Review of National Harbor Cariloha Store

I'm a big fan of Cariloha. I think they make some neat stuff out of bamboo. Also, I have found their t-shirts softer and cooler than cotton t-shirts. Recently, I decided to visit their National Harbor store to get some more of their t-shirts. I'd visited the store a few years back though I couldn't remember exactly when. Because of that, I was somewhat familiar with the parking near the store.

If you're lucky, you can find a parking spot right on American Way Street which makes it really easy to visit the Cariloha store. They have parking meters by the spots and, they charge $3 an hour with a maximum of 2 hours at a time. If you can't find a spot on American Way, they do have multi-level garages where you can park your car though I don't know how much they charge.

The store is the usual Cariloha store. It isn't particularly big and is right next to and part of a Del Sol store. It has a decent selection of their stuff. T-shirts were selling for $34 each and their white crew socks were selling for $12 a pair. They had other items but, these were the ones I was interested in and actually bought.

I found the store staff helpful though there was only 1 lady running both shops at the time of the visit. I feel she could've used some help. Still, she did the best she could and, I was able to get the items I wanted. I lucked out in that I visited the day after July 4th and, they were still having their 25% off July 4th sale.

Store hours are Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The store's address is 160 American Way. I have seen 2 different town locations for the store. One is National Harbor, Maryland and the other is Oxon Hill, Maryland. If you use a Global Positioning System (GPS), you may have to see which town your system will take.

Overall, I was very pleased with the store. I've since worn the t-shirts and socks and, they've performed fine. I do wish they had more t-shirts that said National Harbor on them (they only had 1 in my size). I may go back there some time in the future as I'd like to get one of their bathrobes. If you like Cariloha stuff and live in the Washington D.C. area, I think you'd like this store. Plus, as far as I know, it's the only one in Maryland. At one time, they had one in Annapolis but apparently that one closed. Happy shopping all!

Bosley

Yesterday, I got to visit the Washington D.C. Bosley office for the first time. For those who don't know, Bosley deals with hair restoration. What is that you ask. Hair restoration deals with restoring hair on men who are going bald for various reasons. There are different ways you can deal with balding. There are hair transplants which is the most expensive method. As far as I know, this can cost between $3,000 and $4,000. The reason for that is because you have to transplant a lot of hair to make a noticeable difference in the balding area. 5 or 6 strands of hair isn't going to make much of an impact. Another method is using Rogaine cream. Rogaine can cause new hair growth however, it isn't 100% effective in all men and, it requires to apply it to the area where you want the new hair twice a day. Yet another method is laser comb. Like Rogaine, it isn't 100% effective and, you have to use the comb every other day for at least 10 but no more than 20 minutes. I have 1 of these myself but because of the hassle of using it, I use it off and on. One advantage of the comb is it is a 1 time cost. You pay the $500 plus for it and, that's all you pay. If you take Rogaine, you have to keep getting new cans of it and correspondingly keep shelling out the bucks.

Back to Bosley. Before using Bosley, I used Medical Hair Restoration who I really liked. Sadly, Bosley bought them out. In order to get my Propecia prescription (it requires one) renewed, I needed to see one of their doctors. The doctor I met at Bosley was Dr. Peter Morse. He turned out to be a very nice, informed and helpful doctor. I found out from him how things work with name brand medications and generic with the Food and Drug Administration. By this, I mean he told me what kind of variance you can have with name brand vice generic. In the case of Propecia, if must not go over a 5% variance. If it's a generic of Propecia, it can vary as much as 15%! Obviously, that means you may not be getting the required dose. Worse still, with foreign generics, there isn't any way you can find out just how much of the actual drug you're getting if any at all. I confess I was wondering about that with the Fincom-1 (Indian Propecia generic) I've been taking. You don't want to find out the hard way i.e. your hair starts falling out. Because of our chat, I will be taking more of the name brand Propecia though I wish Merck sold the stuff for less. It isn't a cheap drug.

I was advised I was eligible for hair transplants but, I don't care to spend that much money right now. I did decide to get their hair treatment package. The package includes vitamins which are supposed to be particulary good for your hair, shampoo and conditioner that helps remove DHT (the male hormone that causes baldness) and Rogaine cream. I'm curious to see what if any difference taking these will make. We'll see. I'll post future observations on here after I've given them some time to work.

Overall, the Washington D.C. Bosley practice seemed very knowledgeable and professional. They have very nice offices in Chevy Chase, Maryland with a parking lot right next to their office. I stayed at the Bosley practice for over an hour and, it cost me $3 to park there. I think that charge covered 1 to 3 hours though I'm not 100% certain on that. Getting to their offices can be a bit of a pain as driving through Washington D.C. is never fun. Cheers all!

