Review of Wai Lana's Cassava Pops

While visiting Dollar Tree's Jessup, Maryland store, I stumbled upon 3 different types of Wai Lana's Cassava Pops. They're like potato chips but, they're made with cassava (yuca root) which is native to Central and South America. Wai Lana turns the root into a paste and then applies a little heat and pressure to make the chip like pops. The advantage of doing this is there aren't any added calories from frying or baking.

The pops come in 3 flavors: sea salt (125 calories per serving). luau bar-b-que (120 calories per serving) and volcano (110 calories per serving). Volcano is the hot and spicy flavor though I didn't find it that hot. The luau bar-b-que is supposed to sweet & tangy. As I haven't tried this flavor yet, I don't know if that's true or not. On the sea salt flavor, I found the chips tasty.

Each flavor comes in 3 ounce (3 servings) bags at Dollar Tree and cost $1 (of course).

Wai Lana states the pops don't have any gluten (certainly true as they're not made with wheat), are GMO and trans fats free, don't have anything artificial, are suitable for vegetarians and are kosher.

Allergy wise, Wai Lana warns that the pops are made in a factory that may contain soy, wheat and dairy though no peanuts or tree nuts.

The pops are made in the United States of America which is a little plus to me and are distributed by Wai Lana Snacks out of Honolulu, Hawaii.

Overall, I was very pleased with this product. I thought the 2 flavors I tried were tasty and, I look forward to having some more of this product. This product gets a thumbs up from me. Happy munching all!

Source of information on the product: the 3 bags I bought from the Jessup, Maryland Dollar Tree store with my own money. I'm not in any way affiliated with Wai Lana Snacks and all opinions stated in this review are my own.

Review of Royal Caribbean's Scratch Off Games

I fancy myself something of an expert on lottery scratch off games as I've played a number of them in Maryland and a few in Virginia. I knew Royal Caribbean offered scratch off lottery tickets in their ship's casinos. While on my April 2018 cruise on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas, I visited the ship's casino and proceeded to play each of their scratch off games.

I wrote a review previously on Royal Caribbean's scratch off games and, this review is a bit of an update. The biggest change I found with Royal Caribbean in this way was they added $10 and $20 games. The $10 game offers a top prize of $50,000 and, the $20 game offers a top prize of $100,000. In comparison to Maryland Lottery's scratch offs, these prizes are low. Maryland Lottery offers a top prize of $100,000 for $10 games and, $1,000,000 (paid over 20 years) for $20 games.

Another downside I found to the Royal Caribbean games is the odds get worse! as they get more expensive. According to one of the tickets I bought, the overall odds of winning something in their $20 game called Glittering Gold are 1 in 5.09. In Maryland, the normal odds for a $20 game are 1 in 3 or slightly less. This confounded me a bit.

Overall odds for the $5 and $10 games are the same at 1 in 4.48 which in my opinion is also poor. These odds are more in line with Maryland Lottery's $1 games which offer the worst overall odds of all their games.

Their $10 game called 20X THE CASH offered the most instant winner chances. This game is very similar to Maryland Lottery's 100X game except the instant win symbols go from 2X to 20X whereas in the Maryland game, they go up to 100X. The instant win symbols are 2X, 5X, 10X and 20X where you win the prize instantly times the instant win symbol example: if you hit a 5X symbol, you win 5 times the prize shown below the symbol so, if it was a $20 prize, you would win $100 in this case.

The $20 game does have a one instant win chance on this game. At the top of the ticket is a round covered chance which you scratch off and if you scratch off a coin with a dollar symbol on it, you instantly win $100. Otherwise, this game is like ALL the other games in that you try to match 1 or more of the 5 numbers at the top of the ticket to win some prize.

Another gripe I have with Royal Caribbean is they don't show the various prize amounts in their games except for the top prize. Presumably, you have a chance of winning at least what the ticket cost you but, it's anyone's guess what prize amounts are in between that and the top prize.

One last note: if you win a prize of $100 or higher on ANY of the games, you will have to provide the following information on the ticket: sign your name, print your name, the prize amount, your cabin number and the date. Also, the cashier will have to sign the ticket.

Overall, I wasn't impressed with Royal Caribbean's scratch off games. Like all scratch off games in general, they're easy to play and probably the easiest games in the ship's casino. Still, the poor overall odds and smaller prizes are a real downer for me. I can't recommend them. I think players in the United States of America at least could find better games in their home states. Best of luck to any gamblers among my readers. Cheers!

