Saving money part two...

So, yesterday, after I came home to write my blog - I hit the streets. This time my first stop was Dick's Sporting Goods. I bought shirts that I can wear in Italy that I can easily launder and that will be comfortable too.

Next I went to Pier One. I had a gift card from Christmas that I just had to use. I thought it was $25 worth of merchandise on the card. So I bought a few votive candles and holders that are all brown pieces of glass put together in a circular pattern. Probably can't envision what they look like, but they are cool and I bought a glass triangle- larger candle holder and a cool candle that goes with it. I was rung up by three talkative staff members. They were really deep into how to get one of the ladies hair colored and how to make it more "fluffy". I thought, well, you know what, you do need to do something to your hair, and perhaps a shower is the start ... anyway, I was more of a bother to them than their duty to wait on me. One scanned the merchandise the other wrapped. The bad hair lady she just stood there talking and hand-fluffing her hair. Then the scanner started to put the wrapped items into the bag. She then began to unwrap the items saying "what is THIS!?! I don't remember scanning this ..." I thought if you would have shut up long enough to do your job you would have known what you scanned.

Oh, the point of that was to denote that I actually have $50 on this card so now I have to go back again and shop!

Next I went over to Jefferson Point, but I stopped to get gas at that Wal-mart parking lot gas pump. There was a guy with a metal detector going through the piles of snow. Oh well, everyone has a job I guess.

Anyway, I go to Sharper Image. Store Closing Sale! Everything at least 20% off. You know, you just can't give stuff away in that store. Other than the massaging chair I just can't find anything that is worth buying. No wonder they are closing more stores than they will have open ...

I went to Eddie Bauer next. I used to be a Eddie Bauer freak in the 90's. Could not find anything other than different versions of the Swiss Army Knife - they even look like a key. I guess this is so you can easily sneak them through airport security.

Next stop Yankee Candle. New flavors, err scents, came out and I bought a root beer candle and a lime lavender and some other lavender to remove the stress of shopping. Buy one get one half off! This is what the most annoying clerk said to me at least four times. So when I check out, she of course is the short straw I selected. She rang it up, I paid for it and walked outside to think, hmm that does not seem right. I pull out my receipt and dangbangit she did not give it to me for buy one get one half off. So I go back in, she is like "I forgot those were on sale". Don't EVEN! So a manger comes up and he returns, and then credits, and then new sale and he said "Lot of paperwork to return candles... which I said - if your staff did their job the first time I would not be returning a candle.

Finally I was walking to my car and passed the new Chipolte restaurant ... what a fun experience. A burrito as big as my ass, well not that big, but it was a gigantic burrito and it was done up in a Mexican subway type theme where you pick out what goes in it. Then they fold the sides, roll it up and ring ya on up. I did not even eat dinner my breakfast and lunch held me through the night.

So, today I have to go to Macy's to return my cowboy shirt that I bought in Chicago two weeks ago. Have you done your part to save money this weekend?

Get out and shop and save some money ...

Hey folks, public service announcement - get out and shop all weekend long! This is the last weekend before our Indiana sales tax goes up a percent.

I left the house at 7:00 a.m. this morning and started with a good hearty breakfast at Sara's. Comforting to know that the crazy lady, Hillary Clinton, did not destroy that place - with her visit yesterday to my breakfast joint - like she would if she was elected president. Had my meat omelet with hash browns. Next stop was Target.

I spent more at Target than I did my entire Chicago trip a few weekends ago. I bought some music and small travel size bottles of stuff for the Italy vacation. Then I thought, heck I am going to be there nearly three weeks, these sample size bottles will last me a week. I figure I will cross that bridge when I am over there ... at least I know I am in compliance on the flight over.

Next I went to Barnes and Noble and bought a few CD's (I really want to write a CD review, but it has been ages since I found some decent music). Next I went to Fresh Market, picked up some jalapeno cornbread - that stuff rocks. I also picked up some orangina and something else, I forgot already --- just crazy man with a credit card I guess.

I went across the street to Stein Mart and bought some shirts and a pair of shorts. The cashier said "getting ready for spring?" No, not actually, getting ready to save one percent on all purchases. She looked at me strange, and I thought, whatever lady, you will have an "AHA" moment soon enough.

I came home to post this blog so I could share the word of the wise to you, my reader (s) plural I guess. Anyway, I am headed back out in a few minutes to help the economy and save some money. See ya at the mall.

