An Update

I haven't posted in a couple weeks so I thought I'd post an update on what has been happening at my end of the woods. However, first let me wish any readers I have a very Merry Christmas. Hopefully, you were good this year and, Santa gave you lots of wonderful presents.

Concerning myself, my last 3 weeks has been work, work and still more work. The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for the U.S. Postal Service and, this one was equally busy. We were swamped with 3 or 4 times the normal number of packages we get. I think mail volume was down somewhat due to the poor economy but, there was still plenty to do. Work wise, things will gradually start to lighten all the way till the fall when things will start to pick back up again.

Travel wise, my trip to Peru is slowly but surely getting here. I have approximately 3 weeks till my trip. I can't wait to go. I found out the tour date I signed up for is sold out. That means there'll be a large group (40 plus) on this tour. I suspect the tour director will have their hands full. Also, I discovered that Peru has a special passport stamp you can get at Machu Picchu. It looks seriously cool and, I'm going to get it put in my passport when I visit there. I found out all the hotels I'll be staying at in Peru have free WiFi so, I'll be taking my laptop. Any readers I have can expect to see updates on here during the tour.

Riding wise, I continue to ride my TMAX weather permitting. It is cold riding the bike but, I don't care to have it sit in the garage. It does seem like it's windier during the winter vice the summer. I don't know why that is.

Lord of the Rings stuff, I bought some items from Weta Workshop including an signed copy of Alan Lee's Lord of the Rings sketchbook. I believe I previously reviewed that book. It continues to impress me with its fantastic artwork. Weta has reported that it's working on a Rivendell miniature. Supposedly, it'll be one of the largest its made. Because of its size, it promises to be very expensive. However, I plan to buy it if I can. I think it'll be very beautiful.

Concerning the Hobbit, Peter Jackson continues to fill various roles in the 2 future movies. One actor let slip that he'll be flying to New Zealand in January to being swordfighting and horseback riding training. I wouldn't think it'll be too long after that when they'll begin shooting the movies. I can't wait to see them and experience the magic of Middle-earth again. The 2 movies should be outstanding.

That's all to report for now. Again, to all my readers, may you have a joyous Christmas and an even happier and prosperous New Year.

New BMW Scooter

Along with making outstanding cars, BMW is known for making great quality motorcycles. In the town where I live, there is a BMW Motorcycle dealership. As any readers I have out there know, I'm pretty keen on scooters. I find them easier to ride than a motorcycle and, they have more storage space. When I found out there was a BMW Motorcycle dealership where I live, I checked into whether BMW built any scooters. In my opinion, the scooter market is growing because they are a very affordable form of transportation and, they get great gas milage. A scooter isn't a far stretch from a motorcycle. The primary difference is in the transmission. A motorcycle has a standard i.e. clutch transmission while a scooter has an automatic transmission. Since it isn't that much of a stretch, I thought BWM might make a high quality scooter. I was wrong at that time. However, BMW just recently announced its Concept C (the C stands for commuter) scooter.

BMW's new scooter promises to bring even more competition in the high end scooter market. While BMW hasn't released the engine size for the new bike, they have stated that it "will be in the top range of the large scooter segment." In my book, that translates to between 500 and 650cc's. That big an engine should enable it to hold its own on any roads on there. With its BMW handling, it should give the motorcycle like Yamaha TMAX a run for its money.

The new bike promises some other features that will put it in a class of its own. The biggest being the doing away of rear view mirrors. Instead, the bike uses small television cameras that transmit their images to screens built into the instrument panel. The bike also has very stylish BLUE tires and LCD headlights.

All of these high tech features as well as the solid German engineering mean that this will be a very expensive scooter. As far as I know, BMW hasn't released any price information yet. I'm curious to see what one of these sleek high tech bikes will cost. Also, will BMW offer them in the U.S.? The biggest market for scooters is in scooter mad Europe. The new Concept C scooter will be built in Berlin, Germany. However, in my opinion, scooters are appearing more and more in the U.S. Yamaha felt there was enough of a market to bring their TMAX over from Europe. So, maybe if the Concept C proves a success in Europe, we may see it in the U.S. in time.

New Game at Dave & Buster's

I stopped by the Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's today. They'd sent a coupon that gave me $10 worth of free play with the purchase of $10 worth of play. It seemed like a good enough deal so I went in and used the coupon though I didn't play any games. While there, I wanted to check Dave & Buster's new game Wheel of Fortune. I'd seen them advertise it in their emails they sent me.

The game is very much like the game you see on tv barring that it is a single player game vice having 3 contestants on tv. At the beginning, the player has 2 options as far as how many tickets they want to win. If they pay twice as i.e. 9.9 coins vice 4.9, the ticket totals on the wheel are doubled. In theory, a person could win over 2,000 tickets if they doubled AND hit the 300 ticket slot on the wheel AND got 2 or more letters to light up on the words they're trying to figure out. Personally, I don't think the odds are good a person will win that many tickets in this game.

The player gets 3 spins at the wheel during which time after each spin, they are shown various letters that in the word or words they are trying to solve. If they pick a letter that is in the word or words, they get the number of tickets they spun for that letter. After they pick their third letter, the player has to figure out what the word or words are. If they get it right, they get a bonus for solving the puzzle. I don't know the bonus is determined.

Overall, I wasn't wiped out with this game. I think it's pricey and the chance of winning lots of tickets aren't that good. It is some what challenging but, my purpose for playing the games at the arcade in Dave & Buster's is to win tickets to claim a prize. With that objective in mind, I'd rather stick with Spin & Win. You may not get as much as action i.e. it doesn't take as long to play the game as it does to play Wheel of Fortune BUT, the chances of winning lots of tickets are greater in my opinion with Spin & Win. You just have to have good eye and hand coordination as well as timing to win at Spin & Win whereas with Wheel of Fortune you have to show some brains (figuring out the puzzle) and have some luck too i.e. hitting the 200 or 300 ticket slots.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Wi-Fi

I thought I'd post a blog entry on how the Wifi works on Royal Caribbean ships. I used the service during my recent cruise on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas ship. I really enjoyed it and, I was impressed with how fast the connection was. Also, I found it fascinating because I'm certain the connection had to go via satellite at times when the ship was in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Anyway, here is how it works.

All Royal Caribbean ships have hot spots where you can connect to the ship's Wifi network. The only exception to this is Royal Caribbean's Freedom class ships which offer connectivity thoroughout the entire ship including all cabins. For the Navigator of the Seas, the hot spots were located at the following places:

Conference Center - Deck 2

Schooner Bar - Deck 4

Two Poets Pub and Cafe Promenade - Deck 5

Solarium - Deck 11

19th Hole Sports & Golf Bar/Cosmopolitan Club - Deck 14

In order to connect to the Internet at one of these hot spots, you must create a login and password. This is done at a Royal Caribbean Online workstation. These were located on the 8th deck to the rear of the ship on the Navigator of the Seas. The workstation asks you to create a login and password. Also, you'll need your SeaPass card so it can charge you for the service once you start using it. Royal Caribbean doesn't charge you for the service at this point. Once you've created a login and password, you take your laptop to one of the hotspots. You should see the RC wireless signal on your Wifi list. You press connect. Then, you call up an Internet browser. A page should come up on the browser that asks you how you want to pay for using the Internet. You have 2 options: you can pay the standard rate which is 65 cents a minute or you can buy a prepaid plan. Royal Caribbean offers 5 prepaid plans. They are:

60 minutes for $35 which breaks out to 58 cents a minute

90 minutes for $55 which breaks out to 55 cents a minute

150 minutes for $75 which breaks out to 50 cents a minute

250 minutes for $100 which breaks out to 40 cents a minute

500 minutes for $150 which breaks out to 30 cents a minute

Once you choose which option you want and press enter, you will be billed for the service and, you will be connected to the Internet. The webpage that offered you the prepaid plans will show you how many minutes you've used and at what cost. That page is helpful as it enables you to have some idea how many minutes you have left or how much you will be billed if you used the standard rate. It also enables you to disconnect from the Internet though you still have to break the Wifi connection on your laptop i.e. disconnect a second time. Also, at the end of the cruise, you will lose any minutes you don't use on your prepaid plan i.e. you can't carry them over to your next cruise. If you go over your prepaid minutes, you will be billed the standard rate per minute for the overage.

If you belong to Royal Caribbean's Crown and Anchor Society, you may find a coupon in the coupon booklet that will be left in your cabin. This was the case during my cruise. The coupon will save you either $5 or 10% of your Internet bill. In my case, I opted for the prepaid 500 minute plan so it save me $15. That isn't tons but, it is something.

Also, from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., the Wifi network will go down. I was told by another cruiser that they took the system down during that time for maintenance. I don't know if that's true but, they system definitely goes down during those times. I can personally vouch for that.

Lastly, if you want to change your password on the system, you have to go to one of the Royal Caribbean Online workstations. You enter your login and whatever you want your new password to be. You'll have to swipe your SeaPass during this process. You won't lose any prepaid minutes you have left on your account. I can personally vouch for that. I changed my password during my recent cruise after I thought I'd lost the piece of paper I'd written my login and password on. I later found it in my wallet. Oops!

I hope this entry answers most questions about Royal Caribbean's Wifi service on its ships. I really liked the service and, I'll be using it again when I go my Alaska cruise next year. I would definitely recommend it.

Update: September 11, 2013

Since so many people have read this post, I thought I'd post some more information on it about Royal Caribbean's Wi-Fi.

