Payraise

To my surprise, I found out I received my first payraise from Medieval Times this last paycheck. I saw my latest paycheck was larger than what I expected and I wanted to know why. I found out that my boss Mike Verelli put me in for my first yearly payraise and it was approved. I knew I was approaching my first complete year at the castle and that Medieval Times allegedly awarded yearly payraises. I started working at the Baltimore/Washington castle the end of February of 2006. It's hard to believe I've worked there for almost a year now. Working at the castle was a total break from my previous life in the U.S. Air Force. It was an enormous change. It's a lot more relaxed working there. At the castle, you can grow your hair as long as you want. In the Air Force, if my hair was 1 inch longer than regs specified, I was told to get a haircut. In the castle, I can call the General Manager by his first name. In my last unit, I always called my commander Sir!

I've found it really interesting working at the castle. You're part of a huge team (over 200 people) that works to put on a very complicated show and dinner at least 5 times a week. It takes a lot of teamwork to pull it off. The kitchen staff must have all the necessary plates, bowls and mugs ready for the food servers to use. They must also prepare enough food to serve a 4-course meal to between 150 and 1,000 people. The food servers must put on their costumers and set the proper number of place settings in their assigned areas. Group reservations must tell the people who work the seating assignments how many groups are going to come to the show and how many are in each group. Security must coordinate with the people who hand out seating assignments when they need their equipment set up. Ticketing personnel must be ready to print tickets for customers, confirm reservations and sell tickets to those who decide to see the show on the spur of the moment. Sound and lighting must coordinate with security as to when they'll need castle guards at the main entrances to the castle. Gift shop personnel must make sure that all the shelves are full stocked and they're ready to deal with customers. Bar staff must make sure the bar is full stocked and the beer and soda taps are working. Back in the stables, squires are busy grooming and preparing the horses. Knights are busy practicing various routines and getting their costumes together. The actors and actress who play the King, Princess, Ambassador and Lord Chancellor must put on their costumes and go out to the castle entrance to meet customers. The Lord or Lady Falconer must bring the falcon to the castle, put on their costume and show the falcon to customers as they arrive. Heralds put on their costumes, prepare their instruments, practice the notes they're going to play and go to the front of the castle to help direct customers to either the King or Princess so they can get their picture taken with them. When it's time, the heralds must know when to go into the arena to play their part in the show. Squires must have the right horses ready for the knights to ride. Food servers must be ready to direct people to their tables. Sound & lighting personnel must know which spotlight to go to and what acts they're going to spotlight. The people in the sound & lighting booth must know when to play certain music, activate certain lights and turn on various special effects machines. The King, Princess, Lord Chancellor and Lord Marshall must know where they need to go so they're in their proper place for the show. There is so much that must be done and incredibly, it does get done. When the show is over, food servers will quickly clean up their assigned tables. Squires will put the horses back in their stalls and make sure they have plenty of hay and water. Sound & lighting personnel will turn off the spotlights, amplifiers and put away the microphones. Gift shop personnel will close out their cash registers and turn them into cash control. Security personnel will lock the main gates and turn off all the main lights to the castle. Wardrobe personnel will collect all the costumes and start washing them so they'll be ready for the next show. In effect, the castle will go to sleep for a little while till it's time for it to start ramping up for another show. It's a fascinating process and it's neat to be a part of it.

King Picture

Here is the promised picture of me wearing the King's costume at Medieval Times. As you can tell by the smile on my face, I got a big kick wearing the costume. It was a lot of fun having this picture taken.