Update February 3, 2019: I did another Royal Caribbean cruise last month on their Grandeur of the Seas. While on-board, I played some of their scratch off games again. I found another annoying thing about their games. They don't have a system where you can check the ticket electronically i.e. have a box figure you can scan where it'll tell you if you have a winner or not. This is standard in Maryland and helps prevent the player from mistakenly throwing away a winning ticket. Also, it helps the cashier as they have to check each number on the ticket to see if it matches vice just scanning the ticket. I mentioned this to the cashier and, they recommended I mention it in my end of cruise feedback which I subsequently did. Hopefully, Royal Caribbean will come out with such a system which will help both players and the casino cashiers with the games.

Feedback On Cruising Out of Baltimore, Maryland

As I mentioned previously on my blog, I was going to do a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas out of Baltimore, Maryland. I did the cruise and thought I'd offer a little feedback/information on it.

The cruise started April 5, 2018 and finished April 14, 2018. It lasted 9 nights and visited the following ports:

Charleston, South Carolina,
Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida
Miami, Florida
Nassau, Bahamas (2 days)

The cruise was supposed to make port at King Bahama, Bahamas but, Royal Caribbean changed the itinerary to 2 days in Nassau citing necessary small repairs on the ship (don't know if this was true or not).

As far as in-processing at the Cruise Ship Terminal, people directing the traffic were mixed. Some were helpful and some definitely weren't. One guy told my driver and me to get off the crosswalk BUT didn't tell us where to drop my bags. Security was tough though not as tough as at any airport. The person who checked me in did a fine job and was very courteous. Once you've checked in, there is a waiting area if they haven't started boarding yet. Pinnacle Crown & Anchor members as well as those staying in suites on the ship have a separate waiting area.

The cruise itself went fine and, I'll be doing the same cruise again on Grandeur of the Seas in January 2019.

Upon the ship's return to Baltimore, disembarking went very smoothly and, I believe they stayed on schedule with getting the various groups off. Customs was a breeze to my surprise and, I didn't have to fill out a customs form stating what I'd bought in the Bahamas (the only foreign country the ship visited). I think I was through Customs in 5 minutes to my delight. When I exited Customs, the baggage handlers were on their mark and all my bags were in their assigned area waiting for me.

Some plusses I want to mention about cruising out of Baltimore providing you don't fly into Baltimore to catch the cruise like me. First, no baggage fees. Second, you don't have to worry about the weight of your bags. Third, no long travel time to catch the cruise (providing you live some where in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area). It took me only 30 minutes to travel from Jessup, Maryland to the terminal.

One potential negative is if you have to drive your own car to the terminal and park it there. I believe they charge $15 a day to park it there while you're off on the cruise. Another potential negative is if you have to use a taxi. Due to a friend dropping the ball on me at the last minute, I had to use a taxi (I didn't have the Uber or Lyft apps). I asked the taxi driver for an estimate and, he was very vague on it. The fare ended up being a steep $67! I wasn't pleased about this and will have either Uber or Lyft's app next time. One last negative is you will have at least 1 day at sea to get any where with as many as 3 (Royal Caribbean has that many coming back from their Caribbean cruise). I know some folks enjoy days at sea but, I don't.

Overall, I was very pleased with how things went at the Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal. I'm looking forward to my January 2019 cruise on Grandeur of the Seas and feel my next visit there will go even smoother. I'd definitely recommend cruising out of Baltimore for those who live in the area.

Review of Maryland Lottery's Willy Wonka Golden Ticket Scratch Off Game

One of the newest games to come out of the Maryland Lottery is their Willy Wonka Golden Ticket scratch off game. The game costs $10 and offers a top prize of $100,000 (common among $10 games). The game was launched on April 23, 2018 and has all 8 $100,000 prizes as well as all 12 $10,000 prizes at the time of this post. Four lucky winners have won the third tier prize of $1,000 though 48 of those remain at the time of this post.

The overall odds of this game are 1 in 3.44. The game has 3 instant win symbols: a top hat which causes the winner to instantly win 5 times the prize shown (minimum $50 prize), a lollipop which causes the winner to instantly win 10 times the prize shown (minimum $100 prize) and a ticket which causes the winner to win ALL 25 prizes shown on the ticket (figuring on $10 per prize, that means if you hit this symbol, you've won at least $250!). Barring these instant win symbols, you have to match 1 or more of 5 numbers to win a minimum prize of $10.

