Geocoin Update: The Golden Rule

First, a terminology explanation. A "geocoin" is a (generally) trackable coin, minted for the purpose of being placed in geocaches. A "travel bug" is an object with a tracking "dog tag" attached, which is placed in geocaches.

If you attach a keychain to a geocoin (as I have done several times), you get the same thing as attaching a keychain to a travel bug dog tag, except you spend a little more money, and it's slightly more interesting (I hope!) to the finder. For example, you get an icon on your profile for each different type of coin that you find. (See picture to the right.)

In November 2010, I found a travel bug keychain called "Montana Plata". It was like my Maryland-themed keychain geocoins, except it was a travel bug and Montana-themed. I had hoped at the time that I would be able to do more geocaching, since the kids at four months old had gotten slightly easier to manage.

Well, they're still pretty darn time consuming. The only physical geocache I was able to find last year was in Estonia, and Montana Plata didn't fit.

Since I've been known to complain about people holding on to my geocoins too long, having Montana Plata for a year and a half weighed on my conscience.

So last weekend, I decided to take advantage of a Father's Day drive to drop it off. I used the geocaching app on my phone to find a nearby cache with the right attributes -- big enough to fit the coin, not too hard to find -- and headed for a cache named "Timberhollow". The instructions had me park at a historical marker, which was a waymark, so I got to work that in, too.

I had not planned ahead sufficiently to bring my actual GPS receiver, so I wasn't sure if I could find the cache -- the resolution on the phone isn't always great. Still, looking at Google Maps, I could tell I just had to walk 200 feet perpendicular to the road and look for a hollow tree (hence the cache name). That wasn't too hard to do, and I was able to return Montana Plata to the wild (literally), 18.2 miles from where I left it in 2010.

Now hopefully the karma will return my way, and some of my coins will go un-missing. Free State Mover #3 is in a cache off the Sligo Creek Trail -- I need to find some time to grab it -- but the rest of them are MIA.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (52) DuClaw Brewing Company

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

DuClaw Brewing Co., 4000 Town Center Blvd
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 06/01/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

DuClaw is a Maryland chain of three brewpubs (plus a BWI location). Before the kids arrived, we used to eat at the Arundel Mills location from time to time.

Our first visit to the Bowie location occurred on the last night of my parents' recent visit. While taking kids to a brewpub might seem a little bit odd, DuClaw actually has a fairly extensive kids menu. According to a press release I grabbed off the Internet, "Craft beer is most popular with the 25-34-year-old crowd," and I figure that's the age at which a lot of people start to have kids. Being kid-friendly is a good way of appealing to that crowd.

The kid-friendliness wasn't perfect, however. I called ahead to let them know we were coming, but they didn't have the high chairs ready. That's annoying when you have to convince two squirmy almost-two-year-olds to stay in place while their seats are fetched. Worse, they led us to a booth -- logistically, there's no way to put two high chairs on the end of a booth.

Honestly, though, this reception -- along with the placing of dangerous items too close to the kids' grasp -- is something I've grown to accept as par for the course. These deficiencies were compensated by the "smiley fries" they served, which were the cutest food I've seen in some time.

Enough about the kids, though -- how was the experience for adults? Everybody was satisfied with their food. I got the Spicy Jambalaya, which was good, and I had a bite of Christina's Pork Pastry Puff, which I enjoyed. In the past, I've had the Pepperjack Penne Pasta at the Arundel Mills location, which was also good.

I had a glass of their Misfit Red (pictured to the right). It was nice, but I'd probably try something else next time.

The service was solid, but not exceptional. The food is good, but not great. I was initially hesitant to award four stars, not out of any particular deficiency, but out of a lack of specialness. Then I realized -- hey, it's a brewpub. Bowie has a brewpub. That's exactly the type of interesting place to eat we could use more of. Four stars.

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Bowie Restaurant News

Bowie Living reported that construction has begun on the new Dunkin' Donuts in Bowie Plaza. Finally, a place to get bad bagels 5 minutes closer than the other Dunkin' Donuts. Oddly enough, Christina recently picked up a bagel from a Dunkin' Donuts in Annapolis, and it was much better.

