Humidity

One of the bad things about Maryland summers is the humidity. While the humidity isn't as bad as it is in Northwest Florida (I remember my glasses fogging up every time I walked outside), it still saps you when your outdoors. I feel certain it causes you to sweat more which is annoying. Yesterday was particularly bad. I was working at the Post Office and I could feel the humidity in the air as I cased my mail. It got worse when I hit the street to deliver my mail. The only good I could say about it was it sure did make you appreciate air conditioning. When I finished delivering my mail, I returned to the Post Office to turn in my undeliverable accountables (the people weren't home), packages I couldn't deliver (the people weren't home) and undeliverable mail (the people had moved). When I walked into the Post Office, the air conditioning hit me and boy did it feel GOOD! Sadly, the humid summers here last into August. So, I'll get to sweat and suffer for a good while. :-(

Crabs

One of the food specialties you'll find in Maryland are crabs. During crab season, a number of restaurants offer all you can eat deals. One such restaurant is Captain Jerry's Crab House in Laurel, Maryland. The last time I ate crabs was at the SHARE warehouse in Bladensburg, Maryland. I found it really neat though very messy. I've been wanting to eat crabs again and today, I decided to find a place. To my surprise, I found out there was a restaurant in Laurel called Captain Jerry's Restaurant (http://www.captainjerryscrabs.com/door/). I called and I found out their basic all you can eat crabs was $25.95. For $37.95 (I think), you're guaranteed to get only medium-sized crabs. Considering what crabs cost, it isn't a bad deal. You also get hush puppies and french fries. All you can drink sodas are $2. I managed to eat 2 platters of crabs which I thought was a respectable effort. It took me over 3 hours to do that.

Overall, I was very pleased with Captain Jerry's. I'd definitely recommend them. The service was very good and the place was clean. Parking was plentiful. I definitely plan to eat there again. If you're in the Laurel area and want a nice restaurant that offers all you can eat crabs, you might want to give them a try. Cheers!

Montpelier Mansion

Without a doubt, one of the surprise jewels in Laurel, Maryland is the Montpelier Mansion. The mansion was built by Major Thomas Snowden in 1781 and likely completed in 1782. The mansion had a number of distinguished guests including George Washington and Abigail Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams. The mansion is located just off of Maryland 197 and Muirkirk Road. Visitors can do a self-guided tour of the mansion for $3. The mansion has a number of rooms set up to what they would've looked like in the early 1800's. The mansion is situated in 70 acres of land. The greens around the mansion would be excellent for a picnic though I wouldn't do one right now with the summer heat and humidity.

The mansion has a gift shop in its carriage house. The gift shop is called The Little Teapot http://www.the-little-teapot.com/. The gift shop has the typical tourist t-shirts as well as an outstandting selection of loose teas (over 50) and tea sets. This shop may be the finest tea shop in Laurel and in the local area. It offers afternoon teas in the mansion on select Fridays. Reservations are mandatory. For information on future tea dates or to make reservations, you need to call 301-498-8486.

The mansion holds various special events during the year. One particulary noteworthy one will be hold on July 7th, 2007 from 10 a.m. till noon. Visitors will get to see what life was like for a Revolutionary War soldier. Admission for this event is $10. For further information on the mansion and other upcoming events at the mansion, check their website at
http://www.pgparks.com/places/eleganthistoric/montpelier_visitor.html.

Teeth Report

Yesterday, I saw Dr. Ronnie Jones, the Periodontist who was treating my case of periodontal (gum) disease. The visit was to check on how my gums were recovering. Once I had my teeth descaled, I had to use Listerine regularly, brush and especially floss. Listerine is important because it kills the germs that can cause gum infection. Flossing is very important because there are a lot of areas around the teeth a tooth brush doesn't hit. If you doubt, take one of those tablets sometime that shows you all the areas that has build-up on them. You'll be shocked.

Anyway, the visit went well. Dr. Jones measured how much space there was between my gums and teeth. The more space there is, the greater the chance of the teeth shifting or eventually coming out. Thanks to the descaling and my consistent efforts, my gums had improved enormously. The spaces between the teeth and gums and decreased markedly. This is good because you want the gums to be snug around your teeth. If they're snug, your teeth won't move. Also, it means that there isn't any infection below the gums which could cause teeth loss or cavities. I was pleased about the news though I kick myself for letting it get as bad as it did. It was an expensive mistake. It ended costing me over $400 though it would've cost over $1,300 if it weren't for the Delta Dental of California plan I received from the Air Force. Many thanks to the Air Force for helping taking care of me after I retired.

Middle East

David Horowitz has put together an outstanding presentation explaining what the situation really is in the Middle East. We often hear that all the Palestinians want is their own state and that Israel stole their land. Horowitz shows that the issue isn't about Palestinian statehood (the Palestinians were offered their own state in 1948 and 2000 and both times they turned to violence instead of accepting the terms) or Israel stealing their land (there wasn't a Palestinian state to steal the land from), it is about driving the Jews into the sea and completely out of the Middle East. Horowitz shows that Israel has much right to exist as Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon or Syria. When it comes to who has lived there longer, the Jews have lived in this region for over 3,000 years. The Arabs who claim all the land in this region didn't arrive until the 7th century during the Islamic expansion. In my opinion, the presentation also shows why there is little chance of peace between the Jews and the Palestinians. There is too much hate among the Palestinians and they won't give up their quest to drive the Jews out. Until they give up their hate and accept Israel's right to exist, there won't be any chance of peace in that troubled land. The presentation can be found at http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/. The presentation file is large and it may take you a few tries to download the whole thing. I know it did in my case.

Heat

Yesterday, summer hit Maryland with a vengeance. The high was supposed to be in the 90's and it felt like it. One of the bad things about working as a mail carrier for the U.S. Post Office is you have to work in all kinds of weather including high heat. Because of the heat, it was a real trial delivering the mail yesterday. I hate being sweaty. Unlike the cold where I can put on an extra jacket, with the heat, there is nothing you can do but suffer through it while you're delivering your mail. The heat can also make me irritable. I had to do my best not to get frustrated. Today is supposed to be more of the same but, I wasn't scheduled to work today and I don't plan to help out on the city side. I plan to stay indoors as much as possible to avoid it. Hopefully, it'll get cooler soon. We'll see.

New Line's Greed Strikes Again

New Line Films, the folks who produced the Lord of the Rings films, has struck again. A number of lesser known actors and actresses who had minor roles in the Lord of the Rings movies are suing them over royalty issues. It seems that New Line has made a good bit of money on lunch boxes, posters, toys, etc. but claims that after all the various charges are made, they don't owe the actors and actresses anything. In one case, New Line reportedly took in over $9,000,000 from the marketing of the Gil-Galad character alone but, after all the various charges were taken out, it supposedly posted a $400,000 loss! Something doesn't sound right here. Plus, with the way they've treated Peter Jackson, New Line is showing itself to be one of the greediest film companies out there. I definitely don't plan to see any of their movies. Also, I hope they lose the film rights to The Hobbit. If they do, and Jackson finally makes the film, they'll have mud on their face for their greed as the film will be a monster hit. Bob Shaye, the CEO of New Line, has shown himself to be a conceited jerk. Best of luck to the actors and actresses in their lawsuit with New Line.

Source of information: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10443373&ref=emailfriend

Music Review

When BMG had a special where you buy one CD at regular price and get 4 free, I looked for music I'd never listened to. One artist I decided to try was David Arkenstone. His music is new age and is put out by Narada. The CD I ordered was The Best of David Arkenstone. It turned out to be a very nice CD. Arkenstone creates various acoustic pieces of beautiful music. Some have nice beats like Under The Canopy while others sound use bells a lot as with his Night Wind. Some, I don't understand how the music ties into the title of the sound such as the song Temple of Vaal. Still, the music is beautiful and easy to listen to. I felt the CD finished strongly with the piece The Southern Cross (not anything like the Crosby, Stills and Nash hit).

Overall, if you like New Age music, I think you'd like The Best of David Arkenstone. It's a very nicely done CD. It is great music to sit back and relax to (to my embarrassment, I fell asleep 3 times while listening to this CD so I had to listen to it repeatedly so I could give a proper review on it). My only complaint with the CD is I wish he'd included more music on it. The entire CD lasts just 49 minutes 18 seconds which seems short compared to other CDs. Price wise, I believe it would cost $18.98 plus shipping and handling through BMG. You may be able to find it cheaper if you shop around. Cheers!