One very unique feature of this game is its second chance drawing. There will be 6 drawings on:

May 28, 2018
July 2, 2018
August 6, 2018
September 10, 2018
October 15, 2018
November 19, 2018

The winner of each drawing will be flown to Las Vegas, Nevada with a guest for a Billion Dollar Challenge contest where they will compete against their other winners as well as other winners from other states that participate in this contest. The winner will have a chance to win from $1,000 to $1 Billion dollars.

Besides getting flown out to Las Vegas for the contest, the winner and their guest gets free airport transport, free hotel accommodations for 3 nights and $1,000 spending money.

Overall, I think this is one of the more interesting scratch off games that Maryland Lottery has come up with. I think the second chance drawing will attract a lot of interest too as who wouldn't like to win a BILLION dollars. Personally, I've played this game twice using my own money and had a little bit of luck with it. I do like the Willy Wonka theme. The tickets feature a Willy Wonka character on the ticket that to me looks like Gene Wilder who played the character in the first Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory movie. I very much liked that movie and feel Wilder was excellent in it. This is one game I'd recommend to would be players though do remember to play responsibly please.

Sources: 1 of the scratch off tickets I bought with my own money and the Maryland Lottery website. I haven't received any compensation for writing this review and all opinions expressed in this review are my own and not reflective of the Maryland Lottery nor do I have ANY association with them.

Update November 12, 2018: If you haven't done so already, you should enter any remaining losing tickets in this game so, you can get in on the last second chance drawing their having which happens November 19th. Also, this game is wrapping up. The last time I checked, all but 1 of the $100,000 prizes were gone and all the $10,000 prizes were gone. Now, you'd be playing for $1,000 and, you can do that for a lot less than $10.

Review of Arizona's Sweet Tea

While at the Jessup, Maryland Dollar Tree about a month ago, I wanted a cheap caffeine fix. I decided to try their Arizona Sweet Tea. It costs only a $1, comes in a 42 ounce plastic bottle and, they had it in the refrigerated section so, it was already cold.

In my opinion, the tea turned out to be pretty lacklustre i.e. it wasn't terribly good. For starters, it didn't seem very sweet. This may be because they used high fructose corn syrup instead of real sugar to sweeten it. Sweet tea is supposed to be so sweet that you would get a huge sugar high from drinking it. I didn't get that from this product.

One slight plus to the product is they add ascorbic acid so you get 100% of the vitamin C you need in an 8 ounce glass of the tea.

Arizona claims the tea is real brewed. Maybe but, the tea itself isn't noteworthy either. Some teas have particularly nice flavors depending on what you like example: Russian Caravan tea has a nice smoky taste to it. This tea didn't have any noteworthy flavor to it. I would guess they used plain black tea.

Overall, the best thing I can say about this tea is it's cheap. As I mentioned previously, a 42 ounce bottle cost just a $1 at Dollar Tree. I don't know how caffeine it has in it so, I can't say how much of a charge you'll get from drinking some of this tea. As far as thumb scores go, I give this tea 2 thumbs down. I'd recommend you drink some other kind of tea. Happy drinking all!

Review of Maryland Lottery's Triple 333's Game

On February 26, 2018, the Maryland Lottery came out with a new $2 scratch off game called Triple 333's. The game features 8 top prizes of $10,000. Other prize amounts start from $2 and go up to $5,000. At the time of this post, no one has claimed any of the top $10,000 prizes.

The game gives you 10 chances to win. In order to win, you must reveal either a single "3" which means you have instantly whatever the prize amount is to the right of the number OR get three 3's i.e. "333". If you get a triple 3, you win triple the prize amount shown.

Overall odds of winning in the game are 1 in 4.04 which is normal for the cheaper games.

The game is incredibly easy to play as all you have to do is scratch straight down on the left side that has the numbers and see if you have either one 3 or three 3's.

Losing tickets do qualify for lottery reward points.

Overall, this is a very easy and quick game to play. For those who can't afford the higher priced games, this is a more affordable way to play for some reasonably big money. I think it's an ok game.

One final note: if you need to find the ticket numbers in order to enter ticket for lottery reward points, you'll find them along the right side of the ticket just past the prize amounts. I was wondering where these numbers were and had to search for them.

Review of Jack Links A.M. Breakfast Sausage

You never know what you'll find at Ollie's Bargain Outlet. Recently, I discovered their Jessup, Maryland store received a shipment of Jack Links A.M. Breakfast Sausage. As I like their beef jerky, I decided to try their breakfast sausage.

The sausage comes in 4.4 ounce resealable bags, is dried, fully cooked and ready to eat. Ollie's was selling it for $1.99 and claims it normally sells for $3.29. I counted the number of sausages in 1 bag and found a total of 10 which breaks out to nearly 20 cents a sausage. If I had to pay the full price, that would break out to around 32 cents a sausage which isn't cheap though I don't know what is a good price for sausage.