U.S.S. Constellation

While visiting Baltimore's Inner Harbor earlier this week, I took a picture of the U.S.S. Constellation. The Constellation is one of a number of attractions they have at the Inner Harbor (I plan to tell of some of the others in future blogs). The ship is the only remaining U.S. Civil War ship afloat. It is also the last wooden warship the U.S. Navy built. Afterwards, the Navy built ships that were powered by steam. The ship is a sloop of war and carries 16 8-inch guns on its gun deck and various other guns on its main deck. The cost of admission is $8.75 for adults and $4.75 for children. For an additional fee, visitors can rent an electrical device that will tell you aspects of the ship at various points on the ship. During the summer months, reenactors tell of life onboard the ship and show how the guns were worked. The ship has been faithfully restored to how it would've looked during the Civil War. I've toured the ship and found it very interesting. It gives a nice glimpse of life on board a wooden warship (it was no bed of roses). For further information on the ship as well as other programs they offer see http://www.constellation.org.

Canon Rebel XTi Camera Outfit Review

In previous posts, I've mentioned that I was going to buy a Canon EOS 30-D digital camera. The camera had all the features I wanted with one significant drawback. It's very expensive. Because of the cost, I kept dithering about it. Then, this past weekend, I set up a meeting with a friend for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The Inner Harbor has some interesting sights and I wanted to show them to those of you who read my blog. I have a Minolta Maxxum 7000 35-mm camera which takes fine pictures but, I would've had to have to shot an entire 24-picture roll of film and I didn't think there was that much stuff there I wanted to take pictures of. Also, it would've taken 3 or 4 days to get the pictures developed unless I wanted to pay for some 24-hour service. I felt using my Minolta would've been too much hassle. I decided it was time to buy a new digital camera.

I belong to two discount shopping clubs in Maryland: Sam's Club and Costco. I'd seen the digital camera display at Costco a number of times when I'd walked in and decided to see what they had. It turned out they had a nice Canon Rebel XTi camera outfit for $799. The outfit included camera body, battery, battery charger and an 18-55mm lens. The only thing I'd have to buy was a compact flash memory card. The camera had similar features to the 30-D with it being $400 cheaper and I could get my hands on it right now. I decided to buy it. This is the camera I used to take the picture of the Baltimore Hard Rock Cafe I posted yesterday. So far, it seems like a pretty decent camera. I look forward to using it so I can post some nice pictures of places around Maryland and where ever I travel to. I did learn after I took the Baltimore pictures that I needed to drop the resolution for photos I'll post here. All my Inner Harbor pictures came in at around 4 megs a picture. Yikes! Still, those of you who read this blog can now expect to see pictures "oooo" of Maryland and where ever else I end up traveling to. Hopefully, you'll enjoy them and they'll make this blog a bit more interesting. All text makes for a very boring blog. Cheers all!

January 2007 Baltimore, Maryland Hard Rock Cafe Visit

Baltimore Hard Rock Cafe

Me and a friend had lunch at the Baltimore Hard Rock Cafe today. Earlier, I found out that the Hard Rock Cafe Corporation would deactivate my Access Club membership if I didn't use it at least once every two years. That wouldn't be any big deal except I've earned a $60 credit with the club and I didn't want to lose that so I decided it was time to make a trip to either the Baltimore or Washington D.C. Hard Rock Cafes. Both of the cafes are nice, though in my opinion, the Baltimore Hard Rock Cafe is the easier of the two to get to. It's located in Baltimore's Inner Harbor and is within easy walking distance from the Maryland Light Rail line across from Camden Yards (where the Baltimore Orioles play).

The cafe is your typical Hard Rock Cafe. The walls are covered with loads of rock memorabilia. I saw a guitar signed by Chrissie Hynde, a poster from a Grateful Dead concert, a drum played by John Bonham of Led Zeppelin and they have a green Cadillac in the center of the bar.

Food wise, I had some outstanding onion rings which I shared with my friend. For main entrees, he tried their bacon cheeseburger and I had their pulled pork sandwich. According to my friend, his cheeseburger was fine. I thought they were a little skimpy with the pork bar-b-que on mine. Still, it was a good sandwich and it was served with small side orders of excellent baked beans and cole slaw and a nice side order of fries.
Overall, the food was very good though to be honest, you don't go to a Hard Rock Cafe to eat the food. You go to check out all the incredible rock memorabilia on the walls. The Hard Rock Cafe Corporation reportedly has the largest collection of rock memorabilia in the world. Each one of their restaurants is a small museum of Rock and Roll. They're really neat places in that way.

