While visiting the Jessup, Maryland Ollie's Discount Store, I stumbled upon some bags of Blake's Specialty Meats Smoked Hunters Sausage. As I got to try some Kowalski Hunter Sausage when I was visiting my Dad in Michigan, I decided to try this.
According to Ollie's, it normally sells for $2.99 though Ollie's was selling it for $1.99 and, it comes in a 5 ounce pack. Taste wise, I found it somewhat bland. However, it would be handy for hunters and others who want a meat snack that doesn't require refrigeration (unless you don't use it up within 3 days).
Overall, I though the sausage sticks were ok though not great. I did feel I got a pretty good deal on this at Ollie's though it would be highly iffy if you'll find it at an Ollie's close to you. I don't know what store chains might sell the brand. The product would be useful if you want a meat snack you can easily carry with you. Bon Appetit all!
Please note: these sausages are made out of pork with some sugar, garlic and seasoning thrown in. Those who have issues with pork should avoid this product.
Monday, November 12, 2018
Photos of Baltimore, Maryland Cruise Ship Terminal
Overall, I feel Baltimore does a good job of getting you on and off the boat during your cruise. They claim they'll have you on the boat within an hour of arrival though this depends on when you arrive. I arrived around 10 a.m. and, they were still busy getting people off the boat so, I had to wait. I forget when they finished getting all the departing passengers off. For those who didn't bring their car or arranged to have someone pick them up, there are taxis outside the front of the terminal though I wasn't wowed by the one I took. I'd recommend you take Uber or Lyft as I think you'll get a better vehicle and maybe a better price. If nothing else, you should be able to get a decent quote from them on what it'll cost you.
I hope you find this post useful. I'll be cruising again out of Baltimore on Grandeur in January 2019 on a slightly different itinerary i.e. 1 day in Nassau, Bahamas and 1 day at Coco Cay, Bahamas. Royal Caribbean does offer cruises out of Baltimore on Grandeur of the Seas to Maine/Canada, Bermuda, Southern United States of America & the Bahamas and the Caribbean. I hope to do a Caribbean cruise in 2020 with my favorite aunt and uncle. One big down side to the ship's Caribbean cruises (in my opinion) is how much time you'll spend at sea getting down there and back (3 days each way).
The other major (in my opinion) cruise line that cruises out of Baltimore regularly is Carnival (Royal Caribbean's great rival). Their ship is called Pride and does 7 day cruises that leave and arrive every Sunday (as far as I know). As I've only cruised with Royal Caribbean, I don't know how that ship's cruises stack up. I have heard Carnival is the party line where Royal Caribbean tries to offer something for everyone.
That's all for now. Happy Travels and Happy Cruising!
Update: November 9, 2020 The Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal is closed due to the coronavirus at the time of this update and, I don't have any idea when it'll reopen and cruising will start back up again. As I understand, cases of the virus in Maryland are going back up making it very unlikely they'll start offering cruises out of the terminal again any time soon.
Update: August 4, 2021 The Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal has reopened HOWEVER no cruise ships are sailing as far as I know. I am keeping an eye on when Royal Caribbean plans to start cruising out of Baltimore again but, I haven't seen a date so far. I suspect Royal Caribbean is going to go with the bigger ships first as they would make more money for them. Also, there is the issue of having to do a trial cruise first on the ship to test their virus procedures.
Update: September 3, 2021 Royal Caribbean announced Enchantment of the Seas will start sailing out of Baltimore on December 23, 2021. Before it does that cruise, I believe it has to do a trial cruise to show the Center for Disease Control (CDC) that the ship has its procedures in place to their satisfaction. I haven't heard when the the trial cruise will be.
Update: October 31, 2021 Carnival started sailing again out of Baltimore on September 12, 2021 with a 7 night cruise to the Bahamas.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Review of Maryland Lottery's Win $50 or $100 Scratch Off Game
The Maryland Lottery came out with what has to be one of its most unique scratch off games. It's called Win $50 or $100. The game brags that it has 9 times more $100 prizes than their other games. What they don't brag about is that the game also has the WORST overall odds I've ever seen in a Maryland Lottery scratch off game - 1 in 9.23! Prior to this game, the worst overall odds I'd seen were in their $1 scratch off games which were usually around 1 in 4.5. I suspect the reason the odds are so bad is because of the prizes in the game - you can only win $50 or $100 which is also different from other past games. Because of these prize amounts, they have to sell a LOT of $10 tickets to make up for the prizes. I heard of 1 case where a person bought 20! tickets and didn't win ANYTHING. In my own experience and shock, I had to buy 17! tickets once before I hit for $100. I was so stunned by all the losers that I went back and double checked them all. This game really is a GAMBLE to play because of the poor odds though you never know in this game. At Friendship Liquors in West Friendship, Maryland, I had 7 losers before I hit for $50. With a different book in the same store, I hit for $100 on the FIRST ticket I bought. This game is very hard to predict because of the terrible overall odds.
