Review of ALDI Supermarkets

A couple months ago, I decided to check out the new ALDI supermarket in Laurel, Maryland. I'd heard of them from a friend but, I'd never been in one. The supermarket was different from what we're used to in the United States of America (USA). For starters, they're smaller than most supermarkets here. Also, their selection is more limited (you would have 8 or 9 types of snack items vice an entire row of them. One surprising thing about them is their choices of genuine German items example: Moser Roth chocolate bars. I have a friend who is a Germanophile and really likes a lot of their German items. I've enjoyed some and handed off others to my friend when I haven't been thrilled with other trial choices. Also, I've heard the chain is German owned (don't know if this is true though it would explain the number of genuine German food items).

The chain has shown some real smarts in that they keep their shopping carts chained together and, you must insert a quarter coin (25 cents U.S.) to detach the chain so, you can use one of the carts. This is really smart as it gets people to return their cart instead of them ending up all over the parking lot and nearby neighborhood.

On shopping bags, you must pay 9 cents for one of their plastic shopping bags unless you bring one of your own.

The chain appears to be expanding in the USA as they've also opened a store in Columbia, Maryland which is bigger than the Laurel, Maryland store and consequently has a better selection including some baked goods.

Overall, I've been really pleased shopping at the Laurel and Columbia, Maryland ALDI supermarkets. I enjoy trying their various German items as well as their own brand items. They do have good prices on many items at their stores. I give this chain 2 thumbs up and will be a regular shopper at their stores. Happy shopping all!

Review of Dollar City & More Store

Another dollar and above type store has opened in the place of what I believe was a store called Dollarman. I saw the signs a while back announcing it's grand opening and later got around to visiting the store to see what it's like.

The store reminds me of a Family Dollar store. I has stuff for a dollar and, it has stuff that costs more than dollar. As far as I could tell, if there isn't any price tag on it, it's a dollar otherwise there should be a price tag saying how much the item is. There is a chiller unit in the store offering cold drinks that don't have prices on them BUT, there is a price list for the drinks at the top of the unit (I bought an Arizona Orangeade out of it).

Appearance wise, the store is well kept up. I've seen Dollar Tree stores with stuff strewn all over the place. This store is neat and items were kept in good order by its staff.

The store's staff was courteous and, I believe they would've been helpful if I had any questions about items or their prices.

Brand wise, I did notice the store carries a lot of stuff from the Forelli brand which I've never heard of. I tried some of their honey and lemon flavored black tea and found it decent. For a $1, I got a box with 20 tea bags in it which I thought a good price.

Parking wise, there's plenty as it's part of the Laurel Plaza (next to Laurel Centre) complex in Laurel, Maryland. If you're using a Global Positioning System (GPS), it's address is 361 Montrose Avenue, Laurel, Maryland 20707.

Overall, I think it's a decent store. This was my second visit to it and, I found it nice. It did seem a little small compared to other dollar type stores I've visited but, the staff does try to offer a good selection of items in the space they have. I'd give it at least 1 thumbs up. If you're in the area and want to find some cheaply priced stuff, you may want to check it out.

Jailbreak Infinity Amber Ale Review

When I visit the Total Wine store in Laurel, Maryland, I'll make it a point to try some beer or ale I haven't had before. Sometimes, it's in preparation for a future trip example: I tried Kingfisher Lager recently because it's sort of Indian. It's brewed in the United States under Indian (India) supervision. As I'll be touring India next year with Globus, I wanted to try some of their beer and see how it is.

In the case of Jailbreak Infinity Amber Ale, what makes this special to me is that it's brewed in Laurel, Maryland. I haven't visited the microbrewery where presumably they brew the stuff but, it is neat to me that it's brewed in the town I live in like National Bohemian is special to those in Baltimore even though that beer isn't brewed there any more.