What is black and white and READ all over ...

If either one of you who have read this blog, since I have two readers, know that I am not much on reading. The idea of sitting down with a book and reading it from front to back, cradle to grave is mind boggling.

To my surprise, I received an opportunity to review a new book that was published by a Fort Wayne fixture (and Roanoke too) by Scott Bushnell. I have met Scott many times - through the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Lincoln, American Specialities ... I am sure he would not remember me though.

So when given this golden opportunity to review, read and preview this Historical Photos of Fort Wayne book. Have to say I really enjoyed this collection of photos. I virtually sat down and looked at all the pictures. I will admit that I did not read all the captions - the pictures told the story well enough for me.

Seventeen years ago, I had my hands in another Fort Wayne book that celebrated the Bicentennial of Fort Wayne. I combed through thousands of pictures to make a one of kind, sold out book part of the most memorable events in my volunteer career. Scott's book really picked up where that book left off and covered a more concentrated ground with alot less words and alot more pictures.

Scott will be making his way through the Fort Wayne book store circuits in June to tell more and sign more - so all you autographed copy of a book fans ... this may be your chance. Scott also did book like this for Roanoke - I am sure though that he did not get as much credit for that book, as he may have deserved.

Anyway, little ole Carbo "read" his first book of 2008 and it was from a almost local author about a very local topic.

Sitting down to dinner ...

Last night, the tradition continued, Dinner 4 Five @ 6 took place as four nearly strangers met for dinner and shared conversation, stories and life experiences over a dinner at the Fort Wayne Summit Club.

This is a monthly tradition I started a few years back, and as we chatted it up last night, we realized how many people have gone through a Dinner 4 Five and how large the "Alumni" group would be if we would reunite at some point. The premise is four people who know me, but do not know each other, will have dinner at the Summit Club. It is part social networking, but mostly linking interesting people through food and conversation. By the end of the evening, friendships begin, numbers or emails may be exchanged but in Fort Wayne irony would have it, somehow they all knew of each other somehow.

The wonderful idea about a tradition is that it can always be modified to be fresh. Last night it was fresh and fun. This makes the first time that someone has attended a D45@6 twice. Over 120 people have been a part of the circle of dinners.

Last night we talked about learning something new to enhance our life. The travels we have done and places we may experience in the upcoming year. We shared a gigantic dessert platter which kinda made the night even if we never shared a word.

All and all, a great evening with wonderful friends. Speaking of traditions, the April D45@6 will not take place as I have no days left in April - however it will be back in May. Perhaps you will be next on the list of this social network ... feel free to drop me a line and see if I can add you to the mix.

Spotlight on the world ...

Our world is changing fast and it ain't good ... highlights from the small screen ...

Hillary Clinton

Okay, here is a chick that does not when she gets off a plane if she is being shot by a camera or a gun. Twelve years ago, she claims she got off a plane and was shot at ... luckily for the crazy world we live in, someone had not only video taped the plane arrival, they kept it 12 years JUST for this very moment.

Britney Spears

Okay, if you were out of your house at all yesterday or even if you were inside only, you had to have heard someone talking about the miracle of Britney who gave a winning performance on some CBS sit-com. Move over Elvis, Britney just became the King of comedy.

NY Governor David Patterson

Okay, within a few short weeks as being named the Governor of New York (to fill the spot of Spitzer who had a sex scandal with a high dollar prostitute) this guy every week presents "A Moment in the life of ..." so far he has exposed that he had sex outside of his marriage, that he used government funds to pay for the hotel rooms, smoked marijuana, snorted coke ... I can't wait until next week to find what other skeleton he will toss out of his closet.

Dancing with the Stars

Oh my word, what a disaster! I saw Priscilla Presley -when did she fall into a plastic vat? She looks like Joan Rivers twin. It was like the land of misfit toys, all had a chance to dance. There are a couple decent (even trained) dancers; however most of the people are torture on the eyes.

American Idol

The show gets more and more painful each episode. I thought the second week of a Tribute to the Beatles could not get much worse. I think they should open up the phone lines now, and declare a winner and let this season end!

Lights ... camera ... oh my!

Well, today is the day I go in for my photo shoot for my new column in Fort Wayne Woman magazine.