Recycling Depot

I did my quarterly trip to the Glen Burnie, Maryland recycling depot today. It's my bit for the environment. I took a load of cardboard, paper, cans, jars and plastic bottles and jugs to the depot. I had enough to fill up the trunk of my car and the back seat. I wish I could drop the stuff off here in Laurel but because of the trash collection rules, I have to drive to the depot in Glen Burnie. I think it's a little messed up. Anyway, it was nice to do my bit for the environment.

Discount Shoe Warehouse

I got an incredible deal yesterday at Discount Show Warehouse (DSW). I'd earned a $10 off my next purchase certificate from them through their shopper's reward program. The certificate was going to expire on the 10th. After procrastinating for a couple weeks, I finally got myself to their Columbia, Maryland store. I looked at their selection and tried to think of something I actually needed shoe wise. I'm not a shoe-aholic and really didn't need any new shoes. One thing I knew I could use was a pair of water-proof boots for when it rains. When I'm delivering mail, I'm outside a lot and I can get soaked if it really pours.

I decided to check out DSW's clearance section. They were offering double reward points for any purchases in that section. I found a pair of water-proof boots but, I wasn't sure they'd fit. To my delight, they did. The boots were on clearance but, I wasn't sure how much was going to be taken off their $40 price tag. It turned out, they were priced 80% off! That dropped the price to under $10. With my certificate, I ended paying just 1 penny for my boots. I was delighted. So, that is how I got a great deal yesterday at DSW.

Secret Shopper

I notified ICCDS that I didn't want to do any more secret shopper assignments. I felt that it was too much hassle for too little money. Before doing a secret shop at a Weis supermarket, I'd have to check out the ad for that particular store and figure out what I was going to buy. I'd also have to think of at least one question for each of the six departments. Depending on what store I inspected, it could take from 10 to 30 minutes to reach the store. Then, I had to spend a minimum of 35 minutes in the store itself. Once I'd finished my shop, I had to do a survey telling the good and bad things I'd found. Once the survey was complete, I had to file my assignment voucher. I ended spending some where between 2 and 1/2 and 3 hours for $10 plus up to $5 for whatever I bought a the store. It just wasn't worth it. Still, ICCDS was nice about it. If I decide I want to start doing shops again, all I have to do is email them my field representative number and I can start doing it again. Kudos to them for being so nice about it. If you like doing secret shopping, you should give ICCDS a try.

Magazine Review

As I mentioned in a blog months earlier, I ordered a number of magazines through Northwest Airlines on-line mall. It was so I could earn enough airmiles to get a free ticket from BWI to Newark Liberty International Airport. That ended up being a bust but, some of the magazines I ordered have turned out to be very enjoyable. One of them is Airways. Airways covers airlines, airports, commercial airplanes and the history behind those topics. If you're in to any of them, you may enjoy the magazine. The June 2007 issue has an article that tells of the Lockheed Constellation Starliner. This plane turned out to be the apogee of pistoned powered airliners. Sadly, the Boeing 707 was coming on to the scene dooming the plane to obsolescence. The July 2007 issue has an interesting article on Lukla, Nepal's airport. This airport is the one closest to Mount Everest. Trekkers and mountain climbers use it to bring in large amounts of supplies for their expeditions.

Not all the articles are written by the magazine's staff. Some are written by airline crews. In the July issue, Andreas Rohde a first officer with Contact Air, takes the reader through all the different steps on a flight from Stuttgart, Germany to Toulouse-Blagnac, France. It's an informative article that tells all the behind the scenes action that goes on in making the flight happen.

Overall, I found this magazine to be really interesting. Every month, it has a number of superbly written articles. I learn things I didn't know about before and the magazine helps me think of new travel possibilities. I didn't know anything about the new French business-class carrier L'Avion until I read their June 2007 article. If you want to fly from Newark to Paris in business class at an affordable price, you might want to consider them. If you're interested in commercial aviation in any way, you should very much enjoy this magazine. Price wise, you'll be looking at $5.99 U.S. an issue. A yearly subscription will be cheaper though I don't know what that costs. Cheers!

Movie Review

Yesterday, I watched the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie. As I haven't watched the 2nd movie, I had no idea of some of the stuff the characters were talking about. Still, after the initial action, you get into the main gist of the third movie i.e. freeing Jack Sparrow from the hell Davy Jones sent him to and freeing the sea goddess Calypso so she can stop Davy Jones from his reign of terror on the seas. There are all kinds of double crosses and people keeping secrets from the others in the movie. I found there were so many that it got rather ridiculous. I also found the substory of Calypso and Davy Jones a bit much.

Rolling Stones member Keith Richards appears in the movie and I found that neat. He looks cool as a pirate captain and as Sparrow's father. While he doesn't have a major part in the movie, he does all right with the part he has. He adds a neat aspect to the movie.

Overall, I found the movie so-so. The action was good. The special effects were good. But, the story itself was a bit ridiculous. All the double crosses became a bit much. Also, the movie is long. It goes just over 3 hours. I definitely wouldn't see this movie twice and I doubt I'll buy it on DVD. It just doesn't seem worth it to me. Cheers all!

Reminder

I wanted to remind everyone that a 1st class letter now requires 41 cents postage. I've been seeing a lot of letters and bills missing the extra 2 cents in postage. I haven't seen the Post Office kick any of those back YET. Still, I wouldn't take a chance on the generosity of the Postal Service. If you want your letter or bill to get to its destination, please make sure you use the correct postage.

Another item, any letter or bill that you mail that weighs less than an ounce costs 41 cents unless it is more than 1/4 inch thick. All you have to do is stick a tape or something a little bulky and you may have to pay an extra 17 cents postage. I was reminded of this when I mailed a letter to my friend May Jackson. One thing I like to do with letters I write is seal them with sealing wax. It adds a nice touch to the letter and I think it looks classy. The flip side is the seal causes the letter to exceed to width requirements so I have to pay an extra 17 cents postage. If you seal your letters with sealing wax, please take note. The 17 cents surcharge is because the letter has to be hand stamped vice machine stamped.

Church

I went to church today for the first time in over a year. I stopped going because I was working at Medieval Times every Sunday. A number of times, I had to be at the castle by noon and church didn't start until 11 a.m. From where I live, it takes me at least 30 minutes to get to church. The church I belong is Berachah Church in Houston, Texas. How do I attend church in Houston when I live in Maryland you ask? Berachah broadcasts their church services. They have a group in Bowie, Maryland that receives the broadcasts. We go to fellow member's home and listen to the services there. It was neat to get to hear the service live. It was also interesting to hear Pastor Thieme's son give the 2 bible lessons. Thieme's son was chosen to become the new pastor when Pastor Thieme had to step down. His son is very much a chip off the old block. His teaching is extremely strong doctrinally. And to my embarrassment, he can put me to sleep just like his dad could. I don't know what it is about their teaching. Anyway, it was nice to listen to the service and meet with the group in Bowie. I plan to go every Sunday barring when I'm travelling (3 months till I leave for Scandanavia!).

Music Review

Recently, I listened to the London Palladium Cast recording of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." The soundtrack is from Jason Donovan played the lead of Joseph. It's a nicely done soundtrack and that has all the main songs from the show. The show itself is about Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers and rose to be 2nd only to Pharoah in Egypt. The soundtrack is interesting in that it features 4 different types of music. You get to hear country, pop, rockabilly and choir music. The show featured the coolest Pharaoh I've ever seen. Imagine a rockabilly Elvis Presley Pharaoh and you can get the idea. There are clear references to Presley in the songs the Pharoah sings. I remember seeing the person who played Pharoah on stage throwing a lady in the audience a royal scarf. It was hilarious.

Overall, the soundtrack is nice. I think it would be enjoyed more by someone who has seen the theater production of the show. You would understand the music better in that case. Still, if you're a fan of Webber's music, this is one you'd want to buy. Unlike other Webber musicals which seemed to concentrate around one song, this soundtrack has a number of nice songs as well as some funny ones. Cheers!

