The Original IQ Tester Game Product Review

Recently, my friend Harvey and I had lunch at Aunt Sarah's Pancake House at 4205 Broad Street in Richmond, Virginia. While there, my friend Harvey reached over and started playing a game they had at our table (it was a demo model). The game is called The Original IQ Tester. It's made by Venture Manufacturing in Dalton, Georgia. The game is simple and yet challenging. It consists of 15 holes placed in a series of triangle patterns forming a greater triangle on a wooden board. You put 14 white plastic pegs in 14 of the 15 holes on the board. Then, you try to eliminate the pegs through jumping to where you have 1 peg left on the board. You can jump sideways or diagonally. You decide which hole to leave open at the beginning of the game. You earn points depending on how many pegs you have left at the end of the game (3 pegs left - 10 points, 2 pegs left - 25 points and 1 peg left - 50 points), or for advanced players if you can have the last peg end up in the hole you left open at the beginning (100 points) or more challenging still, you leave 8 pegs remaining on the board with no further jumps possible (200 points).

Venture Manufacturing sells the game for $7.99 at their website: venturemfgproducts.com. Should you lose too many of the white plastic pegs, you can order a replacement pack of 21 of them for $1.99. You may also be able to find the game as I did at Aunt Sarah's restaurants. They have 2 locations in Virginia.

Overall, I was really pleased with this game. I've found it challenging and, I like that there aren't any batteries. The game is small, light and easily packable. It's a game you can easily take with you on trips. Also, it is nice that it is made in the United States. I would definitely recommend it. Happy playing all!

Update December 14, 2014:  I placed an order for this game on the mentioned website. I got a shock when I found they'll charge you $10 for shipping. That's more than the cost of the game! So, I think Venture's shipping charges are high. You have been warned.

Yamaha TMAX Front Tire Life

Recently, I had to take my 2009 Yamaha TMAX into Heyser Cycle for a routine oil and filter change. Oil and filter changes have to be done every 3,125 miles or 5,000 kilometers. While there, it was discovered I needed to get a new front tire for my TMAX due to normal wear. I found out front tires apparently last approximately 8,000 miles on the bike. The bike uses either Dunlop GPR-100F or Bridgestone BT011F tires for the front tire. I ended up buying a Bridgestone tire as it was the cheaper of the two. It cost me $125 not including the labor to get it installed. I suspect the front tire on the bike is going to wear out faster than the back tire because that is where the majority of the braking is done on the bike. I'll post another post when I have to replace the back tire so TMAX users can have some idea how long the back tire will last. Happy safe riding all!

Starbucks Refresher Drink Product Review

One product I've tried a number of times at Starbucks coffee shops when I haven't felt like have a glass of their tea is their Refresher drink product. The drink comes in 3 flavors in their stores: Valencia Orange, Cool Lime and Very Berry Hibiscus. A 16 ounce glass of the drink will cost you approximately $3.00 at one of their stores.

Starbucks also makes available the drink in 2 other forms - cans and powder. The 8.4 fluid ounce cans come in 3 flavors: Strawberry Lemonade, Blueberry Acai and Raspberry Pomegranate. You can purchase the cans at either the Starbucks stores where they will cost you approximately $2.45 each or in stores where you can buy a 4 pack of the cans for at least $4.55. Calories for the cans depend on the flavor. Their lemonade has 60 calories per can while the blueberry flavor has 90.

The powdered drink come in 3 flavors: Raspberry Lemonade, Very Berry Hibiscus and Cool Lime. The powdered drink comes in a small box with five .7 ounce packets. Each packet makes two 8 ounce glasses of the drink. The boxes of the drink sell for $5.95. Calorie wise, each 8 ounce glass has 35 calories. One plus of buying the powdered drink box flavors is you receive 1 bonus crown point in Starbucks reward program for every box you buy.

One of the noteworthy aspects of Starbucks refresher drink is their use of green coffee extract. Starbucks draws the caffeine out of green coffee beans and inserts it in the refresher drinks. As the green coffee beans haven't been roasted yet, the extract doesn't have the coffee taste so many know while giving the drink a natural caffeine boost. I can vouch that none of the refresher drinks have any kind of coffee taste (I'm not a fan of coffee).

Overall, I've been very pleased with this product and would recommend it. I don't think you get a big caffeine fix from it as I haven't been pinging off the walls after drinking a glass of this drink. I believe the powdered form offers the best value for money. If nothing else, it does give you an alternative drink at Starbucks if you're not in a coffee or tea mood one day when you're visiting one of their stores. Happy drinking all!

Laurel Maryland Pennsylvania Dutch Market Thanksgiving Hours

I thought I'd post the Thanksgiving week hours for the Pennsylvania Dutch Market in Laurel, Maryland. I've shopped at the market for a number of years and, I highly recommend it. A number of the shops have very high quality goods. Beiler's Meats have excellent luncheon meats as well as steaks, sausages and some poultry products. Stoltzfus Salads has some really good salads including their butter beans which are large lima beans in a very good bar-b-que sauce. JR's Candies and Bulk Foods have some outstanding Jake & Amos pickled products like pickled asparagus and pickled spice dilly beans which are pickled green beans (I've had these and they are really good). Dutch Country Corner has some great ice cream which you can buy in half gallons or in a waffle cone if you wish. There are only 2 things I can complain about with this market: 1) they're not open enough during the week (their normal days of operation are Thursday, Friday and Saturday) and 2) they need more parking (the market is sooooo popular it can be hard to find a parking spot at times). Anyway, enough raving about this market. Here are the Thanksgiving week hours:

Tuesday, November 25th, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday, November 26th, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Closed Thanksgiving Day November 27th
Friday, November 28th, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, November 29th, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Their website is: www.burtonsvilledutchmarket.com. This market is worth checking out if you're in the Laurel, Maryland area. Happy shopping all!