A lot happens in two weeks from the time I scheduled it until today. I initially thought I was going to let my locks go curly as they do when my hair gets long. My hair was getting long, full, bushy like Gilda Radner's I think. So I promptly got it cut off - which was an experience all into itself. The end result, a Flobie would have cut it better. Now I have freak o hair.

Then I went to Chicago to find the "perfect" shirt. Well, the officially male color this years is going to be black. Black with stripes, black on black, black solid, black with black circles, black black black. Well, I have enough black in my closet so I finally found a brown shirt with teal embroidered stripes. Well, last night I tried it on, and I look like the last person from the Okay O' Ranch. Needless to say, the shirt goes back and it is not going to be wore today.

Which leads me to where I am right now. Just hours away from having my picture taken. (Anyone who knows me, knows that I do not photograph well to begin with) I have been having a bad hair day for 17 years now, and today will be no different and I am without a new shirt. So, what do I do when I am in crisis mode? Well, I think there is some breakfast sausage left over from the brunch, I think I will eat away the stress and ask if they can just photo shop my face onto another body.

Peeps kicking back...

Well, I have nearly recovered from Easter Brunch. The dinner was nearly 30 people and everything went very well.

It was fun to sit around and catch up with my peeps! We talked politics, we talked food, we talked about travel, we just caught up on life. The food went mighty fine too. The big hit for the evening was the Chipolte-Maple Pork Loin. I made two of those and nearly every ounce was devoured.

The other big hit seemed to be the lasagna with mini meatballs and nearly 5 pounds of mozzarella cheese!

The cleaning process is what really drains me. I think I need to hire a dish washer. I have a dishwashing machine, but it does not really work all that well. I have Aqua Source water, which means everything either turns white or red-rust colored. I have found that a bit of soap turns into a tidal wave. I hope someday to be part of the city's water system. But until then, I wash everything by hand. Considering 30 plates, 30 forks and on and on it piles up.

It was a casual affair. I was dressed down in my sweats ... and it was a perfect Easter. I did have friends that came from salvation central and were dressed to the nines! I sure hope they prayed for me, because the last time I was in a church was ... well, I think Clinton was in office.

Anyway, the parties are on hold for awhile, as vacation to Italy is just weeks away!

Flash Back

Growing up Carbo, there are things I remember distinctly as if they had happened yesterday.

Recently, I was at a restaurant having lunch and as I was sitting by the two oldest ladies in Fort Wayne. They recants stories and said things that most of us never use as part of our daily vocabulary. Like, one lady talked about her icebox not working. Well, they don't make iceboxes any more, so perhaps it is time to upgrade. The other lady talked about the condition of her davenport, we now call that a sofa and it may need an updating just like her word choices.

This had me thinking of the things that I grew up with that are no longer in vogue. Like the rotary telephone, we now have cell phones. I was pumped to own my very own transistor radio and now I own three IPODS. I am not sure they are obsolete or gone, but the inch worm. Where are they now? I have not seen an inch worm since I was a kid.

There were times, growing up, that I would be outside in our first home at Northcrest, and I remember watching the clouds roll by ... can't say I have done that very much lately either. Inch worms and caterpillars were really cool to uncover, as a boy I guess.

Today is Easter. I am hosting a brunch for about 20 people and the menu is set out and the cookbooks are opened in the kitchen. A memory I held for many, many years was the tradition of taking the frozen chocolate bunnys from the freezer and putting them in a basket - out and about to showcase. For years, we never ate the candy. I was a big saver. I never wanted to ruin something that looked so amazing. Well, our icebox went out one year, and the bunnys had to be thrown away. I am sure I sat on our davenport and cried, but then again, it is a sofa, and I am grown up and life goes on.

Hope your holiday is filled with new memories.

Spring into action

Today is the first full day of Spring, and though it began yesterday I am sure everyone is ready for the sun to shine brighter and the temperatures to warm up.

Yesterday was a very special and even odd day at times so let me share this Carbo-style...

First I went to Meijer's to do some of my Easter dinner shopping. First and foremost, I hate Meijers! However, they had pork loin on sale and well, saving money is one of the traits I have in my bones. Well, holy cow, it was "ride your way through the store day" as I swear, I came across or was run down by no less that five jumbo-tron women on carts that were motorized. Seriously, they just continue to have the cart in motion no matter if you are getting something from a shelf of walking. I had to jump back once or I would have been a pancake for certain. I let out a whatthefuck to one of the rude cereal-killer drivers and she did not even bat an eye or brush a crumb from big chinny chin chin.

