Update on Baltimore's Future Royal Caribbean Ship

I found out from an anonymous commenter that Grandeur of the Seas had been posted to Baltimore previously before Enchantment of the Seas took over. Also, Enchantment of the Seas is scheduled for a refit in December 2012 (source: Royal Caribbean website). I did some Internet research and found out some more information on Grandeur of the Seas which will be returning to Baltimore on May 3rd when it arrives from a re-positioning cruise which begins in San Juan, Puerto Rico on April 24th.

The people of Baltimore will be getting a vastly improved cruise ship when the Grandeur of the Seas arrives. According to the Incentive Travel and Corporate Meetings website http://www.incentivetravel.co.uk/cruise/7768-royal-caribbean-internationals-grandeur-of-the-seas-completes-refurbishment-, Grandeur of the Seas finished a $48 million dollar refit on June 1st. The refit was part of the Royal Advantage program where Royal Caribbean upgrades its older ships with things that have proven popular on its newer ships like its Izumi Restaurant or pool side LED screen. The ship will also have Royal Babies and Tot Nursery as well as a brand new Diamond Lounge for it Diamond (and above) Crown & Anchor members (source: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/category/category/grandeur-seas). All the improvements should make for a really nice cruise experience. Personally, I'm looking into the re-positioning cruise as I think it's a great cruise (6 port of calls and only 2 days at sea) and, it would be cool to sail into Baltimore and see Fort McHenry from the sea. We'll see on this. Stay tuned.

Old Glory Harley Davidson

One Harley Davidson dealership that is very easy to get to in Maryland is the Old Glory Harley Davidson dealership in Laurel, Maryland. The dealership is located just off of Maryland 295 (Baltimore Washington Parkway) and Maryland 197 (Laurel Bowie Road). The dealership has a very nice facility and, it offers a very good selection of Harley Davidson merchandise and bikes. The sales staff are friendly and helpful. While I don't own a Harley myself, I do use their gear such as gloves and reflective vest. I know they have an active HOG chapter and, they hold various events throughout the year. You can find them on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/OldGloryHD) or their website http://www.oldgloryhd.com/. Lastly, they offer some very good motorcycle riding classes which you can find out about on their webpage. I took my motorcycle safety orientation course through Harley Davidson and, I felt it was well worth the money. Happy riding all.

Columbia Wegmans Update

Today, I visited the new Columbia Wegmans store to claim some freebies and see what else they had. Freebie wise, if you sign up for the store's shoppers club card, you'll get a reusable Wegmans shopping bag and an 8 ounce bottle of their brand basting oil free. All you have to is print the coupon and present it at check out. Another freebie I got was a dozen large grade AA eggs. I got these using a week 1 coupon I'd received from Wegmans. There are 2 conditions on getting the free eggs. You had to have a shoppers club card and, you had to spend $10 or more. In regards to the shoppers club card, you get the card on-line or at the store. I ordered mine on-line and, it took less than a week for it to arrive in the mail.

Concerning what other things I saw at the store, I got to check out more of the fresh food bars now that it wasn't wall to wall people like it was opening day. A couple interesting bars I noticed were the soup bar and vegetarian bar. The soup bar offered an impressive 6 fresh soups to choose from. I can't list them as I didn't write them down. The vegetarian bar should please vegetarians and looked well stocked. Also, they have an Asian bar that offers fresh hot Asian food like egg rolls and dim sum.

One kudo I want to give the store while I remember was its concern for customers and the heat. Today, it was at least 95F outside. In that kind of heat, it's easy to get dehydrated. The store in response offered free cups and free cold water so customers could re-hydrate. This was a very nice gesture on their part.

Another neat section of the store is their bulk candies section. They offer a good choice of various candies customers can bag and weight themselves. Some of the candies offered included Jelly Belly jellybeans, Ice Cube chocolate squares, Bit-o-honeys, spearmint leaves and orange slices. Some of the items brought back childhood memories of some of the candies I enjoyed as a kid.

Another section of note was the cheese section which looks like it offers an impressive selection of cheeses from all over the world. I can't tell you how well they stack up price wise as I'm not a big cheese eater.

Overall, I had another nice visit at the Columbia Wegmans. I found they offered good prices on items, gave good service, run a well stocked and clean store and have plenty of parking. This is a store worth giving a look. Happy shopping all!