First, Royal Caribbean plans to upgrade all its ships to where you'll be able to access the ship's Wi-Fi network any where on the ship. This upgrade is performed when the ship goes into dock for other improvements like adding a number of their popular pay restaurants. The unofficial Royal Caribbean blog has a schedule list of when the ships will go into dry dock to get the upgrades including ship wide Wi-Fi. Here's the link:  http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/ship-upgrade-list-and-schedule. However, I don't know how current this list is.

Second, Royal Caribbean's Chief Information Office (CIO) Bill Martin did an interview with InformationWeek on September 9th, 2013 (http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/royal-caribbean-broadens-bandwidth-horiz/240160918) where he tells of what Royal Caribbean is doing to improve Wi-Fi on their ships such as add more antennas to pick up satellites and plans to introduce an e-commerce portal (as far as I know it isn't available yet) where customers will be able to buy daily ($49) (my opinion: no thanks!) and weekly ($179) (my opinion: maybe, if this means I have unlimited minutes during that week) packages. He mentions that Royal Caribbean has increased its band width 7 fold which enabled it to give customers who were sailing with them when they celebrated their 50 millionth customer a free hour of Internet and, they encouraged them to post pictures. Something he says they couldn't have done a year ago.

My experience on trying to post pictures on their Wi-Fi has been hit and miss due to the slowness of the connection at times. I plan to test their Majesty of the Seas Wi-Fi this month when I sail on her and, I'll report back on how things went on trying to post pictures. You may even get to see one of this blog. Stay tuned.

Update March 16, 2014: First, Navigator of the Seas has ship-wide Wi-Fi now. Second, it and the Allure of the Seas (these are the only 2 ships that offer this) offer 2 unlimited Wi-Fi packages. For 1 person, it costs $189.95. For 2 people, it costs $229.95. In my opinion, for a long cruise, it would be worth buying one of these packages. For a short cruise like the ones Majesty of the Seas does, it wouldn't be worth it. Also, you can use your Crown & Anchor discount coupons on these packages. If you want to know how good the current Wi-Fi is on Navigator of the Seas. Here is a link to a daily blog a contributor on the unofficial Royal Caribbean blog posted on February 15, 2014 about how the Wi-Fi was on ship.

Lastly, here are links to 2 other blog entries I've posted on Wi-Fi with Royal Caribbean. The one on Majesty of the Seas gives the Wi-Fi rates for that ship which are different from the rates on other ships. I don't know why they're so different. Next month, I sail on Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas and, I'll find out if the rates have changed as well as how well the Wi-Fi works on that ship. I'll post something on here about my experiences with it. I'll definitely be using it for this cruise where I'll be visiting Mexico, Guatemala (for the first time), Costa Rica (for the first time), Panama (for the first time) and Colombia (for the first time). Stay tuned.

Update May 22, 2014: I'm including links to 2 more blog entries I did on Wi-Fi for Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas and Independence of the Seas. Interestingly, Independence of the Seas offers 2 unlimited Wi-Fi packages making it the 3rd Royal Caribbean ship to offer this. The unlimited Wi-Fi packages are lot better deal than what was offered on Legend of the Seas or Majesty of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean Wi-Fi Update
Majesty of the Seas Wi-Fi
Legend of the Seas Wi-Fi
Independence of the Seas Wi-Fi
Serenade of the Seas WiFi

Update May 30, 2014: My apologies on the link to my blog entry for Independence of the Seas Wi-Fi. I apparently didn't set it up right and so, it didn't work. It should work now. Also, I made a correction concerning the Oasis and Allure of the Seas. These 2 ships had ship wide Wi-Fi from the beginning. Lastly, if Royal Caribbean has stayed to schedule (see schedule link further up in this blog entry), there should be just 3 ships that DON'T have ship wide Wi-Fi. They're Explorer of the Seas, Jewel of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas. I suspect Majesty of the Seas will never get it as I think they're going to transfer that ship to one of their other cruise lines in time like they did with its sister ship Sovereign of the Seas.

Update October 18, 2014: I found out to my great annoyance the links to blog entries on Majesty of the Seas, Legend of the Seas and Independence of the Seas didn't work. After much experimenting, I believe they're working now. Also, on the Legend of the Seas Wi-Fi, I did another cruise on that ship last month and, its rates haven't changed i.e. they're still pretty expensive. I would definitely look for cheaper or free Wi-Fi hotspots when in port vice using the ship's Wi-Fi. Lastly, the end of January 2015, I'll be on Majesty of the Seas again (I'll be treating my favorite aunt to her first 2 cruises). I'll let you know if there has been any changes in the rates as well as how much free (really) Wi-Fi a Diamond member gets on that ship. Stay tuned.

Update December 7, 2014:  Royal Caribbean Blog has a new article that tells of the Wi-Fi rates on Royal Caribbean's new Quantum of the Seas. The ship offers 3 tiers of packages: Basic, Premium and Premium Plus. Basic is the slowest and cheapest while Premium Plus is the fastest and most expensive. There are 4 levels of plans of for each tier: hourly rate, daily rate, unlimited rate for 1 device and unlimited rate for 2 devices. Prices start at $20 for Basic 1 hour rate and go up to $400 for Premium Plus for unlimited rate for 2 devices. Royal Caribbean promises to deliver the same high speed rates on the ship that you can find on land. They aim to provide this through a partnership with O3B which supplies low orbiting satellites that target specifically the ship vice a region. The article can be found at: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2014/12/04/royal-caribbean-reveals-prices-new-fast-quantum-of-the-seas-wi-fi

Update September 20, 2015: I added a new link to my blog entry on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas and what I thought of its WiFi (I sailed on it July 26 to August 8, 2015) as well as what plans they offer on the ship. The ship does offer something different in that you get unlimited minutes and pay a flat rate per day. Also, you can have a second device with unlimited minutes at half the price of the first device. See my blog entry to see what I'm talking about. Lastly, the ship's WiFi is available throughout the ship vice the old system where it was available only in certain locations. Next year, I'll be sailing on Independence of the Seas for the second time. I'm hoping it'll have the new VOOM system Royal Caribbean is coming out with so, I can see how well it works and, if it lives up to all the hype Royal Caribbean is saying about it. We'll see. Stay tuned.

Update April 30, 2016: Ref a April 29, 2016 article on www.royalcaribbeanblog.com: Royal Caribbean Chief Executive Officer Michael Bayley states that by May 1st (as far as I can tell of this year) EVERY ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet will have the new VOOM WiFi system. Also, they've unveiled a 2 tier set of plans. One is just for emails and checking various websites while the more expensive plan allows for video and streaming. I haven't had the chance to use VOOM yet but, if what Bayley says is true, I'll get to try it on my November cruise on Independence of the Seas. I'll definitely post some where on my blog after I get back from that cruise what I think of it and whether it does it live up to all its hype. We'll see. Happy web surfing all!

Globus Legacy of the Incas Tour

With the conclusion of my recent cruise on the Navigator of the Seas, I've started preparing for my future Globus tour of Peru. The tour is called Legacy of the Incas and lasts 10 days in Peru. We cover a lot of territory. We start in Lima, drive to Ica where we board a flight to see the Nazca Plain drawings from the air, take a boat ride to the Ballestas Islands, drive back to Lima, fly to Cuzco, drive to the Sacred Valley, take a train to and from Machu Picchu, drive back to Cuzco where we fly to Juliaca and drive to Lake Titicaca, visit Taquile Island and the Uros Islands, drive back to Juliaca, fly back to Lima and finish with a farewell dinner. That is a brief summary of travel and some of the things I'll get to do during the tour.

One item I was very interested in was the Internet access at the various hotels I'll be staying at. I'd like to be able to post current updates on the trip like I did on my recent cruise. To my delight, I found out every hotel I'll be staying offers free Wifi access. Because of that, I plan to take my laptop on the trip so I can post updates. For any readers I have, you'll get to read of my adventures in Peru shortly after they happen and possibly see some pictures I'll take during the tour. So, stay tuned for future adventures. In approximately 60 days or so, I'll be departing again for my first trip to South America.

Grand Cayman/Cozumel Hard Rock Cafes

To my delight, I got to visit and buy t-shirts from both of these Hard Rock Cafes. The easiest to get to was the Grand Cayman cafe as it was 2 blocks from the downtown Georgetown pier. Another thing I liked about the Grand Cayman cafe was they had a deal going where if you bought 3 t-shirts, you got a free cap or sun visor ($20 value). Lastly, I thought the Grand Cayman had some nice designs on their t-shirts.

On the other hand, Cozumel wouldn't be easy to get to for someone arriving at the international cruise ship pier. After I bought my t-shirt from the cafe, I took a taxi back to the pier for $7 and, I thought it was money well spent. In my opinion, it would've been a serious i.e. long walk to get back to the cruise ship pier from the cafe. Another thing that didn't wipe me out with the cafe was the designs of their t-shirts. I would've thought they could've come with up with something better. The one I bought had the colors of the Mexican flag. One interesting note about the Cozumel cafe is that it's supposedly the smallest Hard Rock Cafe in the world. That's possible. I didn't bother to look in to see how big their restaurant was. Still, I pleased to get one of their shirts. I suspect the cafe does a good bit of business with all the cruise ships that call at Cozumel. When I visited, there was the one I was on and 2 Celebrity ships.