Advertising on Cell Phones

I received a poll from Harris Poll Online (http://www.harrispollonline.com) that asked questions about advertising on cell phones. My reaction to the poll was one of disbelief. The last place I want to receive advertising is on my cell phone. Especially, when I have a set number of any time minutes and presumably the advertising would cut into those. Another problem I would have with advertising on my cell phone is that my cell phone is for important business. I use it contact people when I really need to i.e. I've used it to notify my Dad when I missed my plane when I was flying home for Christmas, I've used it to let my friend Harvey know I was on my way to Richmond so he would be at the train station to pick me up and I've used it to let my boss at Medieval Times know I was running behind but I was on my way to the castle. My cell phone is NOT some place I want to receive frivolous advertising. Hopefully, advertisers will leave cell phones alone. If they start bugging me on mine, I'm going to be calling that number at the FCC (I think that's the right agency) real fast that stops such calling.

New Scanners

We received new digital scanners at the Post Office this past weekend. I don't know why the Post Office decided to go with the new scanners. The old ones seemed to work fine and they were pretty indestructible as I can testify as having accidentally dropped the things a few times. The new scanners are convenient in some ways and give a back-up to the form 3849's we have people sign when we have a package needing a signature confirmation or if its insured. Convenience wise, we no longer have to punch in the last four of our social security number when we log into the scanners. Instead, we have a bar code tag on our Post Office ID cards which we scan. Once we scan that bar code, the scanners will remember our name, social and route we worked that day in its system. In regards to a back up for the form 3849's, the new scanners scan in the signature of the person signing for the letter or package. This gives a digital image which can serve as an additional record to the form 3849. It's possible this image can be shown to the customer who requested the signature from whomever was receiving the mailed item.

Castle Social Event

This past Tuesday night, I went to a social event the Baltimore Medieval Times castle had for its employees. The castle management holds various social events during the year. This gives a chance for employees to socialize and is a way for the castle to pay its employees back for their hard work. Some of these events are very casual while others are more formal. The Tuesday event was more formal in that it was a dress up occasion. Men were expected to wear suits and ties or tuxedos and women were expected to wear gowns. The event was held at the Fountaine Bleu in Glen Burnie, Maryland. The Fountaine Blue is part of a chain of halls that cater for special events such as ours. They provided a full buffet, bar and DJ.

The event started at 7 p.m. Castle employees had to have an invitation which they presented to Jessica (retail manager) who made sure they were on the list of castle employees. After that, the employees were welcome to find a table, set their coats down, get a drink at the bar and make themselves a salad or have a bowl of Maryland crab soup. At 8 p.m., the main course buffet was opened. It featured ham, chicken breast in some kind of white sauce and beef stroganoff with potatoes and green beans. I found the chicken breast to be particularly good.

Around 9:30 p.m., the DJ started warming up the dance floor. This was a particularly amusing aspect of the night as the castle has some real dance animals among its members. A person who works in gift shop by the name of Alvarado particularly distinguished himself by giving John Travolta a run for his money. Also, our own operations manager was hilarious as he did some slick moves on the dance floor. For yours truly, I was content to watch the action but, our HR and promotions ladies weren't going to let me get away without dancing. They summarily got me out on the dance floor and kept me there for at least 10 minutes. It was the first time I'd danced in over 10 years. To say the least, I was very nervous. I managed not to embarrass myself too badly with my two left feet. Later, I did a nice slow dance with a girl who works in Sound & Lighting occasionally.

Overall, I thought the event was really nice. Castle management picked a nice place to hold it and the Fountaine Bleu folks did their best so castle employees really enjoyed themselves. The food was excellent as was the service. The DJ played a good mix of music and helped people loosen up. I think everyone had a nice time. I'm not sure what the next social event will be though whatever it is, I definitely plan to attend it. It was fun mingling with my fellow employees a the castle.