Jack Links claims the sausage is hot and spicy. I didn't find it hot though I did find it had some spice in it. They use chipotle pepper, red pepper and black pepper to season it. I feel it wasn't overly spicy.

You can heat the sausage up in a microwave for 10 seconds though do take it out of the bag first as they recommend.

I feel one plus of this sausage is you don't have to refrigerate it until you open the bag unlike regular sausage. This sausage might be handy on a camping trip.

Overall, I feel this is decent sausage that could be handy in certain circumstances like camping or hiking. Also, I thought I got a good deal on it at Ollie's. Do remember if you find it at an Ollie's where you live that you should buy it right then because you may not find it there when you come back. Ollie's doesn't joke when they say when it's gone, it's gone. It really is in their case. Bon Appetit all!

An Update on My Blogging

To any readers I have, no I haven't stopped blogging. I didn't realize I haven't posted anything since October 2017. I will post some new stuff soon. I just finished a mini-adventure where I stayed at 2 different Holiday Inn Expresses 2 different days (Springfield, Virginia and Prince Frederick, Maryland) made more memorable by the fact that due to some freakish Maryland weather I caught some kind of virus I'm now trying to kick.

Another issue I had was trying to get back into my blogger account. It took me over a very frustrating hour before I finally was able to figure out how to call it back up. To Google's credit, their blogger troubleshooting list did help me eventually solve the problem.

So, stay tuned for some new stuff. I have more interesting adventures coming this year with 3 cruises booked with Royal Caribbean. And thank you for reading my blog. Cheers.

Update February 27, 2018: I managed to kick the virus I caught and have started taking Vitamin Shoppe's Sambucus Black Elderberry extract to stay healthy. I'm not crazy about the taste of the stuff as it tastes like licorice but, if it keeps me healthy, I'll take a dose every day.

On new blog topics, I'll be blogging about some more products I've tried like Pringle's Extra Hot Chili & Lime chips and the new Maryland Lottery $30 game they came out with this week. It looks like it'll be an improvement over the first $30 game they came out with so stay tuned.

Update March 29, 2018: I know I haven't posted a review on Maryland's new Megabucks $30 scratch off game. It is an improvement over their first $30 game called $2,000,000 Fortune. It has 3 different possible instant win chances in the main part of the ticket and four bonus instant win chances at the top of the ticket - $30, $50, $200 and $500. I still plan to write a review on this game.

Another thing to watch for are some posts on my upcoming cruise with Royal Caribbean. I'll be cruising out of Baltimore, Maryland on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas. It'll be my 3rd cruise on this ship BUT, the first time I'll in-process through the Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal. I've read the people are rude there. I'm curious to see if it's true. We'll see. I'll try to post some pictures too. Stay tuned.

Jot Ballpoint Pen Review

Among the good size selection of pens you'll find at Dollar Tree stores, the cheapest are the Jot Ballpoint Pens. The pens come in packs of 10 (at a $1 a pack, this breaks out to 10 cents a pen) with a choice of 2 different type of pen bodies (white and clear) and 3 choices of ink color (Black, Blue and, I think Red). All pens as far as I know have a .7 millimeter nib.

I bought 2 packs of the pens myself to test them and, I found they write well especially for such cheap pens. One down side to them is their stick pens meaning they don't retract and, you have to use a pen cap each pen comes with to keep the ink on the pen from drying out. I suspect the pens use a standard oil based ink which doesn't dry out for a long time though they will eventually.

Of the 2 pen bodies, I'd recommend the clear body pens as you can see how much ink the cartridge has left. With the white bodies, you'd have to pull the ink cartridge out of the pen to see how much there is.

Overall, these are decent cheap pens that write well enough. At 10 cents each, I don't think it's worth going through all the hassle of replacing the ink cartridge when you've used it up. Also, I'm not wiped out by the extremely basic ink color selection. However, for most business writing, I think you're supposed to use black or blue ink any way so, this shouldn't matter to most folks. As with many things at Dollar Tree stores, the selection of these pens may vary from store to store. If you want to get a specific pack of them, you might want to see about ordering them on their website.

That's all for this post. Happy writing all!

