After a little more than a decade, Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton shuts it’s doors. The closure comes as contract renewal talks between Paramount/CBS, Cedar Fair, and Colony Capital stalled. The main hold out was Colony Capital who owns the Las Vegas Hilton, who bought the Hilton from Caesars Entertainment (formerly Park Place Entertainment at the time Star Trek: The Experience opened) didn’t like the deal where Star Trek: The Experience was like a retailer just renting space, and not sharing in the revenue generated from the attraction. Cedar Fair, the company that bought the operations of the attraction from Paramount Parks and Paramount/CBS who owns the Star Trek franchise weren’t able to secure a renewal of the contract and as such has decided to close Star Trek: The Experience.

The last day of operations for Star Trek: The Experience was September 1, 2008 and concluded the business day with a decommissioning ceremony normally only afforded to the decommissioning of naval vessels. Star Trek gets a lot of it’s lore from naval tradition except instead of sailing the waters, its the stars. Despite the fact the current contract doesn’t expire until the end of the year, the decision to close on September 1st, is to allow Cedar Fair the time necessary to return all the Star Trek property back to Paramount and gut the complex to hand it over to Colony Capital as empty space.

The announcement for the closure of Star Trek: The Experience was made at the end ABBAof June and unfortunately I didn’t know about it until the wee hours of morning as September 1st changed into September 2nd, thus eliminating any chance of my making out to Las Vegas for one last trip through the History of the Future museum exhibit, the Klingon Encounter and Borg Invasion 4-D rides, shopping that the Star Trek store, and of course, last meal at Quark’s Bar and Restaurant, complete with my all time favorite alcoholic drink, the “Warp Core Breach.” Fortunately for the Star Trek Fans who attend the annual Star Trek convention in August in Las Vegas, they got their chance for their last go round, but I avoid Las Vegas like the plague during the summer months, but had I have known about the closure, I would certainly have made an effort to go out there and get in one last visit to Gene Roddenberry’s 24th century.

I’ve had many memories of the place throughout the years as it was always a stop for me anytime I went to Las Vegas, and for quite a number of years in the last decade I had been to Las Vegas about three or four times a year, although now it’s been a little more than two years since my last visit to Las Vegas. Even though that visit I was only in town long enough for dinner at the Star Trek bar and a performance of Avenue Q when it was still at the Wynn.

My first visit extends way back to 1998 when I visited Star Trek: The Experience on my drive from San Diego to Calgary. I only stopped in Vegas long enough to gas up the car and go through the ride and have dinner, then I was back on the road. But it was a fun experience. Back then they actually had Pepsi products as they were the “choice of the next generation” then. I personally prefer Pepsi products. At some point later on they switched to Coke which pleased my good friend Patsy Ledene, who is a friend of mine that I met on a Roxette mailing list and she is also an avid Star Trek fan and a collector of Coca-Cola memorabila. She loves Coke so much, her blog is actually entitled, “Life From Within The Coke Bottle” and you can visit her blog by clicking here. So needless to say she was happy when Star Trek: The Experience switched to Coke.

I didn’t actually discover the “Warp Core Breach” drink until my second visit on the way back from Calgary because the first time I stopped I was getting back on the road, well this time I stuck around in Vegas so I could try a drink or two. Well the first drink I tried was a “Riker-Rita” which I should have figured from the name is really a margarita and I don’t really like Margaritas. So I was a little disappointed with that one, but saw they had a really cool drink called the “Warp Core Breach” which only came in these huge fishbowls and were $19.99 at the time.

Well I didn’t really want a drink that big, but I did want to try it and the bartender talked me into getting one of their souvenir glasses because it was the only way he was allowed to make one in a size for one. So I tried it and I loved it. It became my official favorite drink in the world, and every nearly every stop to Quark’s Bar and Restaurant at Star Trek: The Experience would I get one. The only time I didn’t get one was to try their then new drink called the “Borg Sphere” which is similar to the “Warp Core Breach” except its green and substitutes vodka & gin for a good portion of the nearly all rum that the “Warp Core Breach” is. Needless to say, the “Borg Sphere” isn’t quite as good as the “Warp Core Breach.” And it’s amazing how much the price has change for the “Warp Core Breach” over the years. Final menus for Quark’s show that it was going for $29.50, a far cry from the $19.99 it originally cost. I guess that’s the price of not scrimping on the amount of alcohol nor the dry ice.