Because of the terrible odds and my experiences with this game, I give it a thumbs down. You really are taking a big gamble playing it. Thankfully, they didn't make it a $20 or $30 game as the amount of losers you can hit in this game would really be horrendous. I'd definitely look for another $10 game to play like their Willie Wonka game which I've particularly enjoyed. Good luck to all those players out there.
Because of the terrible odds and my experiences with this game, I give it a thumbs down. You really are taking a big gamble playing it. Thankfully, they didn't make it a $20 or $30 game as the amount of losers you can hit in this game would really be horrendous. I'd definitely look for another $10 game to play like their Willie Wonka game which I've particularly enjoyed. Good luck to all those players out there.
Update: November 9, 2020 This game is back in Maryland. I would guess the game sold well enough that they decided to bring it back. It has the same terrible odds and the same 2 prizes: $50 and $100. It remains a huge crap shoot if you play it (I have). If you're feeling particularly lucky, it might be worth 1 or 2 plays otherwise, I stay away from this game. You have really good chances of coming out a loser in this game.
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Review of Wai Lana's Cassava Pops
While visiting Dollar Tree's Jessup, Maryland store, I stumbled upon 3 different types of Wai Lana's Cassava Pops. They're like potato chips but, they're made with cassava (yuca root) which is native to Central and South America. Wai Lana turns the root into a paste and then applies a little heat and pressure to make the chip like pops. The advantage of doing this is there aren't any added calories from frying or baking.
The pops come in 3 flavors: sea salt (125 calories per serving). luau bar-b-que (120 calories per serving) and volcano (110 calories per serving). Volcano is the hot and spicy flavor though I didn't find it that hot. The luau bar-b-que is supposed to sweet & tangy. As I haven't tried this flavor yet, I don't know if that's true or not. On the sea salt flavor, I found the chips tasty.
Each flavor comes in 3 ounce (3 servings) bags at Dollar Tree and cost $1 (of course).
Wai Lana states the pops don't have any gluten (certainly true as they're not made with wheat), are GMO and trans fats free, don't have anything artificial, are suitable for vegetarians and are kosher.
Allergy wise, Wai Lana warns that the pops are made in a factory that may contain soy, wheat and dairy though no peanuts or tree nuts.
The pops are made in the United States of America which is a little plus to me and are distributed by Wai Lana Snacks out of Honolulu, Hawaii.
Overall, I was very pleased with this product. I thought the 2 flavors I tried were tasty and, I look forward to having some more of this product. This product gets a thumbs up from me. Happy munching all!
Source of information on the product: the 3 bags I bought from the Jessup, Maryland Dollar Tree store with my own money. I'm not in any way affiliated with Wai Lana Snacks and all opinions stated in this review are my own.
The pops come in 3 flavors: sea salt (125 calories per serving). luau bar-b-que (120 calories per serving) and volcano (110 calories per serving). Volcano is the hot and spicy flavor though I didn't find it that hot. The luau bar-b-que is supposed to sweet & tangy. As I haven't tried this flavor yet, I don't know if that's true or not. On the sea salt flavor, I found the chips tasty.
Each flavor comes in 3 ounce (3 servings) bags at Dollar Tree and cost $1 (of course).
Wai Lana states the pops don't have any gluten (certainly true as they're not made with wheat), are GMO and trans fats free, don't have anything artificial, are suitable for vegetarians and are kosher.
Allergy wise, Wai Lana warns that the pops are made in a factory that may contain soy, wheat and dairy though no peanuts or tree nuts.
The pops are made in the United States of America which is a little plus to me and are distributed by Wai Lana Snacks out of Honolulu, Hawaii.
Overall, I was very pleased with this product. I thought the 2 flavors I tried were tasty and, I look forward to having some more of this product. This product gets a thumbs up from me. Happy munching all!