Review of Ollie's Discount Store Chain

Another store I visited today was the Jessup, Maryland Ollie's. Ollie's is a discount store chain that sells merchandise that they're able to get a discount and sell it cheap to its customers. They do offer some nice deals. Today for example, I was able to get a Chefman 300 watt hand blender for $20. According to Ollie's, this blender would normally sell for double that. Another plus with Ollie's is they have a loyalty program called Ollie's Army. Being a member can get you 10% off entire purchase coupons which can save you even more.

One down side to Ollie's is you never know what they're going to have. And, once what they have is gone, they many times don't get anymore nor are there any more in the back nor may they have a lot of choices in the item such as color or team. I asked the cashier if they had another turquoise Chefman blender in the back as the box was open on the one I found and, he told me they put on the floor all the stock they get. So, what you see is what they have and once it's gone, it's gone just as they say. So, it can be a mixed blessing as you may be able to get a good deal on something though it may not be the color you want or the team (this Ollie's has some staplers with various NFL team logos on them) and you better get it when they have it otherwise, you may not get that deal again.

Ollie's does put out an email flyer you can get which goes out regularly telling customers what particular specials they're having at that time.

Merchandise wise, the stores sell a wide range of goods. They have canned and dried food items, sports equipment, carpets, automotive stuff, cooking utensils, small appliances, books, stationery items, toiletry items like deodorant and shampoo, shoes and boots, DVDs, the gamut. Basically, they sell whatever items they can get at a discount because of close outs or other reasons and pass on the savings to their customers.

Overall, I've been pretty pleased with this chain though it can be frustrating in that you never know what they're going to have barring that what they will have will be cheaper than what you would normally find it for elsewhere. Also, selections can be few. Another example of that was some Progresso soups they had at this store. They have 4 different Progresso soups for just 99 cents a can - great price but very limited selection. If you're interested in shopping at this chain, I'd definitely recommend you check out their website and sign up for their email flyer as this will tip you off what's in their stores at that time. It'll enable you to snatch up some nice deals (I got another good deal on a Himalayan salt lamp) before they disappear. Happy shopping all!

Review of Entenmann's Thrift Outlet Store

A couple months ago, I discovered an Entenmann's Thrift Outlet store at 7351 Assateague Drive in Jessup, Maryland. The store features discounted items on a number of different name brands including Arnold, Thomas and Sara Lee. I've visited the store twice and been very pleased with it both times. The stores staff are helpful and, they offer great deals on various items example: 3 bags of Thomas everything bagels for $4 or 3 bags of Ball Park hot dog buns for $3. You can buy individual bags of items but, you won't save as much. They claim you can save 50% or more and, they may be right. I've seen single loaves of Arnold bread sell for over $3 alone at other stores.

The stores hours are Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They're closed on Sundays and Mondays. They offer good parking. Also, they offer a military/police/fire 10% off discount on Tuesdays and a 10% Senior discount on Wednesdays.

My only complaint with them is that at times, they don't have that much stuff on the shelves.

Overall, I've been very pleased with them and feel I've gotten some really good bargains on name brand baked goods. If you're in the Jessup, Maryland area and want some really good priced baked goods, this store is worth checking out in my opinion. Happy shopping all!

Update: September 27, 2017. I visited this store today and to my surprise, they had signs up saying they don't sell out of date merchandise. Apparently, would be customers assume that since they're an outlet store that they're selling stuff that is old. They don't. I bought some Thomas Pumpkin Spice bagels at this store today and, their sell by date is October 3, 2017 (6 days away as of this post). The bagels are still fresh and perfectly good to eat. Folks who want a bargain on brand name bread goods like Thomas, Arnold, Holsum and Beefsteak (they make an excellent rye bread) to name some of the brands they sell should give this a place look if they're in the Jessup, Maryland area.

Update: November 9, 2020. Yesterday, I visited this store to see what was happening with it. On a previous visit, I noticed they were taking down the shelf units and had cleared out all the merchandise. On this visit, the windows were blocked out and, they had taken down the Entenmman's Thrift Store sign. To me, this says the store is permanently closed. I don't know why they decided to do away with the store. I found it offered some very good bargains on baked goods at times. When I was at this shopping center, I made a point of visiting this store if it was open to see what they had. I'm saddened it's gone.

Review of Dollar City & More Store

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review of Maryland Lottery's Betty Boop Scratch Off Game

I've been meaning to write a review on this game for a while. I've played it a number of times myself. I find the game noteworthy because in my opinion, it's second chance prize is actually better than it's top prize. I'll explain.

Maryland Lottery's $2 Betty Boop scratch off game is one of the few games it offers that has a second chance drawing. In this case, they're having 4 separate drawings where the winner can win a 8 day/7 night stay in Belmont Towers (condominiums that can sleep 8) in Ocean City, Maryland. The winner also gets a $1,000 Visa gift card for spending money.