Costco Rogaine Coupon

Recently, Costco Wholesale came out with its latest batch of coupons. 1 particular coupon caught my eye. Costco has a coupon that'll get you $10 off a 4 month supply of Rogaine foam. Rogaine is one of the treatments you can take to stop hair loss and possibly get new hair growth. I started using it when I bought a Bosley Professional Strength for Men package which included Rogaine. I don't care to mess with the Rogaine liquid. I prefer the foam as it's easier to work into the scalp. Costco's $10 coupon will knock the price of the Rogaine foam down 1/5th to $39.83 (today's price at Arundel Mills Costco was $49.83 per package). There is a limit of two 4 month packages. The coupon is good from 14 June to 8 July. If you didn't receive the coupon through the mail with the others, you can request a book of coupons at your Costco. Considering the regular price of Rogaine foam, this is one Costco offer worth using if you use Rogaine or are interested in using it. It will save you a bit of cash. Happy shopping all!

Please note this offer has expired. However, Costco has since come out with its own 5% Minoxidil foam which presumably is just like the Rogaine foam. Rogaine's patent has expired enabling Costco to do that. I'll post a blog in the future on what Costco's Minoxidil foam costs in comparison to Rogaine.

Prince Caspian Review

Yesterday, I finally got around to watching my Prince Caspian DVD. I very much enjoyed The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and had looked forward to watching Prince Caspian. I found myself somewhat disappointed with the movie. Supposedly, they tried to make it darker and less religious. I think they succeeded there though I don't think that helped the movie. At times, it seemed absurd how whipped the Narnians would be and then, we're to believe they some how rally one more time. Also, Prince Caspian played by Ben Barnes seems a bit of a nitwit at times screwing on Peter Pevensie's plan to attack his treacherous uncle's castle though Barnes did look the part of handsome noble prince. One interesting take the director Andrew Adamson did with the movie was make the Telmarines very Spanish. I think you can see in them shades of the Spanish Conquistadors who were equally treacherous. Adamson increased the number of special effects in the movie vice the previous movie The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe but, he did a good job of not letting them overwhelm the movie. One particularly delightful character in the movie was Reepicheep, the swashbuckling mouse.

Overall, Prince Caspian is a nice movie though I don't think it is as good as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I would recommend for those who want to understand some points better like how the Telmarines took over Narnia to read the book. I look forward to checking out the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Stay tuned for a review on that. Happy movie watching all.

New Wegmans Opens

Today, a new Wegmans opened in Columbia, Maryland. I decided to check it out as I've never shopped at a Wegmans. The first thing I noticed and appreciated was the bi-level parking. The store needed it with the crowds that showed up for its opening day. Thankfully too, they had plenty of employees directing traffic to the different parts of the 2 lots. The second thing I noticed the was the large size of the store. The store has 2 levels with a food court on the second level and, the main shopping aisles on the first level. Third were the extensive hot food sections such as hot fresh veggies or soup. Also, they have good size sushi, fresh fish and cheese sections. Fourth, for those who care, they had an extensive organic food selection and gluten free production selection. Fifth, they offer a wide range of Wegmans brand products which presumably will be cheaper than the name brands. I'm looking forward to see how their root beer stacks up taste wise though the price was very nice at 79 cents for a 2 liter bottle. I would recommend you get their shopper's card as this can save you some money there. I got a nice deal on Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits thanks to this (two 9 ounces boxes for $4). You can order it on-line at wegmans.com/columbia or get one at the store. If you want to take advantage of some of the card savings immediately, the cashier has a generic savings card they can swipe for you. I ordered my card last week. We'll see how long it takes to reach me.

Overall, I was impressed with the store. I did find they sold some high end food items like fresh Dover sole for $23 or $24 (too pricey for me thanks) but, they had more affordable stuff which will make it worth my whiled to shop there. If you're any where in the Columbia, Maryland area, you should give this store a visit. I think it'll impress you and your wallet/purse. Happy shopping!

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

One of the ways airlines help passengers whittle the time away on long flights is movies. Such was my case on my Air Canada flight from Toronto to Tel Aviv. I looked through the airplane's movie selection (it was quite extensive) and chanced upon Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. The reviews I'd read on Rotten Tomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com) said the movie was very good and grittier than the previous Mission Impossible movies. As I've never seen of the Mission Impossible movies, I couldn't say how it stacked up to the other ones. I did find the movie very good. The story line was easy enough to follow with the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) getting the blame for an explosion at the Kremlin and, Cruise's team having to go rogue in order to prove the Force's innocence. The movie moves along very well traveling to various exotic locations with plenty of action along the way. I doubt anyone watching this action thriller would get bored with it. Some of the action sequences were pretty incredible including Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) climbing the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai. The movie also showed some humor at times such as the time one of Hunt's faulty climbing gloves comes back to taunt him as he tries to climb the Khalifa building. Cruise is well supported by the other members of his team Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton who play Benji Dunn, William Brandt and Jane Carter respectively. Special mention has to go to Paula Patton who does a great job of playing a beautiful seductress at times and at other times, one bad ass butt kicking babe. I wouldn't want to get on her bad side.