Adventure Begins

After waiting what seemed like ages, my latest adventures began yesterday. I caught a regional Amtrak train from BWI Amtrak station and arrived at Union Station, Washington D.C. It was hard to believe I was on a real tour in D.C. It's not a place I would imagine taking a Globus tour. I've visited D.C. a number of times on my own. Still, that's where the tour starts. It does have one big plus. It was easy to get to and cheap to. This is the first tour where I didn't have some long and expensive flight.

After arriving at Union Station, I met my friend Harvey. I haven't seen him since the Egypt trip. He looked in good shape and spirits. We proceeded to where you can catch a cab and took one to the tour hotel the Capital Hilton. I found out the hotel has been a center of a lot of political activities. It has had a number of inaugural balls, important meetings between politicians and some presidents have favored it. Richard Nixon supposedly would walk down to it on occasion.

After checking in, I got to meet our tour guide Hilary. She struck me as a very nice lady with a pleasant personality. She was waiting in the hotel lobby and checking off very tour members as they arrived. I found out there will be 39 in our group which is a good number. Due to the shortness of our tour, Hilary had to get people to say which dinner they wanted for our dinners in Colonial Williamsburg, Gettysburg and Philadelphia. Also, she told me how things would work at the first group meeting at 6 p.m. Lastly, she was able to direct Harvey and I to a street where there were a number of sandwich shops. Later, we found a Potbelly's which sell pricey but good sandwiches. Those would hit the spot.

The group meeting was interesting. There are 6 Aussie couples in our tour as well as 3 or 4 families. This is the first tour I've been on that will have kids. There are also a number of single ladies though none of them were lookers as far as I could tell. I got to meet a couple of them and, they were nice ladies. One asked where I worked. I told her and, I got the impression she wasn't impressed with the Postal Service. Oh well.

After the group meeting, I called it a night. I was up early yesterday morning and, it had been a somewhat long day. I still found it hard to believe my latest Globus adventures had begun. Stay tuned for more updates. Cheers all!

Another French Lesson

After nearly a month off, I did another French lesson at the Alliance Francaise with my teacher Nadya. The lesson went alright though I'm still having a hard time understanding spoken French. My vocabulary is slowly getting better. I was able to translate more today but, I still had problems with some flowery phrases a French writer used in describing some of the wonders around Aswan, Egypt. I'm still bad about doing my homework.

After next week's lesson, my teacher returns to France for 2 months. I don't plan to request a temporary substitute teacher as the sub wouldn't know where I am in my studies for starters. Also, I'd only be able to get in maybe 5 lessons before Nadya returned from France. Lastly, holding off like that will make it easier to fork up the next $1,000 for the next 25 hours of private lessons.

On a different note, I used my GPS unit to get to the Alliance Francaise and to get home from there. It did another great job. I hardly know my way around Washington D.C. driving wise so, it was priceless in helping me find a quick route through the city thereby avoiding having to take the long way on the D.C. Inner Loop (465). I continue to be really impressed with the unit. I'm very glad I bought it. Cheers!

French Lesson

Yesterday, I did another French lesson with my teacher Nadya. I had 2 weeks off from the lessons because Nadya went some where to see her grandkids and the next week, I didn't feel like driving down to D.C. It's a real pain to drive in D.C. It's constantly stop and go. Also, you have to really pay attention to potential stoplights. There must be 20 plus of them on the route I take to the Alliance Francaise. About 4 weeks ago, I wasn't paying enough attention and got half way through an intersection before I realized the light was red. At that point, you might as well keep on going. To my rotten luck, one of the D.C. traffic cameras caught it and I got a notice with pictures of my car informing me of the $75 fine. I knew I did what the camera showed so I promptly wrote the check and mailed it. Since then, I've been really watching out for the stoplights.

The lesson itself went well. I still have one major problem - vocabulary. I'll try to compose sentences in French and, I'll find words I don't the French equivalent for. Nadya told me that'll come with me reading more articles in French. I'll keep looking up the words I don't know and, I'll eventually remember them. So, it'll just take time and lots of reading on that. I am getting better on translating written French. Nadya had me read in French an article where the Marquis de Lafayette was awarded American citizenship posthumously. After reading every 3 or 4 lines, she'd have me translate it into English. I could see I was slowly getting there.

That's all on the French lessons for now. Au revoir!

French Lessons

Yesterday, I had my first French lesson with my new French teacher. It was interesting to return to the Washington D.C. Alliance Francaise. I haven't been there in at least 5 years. I remember looking them up when I first arrived in the D.C. area. I had taken French lessons at the Alliance Francaise Bahrain branch and I had been very pleased with them. So, I checked into and found out they had a branch in Washington D.C. Because of the unpredictability of my work hours, I had to do one-on-one lessons then like I'm doing now. My teacher then was a lady named Dominique (I don't remember her last name). I was making good progress but, I decided to get back to college so I could finish my Bachelor's degree (which I still haven't done). Because of college and work, I stopped the lessons though I continued to study French with various computer programs. The best one I found was Rosetta Stone which I still have. Still, Rosetta Stone can't take the place of a teacher.