Source of information on the product: the 3 bags I bought from the Jessup, Maryland Dollar Tree store with my own money. I'm not in any way affiliated with Wai Lana Snacks and all opinions stated in this review are my own.
Sunday, July 08, 2018
Review of Royal Caribbean's Scratch Off Games
I fancy myself something of an expert on lottery scratch off games as I've played a number of them in Maryland and a few in Virginia. I knew Royal Caribbean offered scratch off lottery tickets in their ship's casinos. While on my April 2018 cruise on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas, I visited the ship's casino and proceeded to play each of their scratch off games.
I wrote a review previously on Royal Caribbean's scratch off games and, this review is a bit of an update. The biggest change I found with Royal Caribbean in this way was they added $10 and $20 games. The $10 game offers a top prize of $50,000 and, the $20 game offers a top prize of $100,000. In comparison to Maryland Lottery's scratch offs, these prizes are low. Maryland Lottery offers a top prize of $100,000 for $10 games and, $1,000,000 (paid over 20 years) for $20 games.
Another downside I found to the Royal Caribbean games is the odds get worse! as they get more expensive. According to one of the tickets I bought, the overall odds of winning something in their $20 game called Glittering Gold are 1 in 5.09. In Maryland, the normal odds for a $20 game are 1 in 3 or slightly less. This confounded me a bit.
Overall odds for the $5 and $10 games are the same at 1 in 4.48 which in my opinion is also poor. These odds are more in line with Maryland Lottery's $1 games which offer the worst overall odds of all their games.
Their $10 game called 20X THE CASH offered the most instant winner chances. This game is very similar to Maryland Lottery's 100X game except the instant win symbols go from 2X to 20X whereas in the Maryland game, they go up to 100X. The instant win symbols are 2X, 5X, 10X and 20X where you win the prize instantly times the instant win symbol example: if you hit a 5X symbol, you win 5 times the prize shown below the symbol so, if it was a $20 prize, you would win $100 in this case.
The $20 game does have a one instant win chance on this game. At the top of the ticket is a round covered chance which you scratch off and if you scratch off a coin with a dollar symbol on it, you instantly win $100. Otherwise, this game is like ALL the other games in that you try to match 1 or more of the 5 numbers at the top of the ticket to win some prize.
Another gripe I have with Royal Caribbean is they don't show the various prize amounts in their games except for the top prize. Presumably, you have a chance of winning at least what the ticket cost you but, it's anyone's guess what prize amounts are in between that and the top prize.
One last note: if you win a prize of $100 or higher on ANY of the games, you will have to provide the following information on the ticket: sign your name, print your name, the prize amount, your cabin number and the date. Also, the cashier will have to sign the ticket.
Overall, I wasn't impressed with Royal Caribbean's scratch off games. Like all scratch off games in general, they're easy to play and probably the easiest games in the ship's casino. Still, the poor overall odds and smaller prizes are a real downer for me. I can't recommend them. I think players in the United States of America at least could find better games in their home states. Best of luck to any gamblers among my readers. Cheers!
Update February 3, 2019: I did another Royal Caribbean cruise last month on their Grandeur of the Seas. While on-board, I played some of their scratch off games again. I found another annoying thing about their games. They don't have a system where you can check the ticket electronically i.e. have a box figure you can scan where it'll tell you if you have a winner or not. This is standard in Maryland and helps prevent the player from mistakenly throwing away a winning ticket. Also, it helps the cashier as they have to check each number on the ticket to see if it matches vice just scanning the ticket. I mentioned this to the cashier and, they recommended I mention it in my end of cruise feedback which I subsequently did. Hopefully, Royal Caribbean will come out with such a system which will help both players and the casino cashiers with the games.
I wrote a review previously on Royal Caribbean's scratch off games and, this review is a bit of an update. The biggest change I found with Royal Caribbean in this way was they added $10 and $20 games. The $10 game offers a top prize of $50,000 and, the $20 game offers a top prize of $100,000. In comparison to Maryland Lottery's scratch offs, these prizes are low. Maryland Lottery offers a top prize of $100,000 for $10 games and, $1,000,000 (paid over 20 years) for $20 games.
Another downside I found to the Royal Caribbean games is the odds get worse! as they get more expensive. According to one of the tickets I bought, the overall odds of winning something in their $20 game called Glittering Gold are 1 in 5.09. In Maryland, the normal odds for a $20 game are 1 in 3 or slightly less. This confounded me a bit.
