Underdressed.

Neither Carrie or I broke out a costume this Halloween, so we're living vicariously through our friends the Dennelers. Carrie and Sandra used to work together at SHS until I stole her away earlier this year and since that time she's really bought in to the whole "Shocker" thing (pretty impressive for a Ft. Hays grad who's married to a Wildcat). She and her husband are incredibly creative—to the point that they kind of make me sick.

Check out the costumes Eric hand carved out of foam. (We may be looking to borrow them in seven years or so.)

http://www.projectdenneler.com/

A shout out for the shout outs.

First of all, Carrie and I would like to thank everyone for their comments, e-mails, phone calls and preemptive notes of concern to child services—we appreciate them one and all. We spent the weekend deciding on our future room assignments, and while we think we've come up with a plan, I'm going to wait to post anything due to the fact that it most will likely change three or four times before noon. At that point we'll probably just revert back to our original idea of just spreading some newspapers out on the laundry room floor (don't worry, we'll use the comics).

For those of you bargain hunters out there, keep checking in as we plan on posting a few items we're going to have for sale—however don't get too excited, the Schlitz beer light will not be among them.

Moving on, my office just finished another TV spot (we've been cranking them out lately) so check it out and see if you can spot my cameo.

Big news. Little thing.

We picked up a little something at the Joshua Radin concert last weekend that we'd like to share.

Yes, that's a onesie. And no, it's not a gift for someone else.

That's right, we're thrilled to finally announce that we're expecting a little Lindeman. The due date is May 1, which means we're going on just about 13 weeks of keeping the secret and making preparations. And we're slowly adjusting to the idea of becoming a party of five (hopefully this kid won't be as hairy as our other two).

While we really enjoyed the concert on Saturday, it was extra special because it was the first time the kid was exposed to live music. Joshua Radin coined his own genre as "whisper rock" -- and we anticipate his CDs making perfect lullabye music for many late nights to come. But as mellow as the concert was, you wouldn't know it by the heartbeat we heard Monday morning. We were told the average rate is 150-160 at this stage. Little Lindy came in at 164 -- we can only imagine he or she must have been dancing to one of the U2 songs dad and mom have been playing at high volumes whenever possible.

Just like this onesie is the first thing we've bought for the kid so far, this is also the first of many blog posts to come about our new adventures in parenthood. We hope you'll enjoy the ride with us.

Craig and Carrie

The highlight of a big weekend.

The past couple of days have been pretty full for Craig and I. On top of getting a bunch of yard work done and the usual house projects, we broke out of our normal routines and had all sorts of mini adventures around Wichita. The first was a visit to the season's last Farm and Art Market. Well, we thought it was the last. When we got there and saw only two tents up, we learned that last week was actually the last Saturday. That didn't stop us from stocking up on homegrown veggies from one of the two lone vendors. In a downtown frame of mind, we continued the adventure and had lunch at Old Mill Tasty Shop. This original Old Town soda fountain has been in business for over 72 years and we try and take out-of-towners there when they visit to experience their famous green chili, smothered sancho or ice cream treats. While we didn't indulge our sweet tooth at Old Mill this time around, we did indulge in a cherry pastry from Jaurez Bakery on North Waco -- a random stop we made while driving around and seeing sides of Wichita we hadn't yet explored. Yummy.

But the highlight of Saturday was that night when we caught Joshua Radin in concert. If the name doesn't sound familiar, his work probably does. This singer-songwriter has had his songs featured on a number of TV shows and movies like Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, and The Last Kiss (which stars his good friend Zack Braff). If you aren't familiar with Joshua, check him out here.


(Click here to see more of Craig's pictures from the concert.)

The concert extended our new Wichita adventures by taking us to a venue called The Avenue. It was a cool old warehouse on South Commerce next to a number of art galleries that we've frequented during Final Friday events. But for those events, the area is usually crawling with hundreds of people. This event was different. There seemed to be very little promotion for the concert -- in fact, Craig found out about it from someone on Facebook. So for just $14, we spent the evening at what felt like our own little private party (with about 60 or so guests) with Joshua Radin serenading us with just his acoustic guitar. It was awesome -- one of the best shows we've been to. And to top it off, Joshua was gracious enough to stick around and pose for photos afterwards.