My tour of France wettened my desire to properly learn French again. I really enjoyed trying to speak French but, I was having difficulties. I didn't know enough vocabulary and I couldn't translate fast enough to understand every thing people would say back to me in French. One of the biggest problems with a computer program is you can't ask it questions about the language your studying. I realized that I wanted to seriously study French again, I was going to have to study with a teacher. The one place I knew where they have good French teachers was the Alliance Francaise. I had their website bookmarked so it was easy to look them up and find out what I had to do to start lessons again with them. The only problem I had this time was finding a teacher who would teach me on Sundays.

My hours at the Post Office are extremely unpredictable. I can be scheduled to be off a certain day and end up working 12 hours. Last week, I was supposed to work 31 hours. I ended up working over 50! I had 3 days where I worked over 11 hours each day! Because of such crazy hours, the only day I knew that I could absolutely do a lessons and not have to change them or cancel them at the last minute would be Sunday. The Post Office doesn't deliver mail on Sundays so I was safe there.

I spoke with the academic director at the D.C. Alliance and she told me she'd work on finding me a teacher. It would've been easier to find one during the weekdays or Saturday but, I told her that wasn't possible. To my delight, I heard from my new teacher the Sunday before last (I think). It turned out she was a lady in her 60's I would guess who is more knowledgeable about French than English. I guess she comes from France. Anyway, we got together for the first time yesterday. The lesson went well though it was challenging for me. With French, some words can mean multiple things so you have to listen or read the entire sentence to find out what the word may mean. An example would be the French work Ou. Ou can mean where or "or." It all depends on how you emphasize it. If you emphasize it at the beginning of a question, you're likely asking where something is. If you don't emphasize the word, they're probably giving choices ex. Martin or Andrew and they're using it as or. Another thing that makes French challenging is that they'll have letters that'll carry over into the next word when you speak it. Ex. Vous etes Italienne. When you speak this sentence, you would say vous zet zitalienne. The s's carry over into the next words and have a "z" sound. This can make it very hard at times to say the words. It can also make it hard to translate what is spoken as there isn't any French word zitalienne. There is an Italienne word so you have to figure out that the "z" is being carried over but, it isn't part of the word. I suspect this is one of the things that makes it so hard for me to translate spoken French.

Nadya worked to develop all the aspects of French i.e. I need to be able to speak it, understand it when it's spoken, write it and read it. So, we practiced on all 4 aspects. I got to read various sentences aloud and translate them. I received practice translating spoken French when she spoke it and I started figuring out how I would write in French. She gave me a homework assignment where I'll have to write 2 to 4 sentences in French. Thankfully, I get to use a French-English dictionary if I need to (and I will). Also, I'm supposed to read 1 or 2 paragraphs of something written in French. She gave me a newsletter that tells of things in the French-American community in the U.S. as well as having articles on wine and food. I plan to use that for my reading assignment.

Overall, the lesson went well. Nadya gave me the options I had as far as how long the lessons could be. They can be 1, 1 and 1/2, 2 or even 3 hours long. I opted for 1 and 1/2 hour lessons. That'll give us enough time to cover a good bit of material but, my brain won't get too fried from trying to think of the various French words and put them in the correct order. The lessons will be challenging and fun. The only hassle I'm going to have is driving down to D.C. and finding a parking spot close to the Alliance. Ironically, I had to park in front of the French embassy or Ambassador's house. I thought it appropriate considering what I was there to do. I look forward to learning more French and getting to use it when I return to France for another Globus tour in 2010. Au revoir!

Union Station

Per my previous blog on the D.C. Duck tour, I found myself with an hour and 45 minutes to waste before the tour left. I decided to explore Union Station. Union Station is the main train station for Washington D.C. All trains going through D.C. stop there. It is a very impressive building with beautiful statues, walls and ceilings. There are a number of Roman centurion statues that were designed by Louis Saint Gauden (I hope I have that name right). Each of the statues has a shield in front of it. The reason for this is that each statue is nude. When the statues were made back in 1908, people were more modest than we are today. As some people in those days would've been shocked at the sight of such brazen manliness, Gauden created was has come to be known as "modesty shields" which stand in front of the statues and hide each of the statue's manliness. I thought the story funny which is why I'm passing it on to you my reader.