Tulum

The excursion I looked forward to most on this cruise was the one to the Mayan city of Tulum. I'd never seen anything like that before. Plus, it would be a nice preparation for my tour to Peru in January. Tulum turned out to be awesome. Most of the main temple complex was intact and, there were other fascinating buildings. Our tour guide Mario did a great job explaining in limited time some of the history of the city including how it was discovered in the 1840's and later excavated. Another plus is that the city is walled. It was something to make my way through one of the narrow entrances. Lastly, there were awesome views of the Caribbean. Overall, I was thoroughly delighted with this excursion and would recommend it to anyone. When I get home, I plan to post some pictures of the city so any viewers I have can see just how stunning it is.

Cruise Update

Due to poor diving conditions, I didn't get to go scuba diving in Grand Cayman. Because the person running the dive shop the cruise ship uses waited till this morning to see what the conditions were before cancelling a number of dives, I was notified kind of late and had to scramble to book another excursion.

The excursion I went on was a combination tour. First, I got to ride in a semi-submersible that enabled me to see a number of Grand Cayman's best reefs as well as 2 wrecks they have. I enjoyed this plus, it was my first time in such a craft. After that, the tour driver and guide took the group I was with to a turtle farm. According to our guide, it is the only one of its kind in the world. They keep over 300 breeder turtles at the farm. When the turtles lay their eggs in a section of sand they have for them, the farm digs up the eggs and puts them in incubators so there is a greater chance the eggs will hatch. Once the eggs hatch, the baby turtles are transferred to other tanks where they are fed and grow. Some are released into the wild while others are slaughtered for their meat. Visitors can hold and touch the young turtles. The farm is also trying to raise Kemp Ridley turtles which are an endangered species.

After visiting the turtle farm, we drive to Hell, Grand Cayman. Supposedly a British governor of the island gave the area its name. The area features limestone formations that are very jagged and sharp. Others have put statues of devils around the formations. The town has a post office where you can mail letters and cards with the postmark of Hell, Grand Cayman. Visitors to the area can jokingly say they've been to Hell and back. I thought the place a bit touristy but, it was neat to say I'd been there.

The last stop was at the Tortuga Rum Cake Factory. Visitors at the factory could try free samples of the various cakes as well as some Tortuga rum. I found the cakes really good. I plan to buy at a couple before the cruise ends. Also, I enjoyed trying some of the rums.

Our tour guide and driver returned us to the pier where we could catch a shuttle boat back to the Navigator of the Seas or do more sightseeing. I made my mandatory trip to the Cayman Island Hard Rock Cafe where I ended up buying 3 t-shirts. They have some pretty cool ones which I'll comment more on in another post.

Overall, I ended up having a nice visit to Grand Cayman. I thought it interesting and, the weather was pretty nice with the sun out and the temps in the high 70's. According to the tour guide, Grand Cayman never gets below the 60's temperature wise and has many days when it's in the 80's. It sounds like it is a typical Caribbean island where you can enjoy lots of sun and sand. Stay tuned for my cruise updates. Tomorrow, I get to visit Cozumel, Mexico.

Cruise Update

The Navigator of the Seas arrived just off of Georgetown, Grand Cayman this morning. The town apparently doesn't have a pier that is big enough and deep enough to accomodate the ship. Because of that, I'll have to take a tender/shuttle boat to the town's pier to do my scheduled scuba diving trip. Plan to go early so I can visit the Hard Rock Cafe and get my prized new t-shirt.

Last night, the ship had a formal evening where everyone got to dress up if they felt like. There were lots of guys in tuxedos and suits and lots of ladies in gowns. The ship served free champagne which was decent. I doubt it was the really good stuff.

Afterwards, I dined in the formal dining room. The ship's chefs did themselves proud as I got to enjoy some excellent Escargot Bourguignon, lobster bisque and shrimp ravioli. The escargot reminded me of the Globus tour I took of France. I really enjoyed the dinner.

That's all for this update. Still tuned for more posts on my cruise. Cheers all!

Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas

I'm on my 2nd cruise. I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale for the first time yesterday. There, I boarded Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas. It can hold over 3,800 passengers and is the same class of ship  (Voyager class) as the Adventure of the Seas. The ship has lots to do including a full length basketball court, miniature golf course, inline skating track, 3 or 4 pools, bi-level theater, ice skating rink, rock climbing wall, casino and a number of shops for those who love to shop.

I've found the food good and plentiful. My cabin with balcony is very nice. And, the staff very helpful and efficient. You won't see any dirty plates for long in the restaurants. I've tried the miniature golf, trivia games and bingo. They've been fun. Tomorrow, I'll get to go scuba diving in Grand Cayman which should be a lot of fun. I haven't scuba dived in over 2 and 1/2 years.

That's all for this blog entry. I'm able to use the ship's Wifi network for a fee so there will be updates during the cruise. Stay tuned for more blogs about my on-going cruise. Cheers all!

Update: The scuba diving was cancelled due to low visibility. The waters around Grand Cayman had gotten stirred up lowering the visibility to where they decided to cancel the scuba diving excursion.

The Red Pyramid

In a departure from Rick Riordan's Olympian books, Riordan created a storyline incorporating the ancient Egyptian gods. The new series is called The Kane Chronicles. Like Riordan's Olympian books, the series is aimed at teenagers though readers of other ages may enjoy the books. The book's hero and heroine are Carter and Sadie Kane. Though they don't know it, they are descendents of the Egyptian pharoahs. This gives this a special connection to the Egyptian gods and when the gods are freed by their father in the British Museum in London, England, they become hosts for the god Horus and goddess Isis respectively. This will lead to a number of dangers and ultimately a battle with the evil god Set who intends to kill their father and which they try to prevent.

During their perils and battles, they will meet various Egyptian gods and goddesses including Anubis, Bast and Thoth. They will learn they are two of the most powerful children descended form the pharoahs in centuries. Later, they will also discover that the chaos serpent Apophos is rising again and the fate of the world will be decided by them in their battle with Set.

Like the Olympian books, Riordan causes our hero and heroine to have a mere 5 days to defeat the evil doer and save the world. Also, like the Olympian books, Riordan throws in a number of surprises and some romance. Because of the limited time they have, the two Kane children have to move quickly and the action comes fast and furious. At then end, all things end well and yet, there can be little doubt there are future trials and battles ahead. As Riordan has a release date of fall 2011 for his Son of Neptune book in the Heroes of Olympus series, any fans of the Kane series will have to wait a while for the next Kane Chronicles book.

Overall, I thought the story was nice though I thought the Egyptian gods were a bit lame at times in the story. At one point in the book, our heroes are being chased by a killer monster and, it's Horus's birthday. The god apparently wants Carter to stop fighting the killer monster and wish him happy birthday. Then, the god asks Carter if he bought him a present. Surely, a god could show more sense.

As far as I know, The Red Pyramid is only available in hardbound and the list price $17.99. Various discount bookstores may sell it for less. Those who like the Percy Jackson series will probably like the Kane Chronicles series. As for me, I look forward to Riordan's Son of Neptune book.

The Lost Hero

To my delight, Rick Riordan recently came out with the first book in a new series called The Heroes of Olympus. The book is called The Lost Hero. It picks up from the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series. As readers of the last series will know, the Jackson series ended with a new great prophecy that foretold of 7 demigods who would fight at death's door. In the new series, we will discover who those 7 demigods are and what part they will play in a battle that could decide the fate of the entire world.

From the Jackson series, I assumed that Riordan would introduce us to some new demigods from the lesser gods that were introduced in the series. I was wrong. Riordan introduces a new twist with a second group of demigods who are the children of the Roman version of the Greek gods i.e. Jupiter instead of Zeus, Neptune instead of Posidon and so on. In the series, we find out that a great battle broke out between the 2 groups of demigods that caused so much loss of life among them that the Gods separated the 2 groups and hid them from each other. Now, with the threat from the earth goddess Gaea and her giant minions, these 2 groups will some how have to reconcile their differences and join together so they can help the gods defeat the giants and save the world. The gods apparently can't do it on their own for unknown reasons.

The story has plenty of twists and turns as well as humor. It does showcase 2 gods that didn't take as big a part in the Jackson series i.e. Haephaestus - the god of smiths and all kinds of devices and Aphrodite - the goddess of love. Two of their demigods along with a previously unknown son of Jupiter i.e. Zeus must race against the clock to save the Queen Goddess Hera, a goddess they don't trust who is scheming behind her husband Zeus's back in a plan she hopes will save the world and the Olympian/Roman gods.

In regards to the previous hero Percy, all we learn in the first book is he went missing at the same time Jupiter's son Jason suddenly appeared. We learn that Hera did a swap and wiped Percy's memories like she did Jason's. At the end of the book, Jason suspects Percy is in huge trouble as he suspects the Roman demigods will be a lot less kind to him than the Greek demigods were to Jason. We are left hanging wondering what has happened to Percy. Frustratingly, we won't be abel to find out till fall of next year when the second book in the series - The Son of Neptune will be released.

As "The Lost Hero" has just been released, I believe it's only available in hardbound. The list price for the hardbound edition is $18.99 in the U.S. and, it states the price will be higher in Canada.

Overall, the book is another fun and fast moving book that is easy to read and enjoy. Teenagers in particular should enjoy the book as all the heroes and heroines are teenagers who show typical teenage problems as well as having to deal with some very un-teenage problems i.e. god/goddess parents, unknown powers and lots of nasty monsters that want to kill them. Older readers should enjoy the new book as well as it has plenty of action and humor. I very much enjoyed this book as I did the Percy Jackson series and, I look forward to Riordan's next book in the series. If you liked his Percy Jackson and the Olympian series, you'll enjoy this book too.