Have you ever thought you would save time by going through the "don't have to deal with moody bitches" check out line and do it yourself? Well, not a good idea either. Even though the pork loin had bar codes, they don't scan. Even though you scan it and put it on the convert belt, it tells you to pick it back up again. Luckily, by midnight, I made it home.

So now I am grumpy. My cell phone rings, I look at the number, I don't recognize it. However, I answer the phone " this is Mark" as I always do and the voice said, 'Mark? Oh, I thought this was going to be a recording..." a pause and then I say, "Is this Anne Cochran, this sounds like Anne Cochran?" She confirmed it was and I said, you can hang up now, you have made my day and I laughed. Of course I laughed, it is a trademark of mine haha. Anyway we talked about my birthday event, where she will sing for me and we finalized many of the details. She is such a delight.

So I went from a near death experience in the grocery story to the time of my life with a 10 minute phone conversation. Really, spring is in the air... beware, behave and be good.

Billary!

Well, yesterday the city made the map for the first time since Ronald Regan put sand in a sandbag.

Fort Wayne was the resting stop for Bill Clinton, at our Grand Wayne convention center. The people in Fort Wayne did not rejoice so much that HE came to town, the tax payers were simply proud that the new expanded Grand Wayne Center was used, brought in local people, and luckily we spent all that money to make the place bigger - for occasions like this -

The marketing department (err person) of the Grand Wayne Center better have taken pictures and video, because this was a once in a lifetime moment. As the details are exposed, nearly 4,000 people either saw or heard Mr. Hillary Clinton speak about his wife's vision for the future.

Having the Billary machine in the Fort has to say something about his upcoming election that every vote will count (except those in Dane County Florida, where your vote can count twice). I am more Republican by trade, but not so much a McCain fan. I am definitely not a Clinton fan. I think Obama talks well (and that is not a slam on his half African American heritage). I wonder, is Ron Paul still running? Also - Post Note - So far no female has come forward to say she was man-handled before, during or after the speech.

Great balls of fire!

Last night was the first Creative Conversations and Cuisine with Carbo dinner for the Fort Wayne Woman Magazine.

The evening was a four hour conversation and dinner. Had no idea until I got into my car that I had been there longer than an hour. So, that should tell you it went very well. We talked about everything from soup to nuts, well actually that is pretty close to the spectrum actually.

It concluded with this flaming dessert. Something about lighting your dessert on fire just adds a little something special to any evening. I can't share much, because if I do you won't buy the magazine, however I will share that my guest was no other than Sandy Thomson and our restaurant was Eddie Merlot's!

The issue will be out in May, do you have your subscription? Tell them Carbo sent ya!

Simply ... The Best

Well, when the Limo People departed yesterday ... the adventure began before we even got onto the highway. The tour guide, that would be me, put all of his notes and detail sheets in his folder up against the window and they quickly fell through the window onto the ground. The window was opened, or should I say broken to where it would not close, and this would only be the beginning of the fun and adventure the back section of the limo would experience.

Once the limo backed up so we could retrieve the folder we were on our way. We passed around muffins and cinnamon rolls, juice and fresh fruit along with some natural all grain health bars that ended up coming home with us too. The Chai Liquor (Breakfast drink) went very well and helped warm up the people in the luxury box that had 75 mph window gust wind-whip us. (My friend Jessica and I sat in the luxury box the first couple hours)

The banter was lively as twelve people shared the excitement of going to Chicago to see and find something new and different. Some went to the Art Museum, some went bargain shopping while others just roamed around gazing and taking in the St. Patrick's Day sights.

The river near Michigan Ave. was colored green - perhaps with algae, who knows, but it was pure delight to see it in person. It was very much an under 40 crowd that was at the river banks photo snapping, Irish Mist toasting and tossing beads. Of course the group I was in, took pictures and stood in the chilly, but not complaining, temperatures. Even Supermodel Keli struck a pose to capture the moment. The parade began at noon, we missed this as our group went to the Walnut Room in the former Marshall Field's building, now Macy's. I was glad to see that the building was not remodeled, re colored, or branded in obnoxious stars, rather the old charm of Marshall Fields. The food at the Walnut Room was great the service, well our non English speaking waiter struggled with not only what we said, but who said what. Every drink order, every food item was delivered to the wrong person each and every time. Luckily, we made light of the situation and spilled water all over the end of the table where I was and we quickly played pick up and rescue.