Nebula Update: Among Others

Among Others by Jo Walton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Among Others is the fourth of the 2011 Nebula nominees that I've read. Unfortunately, it falls into the category into which I placed "The City & The City" a couple of years ago -- while it's really well written, it's not clear it's fantasy or science fiction.

With the tragic confrontation involving the narrator (Mori), her mother and her identical twin sister taking place near the start of the narrative (but not re-told directly on the page), I expected to see some sort of Harry Potter-like book. In other words, something magical happened that set the stage for a book full of magic. But that's not what happened.

Instead, you get a coming-of-age tale that's more about science fiction than it is science fiction. In particular, a lot is said about the Mori's opinions of various sf from the 1970s and earlier, but for much of the book there's a nagging feeling that the Mori is imagining the fantasy elements.

This may be a weird comparison, but I kept thinking of a book I read when I was around Mori's age -- Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars, by Daniel Pinkwater. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but as I recall, Alan seems in the first part of the book like this weird new kid in town who tells everybody he's from Mars. For all you know, you're reading something with as much sf/fantasy content as a Judy Blume novel (not that there's anything wrong with that).

But then Daniel Pinkwater commits to the weirdness. Of course, Alan Mendelsohn is really from Mars, and you have the mind control and planar travel and aliens and whatnot. It may not be a great book, but it's definitely sf.

Among Others by contrast is really well done, but I'm afraid if it wins the Nebula or the Hugo it will only be because the tale of a geeky kid who loves reading science fiction will really speak to the voters. It's a very enjoyable book, but voting it the best sf/fantasy novel of the year would be like voting a restaurant the best Japanese restaurant just because they serve miso soup on Mondays.

On the twin front (spoilers ahead), Walton gets credit for handling the death of a twin much better than, say, Avatar.  It's a sensitive portrayal of the emotional swings Mori goes through in coming to accept her sister's death. At one point Mori signs something using her sister's name. I couldn't tell whether that was a subtle emotional tell, or a mistake by the author. I should probably assume the former.

I was hoping to complete the fifth Nebula nominee, Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti before the awards were announced. I just looked, however, and the awards were announced last weekend. Oh, look, Among Others won. Boo. I could have accepted more easily if Mechanique had won. So far it's not really to my tastes, but it's an interesting and inventive approach to sf/fantasy. Among Others, on the other hand, is a well-written book that doesn't really have a clear place in the genre.

That's no criticism of Ms. Walton -- I think it's great that people write books that don't fit squarely in one genre or another. But it wouldn't have been on my ballot. (You know, if I were eligible to vote.) I'll still finish Mechanique -- it's enjoyable, and it's paid for, and then I'll probably go back to The Healer's War, the 1988 winner, which I've already started. Not much time for reading these days, though.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (BB3) KBQ Real Barbecue

KBQ is moving to DC Woodmore Towne Centre, which puts them even further beyond Bowie than I like to see for this subseries of reviews.

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.



For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

KBQ Real Barbecue, 12500 Fairwood Pkwy B1, Fairwood
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 5/16/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: Yes
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars 

Head about a mile west of Bowie city limits on Rte. 450, and you'll come to the Fairwood shopping center, a fairly generic retail facility that mostly provides the answer to the question: "Where near Bowie is there a Safeway with a gas station where I can use my gas points?"


What's not generic about the shopping center is KBQ, a well-reviewed barbecue restaurant that's tucked anonymously into the shopping center. Bowie has Smokey Bones, a chain establishment that I will get around to reviewing. (I've held off because I want to give it one more chance -- not generally a good sign.) But the closest thing to the BBQ shacks that dot the South (and portions of the Midwest) is located in Fairwood at KBQ.

My verdict? Pretty good -- for Maryland. I lived four years in Georgia, and this place wouldn't raise an eyebrow down there. Whenever I'm in the South, I try to get BBQ, and KBQ won't stop those cravings. What it will, however, do, is give you some tasty, filling BBQ without leaving the state.

KBQ earns an entry in my "Beyond Bowie" series for being the place I'd send people to who asked about local BBQ. I'm going to have to check out Dickey's in Crofton/Gambrills, though. It's a chain, but it gets high marks from people at work.