The station has 3 floors. The bottom floor is filled with various restaurants. I can't tell you if any of them are any good as I've never tried any of them. The 2nd floor has a combination of shops, restaurants, Amtrak ticket counters and the gates for the various trains. I thought this part was neat as I checked out the various gates to see where the trains were going. A lot of them were going north to New York City with some going on to Boston. Some were going south to Newport News. To me, train travel is still pretty neat. You get to see towns and countryside on the train unlike in an airplane. You also arrive typically in the heart of your destination vice at some distant airport. My only complaint with the trains is their poor timeliness. I know airplanes are late too but, the airplanes have never been as late as some of the trains I've ridden on here in the states.

The 3rd floor on the station has some posh shops including Joseph Banks Clothiers. I've actually bought some very nice clothes here and I was very pleased with them. This is also where you find the connecting walkway to the station multi-floored parking lot. I've also used this parking lot though I don't remember what it costs.

Overall, Union Station is a very nice place. It's a great place to grab a bite to eat, do a little shopping, catch a tour of D.C. or take a train on a new adventure some where. If you're in D.C., you should check it out. Cheers all!

Washington D.C. Hard Rock Cafe

I had dinner at the Washington D.C. Hard Rock Cafe yesterday. After I finished a D.C. Duck tour (see previous blog), I took the Metro to MCI Station. From there, I walked to the cafe. The cafe was fairly busy. Since I was by myself, the cafe greeter wanted to sit me at some cocktail tables they have. I wanted a regular table. They granted my request but, I was seated in a corner where I was easily forgotten. My waitress Lori was also very busy with other customers so didn't have a lot of time to check on me.

I had their pulled pork sandwich and sinful sundae for dessert. The sandwich was nicely presented and came with 2 small sides of cole slaw and baked beans with a main side of french fries. Everything on the entree tasted good. Concerning my sundae, when you make a sundae, aren't you suppose to pour the chocolate syrup over the ice cream then cover it with whip cream and nuts? That's what I think and they didn't do. They poured it into this plastic glass and it went straight to the bottom of it. The ice cream itself was Haagen Dazs and was very good. They also did a nice job with the whip cream and sprinkles though I think they forgot the nuts they were supposed to put on the sundae.

Overall, the food was average and the service was below average. I wasn't pleased with this visit. The only thing I was pleased about was the waitress getting the credit right on my All Access Membership. For those of you who don't know, All Access Membership is a program the chain has where you can earn credit toward free t-shirts, pins or food. For every $200 you spend, you get $20 in credit. It's a nice program. I was very close to getting my next $20 credit which was why I really wanted to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. At some of the cafe's I've eaten at, the waitresses haven't known how to enter the All Access information properly so I haven't gotten the proper amount of credit I was supposed to get for my purchase. Thankfully, Lori did know how to enter it and I earned my next $20 credit. Now, I have a $100 credit that I can use for whatever I want at any Hard Rock Cafe. I'm pleased about that. Barring that, I don't see myself busting my butt to visit this cafe for a while. I wouldn't recommend you do so either. Bon Appetit!

D.C. Duck Tour

I've wanted to do what is called a Duck tour for a while. I signed up for one during my March 2008 cruise but, it was cancelled and I couldn't make the morning tour as I had another tour scheduled during that time. A Duck tour for those of you who don't know is a tour of a city in what is called a Duck vehicle. The vehicle was created during World War II. It's purpose was to take supplies from a ship like a boat and then drive up on a beach and go to where ever the front lines were and deliver the supplies. So, it is a combination boat and truck or in the case of the tour bus. It's a pretty cool vehicle and is one of the draws of the tour.

The tour itself is reasonably priced. An adult ticket was less than $30. I don't know what a child's ticket would cost. The tour leaves from Union Station and lasts 90 minutes. The two duck drivers were called Captain Crunch and Captain Nemo. Captain Nemo was the one who drove the duck I rode in.

The tour itself was good. Captain Nemo was very knowledgeable about D.C. and pointed out the main points of interest and dropped occasional bits of trivia as well. When we reached the marina opposite the Pentagon, we entered the Potomac River and got to take a short river cruise. At this point, I was a bit disappointed with the tour because we didn't see anything of great interest on the river. The only thing that was some what neat was just before we exited the river. We crossed the flight path of jets that were taking off from Reagan National Airport. We actually had one fly right over us. Another nice thing Nemo was did was issue quackers. These are whistles that make a quacking sound. The rules were we quacked all buses we passed, all policemen and something else. It was goofy and it was fun. I know I looked stupid blowing my quacker whistle but, I enjoyed it.

Overall, I thought the tour was pretty nice. I thought Captain Nemo did a very good job. The tour itself is apparently very popular as they were able to fill 2 ducks for 2 p.m. when I made my reservation at Noon. The lady making the reservations told me they were nearly fully booked for the day. There is a duck tour in Baltimore and I plan to take that one too. I'm curious to see if that one will be more impressive on the water. We'll see. Cheers!

