The hero, San Diego defense attorney Paul Madriani, has evidently already thwarted a terrorist plot involving a nuclear weapon in a previous novel–I guess I read this book out of sequence, because it’s referred to in the book. But, don’t let that stop you, it really has no bearing on this book. Madriani is no Jack Bauer, but he manages to stay one step ahead of the bad guys throughout.

This book stands out because it involves terrorism, murder, technical toys, and puzzles–a great combination.

My plane landed at Reagan National last night at midnight, 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Home free, I thought.

The Metro leg went fine, even though I’ve never traveled on it this late. Exited the White Flint station at 1 am, and I started having my first doubts about my game plan. I was on Rockville Pike, normally a very busy road, and I figured that even this late, I’d see a taxi fairly soon. But, after not seeing one for a couple of minutes, I go into proactive mode and call a cab.

No problem sir, just walk across the street to McDonald’s and one will be there shortly. This took about 5 minutes, and sure enough, there’s my cab. We loaded up, and started out, but the guy couldn’t back out of his parking spot because another car was behind him and wouldn’t move. Uh oh.

Evidently, the cab I got into wasn’t the one that was sent. After finally evading the other car, we pulled up alongside the blockade, my driver rolled down his window, and the shouting ensued. With what followed, I had plenty of time to write this blog entry while I was awaiting the outcome, but wasn’t quite in the mood.

We eventually extricated ourselves from the encounter, and I received my final gift from the Twilight Zone. My phone rings, and the other cab driver informs me that I got in the wrong cab. Gee, I wish I’d been able to figure that out.

On Monday, we rented a boat and cruised Table Rock Lake. Bill drove–proudly showing off his El Jefe hat.

If you like to fish and want a guarantee of catching something, be sure to hit the marina where I took this picture. I’m not sure what the purpose is, but there’s a little pool built into the deck, where they’re literally crammed into a small space. What a wonderful fishing experience that could be? Then, on to happy hour, round 2.

Tuesday afternoon, KK and I met an old friend friend from my previous days at Virginia Power. We had lunch with Amy and Tom Grubaugh. They’ve retired near Branson. We made an initial connection through FaceBook, and Amy found out we were coming to Branson through a Pinterest clip I had made of some Branson shows. What a great use of social media–without it, we would never have realized how close we were that week. The food at Cantina Laredo in Branson Landing was pretty awesome, too.

Tuesday evening, we actually got around to going to a show. We saw the Cat”s Pajamas, four singers who perform their entire act acapela. I thought the best songs were Duke of Earl and Stand by Me. One of the team, Skinner, created most of the background sound effects by virtue of his own voice. He did a solo, and it was unbelievable that all those sounds came out of his mouth. You would have sworn that the background beat was from a drum or bass.

Wednesday afternoon, We saw It–yes, that’s the entire name of the show. It was basically the Hughes family, and if you saw my review last year, it was as good, or better, as the Duttons Show. There are five brothers–the youngest, Andy, did a very nice Spanish guitar number. All the wives sang and danced. With all the wives and children, there were probably 30 people on the stage, all at one time. Aaron is only 16, and did a fantastic song and dance solo–and played the violin later. The 14 year old gave us a drum solo. One of the brothers and his wife played a beautiful violin duet. The children treated us to a mass fast dance. I rate it the best show we saw this year.

We could not have possibly visited Branson without a trip to the White Oaks Exxon station for their gizzards. It would have been just my luck that they didn’t serve them any more, but my luck held out. Now, what are the odds that a service station would serve one of my favorite (and very hard to find) foods? I think fate just has to be involved here. Or the Mayan calendar, or something.

Thursday was shopping and dinner at White River Fish House in Branson Landing. We had mostly fried catfish, with me just eating clam chowder, but it was all very good.

Thursday night was the Baldknobbers Show. This was mostly Country and Western, but it’s one of the oldest shows in Branson. And about half the performers show it. The two two main singers can sing okay, but they’re not dynamic and don’t seem to be very enthused. There are a couple of duets, and along with the comedy acts, they save the show. And don’t miss the discounted ice cream and apple pie at the restaurant next door after the show.

Sadly, the Titanic happened to sail through Branson the week we were there, and can you believe the luck–it was hit by an iceberg again. I happened to be on the spot and captured the moment of impact. It’s just a gift I have.