Last Day at Medieval Times

I worked my last day at the castle today. I didn't know if it would be or not. Two friends at the castle tried to help patch things up with my boss but, I guess they wouldn't be patched. My punishment was revoked but, the damage was done. My boss said no hard feelings but I suspect there were some. I may have hit a nerve with my comments about Medieval money. Oh well. Life goes on. The pain of leaving will fade. I still wish I could've been a squire. Ironically, another person in Sound and Lighting got picked for squire. Maybe, it is best that I left as that would've rankled.

Rumor has it that the new show they've been working on the past couple years may finally come out this fall. I'm tempted to go see it if it does. I'd just like to see it at a different castle as I don't care to go back to the Arundel Mills castle for a good while. I need to let it go and get rid of the hurt. We'll see what happens.

Gold Card

I finally earned a gold card at Dave & Buster's. What is so big about earning a gold card you ask? It gets you a 10% discount on game play. In the case of the trivia game I like to play so much, it saves me 1/2 of a chip a play. In effect, with the gold card, I'll get a free play every 9 times. What do you have to do to get a gold card? You have to purchase and play 1,200 chips (a guesstimate of approximately $210 worth of chips). Once you've done that, you have to see the cashier who will transfer your remaining chips from your Powercard to your new gold card. It is your responsibility to track how many chips you've bought and played. (I think this part stinks. It's very easy to lose track.) It doesn't cost anything additional to get the gold card. If you play the games at Dave & Buster's a lot, it is definitely worth getting.

Happy Belated Mother's Day

I should've posted something on this yesterday but didn't get around to it. So, I'm wishing all mothers out there a Happy Belated Mother's Day including my step-mom Kay. I hope she had an extra special day yesterday. Mom's are awesome folks and deserve their own special day.

Product Review

Thanks to the Medieval Times auction last week, I was able to try Grolsch beer for the first time for free. I found the beer to be all right. It isn't terribly smooth or have any noteworthy taste. It is imported from the Netherlands though I don't personally care if a beer is imported or not. I just care about the taste. The one thing I really liked about Grolsch is that the bottles are resealable. They come with their own plastic stopper that you can lock in place. Why is this nice? Because if you don't feel like drinking your entire beer, you can seal it up again and drink the rest of it later without it going flat on you. It's a really nice feature. As I received the beer for free, I obviously can't tell you how it rates cost wise though I doubt it's cheap. Imported beers tend to be more expensive.

Overall, I'd rate Grolsch as a decent beer. I wouldn't make any special trips to buy some but, I'd drink if it was available and wasn't too expensive.

Giving Notice

To my surprise, an event happened at Medieval Times that caused me to give them my two weeks notice. I've very much enjoyed working there and even foregone greater money at the Post Office in order to work there. What happened was that I was punished for helping another section in the castle. Here is my version of what happened.

This past Thursday morning, I was working post 1 as a castle guard. We had a matinee show which means we have bus loads of kids who attend the show. The primary person for directing the kids to line up and where to enter the castle is the Prince (the King's brother) though the position is also called the ambassador. The Prince was busy outside the Arundel Mills Mall watching for buses arriving. When they arrived, he would tell them where to go inside the mall. There wasn't anyone by the castle entrance to direct them in. I decided to step up and direct them through the castle entrance. All went well except for one case where 3 students decided to leave the castle without permission from their chaperones. One of my duties as castle guard incredibly is to make sure no students leave without their chaperones (I was told this afterwards.).

When I went back to the Sound and Lighting booth, the head castle guard told me there were two complaints about me doing my job at Post 1. Because of that, he decided that I would no longer be assigned to Post 1. Instead, he would permanently assign me to Post 2. He understood that I was trying to help but it wasn't my job to direct students into the castle. He also admonished me for letting 3 students leave the castle. I thought it was ridiculous that I should be punished for helping out the folks at the check-in desk and said so. I apologized for letting the 3 students leave. I wasn't sure what the rules were on that at the time.

During the show, I considered my options. There were only two. I could accept the punishment or I could leave. Considering that the job was not crucial to me money or job wise, I could afford to leave. Also, there wasn't any real future for me at the castle. The main reason I was still working at the castle was because I really enjoyed it. I really liked playing castle guard and interacting with the customers. There are few jobs where you can make believe and get paid for it at the same time. Medieval Times is one of those few places. Finally, I made my decision. I was going to give notice.

One bad thing about giving notice is that you still have to work those last 2 weeks. For me, this is going to be the pits. I would like to leave now but I won't do that as it would leave my boss in a real bind. I also have to work post 2 even though I hate working that post and it was my being moved there permanently that caused me to give notice. The only alternative to not working post 2 is to walk out which I won't do. To make matters worse, word has gotten out that I'm leaving. I was already down about leaving when Dave, one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, came up and asked me what was up with me leaving. I wanted to leave quietly and that was clearly shot to all heck. God only knows what rumors are going around the castle. The castle can be terrible in that way.

While it saddens to leave Medieval Times, there will be some good things to come out of my departure. I'll have the time to take college classes again. I'm only 4 classes away from getting my Bachelor's degree. Also, when the Maryland Renaissance Festival opens in late August, I'll be able to go without having to take time off from my job. I'm hoping the festival gets the group Medieval Baebes back. I really wanted to see them last year but had to work both days they performed at the festival. Lastly, I'll be able to make more money. Thankfully, I didn't burn any bridges with the supervisors who direct the city carriers. I checked and I should be able to get at least 24 hours a week with them. While delivering the mail won't be as much fun as working at Medieval Times, it pays double what I'm getting at the castle. The extra bucks will help, especially if I have to pay the out-of-state rate at the University of Maryland. We'll see what works out.

My Routine at Medieval Times Part II

Once I've hung up my guard tunic, stowed my fake chainmail hood and put away any weapons I took to do guard duty, I head to my spotlight tower. There are four spotlight towers in the show arena, one for each corner of the arena. The towers are approximately 15 feet up. You climb a metal ladder into your tower. Once you're in your tower, you step from the ladder to the tower platform. You have to be careful at this point as a mis-step could result in a nasty fall. Once you're on the platform, you lower a metal plate over the opening so the platform is completely closed. Then, you get things organized on the platform for the show.

The first thing you do is turn on your spotlight. There is a power switch on the side of the spotlight which you flick then, you press an ignitor button right next to it. The spotlight will slowly come on. The second thing you do is don your headsets. The headsets help all the spotlight operators communicate with each other. Once the operator has donned their headsets, they'll check in by saying their name and the spotlight their on. Another important aspect of the headsets is that they enable the operators to hear the person calling the cues. There are certain times when specific spotlights have to be on specific knights or acts. The cues are the points when the operators has to open the shutter on their spotlight to highlight the knight or act or when the operator needs to close the shutter on the spotlight. The last thing the spotlight operator will do is set a chair for themselves. There are set points in the show where the spotlight operators stand down. The chairs give them something to sit on while they wait for the next cue.

If all goes according to plan, the show will last 2 hours or less. Once the show is over, all the spotlight operators turn off their spotlights and put their headsets back on the bar where they were before. At this point, I may end up doing one of three things. I may go to wardrobe to collect all the headsets that were used by the showcast. I may go back to the sound and lighting booth, don my castle guard costume and go to the dungeon to collect passes from those wanting to enter the dungeon. Or, I may take out the trash from the booth if the trash can is filled up. Once I've completed any of these tasks, I'll head back to the changing room. There, I'll change into my regular clothes. After I'm dressed, I drop off my costume at wardrobe. They'll launder the fake chainmail shirt, hood and hose. The Sound and Lighting booth is my last stop before I clock out. I drop off my boots there. By storing them there, I don't have to keep them in my car and I don't have to worry about forgetting to bring them to the castle. While at the booth, I may double check the schedule to see when I have to work at the castle again. Once I'm all finished at the booth, I clock out and head home.

That gives you an idea of what my days are like Medieval Times. It's fun working there. It's one of the few places where you can get paid for playing castle guard and using a fake English accent. It can also be a pleasure dealing with the customers. A lot of the folks that come to the castle are pretty nice. It's neat to see the small kids dressed up as knights or princesses. Sometimes, we'll get adults dressed up in Medieval or Renaissance garb. That can be pretty cool too. Cheers all!