Employee of the Month

It's official. I won employee of the month at the Baltimore/Washington D.C. Medieval Times. I was surprised and delighted. It is really neat winning the award. It isn't some token award as I believe the winner gets a $100 bonus for the month they win it which is pretty cool. I also get to do something of a gag photo they put up on the employee awards bulletin board. In my case, today I had my photo taken wearing the King's costume. By all accounts, I looked pretty good in it. Hopefully, I can get a copy of the photo so I can scan it and post it on this blog. We'll see on that. As it is, I'm pretty chuffed about winning the award and I'm grateful to my supervisor Mike for putting me in for it. He's a fantastic boss and it was really nice of him to do that. Now, I know why he was asking all kinds of strange questions about three weeks ago. It was for the award write-up. One last comment about the award: to my embarrassment, the first time I put on the King's shirt, I put it on backwards. It reminded me of the first time I dressed for castle guard. The first time I put on the castle guard cloak/over tunic, I put it on backwards too. It was kind of funny and I'm sure the lady from wardrobe had a good laugh about it. It was also pretty neat wearing the costume. As they say, it is good to be the King (or in this case fun).

Journal of visit to Middle Earth Sites

I found out from the Council of Elrond website (http://www.councilofelrond.com) that Durham University doctoral student Danielle Smith wrote a journal of her visit to a number of the sites Peter Jackson used for the Lord of the Rings movies. Being a huge Lord of the Rings fan, I promptly visited her website to read her journal. I found it interesting. I also enjoyed some of the pictures she included with her journal. I would recommend it to any Lord of the Rings fan though I will warn you, it'll likely make you very envious of this lady. I sorely wish I could visit the film sites as it would be seriously cool to see some of the places where they shot the film. Anyway, Miss Smith's journal can be located at http://www.dur.ac.uk/d.e.smith/journal.htm. Enjoy!

Restaurant Review

I decided to try another new restaurant that I haven't dined at before. Today, I tried Gunning's Seafood Restaurant in Hanover, Maryland. The restaurant is located just off MD-100 (going toward Ellicott City) at exit 8. When you come to the stop light, you take a left on Coca-Cola Drive and another left on Dorsey Road (Parkway Drive). The restaurant will be on your right in a small strip mall.

Parking wise, the restaurant doesn't offer loads of parking. When I arrived for lunch, I found out that I'd arrived at one of its busier times. I ended up parking in one of its side parking spaces. I got to practice my parallel parking skills which frankly stink.

After I managed to park my car, I walked into Gunnings. I found out they have two areas to eat a bar area with some tables and a dining room. I ate in the bar area though not at the bar. It was obvious that the bar area is where sports fans liked to hang out. There were at least 4 tv sets with at least one broadcasting some sports channel I'd never seen before.

I waited for someone to seat me but after 3 or 4 minutes, I picked a table myself. The table had a couple menus so I scanned them to decide what I wanted. I ended up settling on the cream of crab soup and shrimp salad platter. To drink, I settled on Sprite as they didn't have Root Beer. I then looked around for a waitress and finally had to ask one of the people working there for one.

After about 5 or 10 minutes, my soup arrived. I think someone let the soup cook too long because the soup had the texture of pudding. I would scoop up a spoonful of it and it would jiggle just like pudding. Taste wise, the soup was excellent but, it just didn't seem like soup.

After I finished my soup/pudding, my shrimp salad platter arrived. I tried the house dressing and thought it decent. The shrimp salad was loaded with big chunks of shrimp. I was surprised by this as I'm use to shrimp salads that have smaller pieces. Still, overall I thought the salad was good.

I didn't try any of Gunnings desserts as they didn't have anything that really impressed. Price wise, my lunch ended up costing just under $21 before tip. I thought it was a decent price for what I had. Service wise, once my waitress showed up, the service was excellent and I had no qualms tipping her the standard 15%.