You may have heard about the tornado that hit Branson a couple of months ago. There was very little damage, but the areas that it did hit were devastated. Only one or two theaters were put out of action but here’s a sample of a few structures that didn’t do so well.

]]> http://www.teebark.com/index.php/family/branson-2012/feed/ 0 http://www.teebark.com/index.php/family/officer-why-are-you-in-my-room-with-a-flashlight/ http://www.teebark.com/index.php/family/officer-why-are-you-in-my-room-with-a-flashlight/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:46:18 +0000 admin http://www.teebark.com/?p=1022 I was talking with my landlady last night, and she asked me if I was upset about the cops coming into my room. Say what?

This is another episode of my crazy dealings with renting living quarters in Maryland. Some of you may remember a previous landlady’s son being thrown in jail for dealing drugs (turned outnot to be true) . And then she died suddenly while he was still locked up. And the druggie housemate that wandered the hall outside my room at all hours of the night. And the house that exploded three blocks away.

Here we go again. So, after she asked me that, I responded with “The police came into my room while I was at work?” No, while you were asleep. They shined a flashlight into your room while you were in there sleeping.

Ding, ding–that rung a bell. I do remember someone opening my bedroom door a couple of nights ago, and seeing a bright light momentarily, but I just rolled over and went back to sleep. There had been some loud music downstairs earlier in the night and I had had to ask the landlady’s husband to turn the music down because I couldn’t sleep. So, I just figured it was his teenage son, and some of his friends had decided to wander around the house.

What happened, is the police were hunting for a suspect who had earlier given them this address as the location of their home. The landlady couldn’t believe that the police could enter a house and start searching without her permission. I thought so, too, but a friend at work informed me that when the police are on an active pursuit, they can do this. News to me, but I guess it makes sense.

So, my friends, when you’re enjoying that glass of wine in front of your big screen TV, in the safety of your castle, think about me once in a while–I could be fighting for my life while you’re watching the same scene play out on CSI Rockville.

We ate at Fuddruckers, and played Chicken Foot that night. Chicken Foot is a lot of fun, if you haven’t tried it. It’s kind of like a mix of dominoes and Scrabble.

Decision, decisions. So many shows, so little time. There were so many shows I actually put together a spreadsheet table so we could maximize number of shows vs. the number of days we were there. It worked–we saw 7 shows in 4 days.

Sunday evening–Shoji Tabuchi

This is pretty much a one man show, as was expected, featuring Shoji playing everybody’s favorite tunes on his violin. His playing is highlighted by elaborate stage settings and lighting. He is extremely good at playing all kinds of songs. My favorite was his rendition of the Beatles “Yesterday.” He even came out as Elvis for one number—what’s not to love?

Monday morning—breakfast with the stars

Had breakfast at the resort office, and many of the show stars came in and gave us a preview of their shows. This really gave us some good ideas on who we wanted to see.

Monday night—Clay Cooper

Clay is a country and western singer, but he started off with an audience interaction for about a half hour and the audience loved it. He sang many country favorites, and had a very elaborate stage production, with almost every number having dancers on stage. He’s a great singer.

Tuesday afternoon—Mike Walker

Probably the most talented performer I’ve every seen. He impersonates at least ten different singers, including Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Conway Twitty, Dwight Yokum, Willie Nelson, etc. He’s also a great singer in his own voice, and a good comedian. He did a “duet” with himself and a puppet (Kermit the Frog), that had me in stitches. And speaking of being a one man show–he was serving popcorn at the concession before the show.

Tuesday afternoon—Michelle McBride band

This was a BBQ event held by the resort at the pool. The Michelle McBride band was surprisingly good. They had a young man, maybe high school age, that could play guitar riffs of Pink Floyd caliber. And the keyboard man (also very young) played a solo with a mix of classical and modern music that had me saying “wow.” I talked with him afterward—the medley he did was a mix of Marshal Tucker, Rachmaninoff, and Stevie Wonder. What a young talent.

Tuesday night—Pierce Arrow

This is a quartet of singers, who were very talented, but they sang very generic songs, and as a result, they all sounded about the same. They had a comedian that was funny to most of the audience, but not to me. I rated them as the poorest show that we saw.