Condolences

I was having a slightly busy day today. Between appointments, I decided to call my step-mom Kay and find out how things were going with her and her husband Ed. Ed has been sick for over a year at least. After scores of tests, the doctors finally found out what was wrong with him. He had primary amyloidosis. It's a plasma cell disorder which affects 2,000 people a year. There is a clinic in Boston which is renowned for treating the disorder and Ed was going to go to the clinic for treatment. I expected when I called Kay to found out that he had started the treatment. It came as a great shock when Kay told me that Ed arrived at the clinic this past Sunday and died there. I was very sorry to hear the news. From the few times I'd met the man, he seemed like a very decent bloke. I know he and my step-mom were very happily married. I hope my step-mom can find comfort in that at least his suffering is over. If any of my blog readers pray, please say a prayer for my step-mom to help her as she deals with this terrible event. I know she would appreciate it. Cheers!

Auction

One of the employee incentive programs Medieval Times has is a program called Medieval Dollars. Medieval Dollars are fake money that the castle awards to its employees for any number of things. It can be awarded for meeting your sales quota in gift shop or the photo department. It can be awarded for perfect timeliness. Basically, it is awarded for doing something beyond the norm. It encourages employees to give that extra effort.

Now, you ask what good are Medieval Dollars? That is where the bi-annual auctions come in. The auctions are where those who have earned Medieval Dollars get to use them to bid on various items the management has bought for the auction. Example: I bid and won on 4 tickets to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. For me, this was a really nice reward for giving that extra effort as it was something I really wanted to do. Others won an Xbox, a food processor, a 158 piece tool kit, gift certificates to Damon's Sports Bar and to one of the Texas Roadhouse restaurants. There were some nice prizes to be won.

Overall, I think the Medieval Dollars program is a great employee incentive program. It definitely rewards and encourages its employees to take their work up another notch. I know I will because of the program. It also makes me glad to have sacrificed some bucks so I could work at the castle. I can make a lot more money carrying mail for the Post Office vice working at the castle. The prizes I won at the auction made me glad I decided work at the castle vice making the bigger bucks at the Post Office.

Dentist

I finally got my lazy procrastinating butt to the dentist today. I've been needing a cleaning since January but I kept putting it off. Now, I wish I'd seen the dentist back in January. I received good and bad news. The good news was no cavities which was also a surprise considering how bad I've been about brushing and flossing my teeth. The bad news was that I have a moderate case of gum disease. I'll have to see a Periodontist three times to get all the crud cleaned off my teeth and then we'll see how my teeth and gums recover. This is the price for not brushing and flossing like I should've. Thankfully, I have a dental plan thanks to the Air Force. The bill for my teeth is going to run to almost $1,300! Because of the dental plan, I'll have to pay $390 which is better than paying $1,300. Hopefully, I'll get my lazy butt in gear and start brushing AND flossing more regularly. We'll see how the treatments with the Periodontist go.

My Routine at Medieval Times Part I

I thought my readers might find it interesting to find out what my routine is when I work at Medieval Times. This is what it is like for someone working in Sound and Lighting there.

When I first arrive, I clock in with a scanner that has a picture of two of my fingers. This way, the castle can make sure the person that is clocking in is the person they say they are. Then, I make my way to the Sound and Lighting booth. I store my Dehner full length English riding boots in there because they are so valuable. They cost me over $930. The castle didn't supply me with the boots. I bought them earlier when I was riding at Aspiring Heights Farm (http://www.aspiringheightsfarm.com). The castle supplies those who play castle guards a fake chain mail shirt, a fake chain mail hood, a pair of black hose, a cover tunic, a black belt to cinch around the cover tunic, and weapons. The employee is expected to supply their own black tennis shoes which they are supposed to wear with the costume. I don't think Medieval castle guards wore black tennis shoes back in Medieval days so I asked and received permission to wear my riding boots.

Once I have my boots, I head to wardrobe. Wardrobe has all the costumes for everyone who works at the castle. They're responsible for washing them and repairing them. After I pick up all my costume items barring weapons and gauntlets, I go to the men's locker room where I change and lock up my regular clothes.

I'm not finished getting costumed if you will. I have to head back to the booth where I get my big black leather belt (a dyed weight lighting belt with various studs added for decoration) and decide what weapon I want to carry on it. I usually pick out a sword as I think it's pretty neat to carry one. Then, I cinch the belt and smooth out my cover tunic so it looks smooth. After that, I put on a black ski cap. Why would I wear a black ski cap? Because it cushions really well the metal helmet I have to wear. The ski cap does get a little warm but it's warm it considering how well it paddens the helmet. Next, I put on my black leather gauntlets. Like my boots, I bought my own gauntlets. I thought they'd enhance my costume. I got approval from the higher ups (all changes to costume must be approved by them) and have worn them since. Lastly, I select which halberd I want to use to guard the entrance to the castle. The only difference between the two we have is one is shiny and one isn't.

I'm finally all set to play castle guard. Now, I have to wait till it's time for me and the others to go out to the castle waiting area to our posts. We take our posts 2 and 1/2 hours before show time. My favorite post is post 1. This is the entrance closest to the ticket booth. It is also the side that people line up on when preparing to check-in at the check-in desk between the two fake stone lions. Working post 1 is a bit of a challenge as I have to answer a number of questions concerning ticketing and reservations. I also have to make sure that only those who have a seating card (they get one of those when they check-in) are allowed in. Lastly, I get asked a lot to pose for pictures. I confess I enjoy this part as I find it fun. I'm always willing to have my picture taken by myself or with guests.

I remain at post 1 till the herald's trumpets sound and the Lord Chancellor makes the call to table. The call to table is where people are directed to the appropriate doors for their color section (there are 6 colors with each color corresponding to a particular knight). Once they enter the appropriate double doors, serving serfs and wenches direct them to their assigned table. Before the people are allowed into the arena and to their table, all of those doing guard duty and working the dungeon go back to the Sound and Lighting booth. There, we put our weapons away and change from our costumes into clothes that are entirely black so we can't be seen when we're working the spotlights in one of the spotlight towers.

To be continued.

New Postal Rates

In case you haven't heard, postal rates will be going up on May 14th. The price of a 1 ounce First Class letter will go up 2 cents. You can mail letters using the 39 cent stamps until May 14th. After that, you must have to have the increased postage on your letter otherwise it'll get kicked back to you. Believe me, it will. I've seen it. Your local Post Office should be selling the new 41 cent stamps as well as 2 cent stamps so you can use up your 39 cent stamps. For further information on the rate increase or to order stamps on-line, see http://www.usps.com.

Pete's Wicked Ale

On my last visit to the Corridor Wine Store, I bought some beer. I decided to try something I haven't tried before so I bought a six-pack of Pete's Wicked Ale. This is a product review on that ale.

The company that produces Pete's Wicked Ale states that it is extremely smooth. I did find it an easy ale to drink. It does have a smooth taste. They also state it has ruby color though I can't testify to that as I drank it right out of the bottle. I found out it was also potent. They don't tell you the alcohol content on either the bottle or carrier. I had to look it up on their website http://www.peteswicked.com/. I found out it is rated at 5.3% which is stronger than your normal U.S. brews. The potency doesn't take away from it being a good brew. Overall, I enjoyed drinking this ale. I found out Pete's Wicked Ale makes three other regular products: Pete's Rally Cap Ale, Pete's Strawberry Blonde and Pete's Wanderlust Cream Ale. I plan to try these some time and see how good they are. Stay tuned for further reviews on their products. Cheers all!

Cruise

My friend Harvey and I have agreed on what cruise we should take next year. Both of us were game to visit the Caribbean as neither of use had ever visited there. There is an ample number of cruise ships that do cruises out of the Caribbean so the next question was what cruise we should go on. Both of us agreed that it would be neat to take a cruise out of San Juan, Puerto Rico as that is another place we've never been to. We could do a little sightseeing and then board the cruise ship and see other places in the Caribbean. Boarding the ship at San Juan cut down the number of cruises. Our travel agent, Joel Mills at Carlson Wagonlit, helped narrow the choices further. We finally decided on a 7-day cruise with Royal Caribbean. We'll visit Oranjestad, St. Thomas, Willemstad and Philipsburg. As I've never been on a cruise, it should be an interesting time. I'm looking forward to going.

