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.

Hobbit Update

This is a little old but, I thought I'd post something on it anyway. The Tolkien Estate is suing New Line Cinema for its share of the Lord of the Rings movies. The estate reportedly received just $62,500 as an "upfront payment" before production began (Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080211/ap_en_mo/tolkien_lawsuit). The estate was supposed to receive "7.5 percent of the gross receipts." (Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080211/ap_en_mo/tolkien_lawsuit) The estate is suing New Line for more than $150 million. They are also seeking to prevent New Line from making any movies based on other Tolkien works.

Personal Observations: Considering the complaints Peter Jackson and actors/actresses who had parts in the movies about not getting their share of the profits, I can believe New Line was tightwadish enough not to pay these guys. I don't know how they thought they could get away with it. The estate probably isn't hurting for money so they would be able to get the best legal help out there and force New Line to pay them their share. Unless New Line quickly settles with the estate, this will hold up "The Hobbit" and its follow-on for another couple years at least. The good thing about that is that New Line Cinema will lose the rights to "The Hobbit." MGM will most likely buy the rights from Saul Zaentz (who owns them). Also, by the time this lawsuit is settled, Peter Jackson's schedule will be more open and he may be able to direct the two movies himself. Right now, current speculation says Guillermo Del Toro will get to direct the movies though I haven't heard of him signing any contract to do so. As far as I know, his agents are still in talks which may have been put on hold because of this lawsuit. The obvious bad point of this lawsuit is that "The Hobbit" will be held up for a couple more years (groan). One hoped for good point is that the egotistical Bob Shaye, Co-CEO and Co-Chairman of New Line Cinema will be given the boot by the studios parent company Time Warner after this latest fiasco. The tightwad certainly deserves it. Stay tuned for further updates.

Cruise Documents

Last week, I received the documents for my upcoming cruise with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. As this is the first set I've ever received, I was very curious about them. The documents include itinerary, luggage tags and optional excursions at the ports the ship will call at. It also explained some things about ship life. One thing they mentioned that I'm very interested in is their WiFi Internet service. They said they charge a "nominal" charge. What do they consider "nominal"? I remember using the terminals at the Radission in Oslo and Stockholm. They charged something like 50 cents a minute which to me isn't nominal. It's damned expensive! Because of their WiFi service, I'm going to take my laptop. I hope that I'll be able to post updates on my blog during the cruise. We'll see on that.

Book Review

I confess that I'm an Anglophile. I am very much fascinated with things concerning England. One of the subjects that fascinates me most is the Royal Family. They get to live a life that I can only glimpse at in wonder. One of the neatest things I've done is take a tour of Buckingham Palace. The place absolutely dazzles. That someone would get to live in a place like that all the time boggles. So, when I heard about the book A Year With The Queen, I had to buy it and read it. The book tells you what Queen Elizabeth II does in a year, how she does it and the people who support her as monarch of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It also shows the part her family and cousins (Duke of Kent, Duke of Gloucester) play in helping her do her job. It's impossible for the Queen to attend all the engagements that require her presence so she has to send various members of her family as well as her cousins to represent her. The book explains how much it costs the British taxpayer for the Royal Family and what the money is spent on. It explains the relationship between the Queen and her Prime Minister and her relationship with the Commonwealth (former British colonies). In pictures, it shows the Queen and her consort the Duke of Edinburgh doing their various duties.

The list price for the book is $30 though you should be able to get it for less than that. All the major bookstores in the U.S. should have the book. The book is a companion to a tv series that will air on ABC (I believe) though I don't know when.

Overall, if you're an Anglophile, this is a delightful book about the Royal Family. You'll learn more of how things work at Buckingham Palace and what Queen Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh are like. You'll even find out how you can get an invitation to one of the Queen's tea parties. If you're fascinated about England or just curious about the British Royal Family, this is a book you ought to read.

Voting in Maryland

I just wanted to post a reminder to any readers in Maryland that today is election day in Maryland. Today, you get to vote in either the Maryland Democrat or Republican primary election depending on which of these parties you registered with. If you are unaffiliated, unless there is nonpartisan election such as a nominees for a board of education, you won't get to vote today (source: http://www.elections.state.md.us/voting/primary.html). You will get to vote in the national election. I would urge you vote. This is one of the times when you can have your say on where you think this country should go. If you don't vote, I feel you don't have any right to complain about where this country is headed because you didn't do anything to change it. You can say your vote won't make a difference. I say, you don't know that for a fact and even if the person you voted for loses, at least you made the effort to change things vice those who complain and do nothing about it. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. today (source: http://www.elections.state.md.us/voting/election_day_questions.html#Time).