Anyway, in the case of Jailbreak's amber ale, I found it to be a nice ale though I'll readily admit I'm not any kind of aficionado on ales. If I like it, I say so. If I don't, I say that too.

Total Wine sells Infinity Amber Ale in 12 ounce 6 pack cans for $10.99 which isn't cheap but not exorbitant in my book either. I suspect it's not a bad price for a microbrewery.

Overall, if you like ale, I think you'll like this one. I'll have to check and see if you can buy it at the brewery and if so, at what price. That would be neat to be able to take a 6 pack home with you after trying it at the place it's made. Happy Drinking All!

Laurel (Maryland) Main Street Travel Inc. Closed

I saw in Yelp and Yellowpages.com that they're reporting that Laurel (Maryland, I don't know if there's a Laurel Main Street Travel in some other state so I'm specifying what state) Main Street Travel Incorporated as open. They're not. They're permanently closed and didn't move to another location. I visited their former office yesterday personally and spoke with a very nice lady from the Laurel Board of Trade that now occupies the site. Also, I can personally testify that number 410-792-4438 has been disconnected i.e. I called it myself and got a recording saying that.

I don't know why the business closed. I saw on one webpage that I don't remember that they'd been in the travel business for 35 years. I was saddened by their closure. I think travel agencies are having a tough time with all the competition they have now and various travel companies trying to cut their agent's commissions. Personally, I like working with a travel agent vice trying to do it myself. My travel agent Joel Mills has been priceless at times.

Anyway, to repeat one final time - Laurel Main Street Travel Incorporated (Inc.) is permanently closed. Happy travels all!

Town Centre at Laurel (Maryland) Photos

I decided to try out my latest newest toy, a Sony DSC-RX100M2 point and shoot camera. The main advantage of the camera is that you can carry it in your pocket. This made it great for taking these photos as I was riding around on my TMAX motorbike.

My photos show the new Town Centre at Laurel shopping place. It has different parts scattered around, some of which aren't finished or haven't been let out yet. It is a huge improvement over the demolished Laurel Mall that used to occupy the site. The 2nd photo shows the new 12 screen Regal theater. I haven't seen a movie there but, that isn't any big surprise since I'm not a big movie goer. Most of the shops seem to be occupied by restaurants with others such at Sports Authority having moved from other locations in Laurel. The centre features other stores like Harris Teeter and Burlington Coat Factory (an original occupant). It's a nice development and may help bring more people into Laurel. Happy Holidays everyone!

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!

Laurel Sam's Club Wi-Fi Review

 I don't know if all Sam's Clubs offer free Wi-Fi. I checked their website and, they don't say anything about the service. I do know that their club in Laurel, Maryland offers free Wi-Fi. This past Wednesday, I finally got to test it out using my Nook e-reader. ATT provides their Wi-Fi connectivity. You click on the ATT signal and, it gets you an Internet Protocol (IP) address. Then, you have to call up a webpage that shows the address of the Sam's Club and, you have to check that you agree to their terms for using their free Wi-Fi. Once you do that, it connects you.

I found the signal at this Sam's Club to be excellent. I had no problems surfing the web or posting on my Facebook page. I consider this service a big plus over Costco which definitely doesn't offer free Wi-Fi at their stores. I plan to visit other Sam's Clubs in Maryland to see if they offer free Wi-Fi as well. Stay tuned for more updates on that.

Rita's York Peppermint Milk Shake

Yesterday, I visited the Laurel, Maryland Rita's Italian Ice for a Root Beer Misto Shake. They didn't have Root Beer ice yesterday but, I was able to get the equivalent of a Creamsicle Misto Shake which was just as good. While enjoying my shake, I noticed they had advertisements in their shop for a York (think peppermint pattie) Peppermint Milk Shake. I really like peppermint so, I inquired about the item. I found out, it isn't listed on the boards listing what custards and ices they have. It's something of a special product you have to know about to get. I decided to put that on my list to try.