Overall odds for the $5 and $10 games are the same at 1 in 4.48 which in my opinion is also poor. These odds are more in line with Maryland Lottery's $1 games which offer the worst overall odds of all their games.
Their $10 game called 20X THE CASH offered the most instant winner chances. This game is very similar to Maryland Lottery's 100X game except the instant win symbols go from 2X to 20X whereas in the Maryland game, they go up to 100X. The instant win symbols are 2X, 5X, 10X and 20X where you win the prize instantly times the instant win symbol example: if you hit a 5X symbol, you win 5 times the prize shown below the symbol so, if it was a $20 prize, you would win $100 in this case.
The $20 game does have a one instant win chance on this game. At the top of the ticket is a round covered chance which you scratch off and if you scratch off a coin with a dollar symbol on it, you instantly win $100. Otherwise, this game is like ALL the other games in that you try to match 1 or more of the 5 numbers at the top of the ticket to win some prize.
Another gripe I have with Royal Caribbean is they don't show the various prize amounts in their games except for the top prize. Presumably, you have a chance of winning at least what the ticket cost you but, it's anyone's guess what prize amounts are in between that and the top prize.
One last note: if you win a prize of $100 or higher on ANY of the games, you will have to provide the following information on the ticket: sign your name, print your name, the prize amount, your cabin number and the date. Also, the cashier will have to sign the ticket.
Overall, I wasn't impressed with Royal Caribbean's scratch off games. Like all scratch off games in general, they're easy to play and probably the easiest games in the ship's casino. Still, the poor overall odds and smaller prizes are a real downer for me. I can't recommend them. I think players in the United States of America at least could find better games in their home states. Best of luck to any gamblers among my readers. Cheers!
Update February 3, 2019: I did another Royal Caribbean cruise last month on their Grandeur of the Seas. While on-board, I played some of their scratch off games again. I found another annoying thing about their games. They don't have a system where you can check the ticket electronically i.e. have a box figure you can scan where it'll tell you if you have a winner or not. This is standard in Maryland and helps prevent the player from mistakenly throwing away a winning ticket. Also, it helps the cashier as they have to check each number on the ticket to see if it matches vice just scanning the ticket. I mentioned this to the cashier and, they recommended I mention it in my end of cruise feedback which I subsequently did. Hopefully, Royal Caribbean will come out with such a system which will help both players and the casino cashiers with the games.
Saturday, April 28, 2018
Feedback On Cruising Out of Baltimore, Maryland
As I mentioned previously on my blog, I was going to do a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas out of Baltimore, Maryland. I did the cruise and thought I'd offer a little feedback/information on it.
The cruise started April 5, 2018 and finished April 14, 2018. It lasted 9 nights and visited the following ports:
Charleston, South Carolina,
Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida
Miami, Florida
Nassau, Bahamas (2 days)
The cruise was supposed to make port at King Bahama, Bahamas but, Royal Caribbean changed the itinerary to 2 days in Nassau citing necessary small repairs on the ship (don't know if this was true or not).
As far as in-processing at the Cruise Ship Terminal, people directing the traffic were mixed. Some were helpful and some definitely weren't. One guy told my driver and me to get off the crosswalk BUT didn't tell us where to drop my bags. Security was tough though not as tough as at any airport. The person who checked me in did a fine job and was very courteous. Once you've checked in, there is a waiting area if they haven't started boarding yet. Pinnacle Crown & Anchor members as well as those staying in suites on the ship have a separate waiting area.
The cruise itself went fine and, I'll be doing the same cruise again on Grandeur of the Seas in January 2019.
Upon the ship's return to Baltimore, disembarking went very smoothly and, I believe they stayed on schedule with getting the various groups off. Customs was a breeze to my surprise and, I didn't have to fill out a customs form stating what I'd bought in the Bahamas (the only foreign country the ship visited). I think I was through Customs in 5 minutes to my delight. When I exited Customs, the baggage handlers were on their mark and all my bags were in their assigned area waiting for me.
Some plusses I want to mention about cruising out of Baltimore providing you don't fly into Baltimore to catch the cruise like me. First, no baggage fees. Second, you don't have to worry about the weight of your bags. Third, no long travel time to catch the cruise (providing you live some where in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area). It took me only 30 minutes to travel from Jessup, Maryland to the terminal.
