Geocoin Update: From Alabama to...Cozumel?!

In the past, I've complained about the tendency of geocoins I've released to drop off the face of the Earth. When I release them, I imagine getting e-mail notifications of their journeys around the world. That will happen for a while, and then...silence. I will eventually mark them as missing on the geocaching site and then put them out of my mind.

I recently reported about the return of the "Free State Mover #3" geocoin, which showed up again after 2 1/2 years of inactivity. I recently got e-mail about another one for which I had given up hope.

Free State Generic #1, I last heard of being dropped off in Alabama two years ago. It spent 2008 in its home state of Maryland, 2009 travelling to Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, and South Carolina, before revisiting Florida in 2010 and coming to rest in Alabama in 2010. It then joined the ranks of the ones I had written off.

On Friday, it was grabbed by geocaching user "Rubio-Raffin Family" with the note, "found in Cozumel. Taking back to AZ for some dry heat." (I don't have a map update because it hasn't been logged into a cache since its Alabama days.) I now wonder what it has been doing for the past 2 years and how the heck it made its way down to Cozumel.

So after thinking it over, I think dropping off the face of the planet is fine, if they eventually resurface. It's particularly exciting to see the return of a coin I never thought I'd see again -- much more exciting than steady progress.

World Heritage Update: Down to 5.6%

UNESCO inscribed 26 new World Heritage sites this month, bringing the total List to 962. I haven't been to any of the new sites, so my total is still at 54. My percentage drops from 5.8% to 5.6%. I haven't seen any new sites this year, and with my travel schedule somewhat curtailed, I may not see any. I do have a possible trip to China, but that's up in the air for a number of reasons.

Of the new sites, which ones would I like to visit?

• Rock Islands Southern Lagoon: I'm always up for a coral reef.
• Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea: I'd love to visit there with Christina and see some of the places she remembers from living there in the 80s. And I'd love to see the Christ the Redeemer statue in person.
• Site of Xanadu: I don't know which would be harder to get out of my head, the Coleridge poem, or the Newton-John song.
• Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem: This seems like a fairly iconic destination. Even if it doesn't live up to the hype, it's worth seeing to know whether it is as interesting as it sounds.

I'm sure some of the other ones are interesting if I knew more about them (and some are not). Most are in countries I have no expectation of visiting, so I'm in no hurry to research them.

For the past week or two, I've been recording a 5-minute program called "World Heritage Wonders," which is produced by NHK, the Japanese broadcaster. The first few I saw were about the Shiretoko Peninsula, and I was afraid they'd all be about the same place -- it almost seemed ike a travel ad. (But did make me want to visit.) But then they moved on to the
Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama, so I wondered whether all of them would be in Japan. The next one, though, was about the Taj Mahal, and most recently I've seen one on the Jongmyo Shrine, which I visited last year. Now I'm wondering whether they'll visit sites outside Asia. Either way, it's enjoyable, and the 5-minute time span is about right for me these days.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (53) Red Robin Gourmet Burgers

Red Robin at 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.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, 15650 Excelsior Dr
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 07/01/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

I like a good burger joint. My favorite place in the world to get burgers is Bare Back Grill in San Diego. Grass-fed beef, properly cooked, good beer, and at the Pacific Beach location a beach -- what more could you want? In Maryland, you're not going to get that, but in Hyattsville, near where we used to live, you can find Franklin's and Hank's. I give the edge to Franklin's, but both do a good job.

The first time I got food from Red Robin, I was confused about what type of place it was -- I didn't realize it was a sit-down restaurant. So I ended up picking up my order at the bar from a very nice employee. They have a selection of interesting ways to prepare the burgers, but they didn't offer me how they wanted it cooked, so I ended up with a well-done burger. A well-done burger can be an enjoyable experience (as I'm reminded whenever I end up at Wendy's), but it's not going to be great. After taking my meal back to the office, I found out that people said you could specify how you wanted your burger cooked, but you had to make a point of telling them.

I didn't have an opportunity to try this out until recently, when the power outage sent us fleeing to a local hotel and much of Bowie to the restaurants that still had power. A 40-minute wait seemed reasonable under the circumstances.

I ended up ordering another burger, this time medium-rare. It showed up well-done, but was otherwise tasty. Christina, having had a burger recently, had the fish and chips, which she enjoyed. The twins had selections from their fairly extensive kids' menu. Christina and I both had their endless root beer float, which was tasty.