Flash Cards

One proven way to learn something is to drill yourself on it using flash cards. One side of the card will have a term and the other side will have the answer to the term. The website http://www.quisition.com offers flash cards on-line that you can use to quiz yourself on various topics. It doesn't cost anything to use the site. If the site doesn't have flash cards for something you want to quiz yourself on, you can create your own flash cards there. That's what I've done with colors and number 1 to 10 in French. I plan to add additional flash cards on additional numbers, time, verbs and other topics in French. By using the site, I hope to gradually increase my French vocabulary. Another plus of creating the flash cards is that you may help someone else learn your topic of interest. It's a nice site and one you may want to check out if you're trying to learn a particular topic. Cheers!

Restaurant Review

Last Thursday, I had lunch at the Hanover, Maryland Golden Corral Restaurant. The restaurant is located on Arundel Mills Boulevard and is close to the Arundel Mills Mall though not in it.

Lunch at the restaurant costs $7.19 not including tax. If you want a soft drink, it costs $1.69 plus tax. You do get free refills when you buy a soft drink.

Menu wise, it varies depending on the day and time. There are always some type of salads, meat dishes, vegetables and desserts available. The Golden Corral is a buffet type restaurant which means you help yourself and you can go back as many times as you want. There is a waitress of sorts who will get you your soft drink refills, more plates if you require them and take away your dirty plates.

I found I really liked this restaurant. You could try a dish you've never had before and if you didn't like, you weren't out of pocket for it. The food itself was well prepared and fresh. Cooking staff were constantly preparing food as food was consumed. I didn't see any dish that they ran out of. The food was also good tasting.

My waitress of sorts, I say sorts because I got my own food and the only things she helped me with was supply me with some clean plates and brought me soda refills, did a fine job. She also did a fine job of keeping her section clean.

Overall, I was very pleased with this restaurant. It isn't gourmet dining but it is excellent value and serves good filling food. I would definitely go back to this restaurant and would heartily recommend it. If you want an affordable meal out and are close to Hanover, Maryland, you ought to try the Golden Corral on Arundel Mills Boulevard.

Exercise

I am feeling right properly knackered right now. About 15 minutes ago, I finished doing 30 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the aerobicycle. I haven't exercised like that in over a year probably. I made sure I stretched before and after I exercised BUT, I suspect I'm still going to be very sore tomorrow. They say exercise is good for you but I suspect I won't think so tomorrow. Still, I think I did pretty decent for someone who hasn't exercised in quite a while. I took myself up to 5 mph on the treadmill and did that for 21 minutes before gradually taking myself back down. I managed to do 30 minutes on the aerobicycle at average speed of 52 rpm. That isn't burning up the track but, I wasn't going to be burning up any track after not exercising for so long. I hope I can manage to get myself over to the fitness center at least somewhat regularly so I can keep on exercising. We'll see.

Tripadvisor

I've been writing a few posts for a website called Tripadvisor. The sites features reviews on restaurants, hotels, and things to do by ordinary people like you and me. This means in theory that the reviews likely to be more honest. As far as I know, no one receives any kind of compensation for writing something nice about what they write about on the site. I was surprised to find out no one had written an article on the Maryland Renaissance Festival. In my opinion, this festival is one of best things Maryland has every year. I can't wait to go again this year.

Another thing I've done is provide information on the Baltimore/Washington D.C. Medieval Times. As I'm a semi-expert on the place, I thought I could provide lots of basic information on it that might be of use. The only annoying thing I've had with my article is I keep remembering things to add after the fact. I've edited the article something like 6 times.

If you're knowledgeable about sights in your area and would like to tell people about them, check out http://www.tripadvisor.com and write a few articles. Then, you can be something of an amateur travel writer which is kinda neat. Cheers!

Vanilla Milkshakes

Re: my Potbelly blog entry, I decided to try to make my own vanilla milkshakes. I wasn't thrilled with paying Potbelly $2.69 a piece for what they called a large milkshake. I looked for recipes on the internet and found a very simple one. It called for 1 cup of milk, 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. I didn't have any vanilla extract so I put that on my shopping list. After work Sunday at Medieval Times, I drove over to the Arundel Mills Safeway. I found out that there are imitation and real vanilla extract. The real stuff costs more. I don't know how much of a difference there would be flavor wise between the two. I decided to play it safe and bought an 8 ounce bottle of gourmet vanilla extract. It was cheaper per ounce than the 2 ounce Safeway brand.

Once I got home, I gathered the various ingredients, inserted them into my blender and hit the cream button. Then, I poured the mix into my Medieval Times margarita glass. It turned out the recipe makes a very respectable vanilla milkshake. I was in milkshake bliss. Sadly, because of the high calorie count, I suspect I would be able to indulge too often my passion for vanilla milkshakes. Still, it is fun making them and even more fun drinking them. Cheers all!

Potbelly Restaurant

This past Thursday, I worked a matinee show (see my blog entry about that) and an evening show at Medieval Times. During the break between shows, I decided to buy some lunch at Potbelly's. I had two of their excellent vanilla milkshakes, their wreck sandwich with everything on it and a bowl of the chili.

Potbelly's continues to make great milkshakes. I was in milkshake bliss drinking the two I ordered from them. My only complaint with them is the shakes are not very big for what are supposed to be large shakes. They're also not cheap. It cost me $2.69 per milkshakes.

I thought the wreck sandwich to be a good decent sandwich. It cost $4 which isn't that much but it isn't a terribly big sandwich either. If you want to get filled up dining on their sandwiches, you'll have to have two of them. I will give a slight warning about the hot peppers they can put on their sandwiches if you request them. They aren't super hot but they do have some zing to them. I knew when I hit the peppers on my sandwich.

I found their chili to be decent. It wasn't super hot but chili doesn't have to burn the roof of your mouth off to be good. I do feel it was a bit pricy. I paid $4.50 for a bowl of their chili and it wasn't a very large bowl. If you wanted onions or cheese you had to pay extra for those which I thought annoying.

Overall, I found Potbelly's to sell decent sandwiches, excellent though pricy milkshakes and good though pricy chili. If you want a nice lunch, they're worth considering. However, for value for money, this place doesn't deliver.

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!

Dave and Buster's

A friend and I got to eat at Dave and Buster's last night. I'd never eaten there before and was curious how their food was. When we sat down, our waitress promptly showed up and took our order. My friend ordered a pint of Bass beer/ale (I'm not sure which it is) and I ordered a bottle of IBC root beer. Our drinks were promptly served. We waited and we waited and we waited for our food. When it finally showed up, someone had messed the order up. My friend ordered the mix grill and they tried to give him a Philly cheese steak. I ordered the roast beef panini sandwich with french fries which they got right. I found my sandwich fair. I thought the order of fries small. I found myself getting a little irked by the waitress repeatedly asking if I wanted another $2.15 bottle of root beer. I mention the price because I don't think it's a good deal. Also, if I tell you once I don't want another root beer, it's a safe bet I don't want another root beer. My friend finally got his food but our misadventure wasn't over yet. It seems our waitress tried to charge my friend for the Philly cheese steak which he didn't order AND the mixed grill. My friend spoke with the waitress and eventually got it straightened out.

Overall, I'd rate Dave and Buster's food as fair. I don't think it is very good value for the money. I'm also displeased with how long it took for our food to arrive. I think someone made a mistake some where on that. Lastly, I was displeased with our waitress for the mistake on my friend's bill, her constant pushing for me to buy another drink and another possible gaffe she may have made. I won't fully explain the possible gaffe at this time as I want to determine if it was a mistake or not. I plan to dine at Dave and Buster's again so I can see if this is the norm at Dave and Buster's or if it was a one off. I'll you know what I find out then. Cheers all!

The Hobbit Update

I saw on http://www.rottentomatoes.com the latest comments made by director Sam Raimi about making The Hobbit. Raimi has been rumored to New Line Films choice to direct the movie since their falling out with Peter Jackson. According to the Rotten Tomatoes site, Raimi said in an upcoming interview in Entertainment Weekly that if Jackson didn't want to do the film and Bob Shaye (CEO of New Line Films) did and both men gave him their blessing, he'd be happy to make the film. Considering that these two men can't agree on any thing now a days, Raimi would do well to work on other potential projects in my opinion.