One potential negative is if you have to drive your own car to the terminal and park it there. I believe they charge $15 a day to park it there while you're off on the cruise. Another potential negative is if you have to use a taxi. Due to a friend dropping the ball on me at the last minute, I had to use a taxi (I didn't have the Uber or Lyft apps). I asked the taxi driver for an estimate and, he was very vague on it. The fare ended up being a steep $67! I wasn't pleased about this and will have either Uber or Lyft's app next time. One last negative is you will have at least 1 day at sea to get any where with as many as 3 (Royal Caribbean has that many coming back from their Caribbean cruise). I know some folks enjoy days at sea but, I don't.
Overall, I was very pleased with how things went at the Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal. I'm looking forward to my January 2019 cruise on Grandeur of the Seas and feel my next visit there will go even smoother. I'd definitely recommend cruising out of Baltimore for those who live in the area.
The cruise started April 5, 2018 and finished April 14, 2018. It lasted 9 nights and visited the following ports:
Charleston, South Carolina,
Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida
Miami, Florida
Nassau, Bahamas (2 days)
The cruise was supposed to make port at King Bahama, Bahamas but, Royal Caribbean changed the itinerary to 2 days in Nassau citing necessary small repairs on the ship (don't know if this was true or not).
As far as in-processing at the Cruise Ship Terminal, people directing the traffic were mixed. Some were helpful and some definitely weren't. One guy told my driver and me to get off the crosswalk BUT didn't tell us where to drop my bags. Security was tough though not as tough as at any airport. The person who checked me in did a fine job and was very courteous. Once you've checked in, there is a waiting area if they haven't started boarding yet. Pinnacle Crown & Anchor members as well as those staying in suites on the ship have a separate waiting area.
The cruise itself went fine and, I'll be doing the same cruise again on Grandeur of the Seas in January 2019.
Upon the ship's return to Baltimore, disembarking went very smoothly and, I believe they stayed on schedule with getting the various groups off. Customs was a breeze to my surprise and, I didn't have to fill out a customs form stating what I'd bought in the Bahamas (the only foreign country the ship visited). I think I was through Customs in 5 minutes to my delight. When I exited Customs, the baggage handlers were on their mark and all my bags were in their assigned area waiting for me.
Some plusses I want to mention about cruising out of Baltimore providing you don't fly into Baltimore to catch the cruise like me. First, no baggage fees. Second, you don't have to worry about the weight of your bags. Third, no long travel time to catch the cruise (providing you live some where in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area). It took me only 30 minutes to travel from Jessup, Maryland to the terminal.
One potential negative is if you have to drive your own car to the terminal and park it there. I believe they charge $15 a day to park it there while you're off on the cruise. Another potential negative is if you have to use a taxi. Due to a friend dropping the ball on me at the last minute, I had to use a taxi (I didn't have the Uber or Lyft apps). I asked the taxi driver for an estimate and, he was very vague on it. The fare ended up being a steep $67! I wasn't pleased about this and will have either Uber or Lyft's app next time. One last negative is you will have at least 1 day at sea to get any where with as many as 3 (Royal Caribbean has that many coming back from their Caribbean cruise). I know some folks enjoy days at sea but, I don't.
Overall, I was very pleased with how things went at the Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal. I'm looking forward to my January 2019 cruise on Grandeur of the Seas and feel my next visit there will go even smoother. I'd definitely recommend cruising out of Baltimore for those who live in the area.
Review of Maryland Lottery's Willy Wonka Golden Ticket Scratch Off Game
One of the newest games to come out of the Maryland Lottery is their Willy Wonka Golden Ticket scratch off game. The game costs $10 and offers a top prize of $100,000 (common among $10 games). The game was launched on April 23, 2018 and has all 8 $100,000 prizes as well as all 12 $10,000 prizes at the time of this post. Four lucky winners have won the third tier prize of $1,000 though 48 of those remain at the time of this post.
The overall odds of this game are 1 in 3.44. The game has 3 instant win symbols: a top hat which causes the winner to instantly win 5 times the prize shown (minimum $50 prize), a lollipop which causes the winner to instantly win 10 times the prize shown (minimum $100 prize) and a ticket which causes the winner to win ALL 25 prizes shown on the ticket (figuring on $10 per prize, that means if you hit this symbol, you've won at least $250!). Barring these instant win symbols, you have to match 1 or more of 5 numbers to win a minimum prize of $10.