If you want non-chain BBQ without leaving Bowie city limits, you do have an option. Sunday mornings at the Bowie Farmer's Market, you can get BBQ and other foods from "C&JD's Stand", a food truck. It's not pilgrimage-worthy, but it's a fine way to kick off your Sunday if you're at the market.

---

Bowie Restaurant News

The Muffin Man Caribbean Cafe now has a sign up! I was despairing of this place ever opening, but if somebody's putting money into a sign, that's a good indication that the restaurant isn't dead yet. Looking at their menu, it seems they'll have some unique-to-Bowie offerings (goat!), but everything seems a bit pricey. (Jersey Mike's also has a sign up, but I was not doubting its existence.)

I went to Cetrone's to pick up some pizza this week and was momentarily disoriented that it seemed to have shrunk when I got inside. Sure enough, they've closed their dining room. There are still a few tables if you feel like sitting and eating, but it's another sad chapter in Bowie's pizza history. I'd knock it down to 3 or 3.5 stars without the dining room.

Geocoin Update: Further Adventures of Free State Mover #3

A couple of months ago, I updated the saga of the "Free State Mover #3" geocoin, which I released in Banff in May 2008 with the goal of returning to Maryland (inside the Beltway). After excursions to Sweden and Germany, a return to Canada, and visits to Washington state, Oregon, Utah and Virginia, it went missing in September 2009.

Free State Mover #3's worldwide journey

After resurfacing in Virginia this March, I am pleased to report that on Saturday, geocacher "magtfplanner" picked it up with the note: "Picked up on a road trip up the I-95 from Florida all the way to Canada. I'll be in Maryland's beltway in a few hours. Ill drop it off there ."

A hopeful sign! I may have to organize an excursion to retrieve it. On the other hand, it's been more than a few hours, and still no word...

Bowie Restaurant Project: (BB2) Boston Market

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.



For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Boston Market, 1070 Maryland Route 3 North, Gambrills
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 5/5/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 5
Pre-Foursquare Visits: Yes
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

As a reminder, as a supplement to my project of reviewing every restaurant in Bowie, I have a "Beyond Bowie" series capturing the types of restaurants that Bowie should have, but doesn't. The first entry was inadvertently, retroactively, Rip's, after I learned it was just outside of city limits. The second entry is Boston Market.

I hear you saying, "Really, Jon? Is that what Bowie desperately needs, a Boston Market?" No. Bowie needs a Peruvian chicken restaurant. But I'll settle for a Boston Market.

The ability to get healthier-than-normal food is a definite plus with Boston Market, which is a cut above Wendy's. What really sells Boston Market, though, is that you can go there and get a family-style meal. For around $20, you can bring home a whole roasted chicken and sides for your family (or for your smaller grouping to have with leftovers). Sure, you can cook it yourself cheaper, but if you had time to do that, you wouldn't be at Boston Market, would you?

The "Gambrills" location (just north of Crofton on Rte. 3) has the added bonus of having a drive-thru, so you don't even have to drag the kids out of the car to get your chicken fix.

If you are in Bowie, aside from the obvious option of heading north for 10 minutes to Crofton/Gambrills, you're reduced to heading to grocery store to pick up a roasted chicken. And if you're going to do that, you might as well actually get ingredients and cook some food. Nobody really wants that, do they?

So here's something that Bowie really needs -- a good chicken place. I'd prefer a new Sardi's franchise, or similar Peruvian goodness, but I'd settle for a Boston Market.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (51) On the Border

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For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

On the Border, 16403 Heritage Blvd.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 04/25/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
I'm running out of non-sit-down restaurants to review, and with twin toddlers in tow, it's hard to get to the sit-down places (where I feel I have to eat in at least once to get a full measure of the place). Last Sunday, the desire to get the boys out of the house on a rainy day, along with a coupon, led us to On the Border.

As Christina said after the meal, "At least they have food." It's not exactly high praise. Her chicken tortilla soup was incredibly salty, and the rest of the food was mediocre. The boys, as usual, loved anything involving beans, rice and tortillas.

The best thing I can say about our trip was that the service was excellent. Our waitress was very attentive. But I can't imagine why we'd want to go back here rather than to Monterey (half a mile away) or Mi Hacienda.

