Its not easy to find a Notary on a Sunday

The Sunday adventure for Anthony and I had a bit of a twist today.  We normally eat dinner and go grocery shopping and we did that.  But first, we had to find a Notary Public to notarize a document for him so he could turn it in first thing tomorrow.

A request for help to my Facebook friends found a volunteer.  Christine not only offered to help, but she was heading to the Arizona basketball game late this afternoon and could meet us down near the University of Arizona campus to get it done.  She was also kind enough to do it for free.  Christine is today's hero!

We had some late lunch / early dinner at Silver Mine Subs at Main Gate Square, then ice cream next door at Baskin Robbins, and got the groceries we needed at Walmart Neighborhood Market at Grant and Alvernon.

And..... the photos:

View of Euclid and 2nd Street as seen from the 3rd floor
of the parking garage I parked the Ken Carr car at.
It was a 72 degree winter afternoon in Tucson.
Brrrrr.

New building of dorm style apartments under construction on Euclid.
I'd love to live there but then I'd get the reputation of being the
weird old guy living in student apartments.
It sucks becoming ancient.

University Blvd and Tyndall, where we waited on a bench for Christine
the Notary to meet us and notarize Anthony's document.

Sitting on a bench with Anthony and Christine, the hero who notarized
Anthony's document at University and Tyndall.
She was on her way to eat and go to the Arizona basketball game.
Thanks for your help Christine.
Go 'Cats!

A store at Main Gate Square that had this shirt at it's front entrance for sale.
Hopefully whoever created this doesn't kiss their mother with that mouth.

Silver Mine Subs at University and Tyndall.
Anthony and I ate a late lunch here.

My sandwich:  The "Frontier"

Anthony's sandwich: The "Caribou"

Anthony put mustard on his Caribou sandwich while four guys in the booth behind him
talked about getting wasted last night and why they didn't get laid.
I wanted to get their address and send them a sympathy card.

Dunkin' Donuts / Baskin Robbins at University and Tyndall.
We got ice cream after the sub sandwiches.

Anthony enjoys his peanut butter fudge sundae... quite intently.

Walmart Neighborhood Market at Grant and Alvernon
They were out of my favorite potato salad.
And a lot of other stuff in the deli, apparently.

When I think of Guy Fieri, I think of chicken sausage.
It has pinto beans in it.
May cause natural gas explosion.

New Raspberry Oreo Fudge Cremes
Because the world record for sweetest cookies still has yet to be broken.

My FAVORITE kind of Oreo was in stock!
Golden Oreo Mega Stuf
I can't ever get enough crème filling.

I didn't know what this was, and Anthony explained it was Tripe.
Some kind of stomach meat something or other.
I guess that ground beef sign refers to the meet on the left side.

Anthony took his blood pressure with this computerized terminal at Walmart Market.
It said "it's too high, and that's due to living with Ken".

Lucky gives a crap

Here's Lucky doing the doo doo that he does so well.

The ten year old in me finds pooping pictures funny.

Lucky gives a crap... and I get to clean it up.
It's a match made in heaven.

Keep it classy, new neighbor

A college age looking guy and what I'm guessing is his girlfriend / wife  moved into an apartment across from mine a few weeks ago.

I haven't had the chance to introduce myself yet but a shopping cart appeared outside of their apartment a few days ago and stayed for two days.  I took a picture.

Keep it classy, new neighbor.

Shopping cart parked outside of new neighbor's apartment.
It added a bit of color.

It only took 8 years to give it back

I had lunch with Rosanna and Chris P. yesterday at Smashburger at Grant and Swan.

Rosanna is a co-worker of mine at the TV/Radio building and we also worked together at KRQ radio.  Chris has my old job at KRQ -- as Program Director and Afternoon Drive DJ.  It was fun having some lunch and catching up.

I had an item that I ended up with when I cleaned out my office at KRQ in 2005 and I never got around to returning it: Chris's staff badge.  I ran across it again in a drawer at home a few weeks ago and set it out.  I had originally planned on mailing it to him and then this lunch came up.  Which provided an opportunity to return it, and also provided a photo op.

I didn't steal it, I just borrowed it.  No jury would convict me (I'm telling myself that, anyway).

The staff badge I stole, I mean borrowed in 2005.

Returning the staff badge to Chris.
I expect him to frame it... or use it to jimmy open a door.