One very unique feature of this game is its second chance drawing. There will be 6 drawings on:
May 28, 2018
July 2, 2018
August 6, 2018
September 10, 2018
October 15, 2018
November 19, 2018
The winner of each drawing will be flown to Las Vegas, Nevada with a guest for a Billion Dollar Challenge contest where they will compete against their other winners as well as other winners from other states that participate in this contest. The winner will have a chance to win from $1,000 to $1 Billion dollars.
Besides getting flown out to Las Vegas for the contest, the winner and their guest gets free airport transport, free hotel accommodations for 3 nights and $1,000 spending money.
Overall, I think this is one of the more interesting scratch off games that Maryland Lottery has come up with. I think the second chance drawing will attract a lot of interest too as who wouldn't like to win a BILLION dollars. Personally, I've played this game twice using my own money and had a little bit of luck with it. I do like the Willy Wonka theme. The tickets feature a Willy Wonka character on the ticket that to me looks like Gene Wilder who played the character in the first Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory movie. I very much liked that movie and feel Wilder was excellent in it. This is one game I'd recommend to would be players though do remember to play responsibly please.
Sources: 1 of the scratch off tickets I bought with my own money and the Maryland Lottery website. I haven't received any compensation for writing this review and all opinions expressed in this review are my own and not reflective of the Maryland Lottery nor do I have ANY association with them.
Update November 12, 2018: If you haven't done so already, you should enter any remaining losing tickets in this game so, you can get in on the last second chance drawing their having which happens November 19th. Also, this game is wrapping up. The last time I checked, all but 1 of the $100,000 prizes were gone and all the $10,000 prizes were gone. Now, you'd be playing for $1,000 and, you can do that for a lot less than $10.
The overall odds of this game are 1 in 3.44. The game has 3 instant win symbols: a top hat which causes the winner to instantly win 5 times the prize shown (minimum $50 prize), a lollipop which causes the winner to instantly win 10 times the prize shown (minimum $100 prize) and a ticket which causes the winner to win ALL 25 prizes shown on the ticket (figuring on $10 per prize, that means if you hit this symbol, you've won at least $250!). Barring these instant win symbols, you have to match 1 or more of 5 numbers to win a minimum prize of $10.
One very unique feature of this game is its second chance drawing. There will be 6 drawings on:
May 28, 2018
July 2, 2018
August 6, 2018
September 10, 2018
October 15, 2018
November 19, 2018
The winner of each drawing will be flown to Las Vegas, Nevada with a guest for a Billion Dollar Challenge contest where they will compete against their other winners as well as other winners from other states that participate in this contest. The winner will have a chance to win from $1,000 to $1 Billion dollars.
Besides getting flown out to Las Vegas for the contest, the winner and their guest gets free airport transport, free hotel accommodations for 3 nights and $1,000 spending money.
Overall, I think this is one of the more interesting scratch off games that Maryland Lottery has come up with. I think the second chance drawing will attract a lot of interest too as who wouldn't like to win a BILLION dollars. Personally, I've played this game twice using my own money and had a little bit of luck with it. I do like the Willy Wonka theme. The tickets feature a Willy Wonka character on the ticket that to me looks like Gene Wilder who played the character in the first Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory movie. I very much liked that movie and feel Wilder was excellent in it. This is one game I'd recommend to would be players though do remember to play responsibly please.
Sources: 1 of the scratch off tickets I bought with my own money and the Maryland Lottery website. I haven't received any compensation for writing this review and all opinions expressed in this review are my own and not reflective of the Maryland Lottery nor do I have ANY association with them.
Update November 12, 2018: If you haven't done so already, you should enter any remaining losing tickets in this game so, you can get in on the last second chance drawing their having which happens November 19th. Also, this game is wrapping up. The last time I checked, all but 1 of the $100,000 prizes were gone and all the $10,000 prizes were gone. Now, you'd be playing for $1,000 and, you can do that for a lot less than $10.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Review of Arizona's Sweet Tea
While at the Jessup, Maryland Dollar Tree about a month ago, I wanted a cheap caffeine fix. I decided to try their Arizona Sweet Tea. It costs only a $1, comes in a 42 ounce plastic bottle and, they had it in the refrigerated section so, it was already cold.
In my opinion, the tea turned out to be pretty lacklustre i.e. it wasn't terribly good. For starters, it didn't seem very sweet. This may be because they used high fructose corn syrup instead of real sugar to sweeten it. Sweet tea is supposed to be so sweet that you would get a huge sugar high from drinking it. I didn't get that from this product.