My follow-up visit on Wednesday was via the take-out process. Since they have dedicated take-out parking, I hoped this would go well, and it started out in a promising vein. After being put on hold as a Yaz song played, my order was taken my someone with a distinct Latin accent.

Christina suggested I ask what they recommended, but I decided I had better had something in mind in case they weren't forthcoming with a recommendation. I settled on the chicken fajitas. (Particularly since fajitas aren't something you can order when you have kids who want to grab everything placed on the table.) So they recommended, of course, the chicken fajitas.

I picked up my meal at the bar, and it was served with an extremely generous portion of chips and salsa. I thought that was a nice touch to include the complimentary chips that you would have gotten as a dine-in customer.

When I got back to my office, after wolfing down the chips and salsa, I opened the takeout container to find...a grilled chicken breast, vegetables and tortillas. I know fajitas are assemble-your-own, but you're generally not supposed to have to cut the meat into strips yourself. (Particularly since it should be cooked that way.) The food was once again mediocre. It was edible, but I wasn't eager to finish every last bite.

So once again, great service, but it's another one of Bowie's unnecessary restaurants. It's rare to find a chain restaurant that can out-do a good, independent ethnic eatery, and Bowie has two fine Mexican places where you'd be better off spending your money.

Book Review: God's War

God's War by Kameron Hurley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


God's War is the debut novel by Kameron Hurley. It's the story of Nyx, who is a bel dame in a far-future, Islam-dominated planet called Umaya. The two major nations of Umaya have been at war for thousands of years. The bel dames, among other responsibilities, catch and behead deserters. Things get more complicated early on for Nyx, which is good, because there's only so much deserter-beheading you can put into a book.

Continuing the trend of twins and higher-order multiples in this year's Nebula nominees, Nyx is a quintuplet. That detail is almost a throwaway in the novel, but it represents one of Hurley's strengths -- interesting world-building in a way that challenges assumptions. In a world with advanced biotechnology, with a different set of societal structures for child-rearing, why wouldn't it make sense for most births to be multiple ones? It depends on the nature of the world, but it shows that Umaya isn't a space version of 21st century America, but rather a thought-out world.

I was initially somewhat put off by the harsh nature of the story. For example, here's a scene in an office where bounty hunters are collecting their bounties:

Shajin, unimpressed, replied in her booming monotone, “Read the fine print. Says here you only get sixty if this particular catch is live. They preferred him dead and would have paid you a hundred for it. I’m not killing him for you, so you take him out back and shoot him or take your sixty. If there’s something you don’t understand about that, you need to go back to state school. Get your skinny ass away from my desk. Move.”

Actually, that's a little bit funny, but there's only so many beheadings and mutilations and whatnot that I really need to read about. Fortunately, the book focuses less on the brutality and more on the plot as it goes along. I was never entirely comfortable with the level of gore, but I found it more engaging.

One problem that I had with God's War is that the copyediting is fairly uneven. The formatting is off on a lot of the paragraphs. I initially assumed it was because it was from a small publisher unused to converting to e-book format, but when I found a "you're" that was supposed to be a "your", I really got thrown out of the reading.

I think the problems extended to the editing in general. The author likes to mention details of the world without explanation. On the one hand, I can respect the desire not to have two pages explaining how cars work on this world. On the other hand, if you want to convince me that everything runs on insects, I need a little more than a brief comment, or I'm going to be skeptical that any of this makes sense.

In summary, this is a novel with flashes of brilliance, particularly in the world-building. It is harsher than my tastes would prefer, and I don't feel like the read from front to back was as smooth as it should have been. I'm not rooting for it to win the Nebula, but if it does, I won't be upset at the award going to one of the more promising writers I've read in a while.

Book Review: Embassytown

It's Nebula awards season, i.e. the time period between the nominations and the awards, where I try to read the nominees and decide on which book I would choose. I've never gotten through all of the nominees, and this year will be no different, but I hope to read four or five of the six. Firebird, which I have previously reviewed, is on the list. Of the other five, The Kingdom of Gods is by far the longest, and it's the third book in a trilogy. So I won't be reading that unless it wins, at which point I'll feel obligated to go back and read the previous two book. That may keep me busy until next year's awards. Embassytown, by China Miéville, was available as a library e-book, so it seemed a good place to start.