Anytime I’ve met people in Vegas I’ve taken them to or met them at Quark’s Bar at the Star Trek: Experience. Depending on whether or not they were a fan of Star Trek or not would determine if I’d share the rides with them to. For me I was quite happy to enjoy dinner and a “Warp Core Breach” if my friends or guest didn’t want to do the rides.

Over the years I’ve met several of my ABBA friends there with the biggest event being the premiere of “Mamma Mia!” at the Mandalay Bay Resort. This brought in a lot of ABBA fans from around the country as well as a few from Europe. Well we set aside a day to visit the Star Trek Bar where we enjoyed appetizers such as the “Holy Rings of Betazed” (aka a tower of onion rings) and several shared “Warp Core Breaches”. We even were visited by a couple of the Klingons roaming around for ambiance, and since one has long flowing white hair and the other long flowing black hair, we thought it might be a trip to see if we could get the two Klingons to strike an ABBA pose, meaning one facing forward towards the camera with the other in profile. We also posed for a group picture but this was before I had a digital camera so it wasn’t until I got the photos developed that the picture was found to have part of the gift shop booth lady’s finger that she held out just enough to be included in the picture.

Another memorable experience was when I had one of my Australian friends, Grant Whitingham, here for a visit. And at this time they were now offering opportunities to get a photo taken in the captain’s chair of one of the mock-ups of the Star Trek: The Next Generation bridge. We both partook in the chance to be “Captain Picard” although I think Grant looked the part more as he’s skinner and has a more Picard like hairline than I’ve got. We were joined for dinner and “Warp Core Breaches” by another ABBA fan who patiently waited for Grant and I to have our geek moments in the captain’s chair. (If I ever figure out which box that photo is stored in, I’ll scan it and put it up here).

The only other really cool item I got there that’s unique is the lenticular transporter photo I got the very first time I visited Star Trek: The Experience. It involved standing in front of a green screen where they took a picture of me and then added me to picture of the transporter pad from The Next Generation. And just for kicks they had me do a second pose and added me to another transporter pad, and when it get’s printed out and put behind one of those lenticular plastic sheets and you move the picture from side to side it appears as though me and my evil twin beam in and out. That pic is probably with my captain’s chair picture buried in one of my many boxes somehwere in the garage. I’d scan it too but I doubt it would show well. The very first time was the only time I’ve seen these offered, the next time I looked at doing one of these photos with a friend, they were only offering plain photos.

I’ve written a more in depth tribute to my memories of Star Trek: The Experience for my September 2008 column at ABBAMAIL.com, if you would like to read it there, please click here. In fact, in that tribute you’ll find out that one of the dessert items on the menu at Quark’s Bar and Restaurant gets it’s name from a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode written by a famous ABBA fan. It makes a good trivia question to stump your friends with.

Thanks again to the many men and women behind the creation and day to day operations of “Star Trek: The Experience” I’ve had a wonderful ten years of memories, and I hope that Cedar Fair finds somewhere else to resurrect Star Trek: The Experience. I will be joining with other Star Trek fans in my boycott of the Las Vegas Hilton and other Colony Capital properties (under the name Resorts International) which include the Atlantic City Hilton, Resorts hotels in Tunica and Atlantic City, as well as Bally’s Tunica. I will also be boycotting whatever fills the space formerly occupied by Star Trek: The Experience. One of the many rumors is that it might become a theatre for Michael Jackson. So look out Jacko, you’re on the boycott list if this turns out to be true.

And for those, like myself, who was aware and/or able to attend the closing of Star Trek: The Experience, the fine folks at The Ugly Couch Show website have recorded several videos of the final night, including last call at Quark’s, the decommissioning ceremony, and some various interviews. They’ve even gotten one of the bartenders to spill the beans on some of the more popular drink recipes including the “Warp Core Breach.” Check it out here at www.uglycouchshow.com. So make yourself a “Warp Core Breach” and give a toast to the ten years it had at the Las Vegas Hilton, and whisper a silent prayer Star Trek: The Experience can pull a Spock and come back bigger and better somewhere else.