Purpose of this Blog

Recently, Jim on Serotoninrain brought up the possibility of making a donation to him via his blog. To me, that opened a huge can of worms because I think it changes the nature of his blog. It becomes more of possible money making enterprise vice putting something out there as expression of yourself and that you hope someone else might enjoy. It also caused me to look at my own blog and why I do it.

First and foremost, this blog is for my own enjoyment. I post whatever I feel like posting. Sometimes, I've used it to vent and sometimes, I've tried to be creative by posting what I hope are nice photos of places I've been to. At times, I try to make it useful to whoever might read it. I'll post reviews on products, music, movies or places. I don't claim to be an expert on anything and considering what my blog costs you (zip), you shouldn't expect some great product or service. What you do with the information I provide is your business and you take the information at your own risk. I do try to be accurate and state sources when I use information from other places. If any readers of this blog see something that is wrong, I would greatly appreciate a remark letting me know so I can correct it. Jim did that recently with the post I published on Starbucks. I was grateful for the correction. I do reserve the right to moderate remarks. I won't allow any remarks that in my opinion advertise some kind of service. My blog is not in any way a commercial enterprise and won't be used for that. There is a small advertisement beneath my counter on my blog. In order to use the counter for free, I had to agree to that advertisment. You can blow that advertisement off if you wish. I definitely don't push that product or any product for that matter.

Second, I hope this blog is entertaining or useful to you the reader. While I enjoy posting stuff on this blog, I find it more enjoyable when I find that people out there actually read what I post and enjoy it or find it useful. I won't promise this blog will always be entertaining or useful to you because each of you have your own ideas on what is entertaining or useful. It's impossible for me to meet the ideas of each reader. Plus, some days, I'm bound to write a stinker of a blog entry. We all have our bad days.

That summarizes my thoughts on this blog and it's purpose. I would encourage you the reader to post your remarks as long as their civil. I like hearing from readers of this blog. Cheers all!

Payraise

To my surprise, I found out the rural mail carriers received a payraise this past pay period. Our pay has gone up 47 cents an hour. I know that doesn't sound like much but, it can add up. This past pay period, I worked 40 hours plus both week. That 47 cent raise translated into almost $40 more in my paycheck. Overtime wise, the raise means we make nearly $27 an hour when we're in overtime. I'll gladly take the additional money.

Trips

I paid off the Globus France tour I'll be going on in September. It should be an awesome tour. Globus does a really nice job. The only bummer is the weak dollar. France is going to be more expensive than Scandanavia. Like the cruise, I've also paid off the additional things for the tour like the airplane tickets and airport shuttle. Annoyingly, Globus isn't showing a list of optional tours and prices for the tour. It would be nice to see what additional stuff I could do on the tour and what it would cost.

Concerning the cruise I'll be going on, that's only 30 days away. Sometimes it can be nice when time flies and this is one of those times. I'm very much looking forward to the cruise as I've never been on a cruise ship or seen the Southern Caribbean. It'll also be nice to get to go scuba diving and deep sea fishing. I also play to play the slots in the ship's casino. Hopefully, I'll have the same luck or better I had at Atlantic City. I won $120 there. Thanks to my friend Harvey, I kept it as I stopped while I was ahead and resisted the temptation to go back and try again. I found out from my travel agent Joel that Royal Caribbean Cruises sends out some kind of travel documents though nothing as fancy as Globus. I'm curious to see what those are like.

Retraction

Yesterday, I posted a blog entry about Starbucks not supporting our troops. As a retired member of the Air Force, I was very incensed about them not supporting those who are putting their lives on the line for us. My source for the blog was an email from a trusted friend. It turns out my friend was wrong. Jim at Serotoninrain sent me a website (http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp) that proves that the story is totally false. Many thanks to Jim. Also, my apologies to Starbucks. I trusted that my friend would be accurate on this and she wasn't. Due to the seriousness of the rumor, I've deleted the original blog entry. For the record, numerous Starbucks employees have sent their free weekly coffee allotment to our troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many kudos to them as well.