When it was time to go home, we gathered a key lime cheese cake from the Cheesecake Factory, and six pizza's from Gino's East. We ate, drank and were very merry on our return trip home. While some people dozed off from the pure exhaustion of taking Chicago by storm in five hours, others sat back and watched Tina Turner's Celebration Concert on the many flat screen tv's in our limo. We even seemed to have a homeless rescue, with someone who stayed in the luxury box of the limo... well not exactly, but she did rest well between the cross winds of the open windows of the limo.

I did not purchase too many items, some shampoo at H2O, a tasting spoon at Crate and Barrel and a shirt at Macy's for my upcoming photo shoot for the magazine. While others bought new wardrobes others of us learned new things or shared new memories that can't be printed on this blog. OH MY. Hot pockets.

Discussion began about the next Carbo Adventure Tour ... the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In just a few hours ...

The Limo People make their trek to Chicago ... we will arrive just before the rivers are dyed green for St. Patricks Day, which follows a big St. Patrick's Day Parade!

Timing is everything haha. we will be in the heart of the celebration and I can not wait to arrive to see the fun and frivolity! I am certain I will have stories, pictures and adventures to share on Sunday or Monday!

There are 12 of us going - one person needed to cancel and one more person was pulled from the waiting list. This will be one for the record books.

Enjoy your day and back soon with more stories and fun ...

Just odd!

The past couple days I have been attempting to use my nights to catch up on some reading. Magazines, newspapers that is ... because Carbo does not read books. To bring you up to speed, I don't have the demeanor to sit and read the same story for long at all. Same for movies, I have not been to a movie theatre since I saw King Kong.

Well, I saw an ad for these slippers that you walk around your house in them (that is not odd, but stick with me), they have little fingers that collect the dust for you. Walk and dust without working at all. Trust me, this is not for the person who has allergies, but the best way to think about what this would look like - if you applied it to your own home... think Pig Pen from the Charlie Brown cartoon.

Same time, I fumble through our Fort Wayne Newspaper, ugh, I wish I had a bird to make better use of the paper ... but they highlighted this new product which is a pancake in an aerosol can! Squirt it into a hot skillet and voila you are ready to eat a pancake. Nifty? Perhaps, but until I try it, I have to think that it would be less than desirable.

I am really puzzeled by the new products that are coming out ... who will buy these?

Bacon? A bit crispy, please!

Even in a midst of a tragedy, somehow I still find the silver lining ...

Northwest of Indianapolis, a hog farmer's farm went up in flames taking the lives of over 2,000 pigs. No person was injured during this tragedy.

With that said, can you imagine the delightful smell of farm-fresh bacon being cooked up! My-lanta! Yes, I know PETA people bang your drums, that I am in humane, however you can't make me not think that the smell of fresh farm bacon is a culinary breakfast delight. If I had more time before work this morning I would park my carcass and eat a nice farm-fresh breakfast!

It was an expensive loss for the farm's owner as it is estimated to be well over a million dollars. So, in the near future watch at your local grocery store ... bacon, sausage and pork chop prices will go up in flames err, be much higher than they were yesterday.

Hey Dinah, what's cookin?

One month from today, I will participate again in the annual Parkview Foundation's Cookin' Men 5!

This is a fundraiser where 70 local guys will prepare something and serve it up trade show style. It is not as boring as it sounds, actually! It is very fun as a chef and entertaining and (ful)filling as a guest.

You go from booth to booth grazing on the grub that each local guy prepares. One year I made an appetizer which was a grape rolled in a cream cheese coating then rolled in toasted nuts. One year I made an Italian bomb which was a Neapolitan of puddings and almond paste with pound cake and pecan brandy. This year I am presenting a no bake chocolate coconut cream pie, that is so simple I am ashamed to make it but I am ...

Initially I was not going to participate because I leave for Italy shortly after the event. However, I have been a part of Cookin Men from the start and how could I not continue the tradition.

Tickets are $75 and you eat plenty of food to make the ticket cost a value. There is always something new added each year and I am sure it will only make the event more powerful. Raising money and doing good for the community .... why don't you join me and enjoy some community pride!

Hookin' up!

Oh to be a politician! This has been a very interesting decade in my life...