One slight plus to the product is they add ascorbic acid so you get 100% of the vitamin C you need in an 8 ounce glass of the tea.
Arizona claims the tea is real brewed. Maybe but, the tea itself isn't noteworthy either. Some teas have particularly nice flavors depending on what you like example: Russian Caravan tea has a nice smoky taste to it. This tea didn't have any noteworthy flavor to it. I would guess they used plain black tea.
Overall, the best thing I can say about this tea is it's cheap. As I mentioned previously, a 42 ounce bottle cost just a $1 at Dollar Tree. I don't know how caffeine it has in it so, I can't say how much of a charge you'll get from drinking some of this tea. As far as thumb scores go, I give this tea 2 thumbs down. I'd recommend you drink some other kind of tea. Happy drinking all!
In my opinion, the tea turned out to be pretty lacklustre i.e. it wasn't terribly good. For starters, it didn't seem very sweet. This may be because they used high fructose corn syrup instead of real sugar to sweeten it. Sweet tea is supposed to be so sweet that you would get a huge sugar high from drinking it. I didn't get that from this product.
One slight plus to the product is they add ascorbic acid so you get 100% of the vitamin C you need in an 8 ounce glass of the tea.
Arizona claims the tea is real brewed. Maybe but, the tea itself isn't noteworthy either. Some teas have particularly nice flavors depending on what you like example: Russian Caravan tea has a nice smoky taste to it. This tea didn't have any noteworthy flavor to it. I would guess they used plain black tea.
Overall, the best thing I can say about this tea is it's cheap. As I mentioned previously, a 42 ounce bottle cost just a $1 at Dollar Tree. I don't know how caffeine it has in it so, I can't say how much of a charge you'll get from drinking some of this tea. As far as thumb scores go, I give this tea 2 thumbs down. I'd recommend you drink some other kind of tea. Happy drinking all!
Monday, March 05, 2018
Review of Maryland Lottery's Triple 333's Game
On February 26, 2018, the Maryland Lottery came out with a new $2 scratch off game called Triple 333's. The game features 8 top prizes of $10,000. Other prize amounts start from $2 and go up to $5,000. At the time of this post, no one has claimed any of the top $10,000 prizes.
The game gives you 10 chances to win. In order to win, you must reveal either a single "3" which means you have instantly whatever the prize amount is to the right of the number OR get three 3's i.e. "333". If you get a triple 3, you win triple the prize amount shown.
Overall odds of winning in the game are 1 in 4.04 which is normal for the cheaper games.
The game is incredibly easy to play as all you have to do is scratch straight down on the left side that has the numbers and see if you have either one 3 or three 3's.
Losing tickets do qualify for lottery reward points.
Overall, this is a very easy and quick game to play. For those who can't afford the higher priced games, this is a more affordable way to play for some reasonably big money. I think it's an ok game.
One final note: if you need to find the ticket numbers in order to enter ticket for lottery reward points, you'll find them along the right side of the ticket just past the prize amounts. I was wondering where these numbers were and had to search for them.
The game gives you 10 chances to win. In order to win, you must reveal either a single "3" which means you have instantly whatever the prize amount is to the right of the number OR get three 3's i.e. "333". If you get a triple 3, you win triple the prize amount shown.
Overall odds of winning in the game are 1 in 4.04 which is normal for the cheaper games.
The game is incredibly easy to play as all you have to do is scratch straight down on the left side that has the numbers and see if you have either one 3 or three 3's.
Losing tickets do qualify for lottery reward points.
Overall, this is a very easy and quick game to play. For those who can't afford the higher priced games, this is a more affordable way to play for some reasonably big money. I think it's an ok game.
One final note: if you need to find the ticket numbers in order to enter ticket for lottery reward points, you'll find them along the right side of the ticket just past the prize amounts. I was wondering where these numbers were and had to search for them.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Review of Jack Links A.M. Breakfast Sausage
You never know what you'll find at Ollie's Bargain Outlet. Recently, I discovered their Jessup, Maryland store received a shipment of Jack Links A.M. Breakfast Sausage. As I like their beef jerky, I decided to try their breakfast sausage.
The sausage comes in 4.4 ounce resealable bags, is dried, fully cooked and ready to eat. Ollie's was selling it for $1.99 and claims it normally sells for $3.29. I counted the number of sausages in 1 bag and found a total of 10 which breaks out to nearly 20 cents a sausage. If I had to pay the full price, that would break out to around 32 cents a sausage which isn't cheap though I don't know what is a good price for sausage.
