nice thing about it is, their vast menu is pretty standard across all locations. And that honey wheat bread is so, so good.

We weren’t very hungry so we just selected a few things so as not to overeat. We had the crab cake bites; Brian had a flatbread cheese pizza; and I had the homemade meatballs.

It was more than enough to fill us up.

Our next meal was at Ted’s Cafe Escondido because we were with Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance and they absolutely love Mexican food.

This is also a chain but one that we don’t have in Wichita. Food is pretty good but the best part about Ted’s is, not only do they give you free chips and salsa but they also give you unlimited free queso. I don’t even know why you would need to order an entree because you could easily fill up on this stuff, other than I do feel kind of guilty when I don’t order anything so, no matter how full I am, I still end up ordering a meal.

Here are some pictures of our food…

We also ate at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville because Tiffany and Donnie were staying at the casino that weekend. I didn’t end up getting pics of that food, though. Until next time, GNG.

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Work Team Building

Posted on September 13, 2023 by Ching under Community.

Our extended work team participated in a team building/volunteer activity at Emporia State University’s Prophet Aquatic Research and Outreach Center (PAROC).

Got reunited with two of my favorite people, Molly Williams and Joy Jackson.

We started at Flint Hills Technical College and then drove to the PAROC site where we would be helping with riparian restoration.

We were briefed on all the various plants that we would encounter and learned how to identify poison ivy so that we could stay away from it. Honestly, even after the presentation, I still couldn’t tell which was poison ivy and which wasn’t. Although, they did say it was everywhere so maybe that’s why I couldn’t tell — because it all of it was poison ivy. LOL.

Despite the heat and despite the risk of getting poison ivy, it was a wonderful afternoon of bonding and team building. It was nice to be able to get together with everyone and connect face to to face. Here’s a picture of our immediate team, followed by a picture of the massive group that participated in the activity that afternoon.

Fun times!

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Pad Thai Restaurant

Posted on September 8, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.

Brian found this great Thai restaurant by our hotel while we were in Overland Park a couple of weeks ago. When I looked at the menu, it occurred to me that there was hardly anything that Brian would eat. The dishes were more like stuff that I would like. I was so proud of him for going outside of his comfort zone.

The skinny-handled utensils were cool-looking but took a bit to get used to. It was like a fork and spoon with chopstick handles.

I can’t remember what this mango drink was called but it was delicious!

We got the appetizer sampler so we could try multiple things from the menu without having to order everything separately. I actually really liked everything.

They also gave us various sauces to try with the apps.

Because we had appetizers, we decided to split an entree which was a breaded pork dish. Although, we got super full from the apps that we couldn’t finish the main course. If we return I think we’ll just do appetizers and drinks next time.