HMV.com based out of the UK is one of the first online retailers to start taking pre-orders on “Mamma Mia! The Movie” with a price of £12.99 for the standard DVD and £16.99 for the Blu-Ray version. The official release date for the UK according to the HMV site is November 24, 2008. (I’m guessing that means a November 25th release date for the U.S.)

HMV is also offering a chance win a trip to the Greek Islands for UK residents who enter the contest on their website. Sounds like a great trip for two to fly from London to Greece to spend a week visiting the islands of Skiathos & Skopelos (where the movie was partially filmed) with a private cruise and a spa experience and you even get breakfasts and dinner as well as travel insurance included in the prize package. Makes me wish I lived in the UK just to enter the contest.

In any case, the chance to pre-order the movie at HMV.com is available by clicking here, and in the meantime they are also offering sale prices on the Mamma Mia! movie soundtrack, the stage show cast recording, and of course, the original ABBA albums and compilations. Free shipping within the UK, and reasonable shipping rates to the rest of the world.

Granted, I am a user of Corel’s Paint Shop Pro and could literally do all this with the software I already have, but Bling! It is so quick and easy to use, and it automatically makes the output files the perfect size for putting up online that it’s a big saver of time that I could be done with a picture and on to the next one before I’ve finished removing the background in Paint Shop Pro. Don’t get me wrong, I love Paint Shop Pro, but generally when I’m looking to sell some of my stuff on eBay, I’m doing a batch of items at once and I don’t need such a robust program to do the images for my eBay auctions. The time savings I get by using Bling! It, translate into the ability to put up more items on eBay in less time and as they say time is money.

The process of transforming a photo in Bling! It takes four steps, the first step is removing the background. It analyzes your photo for edges to create sections that make it easy to remove them from the background. Then you just take your cursor and press down on your mouse and draw over the sections you don’t want to be saved in your picture. There are ways to adjust the brush size if you need it bigger or smaller, or you can set the brush to paint only the specific sections you highlight, or turn the brush into an eraser to fine tune the edge selection if it cut out a little too much. It helps make it easier to use if your items in the photo are photographed against a contrasting background so that it helps the software know where the edges are.

The next step involves deciding if the photo should be portrait or landscape and they have some presets for specific sites which help optimize the size of the photo for that website, such as an eBay setting. In the same step you can add a new background to spice up the picture. You have several options here, you can just add a color, or a few multi-color choices as well, or use photos as backgrounds. The program comes with a bunch of backgrounds to start with, and you also have the option of using your own images as well, so you can make it a virtually unlimited library of backgrounds to use. You’re only limited by your imagination. And you also have tools here to move the item around, rotate, and resize it.

The next step is enhancing the appearance of the item in your photograph, you can tweak it with things like adding a drop shadow or enhancing the brightness of sections. I personally like adding the drop shadow to create a sense of depth between the item in the foreground and the background. There are a couple of shadow options, one to make the item look like it’s standing up and the other which I used in all my trials which make the item appear to float over the background.

And the last step is saving the image. There’s also some options to allow you to add watermarks or text to the images so that you can hinder people from stealing your images to use on eBay. All in all a fun program to use. It’s a great program that is incredibly easy to use and actually a lot of fun to play with.

I haven’t tried using the program for profile pictures as the image above shows with the two girls using the program to erase out the wall and adding a photo of Johnny Depp in his Pirates of the Caribbean costume to make it appear they are kissing him. Although I think when I get a chance what I’m going to do is use it to update the photo is being used on ABBAMAIL.com for my column there. You see, one of the other columnists, Neil Hopwood, was recently there in Australia for a visit and his new column picture features him in front of the Sydney Opera House, and since I’ve been there, I think it might be cool to have a picture of me as well in front of the Sydney Opera House so that it looks like we were both there. Only the last time I was there in Sydney was 2005, and I didn’t go up to the Opera House in 2005. I did that when I was there in 2001 and I really don’t want to use a picture of me that is that old. So I might use one of my photos of the Opera House from 2001 and combine it with the current photo of me and what do you know, a photo of me in Sydney that didn’t cost a couple thousand dollars and a long flight to take.