Test Drive

I did a test drive today to Washington Dulles International Airport. I'll be flying out of there when I fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico for my Caribbean cruise. The drive went all right barring slow traffic on a number of spots on the Washington 495 Beltway. As I was going to west on 495, I saw that there were bad spots going east and decided to continue on 495 South once I finished checking Dulles out.

Washington Dulles International Airport was built between 1958 and 1962. The main architect of the airport was Eero Saarinen. (Source: http://www.metwashairports.com/dulles/about_dulles_international_2/history_2)

Saarinen did a nice job designing the airport. He also designed it so it could grow as more and more people flew. Thanks to Saarinen's foresight, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority was able to expand the airport as needed. I drove the dedicated road that runs to the airport. It was well maintained and well marked. I was able to find the long term (economy) parking lots as well as the departure area I'll leave from. From what I could see, my only worry will be the traffic along the 495 Beltway. Once I reach the dedicated road, I should have no problems reaching Dulles. I'm considering staying at a hotel at the airport or close by. I have a somewhat early flight and I don't want to have to get up super early to drive down to Dulles or take a chance on the traffic. I don't know what the traffic is like on the Beltway at 6 a.m.

My drive back was uneventful barring a 3 or 4 mile backup before the drawbridge on the southeast side of the beltway. I suspect construction in this area is what is slowing traffic down there. Once I was past that, I made good time getting home.

Hard Rock Cafe - Washington D.C.

After finishing the orange tour on the Old Town Trolley, I decided it was time for some dinner. To my delight, the tour I took finished right across the street from the Washington D.C. Hard Rock Cafe. I'd visited the cafe twice before but, I'd never eaten there. I went in and was promptly served. I decided to try the Tupelo chicken fingers, New York 12 ounce strip steak and a wild berry smoothie. The smoothie tasted different from what I was use to but, it was very good. I received a good serving of chicken fingers and the sauces they served with them were excellent (bar-b-que and honey mustard). Lastly, the steak was well cooked and came with mash potatoes with gravy and green beans. The mash potatoes and gravy were tasty. The green beans weren't overly cooked and were still crunchy. Overall, it was an excellent meal. Price wise, I paid $8.99 for my smoothie though that came with a pilsner glass I got to keep. I paid $9.50 for the chicken fingers and $23.50 for steak.

The cafe has an extensive rock memorabilia collection as all Hard Rock Cafes do. It was neat to look around and see the various guitars, concert posters and other stuff. They played assorted music videos on tvs that were spread throughout the cafe. Because of my All Access membership, I earned $42 credit toward my next $20 reward. If you like to eat or buy stuff from the Hard Rock Cafes, I'd strongly recommend you join their All Access club. It can earn you money back that you can use on food or clothing at the cafes.

That's all to report for this visit. I hope to visit the Baltimore cafe sometime soon and see how their food is. Rock on!

D.C. Sightseeing

I've lived outside the Washington D.C. area for over 6 years now. To my embarrassment, I've seen little of D.C. I have no excuse. It's easy to drive down to the Greenbelt station and take the Washington Metro (their subway system) into the capital. From there, you can easily take one of the hop on - hop off tours. Yesterday, I mended my ways somewhat. Initially, I planned to take the afternoon tour of the Washington memorials with Grayline Tours. I dithered so much that by the time I arrived at Union Station, the bus had already left. Luckily, there was another company called Old Town Trolley. They run 3 routes that cover all the main sights in D.C. As I was late getting out to D.C., I decided to ride the green route trolley (that route covers Union Station) its entire route. I found the driver/guide to be very knowledgeable and friendly. He told people when tours were available of the building that houses Congress. He also told which museums were closed for renovation (the Smithsonian had one that was closed). Trivia question I learned: who has the tallest statue in D.C.? Answer: Lady Freedom. She stands 19 feet 6 inches. A law was passed that no statue in D.C. can be taller than Lady Freedom. After taking their green route tour, I decided to take their orange route tour. This tour covered embassy row (62 embassies line this one stretch of road), Georgetown, the National Cathedral (did you know there is a gargoyle with the face of Darth Vader on it?) and the National Zoo (they have problems with the pandas in that all they want to do is eat and sleep i.e. they apparently aren't very interested in creating any baby pandas). The driver on this tour was particularly impressive as he was able to name every embassy on embassy row. I bet that took some memorization.

The third tour (a shuttle actually) which they offer which I didn't have time for is the one that takes you to Arlington to the tomb of the unknown, where John and Robert Kennedy are buried and where the Marine Memorial is. I plan to get back there sometime so I can see those.

Each tour on the trolleys took approximately 1 hour and 10 hours minutes (except for the Arlington tour). The company promises to stop at each stop on their routes every 30 minutes. The tours start at 9 a.m. and stop at 5:30 p.m. The cost is $32 for an adult. I don't know what it would cost for a child. I'd definitely recommend the Old Town Trolley. I found both their tours very interesting and informative. They also have the advantage that you can hop on and hop off as much as you want during the day. Their website is: http://oldtowntrolley.com/Washington-DC/.