Newsmaker.

A while ago I blogged about our TV shoot with the local media—now it's showtime.

Each of the following spots are exactly the same except for the fact that they end with Wu at the anchor desks of different local news broadcasts.





Also, yesterday we had the had the unique honor of being given the run of Cessna Aircraft Company for a future spot featuring Wichita State's role in local aviation (over a third of all of the engineers in this town are WSU alumni).

Here's a still of Wu hanging out with a group of test pilots between shots—you wouldn't believe the trouble I went through to get Wu a matching flightsuit. But it was worth it.

A change would do us good

Last Thursday, Craig and I went to hear Dr. Ed Cook (my friend Shayna's dad) give a presentation on Global Climate Change. The presentation had some elements from Al Gore's 2006 "An Inconvenient Truth" documentary, but it also included more recent data and information on how Kansas is contributing to the problem. It was eye-opening, but it was also encouraging to hear that Ed is opening the minds and eyes of others in this city by giving his presentation to groups of 2 people and up to 200.

Whether or not you believe in global warming and if it's caused by man, I think we can all agree that there are benefits in making our carbon footprint smaller on this planet -- benefits to our health, benefits to our pocket book and benefits for how we leave this place for our grandchildren.

Dr. Ed shared some easy changes we can make that just might add up to a whole lot of good:

1. Replace incandescent light bulbs in your house with Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFLs).
2. Maintain good tire pressure.
3. Use less hot water.
4. Plant a tree.
5. Use a programmable thermostat and set it 2 degrees warmer (in summer) and 2 degrees cooler (in winter).
6. Drive less.
7. Turn off electronic devices when not in use.
8. Recycle.
9. Reduce consumption.
10. Spread the word.

Taking #10 to heart, you can visit Ed at his blog, learn more about global warming and take action.

Please don't let this woman take office.

I try not to get too political on here (I said "try," I know I'm not always that successful). But just now, some information about Sarah Palin got me too worked up to mind my internal censor.

In June, after gunning down 14 adult wolves from a helicopter, officials from Governor Palin’s Department of Fish and Game rounded up 14 orphaned wolf pups and methodically shot each one in the head in clear violation of a state law. The Defenders of Wildlife Fund posted the following video about her policy which brings its terribly inhumane actions to light.

Disclaimer: While not particularly gruesome, this video may not be appropriate for everyone.



I believe even the most hard-core hunters out there will agree that this is not right.

For more information, visit http://www.defendersactionfund.org/newsroom/sarah_palin.html

This woman simply has no redeemable qualities.

My work, in progress.

Last March, in the aftermath of Erin and Scott's wedding, I stumbled upon SmugMug an online service that would provide me with an easy way to post my photos and order prints. At the time, I just signed up for a free trial, but a few months ago Carrie's mom showed me the prints she had ordered and I was so impressed with the quality that I decided to pony up some money and join on. In fact, I was so enthusiastic I even signed up for an upgraded membership—one that would allow me to customize my own site … a bad move for someone who knows little to no html and has the patience of an ADHD-riddled three year-old. However, after a month of cussing, I'm ready to show what I've been up to.

I plan on making a few more adjustments, but check me out at www.craiglindemanphoto.com (you just might see someone you know).



Oh, and in the future, I plan on adding a "Recently Shot" gallery so that you can check in and see what I've, well … recently shot.

bite-size cookie goodness

I was in Kansas City last weekend, helping my sister and mom host a wedding shower for a friend, and experienced a Kansas City tradition since 1945. Unfortunately, it took me until 2008 to discover it. The tradition is McLain's Bakery, "home of the chocolate cup cookie." Sadly, I never got to try this chocolate cup cookie, but we did pick up several dozen of these little sandie cookies topped with chocolate frosting. Yum. If you're ever in the neighborhood (Waldo, to be exact), be sure to swing by and try one. It's worth the calories.



Carrie