Expo

TODAY BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL -- Baltimore City Council will meet at 5 p.m. in the council chambers in City Hall, 100 N. Holliday St. A new council president and vice president are to be elected. HARFORD SCHOOLS -- Harford County Board of Education will hold a business meeting at 7:15 p.m. at 102 S. Hickory Ave., Bel Air. The agenda includes action on the 2008 budget and on charter school applications. TOMORROW BALTIMORE CITY SCHOOLS -- The Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners will meet at 6 p.m. at 200 E. North Ave. It is expected to receive school closure recommendations.

A CARNIVAL atmosphere filled the air as thousands of people crowded the halls of Wilde Lake High School for the 50+ Expo on Friday.The first-time event, sponsored by the Howard County Office on Aging, provided one-stop shopping for information on everything from financial planning, employment opportunities and Medicare benefits to surfing the Internet and housing.Volunteers met visitors at the door and handed them program guides to the more than 100 exhibits and seminars, as well as bags to hold the giveaways -- key chains, smoke detectors, rulers, whistles, refrigerator magnets and brochures.

The whole atmosphere smells of hair tonic and Aqua Velva, chewin' tobacco and great, heaping levels of testosterone.Burly men in jeans and flannel shirts crowd around booths hawking exotic fishing trips to Alaska, Canada, Montana, each booth featuring a montage of color photos depicting beaming customers triumphantly holding up huge salmon and steelhead against breathtaking backdrops of blue skies, towering fir trees and clear-rushing rivers.But as you wander the aisles at the 15th Annual Bass Expo, Saltwater Fishing and Fly Fishing Show at the Maryland State Fairgrounds and gaze at all the high-tech equipment -- the lightweight composite rods and $30,000 bass boats, the chemically enhanced lures, the rods and tackle strong enough to reel in an oil tanker -- you're left with one overriding thought:Do the fish even have a chance anymore?

Dorothy Bass fills out a survey at the Senior Expo job fair in Timonium. At the fair yesterday, 2,000 senior citizens sought jobs from representatives of 80 Baltimore-area businesses seeking to tap into a growing workforce. (Article, Page 9B).

Sept. 29-Oct. 2 American Association for State and Local History/Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums, joint meeting, Omni Hotel, 101 E. Fayette St. Contact: Natalie Norris,615-320-3203. Estimated attendance: 750Sept. 30-Oct. 2 Kitchen and Bath Design Expo, Convention Center. Contact: Jayne Ruconich. Estimated attendance: 5,000Oct. 1-2 Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, business women's exchange, Hunt Valley Inn, Shawan Road and Interstate 83. Contact: Denise Roman, 212-392-6984. Estimated attendance: 350Oct.

BaltimoreOct. 20-23 Natural Products Expo, Convention Center. Contact: Kay Gazaway, 303-939-8440. Estimated attendance: 7,500Oct. 27-31U.S. Sailing Association national meeting, Hyatt Regency. Contact: Wanda Goodwin-Tuck, 401-683-0800. Estimated attendance: 500Nov. 1-2 American Rental Association conference and product showcase, Sheraton Inner Harbor. Contact: Mary Slabon, 309-764- 2475. Estimated attendance: 1,000Pub Date: 10/18/99

In Baltimore County2-day `Senior Expo' opens tomorrow at fairgroundsTIMONIUM -- The county Department of Aging is sponsoring its 13th annual "Senior Expo" tomorrow and Thursday at the Timonium fairgrounds. The expo will provide information to seniors on such topics as travel, housing, health care, finances, fitness, computers and cooking.The Thursday session will include a job fair for senior citizens. Flu shots will be available both days.Admission is $5. The expo will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday.

Home Depot Inc. is going upscale -- and offering to do it for you.In a departure from its stripped-down warehouses that have all but defined the do-it-yourself market, the home improvement giant is rolling out a new division that does away with lumber piled to the rafters, PVC pipe by the foot and salespeople in utilitarian orange aprons.At the company's new Expo Design Centers, such as one that opened last month in Fairfax, Va., shoppers may instead feel transported into the glossy pages of a home decor magazine.

For recreational fishermen, January is the worst month, the time of year when relatively few will fish, even on the warm, bluebird days. It is the month when cabin fever takes hold -- and the common cure often is found on a circuit of fishing shows and flea markets that stretch through winter into early spring."

At 62, two years after an early retirement, Jack Knox is trying to reinvent himself.Samuel Steiner, 52, wants to use several decades' worth of computer skills to start a new part-time career.Glenn Cobb, 57, out of work for six months, is trying to restart his business management and finance career.And Teressa Cross, 55, is looking for something besides a job as a nursing assistant or factory work.They all attended Howard County's first 50+ Expo on Friday at Wilde Lake High School, passing up the free flu shots, the lectures on estate planning and financial security and the costumed actors loudly inviting everyone in sight to a Baltimore show called "Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding."