Embassytown by China Miéville

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I enjoyed Miéville's The City & the City, a Nebula nominee from two years ago, but I didn't feel like it was "science-fictiony" enough to win the award. Embassytown is definitely sf -- it takes place in a far-future setting on a planet where the humans have established communication with the very alien creatures known as "the Hosts" or "the Arieke".

Communication was not easy to establish, since the Hosts have two different types of "mouths" and only recognize speech performed by pairs of mouths. They don't recognize electronic speech, so the only solution is to use pairs of humans -- the trick is that the humans need to be synched up better than most two humans are.

The humans' first idea is to use identical twins (at least three of this year's nominees mention twins or higher-order multiples). As a writer for twinpanic.com, I was glad to see that the author realized that identical twins are not usually alike enough for this to work -- the early experiments were mostly a failure. On the other hand, after that they turned to clones. Clones are actually less alike than identical twins, so I'm not sure why the idea would work any better. There were some references to techniques to sync up the clones, but those techniques should work even better on identical twins.

Anyway, the book starts as an interesting investigation of the weird social and linguistic structure of the Hosts. I began to wonder if Embassytown was going to be one of the rare works of science fiction without a lot of high drama -- mostly an exploration of an alien society. High drama, however, appears in quantity in the final two-thirds of the book. Without too many spoilers, I'll say that everything about the setting gets upended. I actually found it a bit much and perhaps would have preferred the type of novel I thought at first I was getting.

The characters weren't entirely compelling, and the resolution of conflict towards the end of the novel was fairly implausible. (Again, I'll stay spoiler-lite, but my reaction was, "Really? This changes everything?!") Miéville is a good writer, but this effort fell short of the mark in several ways. I am not rooting for this book to win the Nebula.

Book Review: Throne of Jade

Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Throne of Jade is the second novel in the Temeraire series. I really liked His Majesty's Dragon, the first book in the series, which is often described as "Napoleonic Wars with dragons." The second book might be described as "events with dragons at the same time as the Napoleonic Wars." The action shifts to China and a diplomatic mission from England to there. This being the 19th century, it takes a long time to get there, and a substantial part of the book describes the journey.

I like the "world tour" approach to telling us how dragons fit into this alternate history, but negotiations are not as exciting as a war (though this book does feature dragon fights). All in all, I enjoyed the book, but it was just enough off the heights of the first book to drop to 4 stars.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (50) Old Town Deli

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.



For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Old Town Deli, 8700 Chestnut Ave.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 03/26/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

When I reviewed the Uptown Cafe, I referred to it as "the only place in Bowie to get Korean food." Well...as, it turns out, that's not quite true. The Old Town Deli has daily specials, and Monday is bulgogi. I found it slightly tastier than the Uptown Cafe version, and it came with a salad, too.

Still, that's the only Korean special, so most of the time you're left ordering deli fare. The sandwich I got was unexceptional, and even though I ordered it from the "hot sandwiches" section of the menu, it was given to me cold. (If I cared much, I would have noticed, but the lack of attention to detail is not thrilling.)

It makes sense for various parts of Bowie to have their own deli -- a place to grab a quick sandwich on your way to work or elsewhere. With the exception of the Chesapeake Grille, I don't think any of them are worth driving across town to visit. I might add another exception for the Old Town Deli on Monday if I were going out to lunch with people, and we were in a "let's try something different" mood. But for the most part, it's "just another deli" that I'd be happy enough with if I were in the area.

Nebula Update: No Enemy But Time

No Enemy but Time by Michael Bishop

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



One of the great things about the Kindle is that I can highlight passages I want to use in my reviews. The first such passage from No Enemy but time was:

Alfie had almost certainly plucked from her the fresh gardenia of her maidenhood, for his chieftaincy of the Minids gave him carnal access to almost every female who had attained menarche.

The problem with highlighting this sentence is that it was so awful that it opened my eyes to how wretched the rest of the prose was. So that leaves the plot and the characters.

The plot can be summarized as a guy traveling back in time to observe hominids. Something about the way the author wrote about a female hominid early in the book made me sure that they'd end up in the paelo-sack later in the book...I'm not quite sure how icky that is, but it definitely is at least a little bit icky. The chapters about the time-traveling alternate with chapters about the protagonist's life which lead up to the time-traveling. Oh, and the time-traveling happens via dreams, which just makes things feel less science-fictiony.