Rosanna and Chris

Goodbye Blockbuster Video

Driving home from grocery shopping, Anthony and I passed the Blockbuster Video store at Broadway and Craycroft tonight.  We both did a double take because the store was all lit up inside but completely empty.

I did an internet search when I got home and discovered that the last 300 Blockbuster company owned locations closed on January 12, 2014 (a week ago).  They apparently liquidated the store to the bare walls and I didn't even know until now.

I doubled back and took a picture of the store because I thought it was capturing a piece of history.

Hollywood Video closed the last of their stores in 2010 after declaring bankruptcy.  Blockbuster managed to last a few years longer.  Netflix and Redbox ruined their retail store business model.

Blockbuster is going to apparently continue as a streaming service.  It's kind of sad though to see the stores, which at one time were a place to discover new movies, rent classics, buy overpriced candy, and do some people watching, go away.  Blockbuster in Tucson even has a piece of pop culture history:  Diana Ross was arrested for a DUI while travelling from Canyon Ranch Resort to Blockbuster at Tanque Verde and Sabino Canyon to rent a movie in 2002.  Read about it by clicking here.

So long Blockbuster Video.  I think I still owe them for a late fee from 1998.  It's a little late now.

This Blockbuster Video store at Broadway and Craycroft in Tucson
closed on January 12, 2014.  (Picture taken on January 19, 2014).
They were apparently so poor they couldn't afford to keep
the 'deo' lit in their sign.

Garlic and Herb is not related to Peaches and Herb

Anthony and I visited Walmart Neighborhood Market at 22nd and Craycroft tonight for our weekly grocery trip.

We got out usual items and also noticed that there is an increasing amount of Valentine's Day related food merchandise in the store.  It's 3 1/2 weeks until Valentine's, I guess they have to get ready early.  I am happy that Little Debbie has their Valentine's cakes on sale.

I found the butter invented by Peaches and Herb's cousin.

It only took Anthony an eternity to decide which kind of peanut butter to buy.
It's not his fault, they have a 12 foot section that is 7 shelves high
devoted to peanut butter.

Anthony found the Valentine's Day candy section
and immediately had an orgasm.

M & M's Red Velvet
Give these for Valentine's Day and you're sure to get some

It's not Valentine's Day until Little Debbie has their Be My Valentine cakes

A visit to Lucky Wishbone

It's Sunday night, so Anthony and I headed out to have dinner and buy groceries.

First stop was dinner.  I asked him what he wanted and he told me to choose.  So, I picked Lucky Wishbone at Broadway and Swan.  He generally isn't a huge fan of my restaurant choices.  But, it's his fault that he let me choose.

Lucky Wishbone's menu is primarily breaded deep fried meat -- chicken, chicken parts (like gizzards and livers), breaded deep fried steak fingers, that sort of thing.  But, they do make a pretty good cheeseburger.  I find it amusing when I post on Facebook that I'm eating a cheeseburger there.  The response is often "They serve cheeseburgers?"  It's not what they're famous for.  They've been around Tucson for decades as a local group of restaurants around town deep frying chicken, steak, and shrimp.

After we finished eating and went grocery shopping, Anthony almost immediately headed to the shower when we came home.  He said he had to wash the grease from dinner off of him.  I like to think of it as lubricating our internal parts.

Mission accomplished.

Lucky Wishbone neon sign at Broadway and Craycroft in Tucson



This is the original Lucky Wishbone location that now sits empty
and decaying next to their current one at Broadway and Craycroft.
I can't quite make out what the tag on the front says...
but it kind of looks like 'DARK', which maybe is a request
for what kind of chicken the tagger wanted.

Thanks to this poker chip, we knew our order number was 19.

Sneaky photo of Anthony:
He's dreaming of the deep fried chicken sandwich
and huge cup of French fries that they were making for him.

This is what they gave us the food in at Lucky Wishbone
You can tell it's fresh because the grease is just starting to
show through the bags.



The cheeseburger I ordered at Lucky Wishbone.
The bun was wonderful and fluffy.

The chicken sandwich that Anthony ordered at Lucky Wishbone.
It squirted grease when he bit into it, and looked like the sandwich was urinating.
Awesome.

Om nom nom

Much better than a stale nap.

The Refreshing Fresh Nap comes with directions:
"Just tear open packet and use"

Meeting Harvey Mason Jr.

One of our TV show hosts was on her honeymoon this week, and the group of fill-in celebrity hosts included Harvey Mason Jr.