The service was somewhat spotty. Some of that may have been due to the power-outage-related rush, but probably not all of it. I only got one refill on the endless float, because it was hard to flag down our waiter, who also forgot items here and there.

So the bottom line is that I can't rate it too well as a burger joint. I don't think the burger I had was appreciably better than one from the nearby Five Guys, although the choice of toppings is more interesting here. Burgers tended to run around $9, so you'll pay for that variety. If I'm by myself and I want a burger, I'll save a few bucks and head to Five Guys

On the other hand, you'll get a sit-down experience and more options for entertaining the kids. We had a nice enough time. But with the disappointing nature of their signature dish and the many other options in the immediate vicinity (DuClaw, Uno, for example), I can't rate this any higher than 2.5 stars.

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Bowie Restaurant Update

Today marks the anniversary of my first review. I managed a once-a-week average in the first year. I thought I'd do better, but I have run out of a little bit of steam once the list narrowed to sit-down restaurants, many of them uninspiring. It's pricey dining out, it's time consuming, and with kids it can be exhausting. I'm still planning to finish the project, but I am not in any particular hurry.

That leaves 26 restaurants (3 of which are not open yet). So I need a pace of one restaurant every other week to finish by next July.

About a month ago, there was a fire at the Jersey Mike's sub shop under construction, reported Bowie Living. I'm not sure how that will impact their planned opening.

Despite the fact that they told me three months ago that they'd have online ordering in 30 days, the online ordering page at Bang Bang Mongolian Grill still says "coming soon". It doesn't seem a great dine-in place for two-year-olds, so I'll probably wait until they have that option, or I can convince someone to do lunch there.

Genealogy Update: Adam Schneider

In honor of today's Germany-Italy match, I'm proud to announce that I have identified 1/64 more of my ancestry that is German.

My recollection is that when I did most of my research in the mid-1990s, there seemed to be three Adam Snyders in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, two of whom I was related to. Since I could never figure out which was which, that made it hard to trace things.

William S. Nicholson

Now that so much more information is online, I am able to sort things out. I'm not sure how many Adam Snyders there were, but I'm pretty sure I can figure out which my two were.

Lucretia (Putman) Nicholson

Let's start with my great-grandfather, William S. Nicholson. Until my recent searches, he had been one of the two trickiest great-grandparents for me to determine ancestry. In fact, I had only been able to determine the ancestry of one of his great-grandparents. His mother was the former Lucretia Putman, and her grandfather, Peter Putman, emigrated from Germany in the mid-18th century. Peter is one of my ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War. His grandson, and Lucretia's father, William Putman, fought in the Civil War and died of his wounds. (So I was wrong when I said that I only had one ancestor who fought in the Civil War.)

Simon P. Nicholson

This site says that Peter's wife, Maria, was also from Germany, but I'm not going to count that until I can get more solid evidence.

Anyway, the new information is actually about William's father, Simon P. Nicholson. His mother was the former Phoebe Snyder, which is where the Snyders come into the line. Her father was Adam Snyder (or Schneider), and his father was Adam Schneider. Based on the text of the 1909 book A brief history of the Andrew Putman (Buttman, Putnam) Christian Wyandt (Weyandt, Weygandt, Voint, Wyand) and Adam Snyder families (Schneider) of Washington County, Maryland, I can conclude that the older Adam was, in fact, from Germany. So that's a second of William's great-grandparents whose origin has been found. Adam was also one of the founders of Somerset, PA. I remember seeing the historical marker about him when we visited in 2009, but I wasn't sure at the time if he was "mine".

The astute reader may notice the name "Putman" appearing again, even though we are looking at William's father, rather than his mother. In fact, Adam Schneider (the older) was married to Catherine Putman...Peter Putman's brother. First of all, this is another of William's great-grandparents identified as German. Second, this means that William's parents were third cousins. I've been waiting to find out where my family tree bends back on itself (everyone's does), and third cousins isn't such a bad way to have it happen.

One more thing...remember Peter's wife, Maria, who is possibly another German ancestor? She was Maria Schneider (Snyder), so there's at least a possibility that she was Adam's sister, which would make Simon and Lucretia third cousins on another side as well. I'm going to ignore that for now.

I'm also going to ignore the fact that the German Putmans were originally the French Huguenot Boutemonts -- with a few exceptions, I only care about the country of origin, and don't try to trace things back generations before that.

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.

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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

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



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.