Research

In preparation for my upcoming cruises, I've been buying various books on ports of call and what there is to do at them. For example, The island of Cozumel apparently offers some very good scuba diving and an excursion to the Mayan city of Tulum which is on the mainland. The island of Grand Cayman doesn't apparently have a lot of history but, it does have excursions where you can feed stingrays and learn about sea turtles. A friend of mine wants to visit Jamaica during a cruise and, I found out Royal Caribbean has been working with the Jamaican government to create another cruise ship port at Falmouth. This port will be able to accomodate Royal Caribbean's largest cruise ships the Oasis of the Seas and the soon to be launched Allure of the Seas. Jamaica is on my list of Caribbean islands I'd like to visit and, it would be great if I could do a cruise on either the Oasis or Allure of the Seas ships. As far as I know, they are the largest cruise ships in the world. They are literally floating cities as they can accomodate 5,400 passengers and 2,000 crew. I haven't seen the Oasis yet but, it must be HUGE. Concerning Alaska, I've heard those cruises are incredibly scenic. However, I have no idea what you do sightseeing wise at the ports of call during the cruise. I've been reading up on Vancouver. I found out they a nice museum that tells of some of the history of the Pacific Northwest indian tribes. They even have some totem poles carved by them. Vancouver also has a space needle like tower that soars over 440 feet up and gives good views of the city. I confess after doing the CN Tower (1,800 feet) in Toronto, the tower in Vancouver isn't going to be as impressive. Lastly, I've been checking into Internet access. I'd like to be able to post updates on here during my trips but, I don't care to break the bank doing it. I found out Royal Caribbean has somewhat cheaper pre-paid WiFi rates. The cheapest gets down to 30 cents a minute which is better than their flat rate of a whopping 65 cents a minute. However, I would like to know what happens with any unused minutes with the pre-paid charge. Can I carry them over to my next cruise? I'll have to wait on an answer for that one till I do my November cruise. Overall, the next year promises to be pretty exciting travel wise with 2 trips to the Caribbean, 1 to Alaska and 1 to Peru. Stay tuned for some interesting future travel blog entries. Cheers all!

Serious Beer Trip

For a long time, I've wanted to buy some at least a 6-pack of James Boag Australian lager so I could give it a proper tasting. The lager is one of the beers the Outback Steakhouse chain offers. I got to try my first bottle during my first bike road trip to Richmond, Virginia. Unfortunately, James Boag lager isn't widely available in Maryland. I did find one liquor store that sold it and then, I forgot to bookmark the store. This morning, I finally located the store. It's called State Line Liquors in Elkton, Maryland. The name of the store is appropriate as the store is very close to the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line. The store isn't overly large but, it offers a surprising number of international beers. I saw beers from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland and Spain. It was pretty impressive. Price wise, considering where some of these brews were coming from, I thought they were pretty reasonable. Service was excellent. Parking was adequate. The location was located just off of Interstate-95 so easy to get to. The only downside to my trip was I forgot how the state of Maryland likes to gouge people that travel on Interstate-95 going to Pennsylvania. They hit me up for $5. Thankfully, they didn't do that on the trip home. This is one liquor store I plan to visit again in the future once I've finished my now ample supply of brew. If you like to try various international beers and you're in the Maryland-Pennyslvania border area, you might want to give them a look. Their website is: http://statelineliquors.com/index.htm. Cheers all!

Final Bushnell Update

Sometime between this morning and this evening, Bushnell apparently successfully fixed their server problem. When I arrived home from work this evening, I logged on to the Internet and, the software for my Bushnell 7 day FXi weather forecaster promptly activated. I checked it and found out it was working fine. It was giving me the forecasts for the 5 different places I track weather wise. I'm glad they got the glitch fixed. That wraps up my series of blog entries on this. Cheers all!

Bushnell Update

I promised any readers out there that if I found out more on the server problem with Bushnell weather forecasters that I would pass on the additional information. Here is my first update on this.

I emailed Accuweather.com asking them if they knew when they would get their server problem fixed. They replied stating that is wasn't their problem. That it was Bushnell's problem and, they were aware of it. Then, I forwarded that email to Bushnell customer service letting them know what Accuweather said. To my surprise, Bushnell had a different story this time. They stated that they had "a technical issue" with their server that affected the information for my "local weather." Also, they stated that they are "doing everything possible to get the server back up and running" as soon as possible. That makes sense as people aren't going to want to buy their weather forecasting units if they don't work because of the server glitch.

That's all for this update. I'll post more updates if I get any more information on this problem.

News on Bushnell Weather Forecaster

I found out about 5 minutes ago that Accuweather.com is having problems sending weather updates over the Internet to those who have Bushnell weather forecaster units. My source for this is Bushnell's own technical support who I spoke with after being unable to get full weather forecasts for the past 3 or 4 days. According to the tech support person, Accuweather is aware of the problem but, they haven't given a specific date and time when the problem will be fixed. The problem is at their end and not with the Bushnell equipment. Hopefully, Accuweather will get the problem fixed as I've very much enjoyed getting regular forecasts over my Bushnell 7 day weather forecaster FXi. If I find out anything more on this, I'll post an update.

Alaskan Cruises

I've been debating what to do travel wise next summer. I don't want to go some place where it's hot. If I want heat, I can stay home. Also, I didn't want to run into the air conditioning problem (there wasn't any in some of the hotels) I ran into during my tour of Ireland. My friend Harvey had suggested doing an Alaskan cruise. My initial impression was negative as I felt that would be largely scenic. To me, after a while, lots of pretty scenery gets boring. However, my travel agent Joel Mills assured me there was more including history and culture. Then, I checked into prices. Initially, that shot that down. The Alaskan cruising season can be pricey. I suspect that's because it is a limited season due to the ice and cold. However, Royal Caribbean finally settled the matter for me when they had a cruise sale last week. To my surprise, I was able to get an Alaskan cruise for $1,115 for a balcony cabin (double that since I'm adamant about having my own cabin). I can handle that plus, the airfare wasn't disastrous - $750 round trip. So, I'll get to do my first Alaskan cruise after all next summer.

REMINDER: Later this year, I'll get to visit Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Georgetown, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico for the first time. Also, my Globus tour of Peru is still on for early next year. So, there will be lots of new travel posts and pictures on here in the upcoming months. Stay tuned.

Extended Warranty & Service Contract

The week before last, I decided to take Yamaha up on their offer of extending the warranty on my Yamaha TMAX. The original warranty is only good for 1 year. With the extended warranty, you have the option of extending the warranty 1, 2 or 3 years. I opted for the 3 year extension which cost me $600. Under the extended warranty, everything is covered except for items that would have to be replaced because of normal wear and tear such as tires. Interestingly, because the TMAX has an enclosed clutch, even parts of the clutch are covered under the warranty. Another nice feature of Yamaha's extended warranty is it's transferable. If you sell the bike to someone else, they can pick up what's left of the extended warranty contract.

Another way I found out I could protect myself from expensive motorbike bills was to buy a 3 year service contract with Heyser Cycle. The contract covers all classes of servicing (there are 3 classes - A, B, and C). Just a normal Class A service can set you back over $100. A Class C servicing can cost you $389 plus taxes, parts and waste disposal. Depending on how much you ride your bike, you could get all your money back on this during the life of the service contract. As I plan to ride my TMAX year round, I felt this would be worth doing.

My TMAX continues to impress me with its performance and handling. Last week, after checking for any cops, I took the bike up to 100 mph. The bike handled fine. I've heard the bike supposedly tops out at 110 mph though the speedometer shows 120 mph. Between its speed and handling, it can hold its own with most motorcycles out there. Thanks to the extended warranty and the 3 year service contract I bought, I won't have to worry about any problems with my TMAX for the next 3 years. I'll be able concentrate on riding my fun ride. Cheers all!

Update on My 2009 Yamaha TMAX

I thought it was time to post an update on my 2009 Yamaha TMAX as I've given their touring windshield and wind side deflecters a decent try out on the bike.

One of the things I noticed with my TMAX at higher speeds is considerable wind noise. It really roars when you ride 80 miles an hour plus. Yamaha claims that their touring windshield for the TMAX significantly reduces wind noise. After giving the windshield a good tryout, I can affirm that Yamaha wasn't lying. The windshield does make a big difference in that area and, it also cuts down on some of the buffeting you'll take at higher speeds. In my opinion, the touring windshield is worth the $224.95.

I can't say the same for the side wind deflectors. I haven't noticed that much improvement from them to make it worth the $199.95 Yamaha charges for them. Another thing those considering buying these 2 accessories should consider is the cost of installing them. I got a bit of a surprise when I got the labor bill from Heyser Cycle. It cost me $255 to get them both installed. Still, I think the touring windshield is worth it.

There are 2 things I wish Yamaha would do something about on the TMAX. First, I wish they would come out with a better seat for long rides. After about an hour of straight riding, I've found myself trying to find a softer spot on the seat and, there ISN'T one. Second, I wish they would come out with something to deflect the wind around the handlebars of the bike. This would help considerably when riding during the winter. I've looked with envy on the various Harley glide bikes as they offer good hand protection from the wind during the winter. The only solution I've come up with so far is wearing electrically powered heated gloves. These help some but, the batteries don't stay charged forever. I know there are gloves that will hook up to the bike's battery but, I'm very leery of doing that.