Firefighters assembled yesterday, some in antique firetrucks, for the annual firefighters' convention parade. The procession began on Key Highway, headed to Light Street and ended at the Baltimore Convention Center, where there was a Firehouse Expo flea market.

Members of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies group will speak at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Annapolis City Council Chambers, 160 Duke of Gloucester St., second floor. Chairman Ted Rouse and Executive Director Keith Lasoya will discuss the value of BALLE and its success in Maryland. BALLE is a network of businesses nationwide. There are 250 Maryland-owned businesses that are part of BALLE's network. Information: 301-261-3209. Expo features exhibits, vendors The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber and the Maryland Hispanic Chamber and NRG will host the Baltimore Washington Business and Technology Expo 2008 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday at Medieval Times, Arundel Mills, Arundel Mills Circle, Hanover.

Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP will present a free seminar, "Hot Topics in Construction," featuring Maryland Deputy Transportation Secretary Beverley K. Swaim-Staley, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the conference Center at the Maritime Institute, 692 Maritime Blvd., Linthicum Heights. Topics will include the use of electronically stored information in litigation discovery, green construction, BRAC, the Intercounty Connector and transit-oriented development. A networking reception will begin at 5:15 p.m. following the presentations.

Maryland : Lead paint 8 landlords fined $240,000 by MDE Continuing its stepped-up enforcement of lead-paint laws, the Maryland Department of the Environment said yesterday that it had fined eight landlords nearly $240,000. Doris and Melvin Dorsey of Baltimore were fined $38,500 for a property that the state agency found had violated lead-paint risk-reduction standards. Other property owners fined were Derrick Anthony Majette of Windsor Mill, $22,000; Derwin A. Mays of Fort Washington, $16,500; HM Realty Inc. of Baltimore, $35,000; David and Yvonne Sakers of Goldsboro, $65,000; Jose A. Navarro of Waynesboro, $22,000; James C. Darling of Denton, $30,000; and Charles M. Bailey of Baltimore, $10,700.

Donna Koczaja juggled five balls at once, balanced a juggling pin on the tip of her nose and kept three balls in the air while tossing one at a time to Andrew Love, who also kept three balls aloft while tossing them back to her. "We're not juggling," Koczaja said. "We're applying physics." The movement of the balls, she said, shows periodic motion and conservation of energy. "As the ball goes up, it slows down until it stops for just a fraction of a second," she said. Balancing the pin on her nose showcased the concept of the center of gravity.

Girls expo to stress science, engineering The Women's Giving Circle of Howard County, with support from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Math Engineering Science Achievement, will hold an introduction to careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) for middle and high school girls from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at APL in North Laurel. Those who attend will be offered opportunities to meet and talk with professional women in their fields of interest, participate in hands-on STEM activities and visit displays on careers in aerospace, computer science, electrical engineering, geology, information technology, science education and space mission engineering.

Denise Cabral remembers going to the county's first senior health expo with her mother nine years ago. Since then, Cabral has been to the health fair every year -- and now that she brings her grandchildren, she is glad that the expo has added activities for kids. The 50+ Expo, a free annual health event hosted by the Howard County Office on Aging and the Department of Citizen Services, was attended by more than 5,000 people at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia on Friday, organizers said.

Not long ago, a granola bar was enough. A little oats, a little honey, enough fiber and virtue to get you through the day. Once fat was all anyone wanted products free of. Remember when ingredients you couldn't spell seemed suspicious? It's a whole new natural world now. As the nation's top dealers showed off the latest in guiltless cookies, cleanser and Kashi at Baltimore's convention center this week, one thing became abundantly clear: Natural is no longer simple. To stand out at the Natural Products Expo these days, that granola bar had better boast outrageously nutritious additives or be able to prove a dangerous something-or-other has been removed from it or show that it's helping to save, if not the planet, at least a small tribe in the Amazonian jungle.

Organizers of the third annual Carroll County Seniors on the Go Expo are hoping for a record turnout at Wednesday's event that offers a sampling of numerous services, products and activities for older adults. The event, to be held inside the Shipley Arena at the Carroll County Agriculture Center off Smith Avenue in Westminster, will run from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Opening ceremonies will be held at 9:45 a.m. with Bureau of Aging Director Richard Steinberg and the three county commissioners.

Of all the things he has seen in his young life, Ryan Messoria is certain of his favorite. "Firetrucks!" the 5-year-old proclaimed yesterday as he wandered among the antique fire-fighting apparatus and top-of-the-line engines on display at the Firehouse Expo at the Baltimore Convention Center. It was the Glen Burnie boy's second visit in three days to the annual gathering, which draws about 16,000 firefighters and rescue workers from up and down the East Coast for training, networking and a trade show.