2 of the drawings have already been done with the next one happening on July 24th. The winner will get to stay at Belmont Towers from August 26th to September 2nd. The final drawing will be on August 21st with the winner staying at Belmont Towers from September 23rd to September 30th (the end of the season at Ocean City). Considering what it can cost to stay at Ocean City, in my opinion, this is a very nice second chance prize.

How would be players get entered in the drawings is by entering their losing tickets with Maryland Lottery Rewards. Every losing ticket gets 1 entry for 1 particular drawing (whichever one you get the ticket entered by). Entries don't carry over as far as I know.

Top prizes for the game are: $10,000 (4 remaining), $1,000 (9 remaining), $500 (93 remaining), $200 (214 remaining) and $100 (670 remaining) at the time of this post.

You get 2 winning numbers and, you get 10 chances to match those numbers. The game does have an instant win feature. If you discover a BB symbol, you automatically win double the prize shown.

Overall odds of winning are (to be filled in later by me as I forgot to write this down from one of my tickets, sorry about that).

I've found this game to be very easy and quick to play. As I've stated, I really like the second chance prize. I visited Ocean City once during the off season and found it nice though I'm really not a beach person and that is largely what Ocean City is about though they do have a very nice boardwalk. If you want a cheap and easy game to play with a really nice second chance prize, this might be the game for you. Good luck and please remember to gamble responsibly. Remember, the odds ultimately are in the Maryland Lottery's favor.

Review of National Harbor Cariloha Store

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review of Springfield, Virginia Trader Joe's Store

The church I go to is located in Springfield, Virginia. While down there, I've taken advantage of some of the stores they have in Springfield. One of them is their Trader Joe's store (store number 651) located at 6394 Springfield Plaza.

The store is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. It has plenty of parking and really good staff. The thing I really like about it is it's outstanding deals on various wines and beers. I live in Maryland and due to the state's liquor laws, Trader Joe's stores in Maryland can't sell anything alcoholic. In Virginia, thankfully, that isn't the case.

One particular stellar buy they have at this store is Charles Shaw wines. The wines come in 750 milliliter (ml) bottles. Apparently, they've earned awards at a wine tasting in San Francisco, California. I've tried their Pinot Grigio and found it pretty good though I'm definitely not any kind of wine connoisseur. The thing I particularly like about these wines is the price. A 750 ml bottle at this Trader Joe's store will cost you just $3.29. This price is good as of this post on their Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and White Zinfandel (I bought a bottle of each and have a receipt to prove this price is valid at the time of this post). Give them a gold star for these deals.

Another plus about this store is their staff on how they keep the check out lines short. This store does get a fair amount of business but, I found the staff did an excellent job of keeping the check out lines short so, you don't spend a lot of time waiting to pay for the stuff you want to buy. I don't know about others but, when I go shopping, I want to get what I want to buy, pay for it and leave. I don't want to spend a lot of time waiting at check out. So, they get another gold star for this.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this store and plan to shop here again. I give it 2 thumbs up and definitely recommend it to others who are fans of Trader Joe's stores. If you're nearby, you might want to give this excellent store a look. Happy shopping all!

Review of Royal Caribbean's Blue Diamonds Scratch Off Game

Last week, I flew back from Seattle, Washington where I did a 7 night Alaska cruise on Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas. While on the ship, I discovered Royal Caribbean has come out with 3 of its own scratch off lottery games. The ship had one in stock called Blue Diamonds. This is a review on that game.

One of the profit centers for Royal Caribbean is the casinos on their ships. With lottery scratch off games being so numerous and wide spread, it wasn't in some ways surprising that Royal Caribbean decided to get in the act. They're a very easy game to run compared to other games in their ship's casinos. The tickets are sold at the cashier's cage, cost $5 each in the Blue Diamond game (I don't know if the other games cost more), offer a top prize of $25,000 (I don't know about the other 2 games as the ship I was on didn't offer them).

Overall odds of winning in Royal Caribbean's Blue Diamond game are 1 in 4.37 (Source: 1 of the tickets I bought). The ticket doesn't show what the prize range is and, I didn't ask the cashier. From scratching off the prize amounts on my losing tickets I have (5 of them) and comparing them, the prize range is as follows:

$5
$10
$50
$100
$1,000
$25,000

I don't know at this time if Royal Caribbean has released how many prizes there are total or what their range (how many different ones there are) is.