The non-time-travel chapters actually tell a more compelling story. The time travel part features the standard question of getting stuck in the past, but by late in the book neither the protagonist nor the reader cares.

There are a few interesting ideas in this book. So it is saved from the 1-star designation, if barely. I don't know whether 1982 was a weak year for the Nebula field, or after 30 years not everything ages well. (The LeGuin books from the 1970s continue to be fantastic, however.) Hmm. Now I see Bishop beat out Asimov, Heinlein and Dick to win the award. Foundation's Edge wasn't as strong as earlier Asimov, Friday had its own icky parts, and I haven't read the Philip K. Dick work. But I think I'd recommend any of them over No Enemy But Time.

That brings me to 33 of 47 Nebula winners read. Until the 2011 awards are announced in May, I'm going to concentrate on reading the nominees rather that past winners. (I've actually read 3 of them, but I'm behind on my review-writing.) It's nice to read more "modern" works for a change.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (49) Asian Chao

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.





For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Asian Chao, 3860 Town Center Blvd
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 04/03/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

Panda Express has gone away and has now been replaced by Asian Chao. I called Panda Express a strong contender for for "Most Unnecessary Restaurant in Bowie." Not only does Asian Chao bring its own strong argument for that title, but it is definitely the most unnecessary replacement. Let's face it, what's the difference between Asian Chao and Panda Express?

Well, Asian Chao offers bourbon chicken, which puts it in direct competition with the "bonbon chicken" offered by Hibachi next door. And I described the Panda Express food as "meh", which is probably a higher compliment than I'd care to pay to Asian Chao.

When I went there the first time, I noticed a sign saying they couldn't accept credit cards. Also, despite white rice being on the menu, none was available. I ordered a 3-meat combo (in order to have more variety for my review), which was dished up in a manner to prevent my styrofoam container from closing. Well, growing pains, I figured. If the food was good, none of this would matter.

But it wasn't. The meat didn't taste like very good quality, and it wasn't prepared particularly attractively. Some dishes were not as bad as the others -- I even sort of enjoyed the egg roll. But I think this is one of the only restaurants I'd refuse a free meal from if I were hungry.

So food I didn't like, an awkward experience walking by the people at Hibachi who were trying to get me to sample a meal I'd rather have, and a whole lot of effort expended to replace a restaurant I didn't like with one that was almost identical. I think this has earned my first 0-star rating.

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Bowie Restaurant News

Bowie Living reports that the Bang Bang Mongolian Grill is now open. I stopped by to ask about takeout. The guy said you can't really call in an order, since you assemble your own meal, but you assemble it "to go". Also, within 30 days, you'll be able to create a meal on-line and have them assemble it for you. That sounds cool. I look forward to reviewing this place soon.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (47) Starbucks (Free State Mall) and (48) Starbucks (Bowie Town Center)

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.




For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.


As I've passed the halfway point in this restaurant project, the pickings are getting slimmer. There are still some good restaurants left to review, but there are also ones I've been putting off.

Yes, Starbucks is a restaurant, as they have food and seating. You can actually say, "Hey, let's have lunch at Starbucks." We did so one day when looking at houses (not in Bowie). But it barely meets the standards for a restaurant.

This roundup of Bowie Starbucks omits the Safeway Starbucks, which lacks the sandwiches the other locations feature. It also skips the Starbucks/Pizza Hut in Target. That location may or may not have sandwiches, but will be covered in my forthcoming feature on the Pizza Huts of Bowie (oh boy -- see what I mean about slimmer pickings).

I should note that I don't drink coffee. The point of these reviews is not about coffee anyway; it's about the meals, though.


Starbucks, 15480 Annapolis Rd.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 10/14/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

When my parents stayed with us, they went here often. For coffee, it's a pretty good Starbucks, they said. For meals, you have a choice of prepackaged sandwiches and snacks. On the plus side, the sandwiches are fairly healthy. On the other hand, why would you go here instead of the Subway a few doors down? As with all of the shops in this part of Free State Mall, parking is inconvenient.