Casino Royal Game

I decided to try the Casino Royal Game at Dave & Busters. The last time I was there, a guy told me you could win more tickets on it vice Spin & Win. After playing it for 20 minutes, I found I ended up with as many tickets as I would've won on Spin & Win on one of my bad days on it i.e. I only managed to hit the 1,000 tickets light twice. I found I did get more play action on the Casino Royal game vice the Spin & Win as I got 10 coins to put in the game everytime vice getting to pull the spin lever and hit the stop button. Also, I received more winning action i.e. I had more times when I'd win tickets. In terms of what it cost to play the game, it was the same if you had a regular play card (10 tickets vice 9.9 tickets). If you had a Gold card, you could play the Spin & Win game more overall as it costs 8.9 tickets to play that each time vice the 10 tickets it cost to play Casino Royal every time. Timing wise, it was easier to play the Casino Royal game vice trying to get it right when the light comes around the Spin & Win wheel. However, if you had a Gold card and tried to hit the 80 ticket window on the Spin & Win vice the 1,000, you'd could easily get as many tickets on that game.

Overall, the Casino Royal game is a lot easier to play. If you're timing isn't the greatest, you'll want to play that game vice Spin & Win. If you want the greatest chance to win big, you'll want to play Spin & Win as the Casino Royal game can't match the 1,000 windows on the Spin & Win game. In terms of excitement, I think the Spin & Win game is more exciting to play. Every time you pull the lever on that game, you could win 1,000 tickets. As to which game you should play, I'll leave that up to you. You know what arcarde games you like to play. If you're into sports arcade games, a lady playing next to me at the Casino Royal games told me the basketball shooting game pays out well. You might want to try that.

FYI, the gift shop got some new prizes in. One notable one is a Toshiba 15-inch dual tv system (digital and analog)/monitor with DVD player. This is going for 90,000 tickets! They also some new prize that cost 120,000 but I forget what it was. Someone claimed the Sony entertainment system they had for 48,000 tickets.

Picture from Norway

Today, I was going through my pictures of my trip to Denmark, Sweden and Norway. I decided to post one from the trip. This picture is of a town that was on the Sognefjord in Norway. It was taken while the group I was with did a 2 hour cruise on a passenger ferry. The fjord itself was stunning. There were numerous waterfalls and breathtaking mountains. Norway has to rank as one of the most beautiful countries I've ever had the pleasure of visiting.

January 2008 Baltimore, Maryland Hard Rock Cafe Visit

I finally made it to the Baltimore Hard Rock Cafe today. I drove down to the Glen Burnie Cromwell Station and caught the light rail train into Camden Yards. Parking is free at Cromwell Station so it makes sense to take the train in from there. Round trip train fare is only $3.20. One place I passed on my way back from the Inner Harbor was charging $7 an hour for parking. The light rail train is an easy way to get to either the Raven's football stadium or Orioles baseball park. It stops at both.

Once you get off the train at Camden Yards, you cross the street to the Baltimore Convention Center and keep walking that way passing the Sherator Inner Harbor Hotel and the Hyatt Inner Harbor Hotel. When you reach the Inner Harbor, to your right is the Science Center and to your left the U.S.S. Constellation which is the last wooden warship ever built for the U.S. Navy. You'll walk toward the Constellation and keep walking around the harbor. The Baltimore World Trade Center building is about 40 or 50 feet from the Constellation. It goes up 24 stories (I think). At the top, it has nice views of the harbor.

Once you pass the trade center, the Aquarium and a World War II submarine are on your left. I don't know what the admission for the Aquarium or the submarine is. When I arrived, they had a good size line for the Aquarium. The Hard Rock Cafe is part of a building that was a former electrical plant for the city. You can still see the former smoke stacks coming out of the Barnes and Noble bookstore. To the left of Barnes and Noble, they have an ESPNzone place (I don't know what ESPNzones are). Some day, I'll have to check out the ESPNzone thingy and find out what it is.

The Hard Rock Cafe itself has a nice collection of rock memorabilia. I saw a guitar played by Mark Slaughter of the group called Slaughter. Also, they had a guitar autographed by the group Poison. There was a bust of old rubber lips Mick Jagger. They had stain glass windows that showed various rock instruments. The centerpiece of the cafe was a 1960 teal Cadillac which presides over the bar. Price wise, the cafe is expensive. Starters ranged from $9.80 to $11. I tried their nachos. I got a good size plate of chips covered with 2 cheeses beans and jalapenos. If you wanted beef, chicken or guacamole, it cost extra. Entrees ran from $7 (I think) to over $22. The ribs I tried were $22.50. I got a good plate of bar-b-que ribs with a good size order of fries and small cups of beans and cole slaw. Drink wise, I ordered a very berry smoothie in a Pilsner glass you get to keep. That cost $8.99. Also, I found out they came out with a new city t-shirt. This one shows a raven and a crab. The raven I believe has to do with the football team though it could have connections to Edgar Allen Poe who I think wrote stories here. The crab is definitely a connection to the Chesapeake Bay. Eating steamed crabs is a tradition here. When they're in season, you can get all you can eat crabs (not at the Hard Rock Cafe). They're pretty good though you will work to get the meat out.