Another issue I thought I'd blog about is the 2011 TMAX. Yamaha finally released details on it sometime recently. I can't say exactly when as I wasn't checking their website every day for the info. Yesterday, I did find out they'd posted details on the 2011 bike. To my disappointment, I didn't notice any great improvements over the 2009 and 2010 models. The only differences I could see was a different color - the 2011 will come in what they call Raven which is another word for black and, the 2011 will cost an extra $100. Because of this, I was glad I pushed to buy my 2009 TMAX as that means I saved even more money buying one of those vice a 2010 or 2011 model.

Lastly, I noticed that Yamaha will be getting rid of its Majesty scooter in 2011. The Majesty is a scooter that is one step down from the TMAX. It has a 399cc engine vice the TMAX's 499cc. It advertised that it could hold its own on the highway just like the TMAX but, it doesn't have anything like the TMAX's sporty looks or presumably its handling. I suspect Yamaha decided that the Majesty was some what redundant and, I think they're right. With the TMAX, there really isn't any need for the Majesty bike.

Update January 26, 2014:

As I've been getting some hits on this post, I thought I'd post a little update to it. First, as any followers of Yamaha know, Yamaha came out with a new 400cc Majesty bike in 2013 at least. I don't know if they came out with it sooner than that. To me, the Majesty looks very much like a scooter. One thing that is nice about the TMAX is it doesn't. It looks like a sports motorbike. Ironically, the 2011 TMAX was the last TMAX to be offered in the United States (U.S.). I haven't found anything indicating Yamaha plans to issue the updated TMAX in the U.S. like they have in Europe and Canada. One reason may be they have a harder time selling the bigger engine scooters in the U.S. That was one reason a friend at Heyser Cycle mentioned and, it may be true. I read a nice article about the updated TMAX on Motorcyclist. Here's a link to the Motorcyclist TMAX article. I still wish Yamaha would issue a TMAX with a larger size engine. An extra 30 cc's isn't worth trading in my 2009 TMAX. Another upgrade I was able to have done to my TMAX which helps in the winter is heated hand grips. (These are standard on the new BMW maxi-scooters, a nice feature.) I forget who manufactures the kit. One downside to the upgrade is I have to make sure I turn the heater off before I turn the bike off. Otherwise, they'll continue to draw on the battery. The Shorai battery I had installed continues to be a good investment as I haven't had any dead battery problems since (knock on wood). I believe I have over 14,600 miles on my TMAX now and, I continue to be pleased with it. As soon as a bunch of the snow melts we received recently in Maryland, I'll be putting some more miles on my TMAX. Happy riding all!

TMAX Update

Today, I rode my TMAX again. I've put nearly 3,000 miles on it now. The bike continues to perform great. I'm pleased that I'm definitely getting better riding it. Remember, I've only been riding any kind of motorbike for 14 months now. I'm not so frightened by the loud noise of the wind and the buffeting you take when you go 70 mph plus. I ordered the touring windshield and side wind deflectors for my TMAX. They're in and, I hope to get them installed this Thursday. I'll post an update on what if any difference they make in regards to noise and handling. Also, I'm keeping an eye out for what the 2011 TMAX is going to be like. Will there be any difference between it and the 2010? I keep my fingers crossed that Yamaha will come out with a 750cc TMAX. I think that would be seriously cool. Plus, a 750cc TMAX would seriously fly. So far, there have only been rumors of that. I haven't seen anything definite from Yamaha. But, I keep hoping Yamaha will make one. We'll see.

Baltimore Update

I got to visit Baltimore's Inner Harbor today. I rode my TMAX in and to my surprise, I found a parking space about a block from the Hard Rock Cafe. Parking was $2 an hour with a maximum stay of 2 hours. However, I doubt anyone would check if you ended up staying longer. As I came into the harbor area, I noticed there was a large warship tied up at one of the piers. It turned out to be the Brazilian training ship NE Brasil. The ship is supposedly 427 feet long so it is a good size ship. During its visit, they'll be offering free tours at set times and dates. I don't happen to know those. After looking over the ship, I walked back to the Hard Rock Cafe where I had a nice lunch and looked over their rock memorabilia collection. They have a bust of rubber hips Mick Jagger, a number of guitars including one by the rock group Slaughter, they had the shoes worn by Olivia Newton John in Grease, a movie poster from Elvis Presley's movie Girls! Girls! Girls! as well as other stuff. I bought one of the cafe's signature t-shirts. This one is from the rock group The Who and helps support the City of Hope which does research concerning cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS. 15% of the purchase price goes to that foundation. After lunch, I walked by the ESPN Zone on the way back to my bike and to my surprise, I found out it had closed on June 16th. It seems it and a number of other ESPN Zones had closed for reasons unknown to me. As it was in a prime location in the Inner Harbor, I wouldn't think it'll be long before some other big name restaurant moves in. We'll see on that. That's all for this update. Cheers all!

New Today's Pet Store Opens in Elkridge Maryland

Today, I stopped by the Gateway Overlook Mall. I knew there was an Office Depot there and, I needed to buy some more rubber bands for work. Mail carriers at various post offices use a lot of rubber bands to bundle mail so they can keep it in order until they deliver it. 2 stores down from the Office Depot is the new Today's Pet store (right next to the Costco). I found out the new store opened just yesterday. The store didn't seem terribly wider than their old store at The Mall in Columbia. It did look like they had a good selection of tropical fish as well as rats, gerbils, hamsters, parrots, kittens and my favorite puppies. As luck would have it, they had a cute Pug puppy. He/she looked particularly cute. I still hope to get a Pug puppy some day. First though, my job at the post office has to get more predictable before that happens.

Overall, I thought Today's Pet's new store nice though I think the previous location at The Mall in Columbia was cooler. From what I understand, the new location will offer more services than the previous one. If you want to visit just Today's Pet, the new store location will be easier as you won't have to walk through a mall to get to it. I plan to visit the new location from time to time to check out the puppies. Some day, I hope to get one. Cheers all!

Update November 17, 2022: A Maryland law according to the sales people at this store makes it illegal for a store to sell puppies 🐶. I was saddened to hear this as I really enjoyed checking out the puppies at this store. I don't know when the law went into effect.

New Bicycle

Today, I picked up my new 24-speed Schwinn bicycle from A&M Cycle. The bike looks nice. I had a bit of a misadventure getting it home. I'd planned on taking the front tire off the bike, stowing the rest of the bike in my car's trunk and the front tire in the front seat. To my surprise, the bike sans front tire was too big to fit in the trunk or the back of my car. I ended up buying a bicycle carrier so I could get my new bike home. I haven't ridden the bike yet as by the time I finished dinner, it was getting late. I hope to ride for the first time tomorrow and see how it does. It promises to be interesting as there have been some changes since I had my last 10-speed. The gear shifters are on the handle bars and the brakes are next to the neck of the bike. There are 2 levers for each set of gears. 1 lever shifts up while the other shifts down. The man at A&M Cycle said the gear shifters are an improvement. We'll see. Stay tuned for more updates.

A&M Cycle

Friday, I visited A&M Cycle in Bowie, Maryland. I wanted to get a new Schwinn touring bicycle. The Schwinn website (http://www.schwinn.com/) stated that the only Schwinn dealership close to where I live was A&M Cycle in Bowie. You can buy Schwinn bikes at Target, Wal-Mart and other such stores but, the support you can get from such stores is questionable in my opinion. I doubt they're really going to know the bikes that well. A Schwinn dealership will know the bikes as the specialize in them. Why go with a Schwinn bike? In my case, because of the favorable impression I have of them already. As a kid, I had 2 Schwinn bikes. One was a regular Men's bike that my family called the Green Monster. It was green and big and damn near indestructible. It was a great bike. The other was my first ever 10-speed. It was fast and fun. Sadly, that bike taught me how important it was to have a lock and chain. I foolishly parked it but, I didn't lock it. I kept checking on it while I watch some friends play a video game. Apparently others were watching the bike too and decided to steal it. I quickly noticed my bike was gone, ran out to where it had been and saw the thieves ride away on it. I never saw the bike again. I never forgot the hard lesson.

A&M Cycle's shop wasn't anything to impress. It wasn't super big and, it didn't have much of a selection. They did have a fair number of used bikes which didn't look that great but presumably were mechanically sound and possibly cheap. Another annoyance is they don't have a website so it was hard to find out the days and hours they're open. As far as I can tell, the shop is a 1 man operation. All those negatives said, the shop does have plusses. First, the man who runs the shop knows bikes. He knows how they should fit and, he knows how to fix them. This was important to me as I wanted to get a bike that would fit me and if I have any problems with it, they'll fix it. One of my major problems with buying a bike at Wal-Mart is I don't think they could fix the bikes they sell. Another plus about this shop is the guy running could tell me the advantages and disadvantages of the different bikes Schwinn sells. I was looking at 2 specific bikes - the World Tour DLX and the Le Tour. The Tour DLX is a touring bike. That means it is made for long rides or commuting and comes with the equipment for that such as fenders and a rack to carry stuff on. The Le Tour is a speed bike. It is made for fast cycling. The shop owner was able to explain the differences between the 2 bikes and aid me in which one to go with. Eventually, I put a non-refundable deposit down on a World Tour DLX. While the shop didn't have one in stock, bikes it special orders usually arrive in 2 to 3 days barring weekends. Mine should arrive by Wednesday of this week. Once it arrives, they'll check the bike and fine tune it. By next weekend, I should have my first ever 24-speed bicycle. It boggles to think of a bike having that many gears. Incredibly, the Le Tour Super has 30 gear settings! I don't know how much so many gears help. I'll find out when I start riding my new bike. It should be fun and, it should have one other major benefit - it'll be good exercise. I need to do more of that and cycling is a fun form of exercise to me. I look forward to riding my new bike. Stay tuned for more posts on this. Cheers all!