In any case, I wanted to show off a few of the images I used Bling! It to improve. The first set of images is the original and the Bling! It versions of an ABBA: Number Ones CD I put up on eBay. The CD included as a bonus, an iPod skin that was basically labels, one for the front that looked like a mirror ball with openings for the screen and control section of the iPod face, and an ABBA: Number Ones album title label for the back side of the iPod. This was a free bonus that was exclusive to Virgin Megastores. I also saved the label from the shrinkwrap to highlight the free bonus. And with a little creative staging pulling out the CD and the bonuses, I was ready to Bling! It with a new more exciting background and some drop shadowing.

Another item I jazzed up with Bling! It that I was quite pleased with is a DVD of the original Superman movie with Christopher Reeve and Marlon Brando. Like the ABBA CD above, this one had the background removed, and I thought it should have complimentary blue background and one of the included backgrounds kind of felt like it was in flight, so I went with it, and I thought rotating the product a little bit along with the staging the disc outside the package would help make it stand out. It stands out a lot compared to the original.

And the last item I’m going to showcase, is a still sealed game of Trivial Pursuit with DVD questions based on the Star Wars Saga. I bought this item as a clearance special at a toy store that I happened to be in about a year ago for next to nothing. I tried selling it once before on eBay using the original image, but it didn’t even get a single bid. Well I’ve put it up again on eBay, this time with Bling! It to add a little bit of color to the image to make it stand out and I even presumptuous enough to raise the price by 50% over what I set as the minimum bid the first time around, and what do you know, within hours of the new version going up, it already had a bid. I’ll find out tomorrow if the price goes up as auctions tend to be busier on eBay in the last few minutes of the auction.

Bling! It is a fun program that I’ve had great fun playing with for my eBay auctions and I’ll soon be giving it a try on an updated profile picture. Keep an eye on ABBAMAIL.com for that picture soon. If you’re interested in getting a copy of Bling! It for yourself, just click here to buy a copy of it. And so you can get an idea of what I’ve used Bling! It on lately, check out my current eBay auctions below. And feel free to place bids on anything you might like for yourself, and if you aren’t currently an eBay member, it’s very easy to sign up, just click the item you’re interested in and follow the instructions for joining eBay.

On Wednesday, August 13th, 2008, Broadway’s Best on Sirius Channel 77 will be featuring the movie cast album of Mamma Mia! featuring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, and Pierce Brosnan. They will be running it for both the matinee presentation at 2pm Eastern (11am Pacific) as well as the evening broadcast at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific). It’s a great chance to hear the song from the movie as they appear on the cast album (which are different from the performances in the movie.) Even the newly added song to Mamma Mia!, “When All Is Said And Done” features some new lyrics that were not featured in the version used in the movie. You’ll be able to hear here at no cost with a free Sirius trial.

Click here or the Sirius Logo above to sign up for a free Sirius Satellite Radio trial, just don’t do it until just before or on August 13th to ensure your free trial encompasses the “Mamma Mia!” Movie soundtrack broadcast. And if you decide you like the soundtrack album and want to get a copy of it, click here to get it from Amazon.com. Or check out the auctions on eBay below for the Mamma Mia! Movie soundtracks below.

Corey Hart is an especially significant act for me because one of his concerts was the very first time I ever went to a concert. I first got to see him way back in early 1986 when his tour of Canada promoting his “Boy In The Box” album finally hit Calgary. I loved the energy and it was just an amazing experience to see. I kind of lost touch with Corey Hart and his music after having moved to Southern California in summer of 1986 until the mid 1995 when I joined an ABBA mailing list of all things and met an Australian online, Luke Rogers, who posted a profile and stated Corey Hart was another artist he really liked and that became a catalyst to striking up a conversation with him.

Well discussing Corey Hart with Luke ended up getting me back into Corey’s music just in time for Corey’s 1996 album. Well when Corey went on tour to promote that album, I just had to be there, so in October of 1997 I returned home to Calgary to catch his concert there. And then on October 30 and November 1st in 2002, I went to Montreal to see Corey perform two concerts with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal (OSM for short or Montreal Symphony Orchestra in English) where I met up with a bunch of Corey Hart fans, the first time I was ever willing to visit a different part of Canada for concerts. Corey is so wonderful in concert that all he has to do is announce as show I’ll make sure I’m there some how.