Matinee Show

I worked a matinee show at Medieval Times yesterday. The matinee show is different from the regular show. It is a show tailored for school groups. The first 30 minutes of the show is an entertaining lesson on life during the Medieval Age. Princess Esperanza talks about the clothes women would wear and how marriages were arranged during that time. King Alphonso tells how a man could become a knight, how a coat of arms works and what a man would wear during that age. The King of Arms demonstrates some of the weapons of the time and talks about the armor a knight would wear. The Lord Falconer demonstrates falconry by by giving a demonstration of lure flying.The Lord Chancellor opens the instruction and helps things run smoothly between King and Princess and those in the arena where the weapons demonstrations and falconry take place. It is a very interesting and effective way to teach students in grade school, middle school and high school about the period.

After the instruction on the age, the show reverts back to a normal show with a couple exceptions. In order to make up for the time lost to the instruction on the age, two parts are cut out of the show. The Master of Horse doesn't do his demonstration of maneuvers done on horse and the Guards Quadria don't do their demonstration of precision horsemanship. Nothing is lost by cutting out the two parts. The show retains its suspense of who will become the new King's Champion as well as the romantic story of Princess Esperanza being in love with one of the knights.

Overall, the show is a very effective way to teach students about the age while enabling them to have some fun and enjoy some good food. It is very popular with school groups for these reasons. I personally think it is a neat way to teach about the age. I also enjoy working the show as it breaks up the monotony of working at the castle. I'd definitely recommend it to any school groups out there who want their students to learn something of the age. Cheers!

Changes at the Castle

I've been surprised recently by a number of changes at the Medieval Times I work at. I found out yesterday that the Reservations Manager had left a month ago. I found out so late because it seems those of us who work in Sound & Lighting are out of the loop as far as what is going on the castle. In regards to the Reservations Manager, I was sorry to see her go. She was always very kind to me while I was working in security. Sadly, I didn't see much of her after I moved to Sound & Lighting. I wish her the best at her new job with Holiday Day Inn.

I was also surprised to find out our Operations Manager had moved to the castle in New Jersey. I suspect this is so he can be closer to family up there. I was sorry to hear he'd left. I found he could be very kind. I remember having a hard day at the castle. He could see it'd been rough. He came up to me and told to me to take a break so I could recover. He was also very kind during my gall bladder surgery. Conversely, if he got a hair up his butt, he was someone to avoid. I found that part annoying. Overall, I'm sorry to see him go. He was very kind to me. He was instrumental in helping me get free tickets for some friends using my birthday voucher. I wish him the best of luck at the New Jersey castle.

One nice bit of news concerned a former co-worker in security. He's been working in security for over 3 years. He dreamed of getting the Lord Chancellor or King part. This year, he vowed to get one of the two parts. Just three weeks ago, he was selected for both parts. One of the people playing the King gave notice and then the main person playing the Lord Chancellor got fired. He's now scrambling to learn all the lines for the Lord Chancellor part. In my opinion, it's the hardest in the show. I wish him the best of luck with it.

Another delightful bit of news was a co-worker in Sound & Lighting getting selected for squire with the prospect of him becoming a knight in 2 years. He's a super nice guy and it's nice to see him get it. It's also nice to see the castle promote from within. Both, my former co-worker in security and my co-worker in Sound & Lighting paid their dues. It's great to see them move up to bigger and better things at the castle.

One last departure of sorts was a move from Sound & Lighting to Reservations. One of my co-workers decided to move to reservations as it would give her more hours and greater flexibility. She's a nice lady and I always enjoyed chatting with her. Today was her last day in Sound & Lighting. I'm saddened to see her move to reservations.

Later this week, I'll get to meet a new hire in Sound & Lighting. All I know about him is his name. As far as I know, he is a totally new hire i.e. not someone moving from another department at the castle. This week, he'll be busy learning how to operate the spotlight and the cues we use during the show. It shouldn't take that long for him to get up to speed.

That's all the news at the castle. I may get to work Thursday's matinee show this week. It would be my first matinee show in quite a while. I've told the Post Office I won't be working the city side Tuesday through Thursday. I've gotten a bit burned out at the Post Office and I don't want to see the place for a few days. Conversely, my job at Medieval Times continues to be fun. Unlike the Post Office, they don't treat me like a slave there. Hopefully, I'll get to work the matinee show. We'll see. Cheers all!

Pictures of SHARE

My apologies if these aren't the best pictures of SHARE. Hopefully, they'll give you a little idea what the organization is like.