President Clinton is training interns on the art of special sessions ... it was Senator Larry Craig who tapped danced himself out of his job, following an airport restroom matter ... it was Mark Folley who was flippin pages err doing something with his male pages that cost him his governmental seat.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was exposed as having roaming hands on ANY female that passed him by ... even presidential hopeful John McCain, who's wife looks more like his daughter, had a bit of under cover hookin' with a lady.

So over the past 24 hours, the governor of New York hired himself some easy fun for some big bucks. At $1,000 per hour, this lady has the right idea. I really doubt she is complaining about gas prices going up to $3.50 per hour. Heck she just needs to spend an extra nano second in a hotel room to cover her gas money. She probably could even ask for the money as a "sur-charge".

Amazing what our politicians are doing when they should be running our country, that is not in a recession.

Times are a changing!

This morning I felt like I could have stayed in bed for four more hours! I have yawned so much my jaw hurts!

Nothing unusual with my schedule. Work has not been stressful. Life has been pretty calm. Socially I only attended a board (bored) meeting last night. I really doubt the time change had anything to do with it ... but who knows.

I do not set an alarm clock to wake up, I don't like to be controlled ... yes issues ... so I wake up when I wake up. Well I woke up and attempted to start my day as normal but by goodness I think I never went to bed!

Perhaps it is the excitement that will be coming with the limo ride to Chicago Saturday? Perhaps is my Italy vacation that is just one month away? Perhaps it is my upcoming restaurant review and interview that is on target this month? Perhaps it is the addition of new music to my IPOD, which reminds me, I need to do a music update on here so you know who I am listening to ...

All I do know is that I am tired and i want to go back to bed.... my special pillow is calling me.

Not eggsactly finalized yet

Well, Easter is not too far away and I am not the Easter Sunday Best's, house full of lilies and all that stuff but I am thinking about hosting an Easter Brunch.

Thought I would accept RSVP's from those who want to have a place to eat on the holiday or a reason why they can not go somewhere else!

I could also hold an Easter egg hunt, but it may be a bit challenging if the weather holds up the way it has. How fun, white eggs hid in the snow. Bring a pig and they can dig up truffles too.

More information to follow on the Easter Brunch, but if you are on the market for something to do Easter day noonish, drop me a note.

Not to many of them left ...

Well the Limo People Ride Again - adventure to Chicago is Saturday! Looking forward to the fun and laughter that I am certain is just bottled up (oops did I say bottle) and ready for a noteworthy explosion.

Two of my favorite haunts are gone! Virgin Megastore and Marshall Fields. I can still buy music online from Virgin, but there was something magical about walking around in a 40,000 square foot music megaplex buying music that you just don't know about until you see it or hear it. Hard to do that online I find. There is still a Virgin in New York though!

I find out about new musical artists from the many music oriented magazines I have shipped to my house. I have to rely on the writer of the review to determine if it is worth taking a chance on buying it.

I am not a big on-line music downloader, but I know that I will have no choice in a few years and I better get used to it.

So, without my favorite clothing store and without the CD collecting frenzy that always took place in Chicago, I should save alot of money. I think we are in a recession, or at least a shopping depression. Hope it cracks before Saturday.

Big News For The Week ...

Many of my peeps who read my blog, which seems to have increased from one person to four in the past month, and I thank you, wondered what the big announcement was ...

Yes, I was suppose to announce it much earlier, but I needed to finalize some of the facts before I could officially say that Creative Mind of Carbo will not only be on the web in the form of this blog, but I will have a column in Fort Wayne Woman Magazine called Creative Conversations and Cuisine with Carbo.

This will be an interview with a Fort Wayne woman who has an interesting life that will be exposed as we dine at a restaurant. The food will be reviewed and the guest at my table will be interviewed. Coming up, March 27, is my first deadline to have the story ready to print! First issue will be in May.

I am very excited because I love to eat and I love to write, but I love to eat more. Plus I can conduct a real interview asking the questions that only I would ask. We are all tired of ... so where did you grow up, what book are you reading .... I want to know, growing up did you buy pot from the kid who got busted? Which class did you cheat your way to a passing grade? I just need to remember not to get all Barbara Walters on them and have them cry in the shrimp bisque soup. This would effect the food review, and nothing is coming between me and my food!

POT (bad) LUCK

Well, there is always something happening in Fort Wayne that just brings a smile to your face - kinda like a Disney made for tv show ...