Honestly, I don't think The Hobbit will be made until New Line Films loses the rights to it. Saul Zaentz owns the rights permenently from what I understand. He sold them for a set time to New Line. New Line must make The Hobbit in that set time frame. If New Line fails to make the film in that time frame, poo on them. Once that time frame is up, the rights revert back to Zaentz. Zaentz has supposedly shown sympathy to Jackson's beef with New Line and it sounds like he'd be willing to do a deal with Jackson. For your information, Jackson claims there were accounting irregularities with the Lord of the Rings and he wants an independent audit of the movies. New Line has refused to do this and accused Jackson of being greedy i.e. we paid you a quarter of a billion dollars and now you want more. Bob Shaye has said for effective purposes that he has blacklisted Jackson from making The Hobbit. This is where Raimi comes in. It has been rumored that Raimi was approached by New Line about making the film. Considering the enormous differences between Shaye and Jackson, it is extremely unlikely Jackson will make The Hobbit for New Line Films. I've heard the rights will go back to Zaentz sometime in 2009. New Line must start production on the film before then. I haven't heard any word that New Line even has a completed script for the film. If they haven't, the chances of them making the film are very remote.

It is annoying that I'll have to wait till probably 2010 or later to see The Hobbit made by Peter Jackson. Hopefully, Sir Ian McKellen will still be alive then to play the role of Gandalf then. Also, I hope Hugo Weaving will be able to play Elrond. Barring that, none of the other actors actresses will need to return. You can point out there is Sir Ian Holm who played Bilbo but, in my opinion, he'll be way to old to play Bilbo. I think they'll have to get someone else for the part.

If you need a Tolkien fix, there is some good news. Christopher Tolkien finished putting together what will be the last work ever done by J. R. R. Tolkien. Over the years, Tolkien wrote a number of stories about the First Age. The First Age was age when the elves first appeared and created a number of kingdoms. It is also the age when one of the Gods of Middle-Earth rebelled against the supreme God Iluvatar and carved out his own kingdom in Middle-Earth. The novel "Children of Hurin" tells of one man who fought against the dark God and a terrible curse the God laid on him. By all accounts, it isn't a very cheery story. Still, it is previously unpublished Tolkien. The novel also has some outstanding illustrations by Alan Lee who worked on the Lord of the Rings movies and has a number of outstanding illustrations for The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. It's in book stores now if you're interested. Cheers all!

Cloaks

This past weekend, we had some heavy rain Saturday and early Sunday. It gave me a chance to wear my real cloak. I say "real" because it is a real cloak vice a costume cloak. I think I have some admiration for things from earlier days. I like wearing my full length English riding boots and find it fun wearing my cloak. I had a bit of a misadventure with my cloak. I bought my first one from http://www.tolkientown.com and found out to my dismay that is was purely costume though it's a very nice costume cloak. I wanted something that would keep the rain off and the wind out. A costume cloak won't do that. The second cloak I bought was from http://www.bytheswordinc.com. I'd told them what I wanted length wise and they assured me they'd see to it. I wanted a cloak that would be only about 3 or 4 inches off the ground. That way, it would keep most of me dry if it rained. Someone goofed, whoever made the cloak assumed I had a 3-foot high head and a 10-inch neck. I nearly choked trying to close the cloak around my neck. Unlike the tolkientown cloak, this one was a real cloak and looked very nice but because of the mistake with the hood and neck, it wasn't going to work. I resolved to find a place where I could actually try on cloaks. I found out that Moresca (http://www.moresca.com) sells them. They have a nice shop at the Maryland Renaissance Festival (http://www.rennfest.com). It was there that I got to try on the cloaks they had. They had a number of different colors. I decided to go with black as I thought that was a manly color. I forgot that people associate black with evil and darkness and didn't realize how some people might react to that color. I found out later.

Overall, I've been very pleased with my "real" cloak. I think it looks cool and it has definitely done the job. I've also found it great to wrap up in during a cold night. It's like wrapping up in a nice wool blanket. I'll have to see about posting a picture of me wearing it sometime. That's the end of my cloak tale. Cheers all!

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!

Casino Royale

One of the special features on the Casino Royale DVD is a short documentary called Becoming Bond. I watched it and I'd definitely recommend to others. The documentary tells the history of the book (it was the first Bond novel) and the first Casino Royale movie. It turns out it was made into a spoof on the later Bond novels and movies. For years, Albert Broccoli tried to get the film rights to the book. Finally, in the early 90's, they succeeded. The book presented some interesting challenges to Broccoli's film company. The novel is the first and so shows a young Bond who has just achieved his OO status. He's feeling his way as to how he should do things. Because the Bond in Casino Royale is younger, the film's producers had to ditch Pierce Brosnan. Plus, I think they wanted to get away from the previous Bond movies which had become a bit cliche. In order to revive the franchise, they had to come up with something new. By going back to the first book and showing a grittier and more raw James Bond, the film company succeeded in creating something new and fresh.

The documentary also tells how Daniel Craig was selected as the new James Bond and some of the problems he and the studio encountered. Not all Bond fans were keen on Craig becoming the next Bond and they weren't shy about making their opinions known. To qualm some of the jitters of studio higher-ups about Craig getting the role, the studio did one day shoots of each of the leading actors for the role so they could convince the studio higher-ups that Craig was the one. The higher-ups were convinced but various fans weren't. Craig states in the documentary that their criticism drove him to try to make an even better film.

Overall, I found this special feature in the Casino Royale DVD really interesting. I learned how Daniel Craig to the role of Bond, how the movie came about and learned something of the actors and actresses in the film. I wouldn't recommend you buy the DVD just for this feature. You should buy the DVD because Craig is one awesome butt-kicking Bond. But, the documentary is something worth watching and a really nice added feature to the DVD.

Leave

Last year, I had planned to do a Globus tour with my friend Harvey. Due to problems with my job, I sadly had to back out. Harvey kindly decided to put off Scandanavia until both of us could go. With my part-time jobs at the Post Office and at Medieval Times, there wasn't going to be any problem affording the trip this time. I also made sure I notified well in advance both places of my travel plans. I told my supervisor at the Post Office about the trip in December. In January, I filled out a Post Office leave form and submitted it even though I don't earn leave at the Post Office. I remember my supervisor acknowledging my request and writing it down on a stick-em note and putting it on the bulletin board above the computer he was working on. All should have been good to go.

After all the problems lately at the Post Office, I've started getting a little paranoid about my Scandanavia travel plans. The trip is only 4 and 1/2 months away. Everything is paid for barring optional trips during the tour itself. I asked two regular carriers if they thought I'd have any problems getting the time off. After all, I'd told my supervisor back in December and January. I was advised to fill out another leave and get my supervisor to sign it and keep a copy. It turned out to be really good advice.

I decided to take their advice and I asked my supervisor about the time off I'd requested back in December and January. To my disbelief, he had no memory of it. The stick-em note he wrote to remind himself was gone. I promptly filled out three more leave forms and got him to sign one this time. I'm keeping that one in my personal records. My supervisor told me that him signing the thing didn't guarantee I'd get the time off. I don't think my supervisor understands the situation. Barring serious illness, I'm going on that trip. After all the grief I've had at the Post Office, I won't have any qualms about giving notice if I can't go. I feel certain I'll be able to find another job or get hired on again with another Post Office when I come back. Still, I hope I don't have to give notice. I hate sacrificing a year of seniority at the Post Office. We'll see what happens.

Elessar's Crown Review

Elessar's Crown

Recently, I decided to buy the Noble Collection's Elessar's Crown. The crown is supposed to be an exact replica of the one used in the movie "The Return of the King." I found the crown I ordered to be very solidly made and very beautiful. It very much looks like the one they used in the movie and according to the Noble Collection, it's overlaid with silver and 24K gold. The crown has the gull wings which represents the seafaring history of the men of Numenor (Numenor was an island kingdom) with the tree which was descended from the great tree Telperion which Numenor had a seedling from and which we see in the movie.

 

The collection also supplies a nice stand for the crown. The stand has a nice dark brown wooden varnished base with images of the tree printed on each of its four sides. The flat area where the crown is placed with covered with royal blue felt and has a bronze plaque stating that this is the Crown of Aragorn which I think is a little gaffe on the part of the Noble Collection. To protect the crown, a clear plastic cover is provided that slips over the crown and fits well into the wooden base. The stand really complements the crown.

Overall, the crown is wonderfully made and would be an excellent addition to any Lord of the Rings fan's collection. The stand that comes with the crown enhances the crown. It does an outstanding job of displaying it. I would definitely recommend this product to any Lord of the Rings fan.