Wednesday afternoon—The Tweeds

My favorite show. John Tweed and his daughter Sarah, had wonderful voices that blended to perfection. John wrote a song specifically for the father-daughter duo, and it was incredibly effective. The interplay between the two was heart warming—lots of comedy, with Sarah scoring “groaners” (really bad jokes) for her dad on a blackboard as the show progressed. They did a beautiful version of Nat King Cole and Natalie’s dubbing of “Unforgettable”

Wednesday night—The Duttons

An incredibly talented family. There were five kids, the two parents, and various mixtures of teens and kids, all playing some part in the production. The oldest son Tim, played one song, as he successively played five different instruments. The middle son, Benjamin, was probably the best dancer, and put on quite a medley of tap dancing and general gymnastics. One of the songs featured four of the kids playing violins, all perfectly matching each other.

Thursday morning—George Dyer

George is a magnificent tenor—my favorites were “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Hallelujah.” He also did selected numbers from “Le Misarables” and “Phantom of the Opera.”

Thursday afternoon—Josh Hall, Elvis impersonator

Josh was very dynamic, and in addition to infusing the audience with his energy, he incorporated all the shriek-inspiring leg shakes and dramatic stretching and posing of the original King. He also added a lot of comedy, and the audience loved it.

He signed photos on stage afterward. I was tempted to get one, but was hesitant to pay the $20 fee. I asked Kayela, and she was so excited, she offered to pay. That was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

We ended the week with a barbecue feast at Famous Dave’s, in a neat shopping area called Branson Landing.

]]> http://www.teebark.com/index.php/family/branson-2011/feed/ 3 http://www.teebark.com/index.php/family/old-country-buffet-no-competition-for-golden-corral/ http://www.teebark.com/index.php/family/old-country-buffet-no-competition-for-golden-corral/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:01:44 +0000 admin http://www.teebark.com/?p=985 This is in Gaithersburg, MD. We went for breakfast, and since we frequent the Golden Corral buffet in Richmond quite a bit, we couldn’t help but compare the two.

I had a custom omelet, with cheese, bacon, and mushrooms. It was extremely good, and I have to give the edge to OCB on this one. Also, the coffee was self serve, and this also superior to GC, as you don’t have to wait for the server to come around.

However, OCB was lacking in the meat department–no steak bar. Also, the home made bread was MIA, and was limited to just slices of fresh bread. Most of the dishes at OCB were limited to a single pan, whereas GC had two separate areas so you always had an option to go to the other area if the pan was empty or the line was too long.

One of my litmus tests at buffets  is the fried chicken. I had to wait about 10 minutes for the pan to be refreshed, but the OCB was pretty much as good as GC.

Now, for the ultimate comparison–price. OCB is $10 for seniors, where GC is $9. The winner is Golden Corral, by a good margin, considering price vs. offerings. Unfortunately, the nearest Golden Corral is a long way from Rockville. There’s one in Frederick and one in eastern DC, but it’s probably worth the drive.

Besides the food though, the restaurant has charisma to the max. The main dining room has an actual wood burning fireplace, which reminds you of… well, home. The service was excellent–you aren’t dismissed after you’re served, and our waitress was constantly checking to make sure we weren’t lacking anything.

We were also lucky to be seated next to a very nice couple from Greece, Andy and Helen, who have been in the US for 25 years. They are frequent customers of The Flaming Pit, and loved coming back. Andy had the prime rib, and it was quite a sight–the piece of meat looked to be about 2 inches high. He was a trooper, but could not finish the whole serving.

Andy kept our attention for quite a while–he’s quite a story. He keeps a boat in Annapolis, and makes the Marlin festival almost every year.

In summary, The Flaming Pit is a nice place to go, especially for a romantic occasion. And I haven’t even mentioned the Piano Bar next to the dining room and in the same room as the main bar. The prices are high so for a normal night out, we still prefer say, The Golden Bull, which I’ve reviewed elsewhere. It’s about half the price, but still has great food.

However, as in real life, things don’t go according to plan, and a tragic event takes place. It reminded me of Lord of the Flies, and it ended just about as badly. But, I think you’ll find it fascinating. And it’s free on Netflix.

The story is simple, but the acting is superb, and his explanations stand up to all the attempts to trip him up. Soon, he actually has his friends convinced that his story is true. However, one or two of them, are so shaken by the  realization, that he has to lie to them to get them to calm down.

There’s a real stunner in this story, but you’ll have to watch the movie to experience it. It will be worth it.

A couple of co-workers in the story add a touch of zaniness, along with a buffoon boss. It has some really funny scenes, with a terrific ending. And it’s free on Netflix. Treat yourself to this gem–I think you’ll like it.