Harvey played basketball for the University of Arizona from 1986-1990 (including a trip to the NCAA Final Four in '88), and has worked in the music business since college.  The list of high profile music artists he's produced or written music for is impressive including Justin Timberlake, Aretha Franklin, Tyrese, Omarion, Chris Brown, Jordin Sparks, produced the "Dreamgirls" soundtrack, and is co-founder of a producing group called The Underdogs.  He has some Grammy awards on his shelf, too.  (I worked in radio for 25 years and certainly appreciate what it takes for someone like Harvey to achieve the level of success he has in music).

He was a very gracious guy, and it was a privilege to meet him and have him work for a day on my show.  I feel that way about everyone who comes on as a guest as well, whether they have some kind of celebrity status or not.

Good times.

Show director Chris, Harvey Mason Jr.,
Ken Carr (ahem), and show host Sally.

This restaurant lost it's Chin

The sign outside of this Chinese restaurant at Grant and Swan in Tucson:

Restaurant at Grant and Swan that lost it's Chin.
It could be worse... it could lose it's tar.

What one hundred dollars of groceries looks like

I went to the grocery store alone this week, and still managed to spend one hundred dollars.

Maybe I should get the not so Fancy Cakes to save money.

Just paint over it

A couple of weeks ago, we got a notice on our front door that they were going to paint the patio attached to our apartment.

The notice stated that they would do the painting between January 7 and January 11.  I took everything off of the patio and waited.

Workers came while I was at work sometime during the day on January 10 and power washed the patio.  I know this because there was dirty water splatter all over the front door, and a basketball sized chunk of the textured cement overlay had come off.  But, they didn't paint.

Days passed.... and then I came home from work on Wednesday of this week and it was finally painted.  It's a good thing I didn't pay attention to the dates on the original notice.  Those things are never really accurate, are they?

Ridgepointe maintenance took care of the missing chunk of overlay in the way I expected:  They painted over it.  Who needs to patch it, when paint hides anything.

The patio looks lovely.  Just don't look too closely.

Patio outside of my apartment waiting to be painted

The chunk of overlay that the power washing removed on the patio

Pintura Fresca

The freshly painted patio with the chunk of overlay
that wasn't repaired still visible (upper left of the photo).
Like I said, don't look too closely and it's lovely.

John Fina, BJ Denker, and a flower photo bomb

We had former University of Arizona and NFL (Buffalo Bills, Arizona Cardinals) football player John Fina on as the TV show's guest co-host today.  He did a great job and is a nice guy.

In addition, we had University of Arizona quarterback (although he's about to graduate and attempt to take a shot at the NFL) B.J. Denker as a guest.  Also a nice guy.

The funny part of the photo is the fake jaw punch to my face... which John did without any prompting.  The flower photo bomb behind my head was courtesy of Lee, one of my co-workers.

I'm arguably the least athletic person in this photo.  Unless you count naps as athletic.

Flower photo bomb, Ken Carr getting fake punched in the jaw,
John Fina, Sally Shamrell, and B.J. Denker

A visit to Aussie Cantina with Anthony, Jason and Alberto

Anthony and I met up with Jason and Alberto for some dinner at Aussie Cantina here in Tucson on Saturday night.  If you have not been, it's two blocks west of Arizona Stadium on 6th Street.

We ate Dingo Dogs (which are beer battered pork sausages on a stick) and entrees.  I had fish and chips and Anthony ate a salad called "The Nutty Professor".  I had to restrain myself from firing off jokes like "Hey Anthony, how does it feel to put the Nutty Professor inside you" and "Have you put all of the Nutty Professor in your mouth yet?"  Highly inappropriate, yes.  Funny, definitely.

I like Aussie Cantina.  It was the second time we've been since it opened.  The only oddity was that we went at an unusual lull in their day.  There were only two customers in the place when we walked in.  I have an uncanny ability to go to restaurants when they are empty.  I am convinced that they are busy 99 percent of the time and I have strange timing to go when they are not 1 percent of the time.  I keep telling myself it's a talent.  Either that, or people know I'm coming and avoid being there.  It's probably the second one.

Alberto sees the Kenparazzi, Jason reads his menu

Dingo Dogs at Aussie Cantina.
Deeeeeelish.

Here's Anthony's Nutty Professor salad at Aussie Cantina.
This was when he had just started putting the Nutty Professor in his mouth.

Jason, Anthony, Alberto and Ken Carr at the Aussie Cantina