Today was the day I got to try their York Peppermint Milk Shake. It was a reward to myself for moving 2 loads of my stuff to EZ Storage. My move is slowly coming along and, I should be out of my current apartment by the time my lease comes to a final end.

I found the shake had a very considerable chocolate flavor to it. Chocolate lovers should like it in that way. However, I found the peppermint flavor to be rather weak. I mentioned this to the lady running the Laurel shop and, she kindly got me some more peppermint syrup which helped some but, it still wasn't what I would call a very good PEPPERMINT milk shake. To me, it was more of a chocolate milk shake with a trace of peppermint. I think they need to use more peppermint syrup in the recipe.

Overall, it was a nice treat but, it wasn't as good as I expected it to be. I think Rita's Root Beer Misto or Creamsicle Misto shakes are better. FYI, the Laurel Rita's is now open 7 days a week again. During December and January, they had reduced hours which could be annoying at times. I remember having a hankering for 1 of their misto shakes only to find them closed. While I was there today, they seemed to be doing a decent amount of business especially with the cold weather. Hopefully, the winter weather will be behind us soon here in Maryland and, a Rita's ice will be even more enjoyable with the warmer weather. They're a great way to cool off. Happy Sipping All!!!!!

EZ Storage Laurel Maryland

Back in January, I decided it was time to move out of the apartment I've lived in the past 11 years. I came up with a plan where I'd move a lot of my stuff into storage first so, I could get the apartment cleaned then see about moving into an apartment some where else. One place I was familiar with storage wise is the EZ Storage facility on 8401 Contee Road in Laurel, Maryland. I've delivered mail there and, it looked like a nice facility. A big plus about the facility is they have units that are climate controlled i.e. they stay a certain temperature year round.

According to the companies website, they offer free tours of the facility and, I decided to take them up on it. I found out all the climate controlled units are in the basement level. All units have a sliding lock bar which you attach a lock to so, they are secured. The units vary in size from what would be a standard closet space to one on par with a 1 car garage. The bigger the unit, the expensive the monthly rent on it. You can find out what each size unit will cost you on their website and if the size unit you want is available at the facility you want to use. Rental agreements are from month to month and, the rent payment must be made by the 28th of each month. You can pay online if you wish at their website.

Security at the facility is very good. There are 3 layers of it. First, you must have a code given to you by the staff at the facility to get through the locked gate. Second, you must use that same code to get into the building and be able to raise the garage doors so, you can bring stuff into the facility. Third, you have the key lock on your unit. Also, there are surveillance cameras so staff can watch who is in the facility.

Hours wise, the facility is open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. 7 days a week. Office hours are 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The office has boxes for sale as well as packing tape and locks to secure your storage compartment with. Small boxes cost $2.19 each, medium boxes are $2.99 each and large are $3.99. EZ Storage has a deal where you buy 9 boxes and, you get the tenth box for a penny. I don't know the price of the packing tape. They have 2 types of locks for sale - a steel lock for $8.99 and a brass lock for $12.99. As far as I know, they both offer the same level of security for your unit.

Staff wise, I found the staff very helpful and courteous. The partners who run the facility are equally nice and are willing to answer any questions potential customers have about the facility.

Overall, I was very impressed with the EZ Storage facility at 8401 Contee Road, Laurel, Maryland. It's very clean, well run and very secure. I like storing my stuff there though moving it there has been a big time pain. Still, it's cheaper than using professional movers. I'd highly recommend this facility to anyone. Good luck on your move!

Mega Chicken Laurel Maryland

I drive and ride on Maryland-198 a lot. As a result, I've passed by a restaurant called Mega Chicken (address 3485 Ft. Meade Rd i.e. Maryland-198) a number of times. The restaurant claims to sell charcoal cooked chicken Peruvian style. As I have fond memories of my Globus tour of Peru, I've been wanting to try out their chicken for a while. Today, I decided to treat myself to some. I bought their half chicken meal for $7.25 which comes with a small standard salad (iceberg lettuce and shredded carrot pieces) and a choice of either rice, standard french fries or yucca (sweet potato) fries. Also, they include 1 small cup each of an unidentified yellow sauce and an unidentified green sauce.