This time, a young dude is speeding down the road and gets pulled over by the police. They find he has some pot in his car, about 10 pounds they say. This prompts them to search his home and they find over 6,000 pounds of pot, or the equivalent to three Aretha Franklin's of pot in his Harlan home!

Talk about having some bad luck,

So the moral of the story - if you are pimpin' pot don't go speeding through our quaint little city! Cops...what ya gonna do ...

America gets thin at the restaurants expense...

As the smoking ban in Fort Wayne closes all of our restaurants, nationally some other movement must be taken place - like America is getting too thin ...

On the list of closings from Starbucks to Lone Star to Chili's to Ruby Tuesday's to Wendy's to Cheesecake Factory all struggling to make the money or get the (fat) butts in the seats. This according to USA Today.

Locally, Don Pablo's closed on Coliseum. The Brickhouse on Coldwater, The Gateway Inn on Goshen and the ever name changing Mexican restaurant in Gateway Plaza all have closed.

So what's the deal? Well, in Fort Wayne - of course - it is simply that people can't smoke and eat so people are beginning to slowly starve themselves to death. But nationally, well people are getting so thin because they are eating at home. Of course we are not in a recession, depression or any other session.

Another statistic!

This just in ...

The Lincoln Museum is closing. I am certain it is due to the Smoking Ban that went into effect last year.

Well, the Museum had always been non-smoking, sure, but everything that closes in Fort Wayne is due in fact that we have a smoking ban. The Museum plans to close before the big Bicentennial Celebration -- Lord knows, you would hate to party in the Fort when you can party oh, say, Philadelphia.

Speaking of celebrations, the 80th anniversary of the Embassy Theatre will kick off with Martin Short coming to Fort Wayne! This May 17th event brings the funny man center stage - you can get your ticket beginning Friday at 10:00 a.m ... oh yeah, ticket prices are $202 a seat but lesser, inferior seats are available if you are cheap.

Speaking of money, friend of the Carbo Blog, Matt Kelty (okay, so I am not a fan) is asking for the community to support him financially as he racks up bill after bill for his legal woes! He is holding his own concert at Curly's Bar and Grill to help keep himself out of jail or perhaps just one big ole party before he begins to pound out license plates.

Finally, today is a very special day for someone in the Carbo family tree as they celebrate a special digit birthday! Happy Birthday!

Bump?

The biggest reality show that you can play in your own home seems to be identify the "bump" ... a speculation game of who is pregnant in Hollywood.

Every time I go to Kroger's and stand in the check out line the front covers of no less than half of the magazines are debating who got knocked up and who is showing. Jamie Lynn Spears, Angelina, Kate now Brittney ... in Hollywood they are multiplying like bunnies

I even saw a larger picture of Kirsty Alley, but she was simply fat. Amen to that one sister, at least someone is not anorexic over there in the lights and camera section.

I simply find it odd that with as many things which are happening in all of our lives that we really have time to care about these people who have no real life connection to us. It is not even remotely a possibility that we will be invited to the shower (which people dread going to anyway).

Then this weekend, breaking news, Jennifer Lopez named her kids Max and Emme, after that restaurant chain I guess. Watch this become a huge craze as Jamie Lynn Spears will call son Long John Spears

No'mo blues!

Last night, through educational words mixed with a killer Hurricane and some rockin' soul and southern country food a new group of people learned about United Way of Allen County.

The Dan Smyth Duo performed soul and blues throughout the night as nearly everyone went home with a special commemorative t-shirt. Many people pledged to support United Way with a simple $3.00 per week gift which even qualifies them for the Caring Club - a discount program on a local and national level.

United Way means many things to many people. Perhaps it is the events like Day of Caring that stand out in one's mind. Perhaps it is a thermometer measuring the amount of dollars raised. Perhaps it is the many social service agencies which gain programming support to do good work in our community. It is interesting, though, how many people do not know this much about United Way.

Growing up Carbo, I did not become exposed to United Way during my formative years. I was very fortunate, we did not need to tap assistance. My post college years, I worked for smaller companies and there was not a full-court press on giving money out of my paycheck to United Way. During the married years, well, lets skip that decade, however it was not until I worked on Mastodon's on Parade did I get the nugget of knowledge of not only how you can take from United Way to become more self sustaining, but how you can give to make others that way - the United Way!

So, yesterday that only comes every 4 years, we celebrated, partied and toasted to great things as United Way got rid of the blues at the Carbo Retreat, nestled still in the Haunted Hamlets.