Starbucks, 3924 Town Center Blvd.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 02/29/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Starbucks, Bowie Town Center

With about one-quarter of Bowie's restaurants in Bowie Town Center, I don't see why you end up here unless you are accessorizing your coffee with food. The pastries aren't bad, either.

With both these places, I wanted to give them only a star, because the world doesn't need more Starbucks. But they're reliable places to get reasonably healthy and reasonably tasty food. I recommend eating elsewhere, but you're not doing yourself too much of a disservice if you end up here.

Geocoin Update: Return of Free State Mover #3

I last updated the location of my geocoin Free State Mover #3 almost two years ago. It was last checked in to a cache in Utah on March 11, 2009. On April 4, 2009, somebody claimed that they had moved it to Newport News, Virginia, but did not actually log it in. On April 10, 2009, someone else said they were moving it to the Richmond area, but again did not log its movement.  On July 6, 2009, someone confirmed it was in a Richmond-area cache, but still did not check it in. On September 12, 2009, someone named "toxikgumbo" said that he retrieved it and "Will move along soon".

And then, nothing for two-and-a-half years...until last Saturday, when "toxikgumbo" logged "found it on ground while checking on a cache" and then put it in his cache. I'm guessing he dropped it in 2009, but I'm glad it appears to be back in action.

Maybe it will actually achieve its goal of returning back to Maryland, so I can retrieve it. Ironically, its goal is to return to Maryland inside the Beltway, where I don't live any more. I'm sure I'll find a way to get to it, though, if it makes it that close.

The North American part of its journey

Bowie Restaurant Project: A Trip to the Food Court

I was going to append these notes to my review of Bowie's Starbucks, but I realized they were slightly more interesting than that actual review, so they're getting a post of their own.

 I stopped by to see if Asian Chao is open yet. It isn't, but the sign to the left was up. At the bottom it says, "offer expires March 31, 2012." So either they're going to be open by the end of the month, or it's a really lame offer.

The other thing I noticed was this health department car parked out front. The first question it raised was whether it was a bad sign if a place you're going to eat at has the health department out front. Maybe not; it could just be a routine inspection. I was going to California Tortilla instead, so I didn't care too much.

The second question it raised was, hey wait a second, is the health department allowed to park in the fire lane? I e-mailed them that question, and to their credit they got back fairly quickly. Apparently there are circumstances that allow the health department to park in the fire lane, but it didn't sound like this was one of them. They said they'd talk to the inspector in question and bring up the necessity of parking legally at the next day's meeting. Not exactly, "It's going on his permanent record," but it was a response. I'm sure nobody from the health department will ever park in the fire lane again.

The Starbucks review will appear later this week. It turns out the Starbucks in Safeway doesn't serve sandwiches, so it doesn't meet my criteria, and the restaurant total has dropped to 79.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (46) Old Bowie Town Grille

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.



For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Old Bowie Town Grille, 8604 Chestnut Ave
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 02/15/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 3
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

In July, I asked on Patch.com for the place to get the best burger in Bowie. The first response, in September, suggested Main Street's Brasserie. That was not a good suggestion. The second suggestion I got was in November, for the Old Bowie Town Grille. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.

The Old Town Bowie Grille has an extensive menu. It even has a fairly big gluten-free menu. But unless you don't eat beef, I urge you to go there for the burgers.

The service has always been good, but not spectacular. I gather they do a lot of their business in the evenings (there is always a list of upcoming live music), so going there for lunch has been a good way to find an uncrowded restaurant -- that was especially good when we took the kids there.

So, to summarize, good burgers, nice enough interior (though a bit dark), gluten-free options if you need them, and a way to remind someone that Bowie isn't only strip malls. Four stars. I don't want to go any higher because I'm not recommending people drive from out of town to make it here. But it's definitely among the best places in Bowie.

Leap Day, 1992

My e-mail alert from Timehop arrived today noting that a year ago today...did not exist. I don't, however, need an e-mail to tell me what I was doing twenty years ago today. I was in a hotel in Athens, Georgia...just hanging out.

I always want to do something interesting with Leap Day, but I never do. This year, I have toddlers whose care is more important than any goofy plans. In 1992, I visited the University of Georgia to see about going to graduate school there. Actually, my visit was earlier in the week, but I stayed until Sunday to get the cheaper air fare. So Saturday the 29th I just hung out in my hotel room.