So between 2002 and now Corey had been the sole big name artist I’ve seen the most times in concert. But for quite a while there has been a three-way tie for second place between Dolly Parton, Olivia Newton-John, and Celine Dion. Each of those artists I’ve seen three times each. And last night the tie was finally broken when Dolly Parton pushed ahead although it’s a good possibility Celine Dion might make it a three way tie for first place later this year.

The first time I ever saw Dolly Parton in concert was as the result of an online contest put on by the House of Blues where the grand prize was a trip to Las Vegas to see Dolly Parton perform at the House of Blues at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in August of 2002. I entered the contest online thinking if I did win anything it would be one of the copies of her album as a secondary prize, never in a million years did I think I’d get picked for the grand prize. So when I won the grand prize, I was awarded a flight and a couple nights stay at the Luxor hotel, tickets to the concert at the House of Blues, and an autographed copy of her then current album, “Halos & Horns.” In fact this tour is the one that was captured for posterity on the DVD “Live and Well” so I’ll always have a way to re-experience the feeling of the original concert on the DVD.

Prior to seeing her concert, I had never been a big fan of her music then, having maybe a greatest hits album or two at that point, but having seen her concert I was completely hooked by what an incredible entertainer she was. You don’t even have to be a country music fan (because I am certainly not) to be completely entertained by Dolly. I immediately bought up a few more of her recent albums and have been slowly adding back catalogue titles to my collection over the years. The next time Dolly toured, I decided to take my parents to see her at her show at the Arrowhead Pond (now the Honda Center) in Anaheim and unlike the show I first saw Dolly perform, this show was a full scale production show or arena tour kind of show. She was just as amazing then and when she next hit Southern California for another tour I caught her show at the Universal Ampitheatre (now the Gibson Ampitheatre at Universal).

And this time it was quite nice to see her locally in San Diego. The fun thing about seeing an entertainer like Dolly, she’s is just so much fun to see perform that there’s little question in my mind that I’ll probably try to see her again the next time she tours. So unless Corey Hart announces any concerts in the next year or so, Dolly is likely to push ahead.

The group employs disguises and fake names and ID cards to become different people every time they go. Profits get split and everyone stays happy. Of course, cockiness sets in and trouble sparks as one member of the team gets jealous of the new guy because the new guy is outperforming the former star of the team. Then as the new guy starts to build up his confidence, he too is unable to escape the temptations of gambling and starts to ignore the rules of the team and continues to squander away on tables that have grown cold and past the time to stop playing on that table. It becomes a race against greed and being caught. The outcome of the story resolves itself through backroom deals, begging for forgiveness, and even more blackjack. To know how it resolves itself, you’ll have to check it out.

Now as a dealer, there was some amusing aspects about the film that really only people in the casino industry, specifically table games, and fans of Las Vegas would notice. One of the things I found amusing was that for all the scenes at real tables in Las Vegas, that all the cards used are canceled cards which you would never find being used on tables for real money. If you aren’t sure how cards are canceled, when you pay attention to the movie, look closely at the edges of the cards, where two of the four corners of the cards on diagonally opposite sides of the card are rounded while the other two are more square. This becomes especially apparent when the dealer places his face-up card over his face-down card and the corners don’t line up cleanly.

Also some of the shots of Las Vegas seen from the windows of the high roller suites are not the real views from the casinos those rooms are allegedly from. Case in point, the Hard Rock Casino is not located on the Las Vegas strip so it’s not possible to get room with a close up view of Caesars Palace or the fountains of Bellagio. So creative license aside, the movie does a great job of glamorizing the Planet Hollywood, Red Rocks Casino, and the Hard Rock Casino as well as the glamor of Las Vegas and contrasting it with Boston and the starving student look.

As for advice on card counting, it can work, if you are willing to work at it. It does require a lot of time and practice. As a dealer, I can say, the best way to stay off the radar of the casinos when you employ card counting techniques is don’t get greedy. The biggest tip off to casinos about card counters is bet variation, when you’re betting hand after hand at small amounts close to the table minimum, then all of a sudden make big bets closer to the table maximum, you’re going to be watched and watched closely.