The game does have 2 interesting conditions: 1) you must claim any prize before midnight on the last day of the cruise (probably the night before you get off the ship) and 2) you must be at least 18 years or older UNLESS you're on an Alaska cruise like I was in which case you must be at 21 years of age (probably to comply with Alaska gambling laws) to play. I don't know if they offer the games on ship's that sail in other waters like around Australia or the Mediterranean.

The Blue Diamonds game is pretty dull in my opinion because there aren't any instant win chances in the game. You get 5 winning numbers in the middle of the ticket and, you have to match 1 or more of them to the 15 numbers below the winning numbers to win whatever prize. Still, if you want some quick gambling action and, you're not into pulling the arm or pushing the buttons on the slot machines, they might be for you. They're definitely an easy game to play in the casino.

Overall, I wasn't wowed by Royal Caribbean's Blue Diamonds game. To me, it's ok. I did find it interesting to play as I've played a number of scratch off games in Maryland (more reviews coming on those games, stay tuned). If you happen to be on a Royal Caribbean cruise line ship and, you've got to scratch, you might head over to the ship's casino and try one of their 3 scratch off games including this one. Good luck.

Disclaimer: I don't work for Royal Caribbean, I didn't receive any compensation from them for this review and any information cited in this review came from the tickets I bought with my own money. Please remember to gamble responsibly. I doubt you want to go home broke or worse from your fun cruise.

Review of Maryland Lottery's Ultimate Riches Scratch Off Game

On April 24, 2017, the Maryland Lottery came out with it's latest $1,000,000 prize scratch off game called Ultimate Riches. Like all $1,000,000 prize games, the tickets sell for $20 each. The game features 5 so called games with 25 chances to win a prize though the thing that really matters in my opinion is the overall odds of winning which are 1 in 2.96 (Source: one of the tickets I bought with my own money i.e. I don't get paid any compensation from the Maryland Lottery and I don't have any connection with them) which is average for this kind of scratch off game. Most games of this sort tend to have an overall odds of winning of 1 in 3.

The tickets resemble Maryland Lottery's previous game called Instant Millionaire with a winning number at the top of 5 columns and 5 numbers below each winning number. You try to make the winning number with 1 of the numbers below in 1 or more of the columns/games. There is 1 big difference in the Ultimate Riches tickets vice the previous Instant Millionaire game - there isn't any chance of an instant win. In the Instant Millionaire game, Maryland Lottery offered the player a chance at instantly winning either $100 or $50. In the Ultimate Riches game, there isn't ANY instant win feature which is a surprise to me. It's common to have one in the games I've seen.

Top prizes for the game are $1,000,000; $50,000; and $10,000. Interestingly, the Maryland Lottery continues its trend of offering more top prizes in the $1,000,000 prize games. It used to be standard that there would be 3 such prizes. In this game, the Maryland Lottery offers 7! Also, they offer 13 $50,000 prizes and offered 59 $10,000 prizes (there are 57 left at the time of this post). Keep in mind, that with more top prizes, there will be more tickets put out overall for the game (based on the increased number of prizes I've seen and the overall odds of winning anything). One nice thing for those who like this game is that it also means the game will be out longer because of the increased number of tickets.

Overall, the only thing I was impressed with concerning this game was the increase in $1,000,000 prizes. Otherwise, this is a pretty boring game though if you want a game where you'll find out quickly if you won or not, this might be the game for you. This game doesn't take a lot of time to play unlike other games like Maryland Lottery's $2,000,0000 Fortune game where you have to check 40 numbers to see if you matched. Due to the high number of tickets, this game should be very easy to find throughout Maryland. Good luck to all players out there!

Ben Ami Chardonnay Review

While on a champagne buying trip at Total Wine & More in Laurel, Maryland, I stumbled upon some Ben Ami Chardonnay. I tend to prefer white wines to red though I've heard the reds are better for you health wise. Another thing that appealed to me about this wine is it's made in Israel. I haven't forgotten the Globus tour I did of Israel and some of my incredible adventures there then like looking down from Masada or floating in the Dead Sea. So, I bought a 750 milliliter bottle of the wine to try it.

I found it a nice chardonnay. I can't tell you what flavors it might hint of or what it might rate to a wine connoisseur. I'm definitely not a wine connoisseur myself. I just know if I like a wine or not. In this case, I did like it. Also, I felt it was reasonably priced at $14.99. Total Wine offers the wine through Winery Direct which means you get an extra 5 reward points per dollar i.e. 15 reward points per dollar spent on this wine vice the normal 10 point per dollar.

