Salton Breadman Machine Review/Lord of the Rings Film Exhibition Information

I got to play baker today. Five months ago, I bought a Salton Breadman Ultimate machine while playing the either the airmile game with Northwest Airlines or the reward points game with Amtrak. I'm not sure which of their malls I used to buy the machine. The machine is a really nice bread machine. You can make 1, 1 1/2, or 2 pound loaves with it. You can also create customized baking cycles with it. Earlier this week, I decided I'd finally try it out. After spending $28 buying ingredients so I could make pumpernickel bread, I decided to make my first loaf of bread with the machine. I broke out the ingredients and managed to get them mixed all right without making too much of a mess. Then, I let the machine do its magic. The loaf of pumpernickel came out really nice. Taste wise, I think the next time I make it, I'm going to cut out the instant coffee granules the recipe called for. I think they added a slightly bitter taste to it I don't like. Interestingly, I found out the only difference between Caraway Rye bread and Pumpernickel is chocolate powder and instant coffee granules. I had no idea that rye and pumpernickel bread were so similar.

On a different note, I made an interesting discovery while checking out the Indiana Museum Lord of the Rings film exhibition film website. For those of you who don't know, on October 6th the doors will open at the Indiana Museum in Indianapolis for the Lord of the Rings film exhibition. This exhibition is traveling around the world and the Indianapolis stop is the last one in the U.S. As I'm a big fan of Lord of the Rings books and movies, I hope to go to this exhibition and check it out. While checking out the museum's website for the exhibition, I discovered they have a blog set up for the exhibition. It is: www.indianamuseumlotr.blogspot.com. The same company that helps publish my blog also publishes theirs. I found that after reading their blog, I REALLY wanted to see the exhibition. So read the blog at your own risk, it may cause you to suddenly want to visit Indianapolis. Concerning this exhibition itself, people in the United Cutlery forums I mentioned in my second post said that when the exhibition was in Houston, it was awesome. Tickets for the exhibition are $14. I believe you'll have to pick a time when you plan on entering the museum. I guess their trying to control how many people are in the museum at any one time. If anyone goes to the exhibition before I do, please post a comment to this post and let me know how it was.

Lord of the Rings Collection

After having a very nice chat with my step-mom Kay, I came up with a great idea for a new blog entry. One of my favorite hobbies is collecting Lord of the Rings swords and other assorted Lord of the Rings stuff. Besides swords made by United Cutlery, I also have Return of the King poster signed by 26 members of the cast and crew (this is an awesome poster though it has been a challenge matching some of the people with their autographs), a King of Rohan banner, a pair of Argonath bookends, a model of Minas Tirith, a set of New Zealand Lord of the Rings stamps, a calendar that has all of the Lord of the Rings posters, and a Gondorian shield and helm made by United Cutlery. I decided it would be fun to actually put on my Gondorian helm, my black cloak by Moresca (www.moresca.com), hold one of my Limited Edition Anduril swords, and have a picture taken. A good friend of mine, Harvey Yates, came up from Virginia where he lives so we could both go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival (www.rennfest.com). While I don't look the spitting image of a Gondorian soldier (I don't think they had blue jeans in Middle Earth), it was still fun.

Concerning the other stuff in my collection, below is a list of all the other blades I have in my collection. It's a respectable collection.

Anduril Scabbard
Boromir Sword
Eowyn Sword
Gandalf Staff
Glamdring Sword, blue scabbard, white scabbard
Hadhafang Sword
Herugrim Sword
Legolas Daggers and Scabbards
Museum Collection Sting Sword (Museum Collection swords are "functional" swords whereas the normal blades aren't)
Saruman Staff
Sting Sword and Scabbard
Strider's Elven Knife and Scabbard
Strider's Ranger Sword and Scabbard

I also have a fake copy of Glamdring which I bought not realizing there were fake copies out there. There are and you should make sure you get what you think you are getting. If you're going to buy a Lord of the Rings sword, make sure the seller includes the certificates of authenticity. If he or she doesn't have them, buy the item elsewhere.

One other note, to confuse matters further, New Line Productions licensed The Noble Collection to make a line of Lord of the Rings swords. I've never bought any of these and I don't have any idea how good they are. The Noble Collection does offer some items United Cutlery doesn't. If you want a copy of the crown used to crown Aragorn, you can get one from the Noble Collection (this statement does not imply indorsement of the product, merely that you can purchase one from them if YOU wish).

Also, if you want to find out what the latest unofficial word (United Cutlery doesn't officially sponsor this site) is with the United Cutlery Lord of the Rings collection, go to: www.ucforums.com. I'm a member of this site and I can attest it is a great place to find out what is happening with the collection as well as post with other avid collectors.

Blog Introduction

Welcome to who ever reads this. This blog is about what ever is happening with my life at the time of the posting and will be as varied as my life. I tend to stay active and am involved in various activities. I help out at the Washington D.C. Self Help And Resource Exchange (SHARE), www.sharedc.org, I fence (swordfight) at the Salle Palasz in Baltimore, Maryland www.geocities.com/sallepalaszfencing/about.html, I ride horses (English style) at Aspiring Heights Farm in Westminster, Maryland www.aspiringheightsfarm.com/index.htm, and I travel when I can afford it.

Back in July, I traveled to Seattle for the first time so I could see my sister Ellie. We had lunch at the Space Needle, visited the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, did a boat cruise of the locks and harbor, walked around the Pike Place Fish Market, and saw a movie together for the first time since Ellie was a kid. It was an awesome visit. One thing I found very interesting was that Seattle reminded me a lot of Auckland, New Zealand. It has a beautiful harbor like Auckland and isn't far at all from lots of beautiful countryside.

I also got to make my first trip to New York City. I'd wanted to see New York City for years. They have the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Broadway, Times Square, and the United Nations. I had planned to visit back in 1999 but my car at the time, a Plymouth Laser, had other ideas. In late July of this year, I and my good traveling friend Harvey took an Amtrak train to NYC and got to see the sights. It was another awesome trip. We saw all of the above mentioned sites, did a night cruise of the harbor which was very pretty, saw the show "The Producers" which was funny at times, and visited Ground Zero which was very sad. I hope to go back some time before Christmas so I can see the Rockettes perform their annual Christmas show. It's suppose to be spectacular.

I'll close for now. I ask your indulgence concerning this blog as this is the first time I've ever had a blog and so will be learning the ropes. Cheers!