Overall, I thought Gunnings wasn't anything fancy and definitely isn't fine dining. I also wasn't impressed with its choice of seafood dishes. For a seafood restaurant, I would've thought their seafood menu would've been bigger. I would've also liked to have seen their prices for cooked crabs. They stated on the menu they offered them but they never gave a price. Still, they are a decent restaurant with good service. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest, I'd rate them a 3. If you want a nice decent restaurant to eat at, they're worth considering BUT, I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there. Bon appetit!

Restaurant Review

Every month, I receive an email from the Rewards Network telling me of new restaurants in the program. One such restaurant was Strapazza's. They're five restaurant chain located in Maryland. I chose to visit the Columbia, Maryland restaurant as it was closest to me. The Columbia restaurant is located a short distance from exit 2 on MD-100. The restaurant is one of a number of restaurants and shops in a small strip mall complex. I found parking somewhat limited compared to the parking at Remomo's in Arundel Mills Mall. The restaurant itself had a decent enough decor. Service was prompt but the choice of menu items was more limited than what was offered at Remomo's. I decided to try their fried calimari and shrimp cardinale.

The serving for their fried calimari seemed larger than what was offered at Remomo's. They also gave you more marinara sauce which was nice. Price wise, I believe their calimari cost $1 more than Remomo's. Like Remomo's, they were careful to offer small cut pieces of calimari. I've found that eating a large piece of calimari can be like trying to eat a piece of rubber so I appreciate restaurants that are careful about how they serve their calimari.

The shrimp cardinale was tastefully presented and had an excellent serving of pasta with it. It had plenty of button mushrooms and 6 jumbo size shrimp. Taste wise it was all right though I didn't like the pink sauce that came with the dish. I will chalk this up to my personal tastes. I don't think it was bad tasting, I just didn't like it. You, the reader might have different tastes so don't discard fine dish just because it didn't agree with me.

Overall, I found Strapazza's to be a nice restaurant comparably priced with Remomo's. Due to it more limited appetizer selection (6 items), lack of parking, and distance to get there, I'd recommend Remomo's over Strapazza. Still, if you're heading out on Maryland 100 and get a hankering for Italian food, you might want to give them a try. They're a decent restaurant though not one worth making a special effort to get to. Their website is located at http://www.strapazza.com.

New Year's at the Castle

Normally, I don't stay up to celebrate the new year. It has never been anything worth celebrating to me. However, yesterday I got to celebrate New Year's at the Medieval Times I work because I was scheduled to work there. The preparations for the New Year's bash had begun well in advance. The castle ordered feathery things with New Year's 2007 on them for the bar and serving wenches. They looked like something you might see on a Vegas showgirl. They also ordered cases of some kind of champagne and party favors. The day before the big bash, they had one of my co-workers come in and help fill up something like 150 ballons for the ballon drop. The kitchen staff was kept busy preparing all the carrot and celery sticks, orange and pineapple pieces, broccoli and cauliflower chunks, pieces of cantalope and watermelon, and cucumber and bell pepper slices for the appetizer tables. The day of the bash, I helped them prepare the tables for those items. We also put out small plates, forks and knapkins.

The bash began 8 p.m. when the castle opened for those coming for the event. People began arriving before the gates opened. We ended up having over 600 people celebrate New Year's at the castle. The people tore into the appetizers while they waited for the regular show. It was a bit weird to think that we working the last show of 2006. The show and dinner went fine. At the end of the show, the serving staff gave out noise makers and party crackers. Afterwards, the customers walked back out into the gift show and Hall of Arms (where all the suits of armor are) and sipped champagne while they watched the last 30 minutes of 2006 slip by.

At midnight, the cast of the show fired confetti into the crowd and caused the balloon filled nets to open. People popped the balloons and continued to drink champagne. For myself, I enjoyed some apple juice since I had to drive home and I never drink and drive. I also ate a few donuts they put out for the customers. I thought the castle did a nice job for the bash though like previous years, the event itself didn't excite me. Big whoop! 2007 has begun. Ho hum. I hope 2007 is better than 2006. We'll see. For all of you who read this blog, may your 2007 be better than 2006 and help you fulfill all your dreams. Cheers!