Overall, I had a nice meal at the cafe. My waitress Chrissy did a great job and was kind enough to get me a closeable tray so I could take home the half rib slab I couldn't finish. I earned $68 total my next $20 reward with the All Access club. The All Access Club gives you priority seating at all Hard Rock Cafes as well as earning $20 credit when you spend $200. You can use the $20 credits for merchandise or food. I've earned $80 in credit with them so far.

I took some pictures with my Canon Rebel XTi digital camera. I'll try to get them posted within the next couple days.

Small side note: I just discovered that the Sydney and Melbourne Hard Rock Cafes apparently closed (they're not listed on the Hard Rock Cafe list anymore). I remember visiting both during my 2004 Globus tour of Australia. I wear proudly my t-shirts from both of them. It's a bummer they closed.

Update June 28, 2014: First, the All Access club/membership is no more. They came out with a different program called Hard Rock Rewards which I don't think is as good. Second, the ESPN Zone thing closed and was replaced with a Philips Harborplace restaurant. Third, the Cadillac is gone. It was replaced during a remodeling with a light fixture.

Candy Minas Tirith

Today, I read about this initially on the Council of Elrond webpage. It seems some very creative people with time on their hands (7 days worth) created a candy Minas Tirith. I checked the pictures of it and it is very impressive. Take a look at it yourself at this link Candy Minas Tirith.

Frustration

As I've mentioned in a couple previous blog entries, I like to get together with a fellow rural mail carrier sub called Bernadette. However, things can get pretty frustrating because of her other job at the Wheaton J.C. Penneys. Today is a prime example. I found out that she doesn't have to work today at Penneys. Since its Sunday, she doesn't have to work at the Post Office either. Great day to take her to the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore. I've been wanting to do that for a while. It turned out Penneys struck again. It seems that Penneys wants her to work at 5 a.m. tomorrow. The only way she could do that was get a ride down to a friends house either Saturday evening or Sunday at stay there overnight which she did. If I want to take her to the Hard Rock Cafe today, I have to drive an hour down to Wheaton to pick her up, drive another 90 minutes to the Inner Harbor so we can have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, drive another 90 minutes to take her back to Wheaton so she can work at Penneys tomorrow and drive another hour so I can get home. We're talking 4 and 1/2 hours of driving just so I could have lunch and see a little of the Inner Harbor with her. Aaargh! Sadly, I had to scrub the idea. It just wasn't worth all the hassle. So, I'll have to go to the Inner Harbor by myself which will suck. :-( Very frustrating.

Spin and Win

This past Sunday, I drove out to Dave & Busters so I could add to my ticket total. I played the Spin and Win game again. I made a couple surprise discoveries this time. First, I found out the game will start even if you don't pull the lever to start the light going around. I don't know how long the game will wait but it will eventually start on its own. Second, I found out that you have a limited time to hit the stop button. I was waiting to try to get a good idea when to hit the stop button so I could hopefully hit the 1,000 ticket marker. I guess I exceeded the wait time on the game because to my total astonishment, it stopped and gave me 10 tickets. For those of you who don't know, 10 tickets is worse than any marker on the game (the lowest markers are 20 tickets). I don't know how long you have before the game will stop on its own and I don't care to research that considering what it costs to play it. I'm just giving you my readers a heads-up that you have a limited amount of time to hit the stop button.

Luck wasn't really with me this last trip to Dave & Busters. I only hit the 1,000 marker 3 times. I managed to increase my ticket total over 4,000 tickets. I now have 45,869 tickets. The irony of the situation is that Dave & Busters doesn't have anything in the prize shop that I really want. Oh well. I plan to keep playing and I hope they'll get some nice new prizes in. We'll see.

