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.

In the meantime, I had a question related to Boeing. So who did I call? The Spirit PR person. Doh!

What got me thinking about PR is the apparent lack of PR help the big three auto executives got on their recent trip to Washington. True public relations experts step in with guidance before there’s a PR nightmare on their hands.

Perhaps someone should have thought ahead of time that maybe flying in on private jets to ask for financial assistance wasn’t the smartest move. Or perhaps if someone had prepared the execs with an intelligent justification for why they need the planes, the ensuing PR disaster could have been averted.

I was having this discussion with my husband last night, and he said, “What’s their justification? They have to run their companies into the ground? They can’t spend another minute in the air because they’ve got more money to lose?”

He’s probably right. In some cases, no amount of PR helps. Especially when reporters don’t call the right company in the first place.

So how do they top her next year (or even come close to having as good of a program)? Bryan said he’s already at work on that. He was also nice enough to ask for suggestions. So here goes.

How about a journalist? Ted Koppel, Tom Brokaw or maybe my personal favorite, Maureen Dowd.

Journalists have front-row seats and backstage passes — literally and figuratively — to all kinds of news most of us only get in black and white or soundbites. They can offer behind-the-scenes stories and perspectives on events and world leaders.

With the right pick — hopefully someone more engaging than professorial — the chamber could get a speaker who appeals to Republicans and Democrats alike.

And for this journalist, that will be worth reporting.

Naturally, we chatted about downtown. Fluhr sees the Arkansas River as a key component to downtown revitalization. That’s what the mayor says, too. In fact, everyone seems to bring up the river, but not many people seem to be doing much about it.

Take the Hyatt Regency Wichita. The city owns it, right? Why, then, was there extensive remodeling of the main restaurant and bar at the Hyatt, but still no incorporation of the river?

I’m sure it would have cost more, but this could have been the perfect opportunity to reposition the restaurant to overlook the river, preferably through huge picture windows. And an accompanying outdoor patio would have been a must. Done correctly, the restaurant and bar could lure Wichitans — not just travelers — to stop in.

Then again, even a river view might not attract me with prices like $22 for two less-than-generous pours of wine, which I was recently charged there.

Still, I think the remodeling was a lost opportunity.

I hope Jeff can work with the city to ensure we take advantage of the next one.

Enough already! Surely I’m not alone in thinking this.

Stop the madness. I want to get off.

However, even I don’t want to hear Christmas songs all day and all night this early in the season. But two Wichita stations are already at it. I don’t understand. Who wants this? What do the stations get out of it? Is it that much harder to run regular programming until at least after Thanksgiving? Sorry, but they’ve lost my business until then.

The annual video provided a bit of Wichita history and one of the biggest laughs of the night when this question was posed: What’s the difference between California and yogurt? Yogurt has culture.

Doris Kearns Goodwin provided lots of history and laughs of her own. The most amazing thing to me, though, was how she spoke. I’m a fast talker myself, but seriously, I’m not sure Doris drew breath. She just talked on-and-on-and-on-and-on-and-on-and-on-and-on-and-on without pausing. Whew.

She still somehow managed to make her points and be entertaining along the way.

The first thing she uttered once the speech was over was a plea for water. By that point, after just watching her, I needed some, too.

But it really, really, really irritates me when I call to interview someone and I’m told they can’t be reached because they’re out of town.

Really? Hmmm. No cell phone? No e-mail? They’re not calling in for their messages?

Hello! It’s 2008. Time to think of new excuse.

For the 16th straight year, the state senator hosted the official Republican watch party at his Donovan Auto & Truck Center. He cleared all the vehicles out of his showroom and made space for somewhere between 300 and 500 partiers throughout the evening.

Now he has to move everything back. He admits that means he probably won’t sell anything today. And he’s OK with that. Donovan says it’s worth it to support the Republican cause. (Read more about the parties for Republicans and Democrats at our Partyblog!)

At least, it used to be part of the uniform. While searching for a couple of toques to decorate pumpkins for Trick-or-Treat Street, we discovered most chefs are opting not to wear toques anymore.

Ty Issa at Larkspur checked with his staff and called back to say sorry, everyone is wearing ball caps these days instead. He recommended calling the Wichita Country Club since those chefs tend to still wear toques. Not so, reported club event coordinator Darian Tjaden. A quick check with her chefs revealed that they, too, are wearing ball caps. But she called over to the Airport Hilton for us, and a chef there found a couple of paper toques.

After struggling to get the toques to stay on the pumpkins’ heads (not to mention our own when we tried in fun), I must say I think the ball caps seem to make a lot more sense.

One question, though. Toques used to denote who outranked whom in the kitchen depending on their height. What ranks now? A Phillies cap over a Rays?