Today's Pet Store Moved To Gateway Overlook Mall

One of my favorite shops at The Mall in Columbia is Today's Pet. They're a pet store that sells a number of different kinds of pets. My favorite are the adorable puppies. I always check to see if they have any Pug puppies. I haven't given up on my dream of owning a Pug puppy some day. During my last visit to their shop, I was surprised to find out they're moving to a larger place at Gateway Overlook Mall. Gateway Overlook is a strip mall located in Columbia, Maryland off of Maryland 175 and 108 and just off the exit from Maryland 95. It has a fair number of stores including Costco, Best Buy, Office Depot and Trader Joe's. It has ample parking. The new store will offer a greater selection of pets and services however, I think they will lose a lot of walk in business. One plus to them being in The Mall in Columbia was they were easily seen and thereby attracted potential customers who were walking by. They won't get that kind of business at Gateway Overlook. People who shop there are going there purposefully to get whatever. Still, I look forward to checking out their new shop which will be located right next to Costco. Someday I'll buy a Pug puppy who I'll name Muggsy. It'll be pretty cool except when he craps in the apartment or home I'll have then. Then, I suspect I'll call him something less kind. Cheers all.

Back on the Internet

To my surprise, I'm back on the Internet. The middle of the week before last, I started experiencing unfathomable problems trying to connect. I'd had problems before with my Sprint U-300 USB modem but, I'd been able to overcome them - not this time. Apparently, my modem bought the big one for good for some unknown reason. Sprint's tech support did their dangdest to get the modem to work on my super duper Dell XPS laptop but, it wasn't having any of it. The tech wizards at the local Sprint store said the modem was fine but, I was never able to get to work on my laptop again. Sprint kindly sent me a new modem which showed signs of working except I couldn't get it to activate. Strangely, Sprint told me I needed a 3G/4G Internet plan for the new modem but, I didn't for my U-300 which is also 3G/4G. Explain that one to me. Anyway, Sprint did get the new modem to work and, knock on wood, I won't have to make anymore daily trips to Panera to get on the Internet. We'll see. Also, I'm counting my blessings on another score. I found out Sprint doesn't offer my unlimited Internet plan anymore. Now, the best you can do is for $70, you get 5 gigabytes of download. Every megabyte over that costs you 25 cents. I don't have any idea how much I download. That's why I went with the unlimited Internet plan years ago. I'm counting my blessings that Sprint has allowed me to keep the plan. I pity the folks who have to worry about how much they download. I know downloads for my Garmin GPS would be a killer. Anyway, now that I'm back on-line, look for more posts. I've got some catching up to do. Stay tuned. Cheers!

Laurel Maryland Panera Bread Cafe

Earlier this week, my modem apparently bit the dust. The tech support folks at Sprint did their best to get it to work on my new Dell XPS laptop but, it wasn't having any of that. To my surprise, Sprint is going to send my a new modem with the latest software. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the new modem will work. I had considerable problems with their U-300 modem. While waiting for my new modem to arrive, I've been using the free WiFi at the Panera Bread Cafe at 3301 Corridor Marketplace, Laurel, Maryland. The cafe is nice and, the free WiFi is really handy. Apparently, it is also very popular as I've seen a number of people in here with their laptops. I suspect the WiFi helps draw business in for Panera. I know it does from me. I don't buy a lot of their stuff but, I do make sure I buy something. I wouldn't feel right using their WiFi and not buying something from their cafe. I've been drinking a lot of their frozen lemonades. They're pretty good. That's all for this post. Cheers all!

Back from Ireland

I'm back from Ireland. I flew back Tuesday. The tour was very nice barring some disappointing hotels. Apparently, some hotels feel they don't need air conditioning. I beg to differ. Also, the Great Northern Hotel in Bundoran desperately needs a renovation. My room there was the worst of the hotels I stayed at during the trip. I'll have to post pictures I took of the peeling paint, stained wallpaper, cracked wall and shoebox size room.

Barring the hotel rooms, I enjoyed the tour. I saw lots of beautiful countryside, learned about Ireland and its people, feasted at an Irish medieval banquet, rode a jaunting car (it's like a wagon), clambered inside a mesolithic corridor burial mound, walked medieval walls in Derry, sang Irish songs in an Irish pub while drinking Irish ale, spent far too much money, met lots of wonderful people, took a fair amount of video and over 200 photos, and visited over 19 Irish towns and cities in 12 days. The tour covered a lot of territory. We drove over 1,100 miles.

The tour director Peter Dundon was outstanding. He really knew his stuff. He answered any question you could come up with on Ireland. Our driver Tony Dooley was a marvel. Some of the roads got pretty narrow but, he handled them with ease. Sometimes, there were some roads you didn't want to look down because they were a long way DOWN.

Overall, it was a good tour and, it reminded me how much I love to travel. While en-route home, I called my travel agent Joel Mills to start work on the next tour I'm going to take. That'll be Peru in mid-January 2011. It should be another awesome adventure. I can't wait. Stay tuned for some nice pictures of Ireland. Cheers all!

Vacation

Yesterday was my last day at work before going on vacation. It's hard to believe I won't have to work for 3 entire weeks. Work has been really crazy because of the manning. We don't have nearly enough people. My boss has hired 2 new subs that he hopes will complete training by the time I get back. 2 new people would be a big help. Working 6 days a week, week after week really wears you out.

In regards to my vacation, it's hard to believe I'll be in Ireland in a few days. I've looked forward to going for months. It should be an awesome trip that will create memories that will last a long time. My Ireland trip won't be the end of my adventures as I plan to see my Dad in Michigan once I get back from Ireland. I haven't seen him in a year and a half so I owe him a visit. I'm planning some special things while I'm there like visiting Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum. I remember seeing the museum as a kid. It was impressive. Also, I look forward to enjoying some White Castle hamburgers. My Dad calls them gut busters. I think their fun because you can stack them.

So my readers, stay tuned for some hopefully interesting posts over the next 3 weeks. I plan to see and do a lot of new and cool things. Cheers all!

Surprise

May of last year, I decided to buy myself a new Dell laptop. I couldn't extend the warranty anymore on the Dell laptop I owned and, I was concerned that it would eventually kick the bucket and possibly cost me a number of files I wanted to keep. When I received my laptop, I found out the Dell salesperson was mistaken about me being able to use my old Sprint cellular modem. It wouldn't fit into the card slot the laptop has as its made for cards with 28 pins and my card has 54. I looked into the various cellular modems Sprint offered and the U300 stood out. It was their latest and greatest. It was the wave of the future and offered the technology that Sprint would be going to eventually. I liked that as that meant I wouldn't have to buy another modem in the future. The biggest plus for the U300 was it offered WiFi like connection speeds in markets where the Sprint cellular system had been upgraded. The sounded really cool and, the modem uses a USB port. I decided to buy it.

Once I received the modem, I promptly installed the software as the manual said. It was then that I ran into problems. There was clearly some kind of problem. I contacted Sprint and, they tried to help me solve the connection problem with the new modem. I ended up going to the Sprint store in Laurel where they tried to help me to no avail. It turned out the WiFi like technology in the modem had a major conflict with the WiFi technology in my laptop. The conflict was preventing the modem from connecting to the Internet.

My old laptop didn't come with WiFi. When WiFi became more widely available, I decided to try it and bought a card that would enable me to connect to it. The necessary software came with the card and, both worked really well. I was seriously impressed with the connection speeds I was able to get. It turned out the fact my old laptop didn't have WiFi built in was a blessing as I was able to uninstall the software enabling my new U300 modem to work. Unfortunately, the WiFi was built-in on my laptop. I decided to keep on using the old laptop and figured I'd take the modem and new laptop to Best Buy's computer wizards sometime and get them to fix the problem. I suspected they would have to disable the built-in WiFi.

Around Christmas 2009, Sprint came out with a major upgrade for the U300 software. I downloaded the software to disc which turned out to be a very good move. I hadn't taken my laptop to Best Buy yet and, I planned to install the upgrade on my laptop though I didn't think the upgrade would make any difference so I didn't install it immediately. Forward to this month, my trip to Ireland is coming up and, the trip would be an excellent time to take the new laptop and modem to Best Buy to get them to fix the problem. Why? Because I won't be able to access the Internet on my laptop there so I'll be leaving it behind. I figured 2 weeks would be plenty of time for them to fix the problem. In anticipation of taking the laptop to Best Buy, I installed the upgrade. To my total surprise, my new (now 1 year old) laptop promptly connected to the Internet! Apparently, Sprint did find a way to make the WiFi technology in their new modem compatible with existing WiFi. The upgrade gives the U300 user the choice of connecting to a WiFi network or connecting to Sprint's network. It even locates the closest WiFi signals and shows how strong their coming in so the user can presumably pick the best WiFi signal. I hope to test the WiFi part of the software some time. I remember Serotonin saying Panera offers free WiFi access. I've been meaning to try out one of their restaurants and, that would give me a chance to see how well the WiFi works. We'll see on that. For now, I'm finally getting to use my super duper speed machine laptop and access the Internet. It may be just in time too as my old laptop is showing signs that it may be going just as I feared it would. Cheers all!