This is a picture of the SHARE warehouse in Bladensburg, Maryland. The warehouse is quite big with 5 loading bays, a drive-in freezer and a drive-in chiller (to keep fruits and vegetables fresh during the hot summer months). The parking lot here offers a good bit of parking except during Distribution Fridays and Saturdays when it can become very congested due to people from various organizations picking up their orders. Other times, you'll see truckers delivering food orders. Also, this is where volunteers help bag various food items.

This is a picture of one of the volunteers working at SHARE and one of the tables they use to bag various food items. Volunteers play a crucial part in helping SHARE keep the price of the food packages down. They supply the labor to bag potatoes, rice, pasta, 16 bean soup mix and other items. By them bagging these various items, SHARE doesn't have to farm out the work and can pass the savings on to those buying the food packages. This is one of the ways SHARE is able to keep the cost of their food packages so low.

This is a picture that shows a small amount of the food SHARE handles. SHARE will distribute during its two distribution days over 700 cases of chicken alone!

This last picture shows you some of the banners of the various organizations that support SHARE. While the primary organization that funds SHARE is Catholic Charities of the Roman Catholic Church, numerous organizations of different faiths and non-religious organizations such as United Airlines and the Midshipman's Association of the U.S. Naval Academy support SHARE as well. SHARE isn't about one particular faith. It is about helping people in need be able to buy the food they need so they can eat. As far as I know, any organization that becomes a sponsor of SHARE can have their banner put on the wall of honor (if you will) where all can see that they support SHARE. The items you see stacked against the wall are food items that will be distributed on Distribution Friday and Saturday. This picture was taken three days before Distribution Friday and the people at SHARE were already getting ready for their two busiest days of the month.

Work permitting, I hope to get down to SHARE again sometime so I can get some pictures of the SHARE staff. They are the people who make SHARE happen. There's Ollie who is the food guru. He is the one searches for the best buys on various items, arranges delivery and keeps track of all the invoices. There is Ninotchka who manages the various volunteer groups who help out at SHARE. There is Chris who works community outreach, briefs organizations about SHARE and how they can become a sponsor. There is Jingle who also works with volunteers and is always a source of encouragement and welcome. She isn't called Jingle for nothing. There is also Henry the money man, Debbie (I'm not sure what she does), another lady whose name I can't remember and a new guy who helps run the warehouse. Lastly, there is Sam who used to run the warehouse but has moved on to bigger and better things. Sam still helps out at SHARE and was responsible for getting me to volunteer last week. Few people know the management of the warehouse like Sam does.

If you're interested in SHARE or would like more information about the organization, their website is: http://www.sharedc.org. If you might be interested in ordering one of their excellent food packages, SHARE has a link on their webpage where you can find one of their sponsors that you can order a package from. You can also drive to the warehouse on distribution days and pick one up directly. If you have any questions about SHARE, please leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer the question. If I don't know the answer, I'll contact the folks at SHARE and get you the answer.

Just a reminder, I'm not directly affiliated with SHARE. I'm only an occasional volunteer at SHARE as well as someone who has bought some of their food packages. As you can tell by my posts on SHARE, I am supportive of the organization. I feel they provide an invaluable service to communities throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. Cheers!

SHARE

I helped out at the Washington D.C. SHARE (Self Help and Resource Exchange) yesterday. It was the first time I'd been there in probably three months. Due to work at the Post Office and Medieval Times, I haven't been able to get down there to help out. I did the job I first did when I arrived at SHARE (3 or 4 years ago?). I bagged potatoes. What you do is break down 50-pound sacks of potatoes into 3-pound bags of potatoes. The 3-pound bags are part of the monthly food package SHARE sells. Potatoes seem to be a staple of the package. I suspect it's because they can be used in so many different ways. You can boil, bake, fry and mash potatoes. You can also include them in soups. They're a very versatile vegetable. The amount of potatoes SHARE handles is impressive. I would guess it's at least 5,000 pounds.

Volunteer wise, the largest group was from Prince Georges County Department of Correction. I was impressed with the group as they kept at it and did a good job. The table I was at had two elderly church going ladies. I enjoyed chatting with them. It helped make the time go by Groups of volunteers come from all over Washington D.C. and Baltimore. They come from churches, schools (a lot of high school students do their community service at SHARE) and organizations. I first got involved when I was on active duty with the Air Force. The volunteers are vital to SHARE as it would be impossible to run the program without them. The SHARE staff has only 9 people who have to keep track of all the volunteers, keep the books, do community outreach, seek funding (SHARE is a non-profit that relies on donations as much as the money they make through the food packages they sell), decide what items to include in the package and then organize delivery (Ollie does this) and keep the five warehouses as well as the freezer and chiller clean. It's a massive undertaking.