The salad was nothing to get excited about and came with a small cup of a salad dressing I couldn't identify. As I wanted to try something different, I went with the yucca fries and was glad I did. I didn't find them very sweet but, they were pretty good. I enjoyed them more than having the standard french fries. I dipped the yucca fries in the 2 different sauces. I found the yellow sauce all right and very mild. The green sauce reminded me of a dining mishap I had in Peru. During my tour there, on our way back from Paracas, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. They served a salad with the meal I ordered. There was a slice of what looked standard green pepper. I promptly stuck the whole thing in my mouth and munched it. I found out very quickly that was a big mistake. It wasn't your standard green pepper. It had plenty of zing and, I had tears coming down from the fire in my mouth. I'm pretty certain the unidentified green sauce is made with the same green pepper I had in Peru. In regards to the chicken, I found it tasty and tender. It readily came off the bone and, it was easy to eat.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with Mega Chicken. Parking was good, service was prompt and, the food was pretty good (better than good). I thought it was reasonably priced too. I particularly liked the yucca fries which is something you can't find routinely here in the U.S. I saw on the menu they offer fried plantains which I've tried once in St. Lucia and, I'd like to try again. Also, they sell the national soft drink of Peru i.e. Inca Kola. They offer it in 16 ounce plastic bottles for $1.25. This isn't the best deal as down the street at Shoppers Food Warehouse, you can get a 2 liter bottle for $1.59 I believe. I like Inca Kola but, I will warn soft drink drinkers, it tastes VERY different from your standard cola drinks (more like bubble gum). If you would like to try some Peruvian charcoal cooked chicken, this place is worth checking out.

Laurel California Tortilla Closed

This may be old news to some but, I thought I'd post on it any way. A couple weeks ago while I was delivering mail in the Contee Road and Route 1 area, I noticed that the Laurel California Tortilla was closed. Their outside sign had been removed and, I didn't see any activity inside the former restaurant. I was saddened by their closure as I felt they sold good food which was prepared quickly. I was curious why they closed as from I'd seen, they did a good bit of business.

I found a post by California Tortilla's Marketing Manager on www.yelp.com dated July 5, 2012 stating that the restaurant franchisee had been unable to come to suitable terms with the landlord regarding the future use of the property. California Tortilla corporate tried to put in a new owner for the restaurant but failed. So, the restaurant was permanently closed. The marketing manager also stated that California Tortilla hopes to return to Laurel soon. Anyone who has any further questions about the closing can email California Tortilla at: skane@californiatortilla.com.

I hope the chain succeeds in opening a new Laurel restaurant. I liked them a lot. I thought their chicken honey lime burritos were particularly good. Also, I liked their turkey chili. I'll let my readers know if I hear anything more on California Tortilla re-opening in Laurel. Happy dining all!

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.

Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood House

It's been at least 2 years since I last visited the Laurel Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood House. It isn't that I don't like the restaurant. It's just that I'd been cutting back on eating out. With my travel friend Harvey coming up for our flights to Toronto, Canada, I recommended the restaurant as something good and different for dinner. The drive to the restaurant is easy enough. You take Maryland 295 to the Maryland 197 exit toward Laurel. You drive to Contee Road and turn left onto Contee Road. You got to the 3rd stoplight (where Route 1, Baltimore Washington Boulevard is) and turn left heading toward Washington D.C. The restaurant is on the left side of the road just before the Academy Ford car dealership.

The restaurant is one of those Japanese restaurants where the cook puts on a show while preparing the food. He juggles eggs with his spatula, makes a smoking volcano out of onion rings, cracks jokes and basically entertains the customers while preparing their respective orders. It makes for an amusing and more enjoyable dining experience.