Medical Hair Restoration Clinic Closes

When I visited the Medical Hair Restoration clinic in Chevy Chase, Maryland this month, Dr. Varona said the clinic would be moving to new offices not far from their present location. It turns out that wasn't the actual situation. The company Medical Hair Restoration was bought by the company Aderans in 2007. Aderans also owns the company Bosley which also specializes in hair restoration. This year, Aderans decided to combine the 2 companies in order to get various efficiencies and streamline their operations. Example: instead of having a Medical Hair Restoration clinic and a Bosley clinic the Washington D.C. area, they would have just one clinic. Also, Aderan decided to go with the Bosley brand though I confess I never heard of that brand. I guess they thought it had better recognition. Anyway, all Medical Hair Restoration clinics will be closing the end of this month and, their patients will be moved to the closest Bosley clinics. I'm saddened that the Medical Hair Restoration clinics will be closing as I've been very pleased with them. I know nothing of the Bosley clinics though I'll find out next year at the latest when I have to get my Propecia prescription renewed. That's when I will meet my new doctor Dr. Peter Morse. I may take a trip to the Bosley clinic later this year to get some of their shampoo which supposedly helps remove DHT. DHT is the hormone that causes hair loss. The shampoo might be helpful plus, I'd like to see their offices so I know where to get my prescription renewed. We'll see. That's all for this update.

Marine War Memorial

This is a photo I took of the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial next to Arlington National Cemetary. The memorial is a statue version of the famous Joseph Rosenthal photo of marines and a navy medic raising the flag at Iwo Jima during World War II. I got to see this great memorial for the first time during the Historic U.S. East tour I took with Globus last July. Due to the low light of my first visit, I didn't take any pictures of the memorial then. On November 1, 2009, I returned to Arlington so I could take some pictures of this memorial and visit the famous Tomb of the Unknowns which we didn't have time to see during the tour. This photo was taken then. Due to the cloudy conditions of the time, I did use Corel Photo Album 7 to lighten the picture to the one you see. I think it improved the picture. Concerning the memorial itself, I found it very impressive and moving. It is definitely worth seeing. Also, it is a fitting tribute to all Marines. Semper Fi to any Marine readers I might have. Cheers all!

Prescription Renewal

This past Monday, I made me yearly trip to the Medical Hair Restoration Clinic in Chevy Chase, Maryland. I needed to see Dr. Jonathon Ballon to get my Propecia prescription renewed. Propecia is a hormonal drug which blocks a certain male hormone that affects the hair follicles on men's heads. By blocking the release of a certain hormone (I don't remember its name), the hair follicles stay active and, men taking the drug are able to stop going bald as in my case. According to the folks at the clinic, the drug is 90% effective of those who take it. The drug does have one potential bad side effect in that in 1 of 250 cases, the man taking the drug will lose the ability to perform sexually. However, if that happens, I think you can take another drug (Viagra?) for that.

Anyway, I called the clinic for an appointment and found out Dr. Ballon is no longer with Medical Hair Restoration. I don't know why he left though I was saddened to hear he did. He was a very nice doctor and easy to work with. Dr. Christopher Varona has taken over for him at the clinic. Dr. Varona was kind enough to fit me into his schedule. My appointment was at 2 p.m. though I showed up early. I left early to make sure I made my appointment. I wasn't sure how long it would take me to reach the clinic. You can never be too sure about traffic in Washington D.C. and its outskirts. I played it safe and arrived early.

Dr. Varona reviewed my medical file and could see the Propecia was working. As I still have too much hair to need transplants (thankfully considering what that costs), all I needed was to take Propecia. He wrote me a new prescription and gave me 2 weeks worth of free samples which was really nice of him (it saved me $42). As he wasn't going to make any money off my visit, I bought some of the hair vitamins the clinic sells so I could repay him for seeing me. According to Dr. Varona, the REVVup supplement WON'T cause new hair growth but, it WILL make the hair you have healthier. We'll see. The clinic was offering a special where the vitamins were a 1/3 off which was nice.

Dr. Varona informed me that the clinic would be moving from its current location 5454 Wisconsin Avenue to a new location close by. He didn't tell me why they were moving. As long as my Garmin GPS can find the new location, I wasn't concerned. My GPS was real handy in finding the clinic.

So, I'm set for another year as far as Propecia is concerned. I found Dr. Varona very nice and look forward to meeting him again next year. That's all for this post. Cheers all!

New Digital Camcorder

I found out from Sony's website that they had a store in Annapolis Mall. I was considering buying a Sony digital camcorder but, I wanted to be able to talk with someone who was knowledgeable about the things before I bought one. I had questions like how long would the battery last? How much recording time would I get with each model? How good was the sound quality? It can be difficult to find such answers on a website. Also, I simply like dealing with a real face for something like this. Buying a camcorder was a serious purchase and, I didn't want to get it wrong.

When I walked into the Sony store, I asked where the camcorders. I was directed to a specific counter and a salesperson named Adam came over to help me. It turned out he knew his stuff. He was able to answer my questions about the different models. Also, he was able to tell me about a special financing deal Sony was offering if you bought something that cost over $299. You wouldn't pay any interest as long as you paid the item off in 12 months. Adam figured out what my payments would be for the camera, long life battery and accidental damage plan. They came out to $168 a month. I could afford that and, I shouldn't have any problem paying the camera off.

After considering all cameras and options, I went with a Sony 240 gigabyte hard drive high definition handycam. The camera offers a number of advantages. The huge hard drive means I can record up to 29 hours of high resolution video. The camera has very good low light capability. The microphone features surround sound (I believe) but if that isn't sufficient, the camera has jacks where you can connect an external microphone. The camera offers both a viewfinder and LCD for recording and, the LCD enables to play back immediately whatever you record. You can take still photos with the camera so you wouldn't need to carry 2 cameras with you on a trip. The camera is light weight wise. One really pleasant surprise that Sony offers is 1 hour of free instruction in how to use the camera. What I would do in that case is call for a training appointment and show up for it. One of their trained staff would actually teach me how to use my new camcorder. I was really pleased with this. This would ensure I know how to use my camcorder before I go on my Ireland trip where I don't want to mess up recording the various things I'll get to see.

So far, I'm pretty pleased with my purchase. Once I got home, I started charging the battery that came with the camera and the long life battery. Some time this week, I plan to take it outside and start trying to record some stuff. I might record something on my TMAX. I would be nice to able to show my Dad my bike. We'll see. Stay tuned for updates on this. Cheers all!

Journey's Edge Digital Weather Station Review

It's said you get what you pay for. I was reminded of this axiom after I got what I thought was a deal on a Journey's Edge Digital Desktop Weather Station. A seller on Ebay was offering the item for $8 including shipping. The item is supposed to give a 1 day weather forecast as well as serve as a clock and alarm clock. As I carry mail for the U. S. Postal Service, it is important to me to know what the weather is going to do so I can be prepared for it. A weather station for $8 sounded like a great deal. It turned out to be a great dud. It seems the unit is stuck on partly cloudy. It has shown partly cloudy for the last 3 weeks even when there wasn't a cloud in the sky or when it was pouring down rain. After I noticed this problem, I did a little research on the Internet and found out this was a common problem with this gadget. I could return the unit for another one BUT, considering what it cost me, I don't think it's worth the hassle. I did learn my lesson from this gadget and subsequently bought a Bushnell 5 day weather forecast unit which I'll blog about another time. For now, I'd definitely wouldn't recommend buying the Journey's Edge Digital Desktop Weather Station. In my opinion, this thing is a big time piece of cheap junk. Cheers all!

Future Travel

While I've been slogging away at work and counting the days till I go on my long awaited trip to Ireland, I've also been working on other future travel plans. Some have been set in motion while others are still in the consideration phase. The one that has been set in motion is where I'll be doing a 5 day Western Caribbean cruise with Royal Caribbean. As I mentioned before on this blog, I don't care to go for a long spell again between trips. The trips help me deal with the stress at work plus, they make it worth putting in the long hours there. My next major trip will be to Peru which in January 2011 which is over 8 months away. That's a long time and, I decided to look for a short trip to tide me over till I went on that adventure. To my surprise, I found a nice deal with Royal Caribbean. They were offering a 5 day cruise balcony cabin for $588 per person. As I like having my own room/cabin, that meant $1,176 not including tax, gratuities and airfare. I thought that was very reasonable. Plus, the cruise visited places I've never been to before. I'll get to visit Georgetown, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico. Royal Caribbean has seriously awesome excursion out of Cozumel where you get to visit the Mayan city of Tulum. I was so pleased with this cruise that I booked it and paid for it fully. So, this is one travel plan that is a definite go.

The travel plan that is in the consideration phase is a Globus tour of Japan. Why Japan? Because of the fascinating history and culture. You have the legendary samurai and the battles that led to the creation of the Japanese Shogunate. I read James Clavell's novel Shogun and was enthralled by it even though it was a SERIOUS read (over 1,200 pages). Culture wise, you have the beautiful gardens which are places of reflection and calm unlike western gardens. Also, there is really cool bullet trains (I like trains) and the airs of the orient. There are the fascinating temples and Torii gates. I think it would be something to do a tour of Japan. The downsides I can see are the long flight to get there and the cost. A tour of Japan will likely be one of the most expensive tours I'll ever do. Still, it would be something to see the land of the rising sun. Hopefully, I can make it happen next year. We'll see. Stay tuned for more travel updates. Cheers all!