Laurel Tavern Update

I managed to finish Montpelier Rural Route 2 before 5 p.m. When I drove up Fetty's Alley, I passed the Laurel Tavern. I saw they were still open. After I turned in all my accountables, the outgoing mail I collected, my scanner, cleaned my mail case and clocked out, I decided to see if the tavern will still open. To my surprise, they've changed their hours. They are now open Monday to Saturday till 7 p.m. I suspect someone there figured out that they weren't going to sell a lot of burgers if they closed at 5 p.m. Anyway, I bought their sack of 9 burgers this time. This is the best deal they offer on their mini-burgers. You get 9 of them for $7.99. That breaks out to almost 89 cents (88.7 cents if you want to get technical about it) a burger. That isn't a great deal considering you can get a double cheeseburger at McDonald's for just 11 cents more. Still, the place is convenient for me as it's just down the alley from the Post Office. Plus, they do have nice people. I suspect they're feeling their way as far as business. I hope things work out for them. Cheers all!

Correction

In my review of the Laurel Tavern, I stated that it opened from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday. It turned out I was wrong about their Saturday hours. On Saturdays, they open 1 hour later i.e. 6 a.m. Sorry about the wrong information.

Trader Joe's Almond Bark Review

Recently, I decided to try Trader Joe's Almond Bark. Almond bark is almonds covered in dark chocolate and cut into slabs. Trader Joe's cuts their slabs into 5" by 9 and 3/4" blocks. They sell the bark in 1 pound boxes (2 slabs) for $9.99. I found their almond bark really good. The dark chocolate is slightly bitter but then, all dark chocolate normally is. Their bark is packed with almonds. Each almond bark slab is sealed in a clear plastic wrapper and then packaged in a nice box.

Overall, I was very pleased with their almond bark and I'd definitely recommend it. It would also make a nice inexpensive present for a chocolate lover. Cheers all!

Laurel Tavern

I visited the Laurel Tavern today. It's name is a bit of a misnomer as it's actually a very small shop that sells primarily donuts and other breakfast pastries. The tavern closed over 6 months ago and underwent a slow refurbishment. Finally, it reopened on January 2nd. I visited it today to see how it was. I found out that they've changed the focus of the restaurant/shop. Before, it was more small burgers and coffee. Now, it's primarily donuts and pastries though they still offer their mini-burgers.

I decided to try their mini-burgers. I bought six of them for $5.49. The tavern does give you a slight discount if you buy more than one. A single burger would cost you $1.29. Taste wise, the burgers were good but not very filling. I ate all six that I bought and I still wasn't filled up. Compared to McDonald's, I think they're a little expensive.

As far as pastries go, they had an all right selection. It isn't as impressive as Dunkin Donuts. One note I must make. I arrived at the tavern at 4:00 p.m. and what I saw as far as pastry wise may have been the dregs. They may offer a better selection when they open. I haven't seen what they offer when they open at 5 a.m.

Hours wise, they are open Monday to Saturday, 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Those hours are definitely handy if you want to buy something for breakfast but not if you want a burger later in the day.

Parking is the same as it was: limited. This is a place where you run in, order what you want, get it and eat it some where else. There aren't any seats in the tavern and there is a limited area where you can stand.

Overall, the tavern is better than what it was before but, it still isn't very impressive. As it is down the street from the Post Office, it would be a handy place to grab a donut on my way in to work in the morning. But, it isn't a place I would go out of my way for. If you happen to be on Maryland Route 1 in Laurel around breakfast time and you're hunkering for a donut, you might give them a try but, I wouldn't recommend you go out of your way to find the Laurel Tavern. Bon Appetit!

Dave & Busters

Yesterday, I took my Post Office friend Bernadette to Dave & Busters at Arundel Mills Mall. Both of us enjoy playing their games. Bernadette has her sights on a Sony entertainment system they have though she'll have to play a lot of games and win a lot of tickets to get it. It costs 48,000 tickets. For me, I played Spin and Win again. No other game there offers the payout it does. To my delight, I hit the 1,000 ticket reward 5 times! That said, I missed it by one or two lights something like 25 times. It can be a very frustrating game in that way. People saw how many tickets I was winning and asked me to play for them but, I declined. I didn't want them to pay out their tickets only to have me miss the 1,000 ticket marker.

I managed to get my ticket total up to 41,669 tickets. I still don't know what I want to get there prize wise. For now, I just want to run my ticket score up. In time, I'll figure out what I want. The fun right now is just winning tickets and managing to hit the 1,000 marker. Cheers all!