Overall, the movie was a very nice action packed fast moving movie with plenty of surprises leaving you wondering till the end how the team will pull off its mission. The movie ends with Cruise accepting another mission from the IMF. Considering that the movie was the highest grossing Mission Impossible movie of the 4 (as well as the 5th highest grossing movie of 2011), I think it's very likely we'll see Cruise in action again in another Mission Impossible movie. Happy viewing all.

New Peter Jackson Production Video Out

If you haven't heard already, Peter Jackson released production video number 7 for his Hobbit movies. You can find it on Facebook. This video is interesting in that it takes you all over the Stone Street Studios where so much of the movies are shot on set. You'll see the costumes department, scripts department, the trailers where the actors and actresses live in during the shooting, prosthetics, where Alan Lee and John Howe work, the sound studio and the behind scene folks that are so crucial to making the movies happen. They are the unsung heroes who might get a mention in the film credits at the end of the movie that no one watches. The video is an absolute delight as all the previous ones have been. Also, it has a very nice surprise for Orlando Bloom fans at the end. Definitely check out this video if you haven't seen it already. Here's the link to the Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151028043926807&utm_source=Weta+News&utm_campaign=bef38f7cc8-8_June_2012&utm_medium=email

I hope the link works. Happy viewing all!

New Maryland Casino To Open Tonight

Maryland's newest casino will open tonight at 10 p.m. The casino is called Maryland Live! It's located just across from the Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Maryland. According to the Maryland Lottery website, the casino will be allowed to operate its phase I operation starting tonight. The site doesn't explain what phase I entails. The website stated the new casino will feature 4,750 slot machines (that's a LOT of slots!) and electronic gaming tables when fully open. To me, this implies that the casino might not be fully operational. That would jive with the saying it completed phase I whatever that is. I've seen the casino from the outside and, it looks all right as well as having its own parking.

For me personally, I'm glad it'll create jobs (God knows those are hard enough to come by now a days) but, I don't like it being so close to the mall. When they were talking about building the thing, I got the impression it was going to a good distance from the mall. It isn't. Also, I don't think having another casino will really help things in Maryland though apparently the politicians feel differently. I know I don't plan on ever visiting it myself. Still, to all you gamblers out there, this should be good news. It's another place to lose your money at. Enjoy. Cheers all!

Procedures at Terminal 2 Amman International Airport

I thought I'd post what you can expect at Amman International Airport's Terminal 2. Things are different there from what I was used to in the United States.

First, you pass through your first security screen upon entering the airport unlike U.S. airports where you would check-in at your appropriate airline.

Second, you then check-in with your appropriate airline. In my case, it was with the German airline Lufthansa who code shares with Air Canada, the the airline I was flying.

Third, after checking in, you go through Jordanian customs. Here, you'll get your passport stamped and, they'll make sure you have a boarding pass.

Fourth, you take an escalator up to the top floor where you'll find the Duty Free shop, restaurants (KFC, Pizza Hut, etc) and news stands. This is the main waiting area for your flight. They won't allow you to the gate till your within an hour or so of your flight. Also, there isn't any shops by the gates so, you better get any drink, food or paper here before passing through the 2nd security screening.

Fifth, to my surprise, there is a 2nd security screening. I guess the Jordanian officials really want to make sure you're not carrying anything nasty so they check you twice. After you pass through, you can walk to your appropriate gate where there is a small waiting area and access to bathrooms. There isn't anything else. There are electronic signs at this screening that will tell you the status of the flights in the gates it covers. Mine covered gates 10, 11 and 12.

Sixth, an airline employee will announce at your gate when they'll start boarding and who gets to go first usually First Class and Business Class passengers as well as those belonging to their frequent flier program. When boarding commences, you'll show your boarding pass and passport and board your flight.

Mark of Athena Chapter 1 Released

I decided to check on Rick Riordan's webpage www.rickriordan.com to see if there was any word on his future book Mark of Athena. It's the latest of the Lost Heroes series and ties in with the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. To my delight, I found out Disney released the first chapter of the book and its new cover. The cover doesn't wow me but, the chapter was a delightful read. We get to see things from the Greek side as the Argos II arrives in the Roman camp. Riordan in his Son of Neptune book showed us things from the Roman side with Percy doing his best to keep the Romans from attacking the ship at the very end of the book. The chapter will give a small fix to hooked readers who will have to wait until October 2nd for the Mark of Athena book to come out. That will be one book I'll be waiting for so I can experience more of Riordan's surprises, interesting takes on the Greek and Roman gods and his funny sense of humor. The cover and chapter can be found at: HeroesofOlympus.com. Happy Reading all!