In regards to finding the wine in the Total Wine stores, you may have to look in the Kosher section (they have one) to find it. The wine is certified Kosher (it has the circle with a K in it on the bottle).

Overall, I was very pleased with this wine and would buy it again. If you want to try a nice Israeli chardonnay, you might want to try this one. It's a nice wine at a good price. Happy drinking all!

Review of Progresso's Southwestern Style Corn With Potatoes and Peppers Soup

A while back, I bought 3 or 4 cans of Progresso's Southwestern Style Corn With Potatoes and Peppers soup at the Jessup, Maryland Dollar Tree. For a $1 a can, the soup was worth trying in my opinion and, Progresso makes some very good and easy to prepare soups (see my previous review on Progresso soup).

As this soup is in the Southwestern United States of America (USA) style, I knew it was going to have some zing i.e. be a little hot. That's typical as far as I know of with foods from the Southwestern USA. This one does though I found it to be a good all vegetable soup. According to the can I opened, you'll get 1/2 a cup of vegetables per serving (2 servings per can). Calorie wise, each serving serves up 110 calories which isn't bad in my opinion. The soup doesn't have any Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and is low in fat (just 15 calories of fat in a serving per one of the cans I bought). Each serving has 680 milligrams of sodium for those who are watching their salt intake. 2 grams of sugar per serving are also included in each serving for those watching their sugar intake..

Like all Progresso soups, the soup is very each to prepare. You can place it in a covered dish in the microwave and heat it between 2 and 4 minutes or heat it up on a stove.

Each can comes with a 10 cent coupon for Box Tops for Education which you can give to whatever deserving school so, they can get needed school supplies. I sent a bunch of the coupons to St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, South Dakota to help them out though you my reader are welcome to send them to whoever you like or throw them out with the can.

Overall, I was pleased with this soup and give it 2 thumbs up. I was particularly pleased with the price I paid at Dollar Tree for it though it can be hit and miss finding this soup there. I visited their store at Springfield, Virginia and didn't see a single can of any of their soups there. If you like a vegetable soup with a little zing in it, this could be the soup for you. Bon Appetit!

Note: the soup does contain milk and wheat ingredients in it for those concerned about such things (Source: one of the cans of the soup I bought).

Review of Maryland Lottery's Uno Scratch Off Game

Yesterday, while playing some Maryland Lottery scratch off games at a Citgo gas station in Laurel, Maryland, I saw they had a $3 game called Uno after the famous card game. I decided to play it.

The game features 21 hidden Uno cards in 3 rows of 7 with 4 bonus cards to the right for a total of 25 at the top of the ticket. Below the cards are 6 horizontal rows of cards with hidden prize amounts to the right. The rows come in 2 card sets of 5 cards, 6 cards and 7 cards. You scratch off hidden cards at the top and then see if you have a match in any of the horizontal rows. If you do, you scratch that card. When you've scratched all the cards in a horizontal row, you win the prize to the right. As far as I can tell, the prize amounts to the right are random i.e. you won't win a bigger prize for successfully scratching all the cards in a 7 card row vice a 5 card row (I scratched all the prize amounts on 1 ticket I bought to see if there was a difference).

Prizes run from $3 to the top prize of $30,000. There are 4 - $30,000 prizes, 25 - $1,000 prizes, 459 - $500 prizes and 5,029 remaining $100 prizes as of the time of this post (Source: the game's webpage at the Maryland Lottery website) with lesser amounts going down to $3. As the game had just come out yesterday, this is why all the top prizes are still available barring a few $100 prizes.

Overall odds in this game are 1 in 3.83 which isn't very good in my opinion though the cheaper scratch off games tend to have worse odds compared to the $20 games which usually run around 1 in 3. I guess they have to make up the money in the game by not having as many winners.

The game does qualify for Lottery Reward points.

Overall, this game will appeal to people who like the card game Uno or who like to scratch as there is a lot of scratching in this game. The game can be suspenseful in that on repeated tickets I played I had multiple lines where I got down to 1 missing card. So, I kept wondering each time I scratched if the needed missing card was going to show up. On my fourth go at this game, it did (won $3). I found it a nice game though I confess I like Maryland Lottery's Treasure Island $3 game better (see my earlier review on this game). Like the Treasure Island game, I'd recommend you double check your ticket to make sure it's a winner or loser as you might accidentally miss one of the cards in the rows in the lower part of the ticket that would make you a winner. Good luck to you all.

As a reminder, please do remember to play responsibly. The odds aren't in your favor of hitting it big at these scratch off games though they're better than the odds in either Megamillions or Powerball.