Kudos to Carmax

Last week, a light on my car dash started coming on. I looked in the owner's manual and found out it was a sensor that warns you have some kind of problem with the rear lights. The manual said it could be something so minor as a burned out light bulb. Not knowing squat about cars, I decided I had to take the car to the local Carmax Toyota dealership. I've found the people at Carmax to be consistently nice but had a bad experience with them over some warranty work. Because of that, I was a little leery about taking my car to them. Still, I wanted to get the light problem fixed and I felt they would know what to do. I turned out to be big time right.

I pulled the car into the dealership and walked to the customer service desk. The service rep whose name I can't remember now, asked me what was wrong with the car. I told him and gave him the spare set of keys. He walked out, turned the ignition and saw for himself the warning light that was coming on. I was able to see that it was the left rear brake light that was out. The service rep had another employee hit the brakes so he could verify that. Then, he opened the trunk and saw he'd need a screwdriver. He walked into his office and got one. He unscrewed the covering over the rear lights, pulled out the brake light and found that it was burned out. Then, he walked into the dealership and got a new lightbulb. He installed the bulb and checked the sensor. Sure enough, the problem was just a burned out lightbulb. I was delighted he'd solved the problem so quickly. I asked him how much it would cost to replace the bulb and he said "no charge." I was stunned. To the folks at the Laurel Carmax Toyota, many kudos for your great service today. I will definitely be using you in the future because of what your customer service rep did. This blog entry is also my way of saying thank you again.

Grueling Two Days

I had two very hard work days this week at the Post Office. I was determined to have Tuesday off this week so I shut my cell phone off so they couldn't call me. As luck would have it, they were short carriers Tuesday and tried to call me in. As they couldn't get me, they cut back the mail that didn't have to go out THAT day. (Don't get alarmed. All the important mail was delivered.) Bad luck for me, the next day I got to do one of the routes they cut back on. I was seriously swamped. I desperately tried to catch up but it was an uphill battle. I hoped that I might get lucky package wise and have only a few to deliver. My hopes were dashed as one lady alone received 20 packages over the two days I had to do rural route 7 and she lives on the third floor on her apartment building. The only good thing I could say about Wednesday and Thursday was it helped me go into overtime. I should get over 13 hours of it this week. Still, I'm big time wiped out. Next week, I'm supposed to have 3 days off BUT the Post Office has been expecting me to help out on the city routes on the days I'm not working the rural routes. I'm debating whether to help out on the city routes or not. So far, I haven't been able to make up my mind. We'll see what happens.

Recycling

I did my little bit for the environment yesterday. I finally loaded up my car with all the plastic bottles and jugs, fliers, glass jars and cardboard I've been saving and drove to the Glen Burnie Recycling Depot. There I dropped the stuff off so it could be recycled. It wasn't much but at least the stuff didn't end up in a landfill. I was also able to get rid of a broken VCR, an ancient 28.8K modem, my broken digital camera and a semi-broken CD player that I've been meaning to get rid of. I figured it would be better to get rid of those at the depot vice putting them in a dumpster. Hopefully, they can salvage the metal in them at least.

Long Day

I had a long work day yesterday. I was scheduled to work at the Post Office on rural route 7. I was looking forward to route 7 as it is one of my favorite routes. I always seem to do well on it. Shortly after I arrived at the Post Office, the Postmaster walked up to me and asked if I could help with the city routes after I was finished doing route 7. I wasn't keen on helping but I knew they were probably in a big bind. I offered to do 1 hour on city routes as I was pretty certain I could finish route 7 by 5 p.m. The Postmaster accepted my offer and left. I was now in a bind. I had to finish route 7 by 5 p.m., help deliver mail on the city side for 1 hour, do a mystery shop at a local Weis supermarket and work a show at Medieval Times. It was going to be a long day.

Route 7 went as expected. I had no problems and made few mistakes to my relief. When I returned to the Post Office, they had the mail ready for me to deliver on the city side. They had me walk a short loop called Snowden Loop in Laurel. All totalled, I delivered mail to maybe 20 homes. I found it kinda neat.

After finishing with that, I drove back to the Post Office to wrap everything up. Once I was clear at the Post Office, I had to rush to a nearby Weis supermarket where I had to do a mystery shop. I was hoping the store wouldn't be that busy. I wasn't so lucky. I guess a bunch of people were doing their last minute shopping. I picked up the store's weekly ads at the entrance so I could find out what was on special. One thing I have to do during my mystery shops at Weis is buy at least one item that is on sale. The point of that is to see if the cashier tells me how much I saved with my Weis discount card. They're supposed to but I've seen in a number of cases where they haven't.

The store was nice and the people working there were enthusiastic. There were only two things I could ding them on: a number of sale items were missing on the shelves and there was some water on the floor in one of the aisles that should've been mopped up. The store also ended up providing me something to eat prior to the show I had to work at Medieval Times. I bought a pound of bologna and munched on that when I arrived at Arundel Mills Mall.

After finishing the bologna I bought, I walked into the mall and decided to treat myself to a Dairy Queen blizzard. These are ice cream treats where they mix in various things like Heath toffee bar or Butterfinger bits with vanilla ice cream. They're really good and I enjoyed the one I bought. Unfortunately, I also got in slight trouble with the castle over it. I walked into the arena and continued to eat the thing. Employees aren't supposed to eat anything in the arena. I forgot this and got caught by the Operations Manager who in turn got on my supervisor's case about it. Mike, my supervisor at the castle, was having another tough day. Batteries for the radios the departments use to communicate were running out of charge making extremely hard for everyone to communicate. Also, the castle was doing three shows and after the third show, one group was going to have an awards ceremony. The last thing Mike needed was the Ops Manager getting on his case about something I did. Damn!

The show itself went fine. It has become seriously old hat to work the spotlight at the shows. I know the cues by heart now. The only thing I work on now is promptly opening and closing the shutter on the spotlight during the cue. It looks more professional if you open and close the shutter crisply vice having it linger. Ideally, you want all four people to open and close their spotlights at the same time but there is always going to be slight variances between the operators. In my case, at times I was smack on and other times I was little slow. It didn't help things that I was tired.

My work day wasn't over when I finished the show at Medieval Times. When you do a mystery shop for ICCDS, you have 12 hours to fill out the survey you have to do after the shop. The survey asks all kinds of questions on customer service, sale items being available and store cleanliness. Once you finish the survey, the website software will prepare an invoice so you can be paid for your shop. You can mail, fax or email the the invoice and receipt (from your shop) to ICCDS. ICCDS's website will tell you when they've received your paperwork (which is pretty nice). The survey took me approximately 10 minutes to finish. I printed the invoice and planned on sending it in the next day.

My work day was finally over and I blissfully crashed. Today, I get to work at the castle again. I look forward to it as I enjoy playing one of the castle guards. Tomorrow, I'll get to do rural route 10 which I hate. The only good thing is I'm scheduled to work 4 days this week and should get my 40 hours in so I'll get paid for all the hours I'll work at the Post Office. I'm supposed to have Tuesday completely off i.e. I won't be working at the Post Office or the castle. I hope to do my quarterly recycling trip to the Anne Arundel County recycling depot. I also hope to visit the Baltimore Aquarium. If I get to do the trip to the Aquarium, I plan to post a blog on here about it. Stay tuned. Cheers!

Show Review - "Annie"

I got to see the musical "Annie" last night at the Baltimore Hippodrome Theater. The show is based on the depression era comic strip Orphan Annie. It tells of the 7 or 8 days leading up to Christmas in 1933 and shows how she meets her future step-father billionaire Oliver Warbucks.

I found the show to be absolutely delightful. The young girls in the show who play Annie's fellow orphans were outstanding. At times, they were very funny. At other times, they were very touching. All did a great job with the songs they sang. Marissa O'Donnell who plays Annie did a fantastic job as she sang and acted into people's hearts. The interaction between her and Conrad John Schuck who plays Oliver Warbucks was particularly touching and amusing. Warbucks doesn't know what to do with this precocious youngster and it makes for some great laughs. Elizabeth Broadhurst who plays Warbuck's kind hearted personal secretary Miss Farrell was equally outstanding. She exuded great amounts of warmth in the show that were very touching.