Book Review

The second book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is called "The Sea of Monsters." Percy's satyr friend Grover is trapped by the evil cyclops Polyphemus and will become a meal for the cyclops unless Percy and his friend Annabeth rescue him. To complicate things, the magical defenses around Camp Half-Blood are failing and, it's thought finding the Golden Fleece might restore them. That requires a quest which Percy is willing to go on but, he doesn't get chosen to go. Percy has to decide whether to disobey the camp director Dionysis (the god of wine and madness) and try to find the fleece anyway and possibly get barred from ever returning to camp. If that wasn't enough for our stalwart hero, the traitorous half-blood Tim continues to aid the Titan King Kronos is his big to return and overthrow the olympian gods. All these different story lines mean lots of action while Percy continues to discover new powers he didn't know he had. It's a fun romp with some humor thrown in. Percy runs into Blackbeard the pirate who it turns out was a son of Ares. Percy and Blackbeard escape the sorceress Circe and Blackbeard with some of his crew ends up trashing Circe's spa like home.

Overall, the book was another fun read. The story moved along easily and threw in plenty of surprises to keep me from getting bored with it. Like the first book, it wasn't overly long. The second book comes in at 279 pages. The book's author Rick Riordan does a clever job of ending the book with another cliffhanger which made me want to get the 3rd book "The Titan's Curse" to find out what happens next. I'll review that book in another book review. Like the first book, barring the very young who wouldn't know anything about the Greek gods, most ages should enjoy the second book. It does a fine job of continuing the various storylines and helping us learn more about our heroes in the story. I would definitely recommend this book for those who liked the first one or are into Greek mythology. It is a very good read. Cheers all!

Dave & Buster's

Dave & Buster's extended their half price games promotion till the end of the month. I decided to take advantage of it and drove out to the Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's this past Wednesday. I ended up having a really nice time. My timing on Spin & Win was more on than usual and, I ended up winning over 19,000 tickets. This took my total to just over 300,000. People asked me what I intended to get with all those tickets. I still don't have anything absolutely in mind. I am considering the Sony digital camcorder they have. It would be nice to take some video of Ireland on the Ireland trip. I wish I'd done that on the Egypt trip but, it would mean taking 2 cameras which is a bit of a hassle. Plus, how quickly would I fill up the video card on the camcorder? I'd have to take extra batteries and cards for the thing. It's those issues which have caused me to hold off for now on buying one or using my tickets at Dave & Buster's. I hope to visit Dave & Buster's one more time before the half price games promotion expires again. I suspect they won't bring it back again until the summer. It is a nice deal which can make it somewhat affordable going there. That's all on my latest visit there. Cheers all!

NOTE: Since I posted this entry, Dave & Busters have extended the half price games promotion through the summer. I think this is seriously awesome and hope to make it down again once I get back from my Ireland tour.

Personal News Update

When I spoke with my friend Harvey recently, he pointed out to me that I haven't been blogging very much. The reason for that is very simple, there hasn't been much to tell. I've been working my ass off at the post office where I work. I haven't had time for much else barring an occasional ride on my TMAX super scooter. Work continues to be big time messed up due to our lack of manning. My boss is still trying to get by using subs from other post offices. Sometimes it works out and, sometimes it most definitely doesn't. When it doesn't, the crap really hits the fan. My boss is trying to fix the situation but, it takes a long time for the post office to hire new people. In my case, it took over 4 months from the time I took rural carrier associate test till I showed up at my assigned post office. All the work has helped me earn some awesome paychecks but, it has also left me very tired and stressed. Because of work, I can't wait to go on my future trip to Ireland (less than 60 days away now). I bought a Rick Steve's DVD that covers Ireland and Scotland. I've watched the 4 episodes he did on Ireland and, it looks really beautiful over there. I tried some Guinness and Smithwick's ale to get in the spirit for the trip. I didn't care for the Guinness and, I thought the Smithwick's was all right. Concerning the trip, I have to try very hard to be patient. It isn't easy with all the crap at work. I continue to enjoy my TMAX super scooter. It gets very good gas milage, has excellent acceleration and is very easy to ride. There isn't anyway I'd switch to a motorcycle. I very much like not having to change gears. It's one less major thing to worry about when I'm out riding. I do wish the seat were more comfortable. After about 90 minutes of constant riding, the seat starts to become a bit uncomfortable. Crosswinds on the bike still scare me a bit. Once I get back from the Ireland trip, I plan to get the touring windshield and wind deflectors for the bike. I hope they'll help with the wind and noise. Dave & Buster's brought back half priced games until the end of April. So far, I've been able to take advantage of that once. I won another 12,000 plus tickets playing Spin & Win. I have over 280,000 tickets now which is pretty cool. That's all to report for now. Cheers all!

Book Review

I'd seen advertisements for the movie Percy Jackson and The Olympians. While looking around at various books at the Laurel, Maryland Books-a-Million bookstore, I found the paperback edition of the movie. I read the brief synopsis books provide on the inside cover and, the book sounded good. I decided to buy it. I was glad I did. I found the book interesting in that it takes a different tack with the Greek gods (Zeus, Posidon, Hades, Ares, etc.). As Western Civilization moved west and the premier Western country became the United States, the story has it where the Greek gods moved west with civilization. Mount Olympus is located directly above New York City and Hades is located directly below Los Angeles (maybe the author doesn't like L.A.). The book's author Rick Riordan has other twists. The Greek gods are shown in very different and amusing forms vice the traditional way we would think of them. Ares is shown as a super muscular biker badass riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Zeus is shown in a very well tailored business suit and Posidon as a tan tie die t-shirt and sandals fisherman. The main character of the book Percy (short for Perseus) Jackson is a kid who is dyslexic, never knew his father (Posidon) and has constant bad luck which takes a major turn for the worse when the all sorts of Greek myths start to come life to his total surprise. This ultimately leads to him being chased by the Minotaur before successfully reaching Camp Half-Blood where Percy discovers he is a demi-god. Further along in the story, he finds out his father is Posidon. This brings up all kinds of issues for him as he struggles to deal with the knowledge and the wondering why Posidon never had anything to do with him. Also, Percy finds out this neglect is extremely common among other demi-god children.

I found some of the scenes in the book touching, others amusing (Riordan does thrown in humor at various points of the story) and the story has good action. The book moves along at a good pace so the reader shouldn't become bored with it. The paperback edition came in at 375 pages which isn't overly long. The first book is called "The Lightning Thief." It is part of a 5 book series, all of which have been published though the fifth book (The Last Olympian) is currently only available in hard bound. Standard price for the paperback editions is $7.99.

Overall, I found the first book a very nice read. So much so, I bought the second book "The Sea of Monsters" which I'll review another time. The books are aimed towards teenagers but, I think most ages would enjoy them (the very young wouldn't know enough about Greek mythology to understand all the references and characters in the book). If you want a light-hearted good fantasy read, "The Lightning Thief" may be for you. Cheers all!

Periodontist

This past Monday, I got to see my periodontist Dr. Ronnie Jones. It was for a routine check-up and cleaning. I have to see a periodontist because 2 years or so ago, I let the tartar build up get so bad, they had to de-scale my teeth. De-scaling is where a periodontist who is a specialist on gums goes down to each tooth's root and cleans out all the tartar and plaque build up which is infecting the gums and causing them to recede. If the gums recede enough, a person can start losing their teeth. This visit was a routine visit and lasted about 30 minutes. My check up results were mixed. I was doing all right on the front teeth but, I wasn't doing that great on the back teeth. There was a lot of build up too. Dr. Jones told me to see him again in 4 months. That way, the build up can be kept under control. It would help if I flossed more often. I'm still not crazy about doing that though I thought I did a better job of it this past 4 months. We'll see how I do this next 4 months. Cheers!

Ireland Tour Update

To my surprise, it seems Globus was on the ball and realized there was a conflict with my airplane reservations. Apparently, they realized there was no way I was going to make my connecting flight to Baltimore from JFK. To my relief, they didn't move me to a later flight that left JFK which would've caused a 4 hour layover on my way back. Delta decided to have me fly to Dublin from Atlanta instead. I'l gladly take Atlanta over JFK. I know I won't have any problems with my flights arriving or departing from there. The only down side to flying out of Atlanta is I'll have an 8 hour flight vice 7 to Dublin. Also, I wasn't able to get the extra night in Dublin before the tour started that I wanted. Apparently, I waited too long and, Globus released any extra hotel rooms they had with the Dublin hotel. I suspect I'll be one tired puppy for the group's first dinner. Lastly, I found out that the tour I'm on is for all effective purposes sold out. According to my travel agent, there is 1 seat left on the tour for the dates I'm going. I'm delighted the tour will be going. I've never forgotten when Globus cancelled the first tour I signed up for with them. However, we are going to have one packed bus. A full tour means 40 plus people on it. I'll be curious to what kind of mix we get. On the Canada tour I did, we had some Aussies, some Kiwis, some Brits, a few Canadians to my surprise and 2 couples from the Dominican Republic as well as a bunch of Yanks. People from other countries can make the tour kinda cool. It's interesting to hear of their experiences. If we do have some Aussies, I won't envy how long they'll have to fly to get to Ireland. I suspect they would have to fly something like 20 hours at least. It's over 10 hours flying from Sydney to Los Angeles alone. They will be really tired. We'll see. I'm hoping that I'll be able to enjoy some Victoria Bitter in Ireland. I first tried it in Australia and, it is a great brew. Sadly, we can't get it in the U.S. It would be great to knock back a few pints of VB. That's all for this update. Cheers all!