Jack Links claims the sausage is hot and spicy. I didn't find it hot though I did find it had some spice in it. They use chipotle pepper, red pepper and black pepper to season it. I feel it wasn't overly spicy.
You can heat the sausage up in a microwave for 10 seconds though do take it out of the bag first as they recommend.
I feel one plus of this sausage is you don't have to refrigerate it until you open the bag unlike regular sausage. This sausage might be handy on a camping trip.
Overall, I feel this is decent sausage that could be handy in certain circumstances like camping or hiking. Also, I thought I got a good deal on it at Ollie's. Do remember if you find it at an Ollie's where you live that you should buy it right then because you may not find it there when you come back. Ollie's doesn't joke when they say when it's gone, it's gone. It really is in their case. Bon Appetit all!
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
An Update on My Blogging
To any readers I have, no I haven't stopped blogging. I didn't realize I haven't posted anything since October 2017. I will post some new stuff soon. I just finished a mini-adventure where I stayed at 2 different Holiday Inn Expresses 2 different days (Springfield, Virginia and Prince Frederick, Maryland) made more memorable by the fact that due to some freakish Maryland weather I caught some kind of virus I'm now trying to kick.
Another issue I had was trying to get back into my blogger account. It took me over a very frustrating hour before I finally was able to figure out how to call it back up. To Google's credit, their blogger troubleshooting list did help me eventually solve the problem.
So, stay tuned for some new stuff. I have more interesting adventures coming this year with 3 cruises booked with Royal Caribbean. And thank you for reading my blog. Cheers.
Update February 27, 2018: I managed to kick the virus I caught and have started taking Vitamin Shoppe's Sambucus Black Elderberry extract to stay healthy. I'm not crazy about the taste of the stuff as it tastes like licorice but, if it keeps me healthy, I'll take a dose every day.
On new blog topics, I'll be blogging about some more products I've tried like Pringle's Extra Hot Chili & Lime chips and the new Maryland Lottery $30 game they came out with this week. It looks like it'll be an improvement over the first $30 game they came out with so stay tuned.
Update March 29, 2018: I know I haven't posted a review on Maryland's new Megabucks $30 scratch off game. It is an improvement over their first $30 game called $2,000,000 Fortune. It has 3 different possible instant win chances in the main part of the ticket and four bonus instant win chances at the top of the ticket - $30, $50, $200 and $500. I still plan to write a review on this game.
Another thing to watch for are some posts on my upcoming cruise with Royal Caribbean. I'll be cruising out of Baltimore, Maryland on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas. It'll be my 3rd cruise on this ship BUT, the first time I'll in-process through the Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal. I've read the people are rude there. I'm curious to see if it's true. We'll see. I'll try to post some pictures too. Stay tuned.
Another issue I had was trying to get back into my blogger account. It took me over a very frustrating hour before I finally was able to figure out how to call it back up. To Google's credit, their blogger troubleshooting list did help me eventually solve the problem.
So, stay tuned for some new stuff. I have more interesting adventures coming this year with 3 cruises booked with Royal Caribbean. And thank you for reading my blog. Cheers.
Update February 27, 2018: I managed to kick the virus I caught and have started taking Vitamin Shoppe's Sambucus Black Elderberry extract to stay healthy. I'm not crazy about the taste of the stuff as it tastes like licorice but, if it keeps me healthy, I'll take a dose every day.
On new blog topics, I'll be blogging about some more products I've tried like Pringle's Extra Hot Chili & Lime chips and the new Maryland Lottery $30 game they came out with this week. It looks like it'll be an improvement over the first $30 game they came out with so stay tuned.
Update March 29, 2018: I know I haven't posted a review on Maryland's new Megabucks $30 scratch off game. It is an improvement over their first $30 game called $2,000,000 Fortune. It has 3 different possible instant win chances in the main part of the ticket and four bonus instant win chances at the top of the ticket - $30, $50, $200 and $500. I still plan to write a review on this game.
Another thing to watch for are some posts on my upcoming cruise with Royal Caribbean. I'll be cruising out of Baltimore, Maryland on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas. It'll be my 3rd cruise on this ship BUT, the first time I'll in-process through the Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal. I've read the people are rude there. I'm curious to see if it's true. We'll see. I'll try to post some pictures too. Stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)