Overall, the show was fantastic from beginning to end. It had great song numbers and superb acting. I was surprised by a number of great comic lines they had in the show. You'll get plenty of laughs during the show. Kids will particularly like this show as they'll be greatly amused by the antics of Annie and her fellow orphans. The show was superbly supported by an excellent orchestra conducted by Kelly Ann Lambert. This is one show those with kids or who are kids at heart won't want to miss. I believe it plays for another 13 days at the Hippodrome. If you live in the area, this is one show you'll want to see.

On a slightly separate note, the Hippodrome offers reserved Grand parking. They have an 11-story parking lot which is attached to the theater. I found using this parking lot to be an invaluable convenience. I was able to park my car and and take one of the parking lot elevators right to the theater. The cost is $10 if you reserve in advance and $7 of the show though you risk them selling out if you try to use it the day off the show. I would definitely recommend using this lot as it makes things enormously easier in seeing any show you decide to see at the Hippodrome. For further information on up coming productions at the Hippodrome, check out their website at: http://www.france-merrickpac.com/home.html.

Restaurant Review - Potbelly

I've been wanting to visit the Potbelly restaurant next to Arundel Mills Mall for a while. It's a sandwich restaurant specializing in 11 different sandwiches. You can get turkey breast, pizza, roast beef, chicken salad, vegetarian, tuna salad, meatball, Italian, A Wreck (salami, roast beef, turkey, ham and swiss cheese) and peanut butter and jelly. All sandwiches are a flat $3.99 plus tax. You have a choice of white or wheat bread. They have bottled sodas or a soda machine. They also sell milk shakes, malts, yogurt smoothies, sundaes, and hand scooped ice cream cones.

I tried the chicken salad and roast beef sandwiches. To drink, I had a vanilla milk shake. I found the sandwiches to be good. They were made right in front of me. They toasted the bread and offered mayonnaise, mustard, italian seasoning, lettuce, onions, pickles, hot peppers, tomato and oil on your sandwich. My only complaint with their sandwiches is that one would not fill you up. Also, there is no way I'm going to pay $4 for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich though I suspect it's popular with the kids. Shake wise, I was very pleased with the vanilla shake I ordered. It was excellent and a lot better than the one you can buy at McDonald's. My only complaint would be its size. It didn't seem very big though it did only cost $1.59 (I think).

Decor wise, the restaurant had an old time feel to it. They had a potbelly stove in the restaurant and stored various sandwich fixings on old time store shelves. It's a pleasant enough place to enjoy a sandwich and drink. Hours were also convenient with the Arundel Mills restaurant open Monday to Thursday to 9 p.m. and till 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Overall, I thought the Arundel Mills Potbelly was a nice restaurant. It's a pleasant place to eat. I don't think it's great value. Value wise, I think you'd do better at Chipotle's or Golden Corral. Still, if you're hunkering for a sandwich, it might be the place to satisfy your sandwich craving. Bon Appetit!

Disclaimer: All opinions stated here are my own. I didn't receive any kind of reimbursement from Potbelly nor do they know of my review of their Arundel Mills restaurant. Each person has different tastes so you may like Potbelly better, the same or worse than I did. If you try them, I make no guarantees whether you'll like them or not. For further information on Potbelly, you can check out their website at http://www.potbelly.com.

Maryland Weather

This past week was a showcase of how Maryland is weather wise. Earlier this week, we had sunshine and the temperatures hit the low 70's. Yesterday, the temperatures dropped, it rained all day gradually turning into a freezing rain which made a mess of things. This morning, I got to try to pry my car door open without breaking the handle thanks to the ice freezing it shut. Later, as I was delivering mail, I had to watch out constantly for black ice. It was all very annoying. I suspect the problem weather wise is that Maryland is on the borderline between the North and the South so it gets both kinds of weather. We'll get warm Southern periods of weather then the cold Northern weather will move in. One thing that is particularly hard about Maryland weather is it makes it easy to catch a cold. The constant change in temperature is hard on the body. So far, I've been lucky cold wise (knock on wood). I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope it warms up soon. We'll see.

Databasing

I finally started databasing my CD and DVD collections. By doing this, I'll know what I have and stop myself from buying the same CD or movie twice. To my embarrassment, I've done that four or five times. I found out a month ago that I bought the CD The Beach Boys Live in Concert twice. I also discovered I have the Best of the Rippingtons. What's embarrassing about the Rippingtons CD is that I've had it for over a year, didn't know I had it and haven't listened to it yet. I'll have to put that in my stack of music I plan to listen to. I have 5 or 6 CDs in that stack already. You can expect to see some new Music Reviews in the future on this blog.

Daylight Savings Time

Don't forget to move your clocks forward 1 hour. Daylight savings time ended this morning.

Mystery Shopper

I did another mystery shopper shop this evening. It was at another supermarket. Prior to the shop, I checked out the store's weekly ad to figure out what items on special I was going to buy. I also tried to figure out what questions I could ask various departments. Once I had my shopping list and possible questions ready, I drove out to the store. The visit itself went fine though I can't say I would've given the store I checked out the highest marks. Salespeople were no where to be seen in a number of departments and items on sale were missing in some areas. It didn't seem like a number of employees were making any great effort. Overall, I wasn't super impressed with the store. I won't name the store as I don't want to take the chance they might get tipped off that I was doing a mystery shopper visit on them.

Concerning ICCDS, I still haven't gotten paid for any of my mystery shops yet. However, they do have 10 more days to pay me for the first one. We'll see what happens on this score. If worst comes to worst, I'm out around $17 so far which is nothing to me. Stay tuned to see how things work out with ICCDS.

Mystery Shopper Update

I finally decided to see if ICC Decision Services (ICCDS) is a legitimate company. They're the company I've been doing mystery shopper visits for. I contacted the supermarket chain I've visited twice to see if they use them. To my relief, they confirmed they did. It's nice to know I don't have to worry about getting taken in by a scam. Because of that, I definitely plan to do more mystery shops for them. They do offer some nice assignments though they also have some stinkers. I've turned down a number of assignments with them because they haven't offered enough compensation. I'm also limiting my travel range to 30 minutes each way. That way, I don't spend all the money I made doing the shop on gas. We'll see how it goes.

Music Review

I finally got around to listening to one of the CDs I bought a while back. The CD is "Borrowed Heaven" by The Corrs. I've liked some of the stuff the Corrs have done. I think their songs "Breathless" and "So Young" are particularly good. They also did a great instrumental version of "Paddy McCarthy." Sadly, I found their "Borrowed Heaven" to be lacklustre. None of the songs were particularly good. It seemed on some of the songs that the lyrics didn't seem to fit the music. The Corrs did include one instrumental called "Silver Strand" which I thought was nice but not enough make the CD worth buying. In my opinion, this is one CD you can pass on. It isn't a stinker but it isn't worth spending your money on either. I found out from the Corrs website (http://www.corrs.net) that they've come out with a greatest hits. I plan to buy that and see how it is. I'll let you know what I think of it once I've bought it and listened to it. Cheers all!

Agent Ditto

I completed another mystery shopper mission today. It was another supermarket of a major chain. The mission was the same as before. I had to visit all six departments (produce, grocery, meat/seafood, pharmacy, bakery and customer service). I had to ask an associate from each one of the departments some kind of question and grade them on how well they answered if they answered at all. Another duty was rating how well or not the cashier did his/her job when I checked out with my mandatory purchase(s). Supermarket cleanliness both inside and out was another area I had to rate the store on. Lastly, I had to spend a minimum of 35 minutes at the store. I don't know why they mandate you stay that long. I guess to make sure you give the store a good lookover. In my case, the extra time caused to notice that the store's stocking staff wasn't doing their job. I found a number of sale items that weren't on the shelves and they should've been considering the store had only been open an hour when I did my mission. Overall, I found it easier to do the evaluation and play the part of a normal shopper.

I still not sure about the company I'm doing the mystery shopper missions for. I will say again that if they are a scam, they are the most thorough one I've seen. It took a lot of work to come up with the list of questions I have to answer when I do a mystery shopper mission. They also have a very sophisticated website. Plus, I can't see where they could take you for some serious money. I imagine they could apply for a refund from the supermarket chain for the purchases I've made for them but that money is minuscule. Lastly, they are very consistent in what they have you do. I'm waiting to see what happens with my first invoice I submitted for payment. That will give me some idea how legit they are. We'll see what happens.