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!