Business Casual

WICHITA — I was chatting on the phone with my mother as I drove up to Office This earlier this week to speak to the Inventors’ Association of South Central Kansas.

“Oh, with all the inventing you’ve done, you’ll have plenty to talk about,” she said.

That was sarcasm, of course. The only idea I’ve had for an invention is a towel warmer, which I was quickly informed has already been invented. Just as well. I don’t think I would have gotten around to it.

Before the meeting started, I had to sign something saying I wouldn’t share any of the ideas I heard. There are some good ones. In fact, the room was filled with some impressive, interesting people.

The inventors wanted to learn how to get their news into the paper. It’s pretty easy, I explained.

Here’s how it works — for anyone:

Though you’re welcome to send one, there’s no need for a fancy press release.

If you have news you want to share, you can call, e-mail or use old-fashioned mail. I prefer a quick e-mail that briefly states the news and clearly shows me a working phone number I can call for more information.

It’s that simple. Send away!

WICHITA — A lawyer, a writer and an ad exec walk into an arena …

No, it’s not the start of a joke. It’s the start of a new passion for the Wichita Thunder that a few friends and I now have.

I was playing in the very fun Valley Center Charity Poker Tournament earlier this month when I knocked out Thunder general manager Joel Lomurno, which scored me four Thunder tickets, two T-shirts and bragging rights at least until next year’s tournament. (I also outlasted a certain business editor from across the street, but that’s another story.)

Bonnie Bing, refusing to do the Chicken Dance.

I got a small picture of just how crazy Lomurno’s job is when I discovered my four tickets weren’t on the same night. He accommodated me by personally trading in two of the tickets for the same night, sold me a fifth ticket and got them all in the same area, which turned out to be killer third-row seats for Friday’s game. While acting as my personal ticket agent, Lomurno clearly was juggling a number of other things amid a rather chaotic office. That included rushing a new player to Kansas City to work out a visa issue and rushing him back so he could step on the ice that night in order to be eligible for the playoffs later.

Although I’m a Michigan girl who once had an ice rink in her own back yard, I’ve never been into hockey. It was a hoot, though. The fights, the music, the beer. My husband enjoyed the game itself, too. At one point, he turned to me and said, “Honey, can you beat him at cards again?”

Actually, we’ll be happy to buy our own tickets. I think the Thunder could be an even bigger draw than it is if more nonhockey fans such as myself gave it a shot.

Even Bonnie Bing enjoyed it, although she refused to do the Chicken Dance.

WICHITA — An executive with a large corporation, who also happens to be a family friend, got stranded in Wichita Monday night after his plane from Dallas couldn’t make it here due to weather.

He’s someone who’s quite the world traveler (he’s already flown 80 times this year) so it was interesting to get his perspective on Wichita and a few of the businesses here. First, he was impressed with the DoubleTree by the airport and its amenities for top-tier travelers. It’s not hard to believe that the DoubleTree is nice, but it’s a little surprising to imagine it’s so nice that a well-traveled person would remark on it.

Then it was off to Old Town, where our visitor particularly enjoyed all the neon in Old Town Square. Mort’s, where it was cheap martini night, was absolutely packed, making Wichita seem like quite the happening place.

Finally, Sabor Latin Grille was a tasty end to the evening. It was half-price night on bottles of wine, so we sprung for the Keenan cabernet, which we got for $45 instead of the usual $90. The waitress was gleeful, but not because of what it meant for her tip.

“The last person who ordered that was Harrison Ford!” she said.

It gave us a chance to explain to our visitor that the actor is just one of many notables who pop into the Air Capital for training or to buy planes.

Instead of the paella that Harrison ordered, we shared the parilla platter, which is a meaty staple of Argentinian cuisine. Not, perhaps, a dish that one might expect to be having in Wichita, Kansas, on a Monday night.

As we parted ways with our guest, it was obvious he’d truly enjoyed his night on the town in Wichita. He’s already planning a return trip.

UPDATED — There were a number of fun and outright comical moments during Tuesday’s Junior Achievement 2012 Wichita Business Hall of Fame dinner.

Host Susan Peters called a few Junior Achievement students to the stage to help introduce honorees. That included Kiara Harris, a fifth grade Benton Elementary student, who had a frank talk about business with Peters.

While Kiara looks forward to being a businesswoman one day, she does not look forward to dealing with people.

“People can really get annoyed sometimes,” Kiara said of customers, suppliers and others.

“Mr. Moore,” she asked honoree Bill Moore, former Westar president and CEO, “did you have any bad days in business?”

Kiara got a good laugh. So did Moore when he later took the stage and replied, “I have never had a problem with a customer in my whole life.”

The biggest laughs my husband (and Eagle colleague) and I had over Thanksgiving were every time my father, who was a guest in our home, went off about “the media.”

We were like, “Ah, dad, you know you’re talking about us, right?”

Then, a friend who I consider to be very bright had me to dinner the other night and also blamed “the media” for making things seem worse than they are these days.

Seriously? It seems like there are new layoffs nationally and locally to report every day. Companies are either canceling plans or putting them on hold. Some are going bankrupt or are closing.

This is the media’s fault? I think that’s called blaming the messenger.

How bad things are is relative, of course. And there’s certainly a case to be made that bad news leads to more concern and cost-cutting and that, in turn, leads to more bad news.

But we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t report what’s happening. That’s called news.

Sorry, Dad.