The prices are very reasonable in my opinion. I had Teppanyaki steak and shrimp for $21.95. My unlimited sodas cost $2.15. A choice of 1 starter (chicken livers, sauteed mushrooms or 2 shrimps), a bowl of some kind of very good onion soup, a salad with an unidentifiable salad dressing, vegetables (broccoli, onions, carrots, squash, bean sprouts), and either white rice or fried rice come with the main entree. If you go to the Sakura website http://sakurasteakhouse.com/, you'll find coupons that could save you an additional 10%. Hours wise, the Laurel restaurant starts serving dinner at 4:30 p.m. I don't remember how late it stays open. Also, they have lunch hours. I don't know what those are.

Overall, I was very pleased with my dinner at this Sakura restaurant. The food was plentiful and tasty. The cook was very amusing and skilled. My waiter did a great job of keeping my glass filled with soda and was very prompt in serving my appetizer, soup and salad (depending on the rice you want, the cook may provide that i.e. fried rice). I would heartily recommend this restaurant to anyone who likes Japanese food. I definitely plan on going back myself. Bon Appetit all!

Laurel Dutch Market

I visited the Laurel Pennsylvania Dutch Farmers Market on Maryland 198 this morning. I was interested in getting some meat ends from Beilers Meats. On Saturdays, the market opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 3 p.m. I arrived at 8:30 and to my disbelief, there was scarcely a parking spot to be had. The market was absolutely jumping. I think they really need to find a location in Laurel that offers more parking. The parking they have at their current location simply isn't enough. Too many times, I've had to scramble to find a parking spot.

Barring the parking mess, the market remains one of my favorite places to shop for meats, baked goods, juices, canned vegetables, candies and ice cream. They sell outstanding quality foods and, I'd highly recommend them to anyone. Just be prepared for the parking mess.

Local Bus System

This Wednesday, I got to try out the local bus system for the first time. As I mentioned in a previous post, I made the huge mistake of running the battery down on my Yamaha TMAX motorbike. I had no idea how complicated it is to jump start the battery on the bike. It turned out they would have to take the bike's mirrors off, the windshield and the front face plate in order to get to the small battery. This is obviously not something they can easily do on the street. So, my bike was loaded on a truck and taken to the motorcycle dealership where they ended up replacing the dead battery.

Heyser Cycle was as prompt as they could be in fixing the problem with my bike. I say that because right now, they are swamped with work. It's hot; it's sunny; gas is still nearly $4 a gallon so everyone wants to ride their motorbike. Which means, Heyser is loaded with work right now as of course a number of the pesky bikes don't want to run right while the weather is great for riding a motorbike.

2 days after I dropped my bike off at the dealership, they called me and told me it was ready for pick up. Cool. 1 problem, how do I get over there to pick it up? My good friends the Baldons have moved to Bowie. I wasn't about to call them and ask them to drive out to Laurel to get me and then drive me to the dealership. The people I know at work are what I would call semi-friends. We have great times chatting at work and, I am willing to help them out some at work but, I don't have anything to do with them outside work. So, I wasn't about to ask one of them for a ride. I could walk it but, it is over 9 miles to the dealership. I could call a cab but, I haven't forgotten the last fiasco I had with that. So, I looked into the local bus system. It turned out there is a Central Maryland bus system that runs through Laurel and connects with Anne Arundel and Howard County buses. This makes it pretty handy if you don't have access to a car.

The fares on the bus were very reasonable. It cost $1.50 to get to Laurel Mall. From there, I was able to walk the remaining 3 or 4 blocks to Heyser. My only complaint with the system is they didn't have a schedule posted at the bus stop saying when the bus would show up and, you couldn't find out the pick up times on-line either. So, I went out to bus stop and had no idea when the bus would show up. Because of this, I ended up waiting over 25 minutes at the stop in the heat. I wasn't thrilled but, it beat taking a taxi or worse still walking.