If you want to learn a great system for card counting, I found one here at http://www.pairadicegaming.com/?21cardcounting. If anything, employing some card counting techniques can help improve your odds at the blackjack table and help make your next visit to the casino more profitable for you. Just remember, the best strategy is walk into a casino with set stopping points, a level where if you win that amount you will stop and walk away, and a set amount where you will stop playing if you lose that amount. If you don’t have those levels in place, you will end up playing more time and the longer you play, the more likely the house will get your money. Walking away when you’re winning is one of the hardest things for people to do, but it’s essential to winning at blackjack. You aren’t officially a winner until your chips have been cashed and you’ve left the casino. And don’t forget to tip your dealer when they’ve given you great service.

If you’re interested in the DVD or Blu-Ray of the movie “21″ please check out any of the fine retailers listed on my favorite shopping links page and find the best deal for you where ever you are in the world. And again, if you’re interested in a great card counting system, click here.

Big thanks to the Ultra Star Theater in Poway, California for putting “Mamma Mia!” as the most prominently featured title of the week so that everyone can see it when they drive by. Hopefully the movie will do well in the US, even though its doubtful it’ll hit the top spot in the box office charts.

I was fortunate enough to attend a special screening of “Mamma Mia!” The Movie at the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, CA. While still a week away from a proper opening across the US, it was fun to see the movie again for what is now the third time. The first being a test screening in March, and the second a special BroadwayWorld.com advanced screening in San Diego. And I will also be seeing a second screening here in Los Angeles tomorrow night at the OutFest movie festival. So by the time the movie officially opens on July 18th, I will have seen it four times and who knows how many times I’ll see it once it officially opens.

Back to the Grauman’s event, I have never been to the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre before. What an incredible experience. Hard to believe I’ve lived here in Southern California over 20 years and have never taken the time to come see a movie at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Such a historic theatre and the opportunity to explore all the hand prints and footprints in the cement of the forecourt. I was excited to see the display of the hand prints of the original Star Trek cast. Leonard Nimoy had his prints in the traditional Vulcan hand sign.

While waiting to enter the theatre, I also saw where Meryl Streep had her hand and footprints, she has the tiniest of footprints. Wow.

As for the movie, the movie was great again. I had to snicker when a rapturous applause erupted from the rows and rows of reserved seats all reserved by Universal at the appearance of the Universal Logo before even a single frame of Mamma Mia! hit the screens. Must be all the Universal employees applauding to ensure they get a paycheck. The sound in the theatre was absolutely perfect, the amazingly large screen, as well as the free popcorn, soda, and parking, was a real treat. The theatre itself is gorgeous even though I’m not a particularly big fan of Asian themed decor, a little too red for my tastes, but the environment is definitely the way to go to see a movie. Amazing all around. Big thanks to Universal and the Official ABBA Fan Club for arranging for me to have a ticket to this special screening of Mamma Mia!

The limited engagement channel will also feature stories and insights from ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus about their many pop classics which have influenced recording artists for over three decades. ABBA Radio will also feature celebrity fans sharing their favorite ABBA music and personal stories, including stars from “Mamma Mia! The Movie” Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Christine Baranski, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Catherine Johnson, film director Phyllida Lloyd and producer Gary Goetzman, as well as Dionne Warwick, Alanis Morissette, songwriter Desmond Child, Joan Rivers, Brooke Shields, Andy Bell from Erasure, Randy Jones from the Village People, the cast of the Tony Award®-winning musical Spring Awakening, ambassador Ulf Hjertonsson, Per Gessle of Roxette, Nancy Sinatra and Martha Stewart.

Benny Andersson of ABBA in press release issued by SIRIUS said, “Thanks to ABBA Radio on SIRIUS, both new and longtime fans have a place to experience the original music of ABBA, together with the new songs produced for the soundtrack to Mamma Mia! The Movie, in a distinctively innovative way. ABBA Radio allows for our early songs to join the new ones in harmony on SIRIUS’ national platform, and engage all generations of listeners.”

SIRIUS offers a free trial of their radio service, which is available for listening online. Click the SIRIUS image below or click here to sign for SIRIUS service. Try them out, they are quite addicting to listen to and with an all ABBA station for the next couple of weeks, how can you go wrong?

The Favorite shopping links page has been enhanced with even more great retailers that I use myself. If you’d like to check out where I shop for great deals the whole world over, either click the link in the Pages section of the side bar to the left that says “Favorite Shopping Links” or just click here.