Volunteering at SHARE can be fun. You meet nice people and you help the community. I very much enjoyed chatting with the two elderly ladies I met. The program itself helps considerably the poor stretch their food dollars so they can have enough to eat. It also covers a wide area. The program reaches Northern Virginia, all of Washington D.C. and Baltimore. If you have some free time and would like to help a worthwhiled organization, you might want to give SHARE a try. Their website is http://www.sharedc.org. If you want to see what SHARE looks like, stay tuned to this blog as I took a few pictures which I plan to post later. Cheers!

Payraise

To my surprise, I found out I received my first payraise from Medieval Times this last paycheck. I saw my latest paycheck was larger than what I expected and I wanted to know why. I found out that my boss Mike Verelli put me in for my first yearly payraise and it was approved. I knew I was approaching my first complete year at the castle and that Medieval Times allegedly awarded yearly payraises. I started working at the Baltimore/Washington castle the end of February of 2006. It's hard to believe I've worked there for almost a year now. Working at the castle was a total break from my previous life in the U.S. Air Force. It was an enormous change. It's a lot more relaxed working there. At the castle, you can grow your hair as long as you want. In the Air Force, if my hair was 1 inch longer than regs specified, I was told to get a haircut. In the castle, I can call the General Manager by his first name. In my last unit, I always called my commander Sir!

I've found it really interesting working at the castle. You're part of a huge team (over 200 people) that works to put on a very complicated show and dinner at least 5 times a week. It takes a lot of teamwork to pull it off. The kitchen staff must have all the necessary plates, bowls and mugs ready for the food servers to use. They must also prepare enough food to serve a 4-course meal to between 150 and 1,000 people. The food servers must put on their costumers and set the proper number of place settings in their assigned areas. Group reservations must tell the people who work the seating assignments how many groups are going to come to the show and how many are in each group. Security must coordinate with the people who hand out seating assignments when they need their equipment set up. Ticketing personnel must be ready to print tickets for customers, confirm reservations and sell tickets to those who decide to see the show on the spur of the moment. Sound and lighting must coordinate with security as to when they'll need castle guards at the main entrances to the castle. Gift shop personnel must make sure that all the shelves are full stocked and they're ready to deal with customers. Bar staff must make sure the bar is full stocked and the beer and soda taps are working. Back in the stables, squires are busy grooming and preparing the horses. Knights are busy practicing various routines and getting their costumes together. The actors and actress who play the King, Princess, Ambassador and Lord Chancellor must put on their costumes and go out to the castle entrance to meet customers. The Lord or Lady Falconer must bring the falcon to the castle, put on their costume and show the falcon to customers as they arrive. Heralds put on their costumes, prepare their instruments, practice the notes they're going to play and go to the front of the castle to help direct customers to either the King or Princess so they can get their picture taken with them. When it's time, the heralds must know when to go into the arena to play their part in the show. Squires must have the right horses ready for the knights to ride. Food servers must be ready to direct people to their tables. Sound & lighting personnel must know which spotlight to go to and what acts they're going to spotlight. The people in the sound & lighting booth must know when to play certain music, activate certain lights and turn on various special effects machines. The King, Princess, Lord Chancellor and Lord Marshall must know where they need to go so they're in their proper place for the show. There is so much that must be done and incredibly, it does get done. When the show is over, food servers will quickly clean up their assigned tables. Squires will put the horses back in their stalls and make sure they have plenty of hay and water. Sound & lighting personnel will turn off the spotlights, amplifiers and put away the microphones. Gift shop personnel will close out their cash registers and turn them into cash control. Security personnel will lock the main gates and turn off all the main lights to the castle. Wardrobe personnel will collect all the costumes and start washing them so they'll be ready for the next show. In effect, the castle will go to sleep for a little while till it's time for it to start ramping up for another show. It's a fascinating process and it's neat to be a part of it.

Employee of the Month

It's official. I won employee of the month at the Baltimore/Washington D.C. Medieval Times. I was surprised and delighted. It is really neat winning the award. It isn't some token award as I believe the winner gets a $100 bonus for the month they win it which is pretty cool. I also get to do something of a gag photo they put up on the employee awards bulletin board. In my case, today I had my photo taken wearing the King's costume. By all accounts, I looked pretty good in it. Hopefully, I can get a copy of the photo so I can scan it and post it on this blog. We'll see on that. As it is, I'm pretty chuffed about winning the award and I'm grateful to my supervisor Mike for putting me in for it. He's a fantastic boss and it was really nice of him to do that. Now, I know why he was asking all kinds of strange questions about three weeks ago. It was for the award write-up. One last comment about the award: to my embarrassment, the first time I put on the King's shirt, I put it on backwards. It reminded me of the first time I dressed for castle guard. The first time I put on the castle guard cloak/over tunic, I put it on backwards too. It was kind of funny and I'm sure the lady from wardrobe had a good laugh about it. It was also pretty neat wearing the costume. As they say, it is good to be the King (or in this case fun).