That's all on my first experience with the local Laurel, Maryland bus system. It's a decent enough system. It is affordable and, you can get to a lot of places on it with the connecting bus services such as Greenbelt Metro Station, Columbia Mall and Baltimore Washington International Airport. I'm tempted to try to take it to the airport sometime. I figure it would cost me $5 or so to get there vice $35 to use an airport shuttle. We'll see on that. Cheers all!

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!

Messed Over

The Laurel Maryland Harley Davidson dealership did a nice number on me today. As any readers I have know, I was big time looking forward to taking the motorcycle safety course so I could get my license. The Laurel dealership was where I'd signed up for the course and paid $350 for it. I took 3 days of leave from work so I'd be able to do the course. I drove out to the dealership this morning and quickly noticed I was the only one waiting for the course. A man who worked at the dealership asked if he could help me. I told him I was here for the motorcycle safety course. He promptly called the lady that does the scheduling. I was let in and, she informed me that the course had been cancelled because the community college that has the range they use said they couldn't use their range until October 19th. All courses till then were cancelled. The dealership for unknown reasons never got around to telling me. Because of their mistake, I missed out working on my favorite route and who knows how many other hours. Worse, I'll have to take 3 more days off to try to take the course later. The dealership was kind enough to find me another dealership that is offering the course Monday through Wednesday. Still, I'm not too pleased with them for their snafu. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that I get to take the course next time. We'll see. Stay tuned.

Salvation Army

Sometimes, I'll decide to clear out various stuff I don't want for various reasons. Clothes no longer fit, I've changed movie systems, or books have gotten old. Today was such a day. I had 2 huge trash bags full of clothes and movies on VHS. The clothes no longer fit and, I've replaced most of my VHS movies with DVD. A good charity to donate such stuff to is the Salvation Army. They have a thrift store and donation depot in Laurel, Maryland. So, I took the stuff I decided to get rid of and gave it to them. Hopefully, someone still watches VHS movies. Some of the ones I gave them were still in their original wrapper. The clothes I gave them were in good shape too. Someday, I'll have to go in and check out their thrift shop. I've never been in it though I've donated a good bit of stuff to it. For any who might be interested in it, the shop and depot are located just off the exit for Route 1 from MD-32 on Guildford Road. Cheers all!

Periodontist

Wednesday, I got to see Dr. Ronnie Jones at the Batz & Weiner Dentistry. Dr. Jones is their resident periodontist. A periodontist is a dentist that specializes in gum disease and gum surgery. I'd seen Dr. Jones previously because my gums became seriously infected. I haven't flossed like I should AND I didn't get my teeth cleaned regularly like I should've. Dr. Jones had to descale my teeth. What that is where they go into each root of each tooth and clean out all the built up tartar and infection. It was an expensive and long procedure. After that, I was supposed to see Dr. Jones every 6 months but I opted for every 3. I figured I could keep the tartar and any possible infection under control that way even with my poor record for flossing. So, I got to see Dr. Jones Wednesday. The news wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. None of my teeth were in really bad shape and most were in good shape. There was some minor bleeding in the gums which indicates that I had some minor infection in some teeth. If I got off my lazy duff and flossed more, there wouldn't be any. I'll try to floss more though it is a real hassle. I'll get to see Dr. Jones again the end of September.

Gas Prices

I don't know how gas prices are where you live my faithful readers but here in Laurel, Maryland; they continue to climb. Today, I had to fill up 2 of our postal trucks at 2 different gas stations in Laurel. A Chevron gas station on MD-197 close to the MD-295 Parkway was charging $3.99 for regular. At an Exxon station on MD Route 1 close to MD-32, they were charging $3.89. A BP station on MD-198 just down from MD-295 was also charging $3.89. Prices apparently are still going up around here. It makes me glad I didn't buy that townhome in PA. The commute would've been a real killer money wise.