The previous day, Carl Pomerance (who would later be my advisor) invited me to go out to dinner with John Selfridge, who I think was visiting before going to a conference. I figured they couldn't possibly want an undergraduate at dinner, and he was just being polite, so I didn't go.

I ended up enrolling at Berkeley for graduate school, where I was fairly unhappy. After a year, I transferred to Georgia, only to find out that people there were in fact nice enough to want an undergraduate at dinner with them.

Skipping Georgia for Berkeley is probably one of the bigger mistakes of my life. On the other hand, I still got to go to graduate school at Georgia, and even got to hang out with Selfridge a bunch of times. I guess that goes to show that even when I've made mistakes in my life, things have turned out pretty well.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (45) Simple Pleasures Ice Cafe

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.



For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Simple Pleasures Ice Cafe, 8519 Chestnut Avenue
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 02/19/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: At their old location
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Charming interior

If I were doing a "Bowie Food Places Project" instead of a "Bowie Restaurant Project", Simple Pleasures would rate higher. It's a Victorian building in which you can sit and have great, locally-made ice cream! In Bowie, of all places! And I think Simple Pleasures is a great local business, so it pains me to give it only 3 stars.

But. As a restaurant reviewer, I have to focus on the meal itself. I found the sandwiches to be "eh". I found the potato salad included with the sandwiches to be "eh". Christina tried the flatbread (essentially a mini-pizza), and that was pretty good.

Further, on my second recent visit, the place was closed more than half an hour after it was supposed to be open. It opened a few minutes later, but they looked like they had just gotten there, and they weren't exactly ready for business. Something similar happened to Christina.

The ice cream, however, was awesome. The service was super-friendly. The setting is absolutely charming -- it's very nice to be able to remind people that Bowie dining isn't all strip malls. All of these factors lead me to bump it up to 3 stars.

If you're in Old Town Bowie and looking for a meal, I'd suggest going to the Old Bowie Town Grille (subject of an upcoming review), but saving enough room to wander over to Simple Pleasures for ice cream. (The third Old Town eatery, Old Town Deli, is the one I haven't visited yet.)

Way back in 2008, I visited the old location and posted it as a waymark. You can see a picture of the old location here. The new location is infinitely more pleasant. (I've updated the waymark with the new location and new pictures.)

Book Review: His Majesty's Dragon

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wow, this was a find. As I was getting sick of reading Nebula-winning novels, I decided to search my local library's eBook collection for some likely prospects. They let you search on Hugo-nominated (but not Nebula-nominated, only Nebula-winning...weird) books, and that turned up this promising-looking book. I've seen it listed in shorthand as the Napoleonic Wars with dragons. That's pretty accurate, although I feel more like it's a dragon book where the author uses early 19th century Britain as the setting.



This sort of very alternate history is not unique, but it's carried off very well here. The characters are believable, the dialogue is crisp, and the plot moves along fairly well. I was interested to see how much the author changed the historical events. She avoids the extremes of "everything's different because there are dragons" and "I'm telling a history, just with dragons added". Let's just say that the Battle of Trafalgar still plays a role, but it's not the only pivotal event in the book.



Some reviewers have focused on the style of aerial combat in the books -- dragons typically have entire crews rather than lone riders -- as what makes the books so wonderful. It's a neat idea, but not enough to carry the book. I think the ideas about relationships between dragons and humans are much more important, because they underlie both the combat and the non-combat portions of the book. Also, the decision to make the human protagonist a slightly older person helps, because we're spared the "young boy goes off to magic school" plot that we're all pretty sick of by now.



I was looking forward to recommending this book to my friends, only to discover I'm somewhat late to the party -- several of them have already read it. If you're looking for some new fantasy to dig into, I think this is a top choice.



As of writing this review, I have actually read the second book in the series, and read about the third through the seventh books. I'm not as excited about the whole series now as I was after finishing the first book. I was happy to hear that the seventh book is coming out soon. I am used to discovering a series three books in, then waiting three years for the fourth book and five for the fifth. (I'm looking at you, George R.R. Martin.) I'll continue to read the books as long as I enjoy them, whether that's too the end (the ninth planned book) or not.