I recently had the chance to stay for a weekend at the new Great Wolf Resort at Grand Mound, WA.

For a weekend, the place is pretty good. There's lots of things to do for kids up to about mid-teens. Unfortunately, there's not a lot to keep adults entertained or to even visit again. It's a water park, with a hotel and conference center attached.

Exit 88, off of Interstate 5, must have been a simple truck stop up until this project was set in motion. There was the requisite greasy spoon/diner, the shiny new gas station/McDonalds, the feeling of emptiness outside of a half-mile radius of the freeway...

Anyways, back to the resort itself. I liked the hotel and room amenities. We stayed in a "KidCabin" room, which provides a cabin-like facade for the bunkbed and daybed. The room was large, with a hide-away bed, queen-size and the cabin, it could sleep up to 7 people. We had a slight issue with some wetness around the refrigerator, but we just laid a towel over the wetspot and carried on.

One neat feature was the wrist bracelet that performed double duty as room key and room-charge card.

The room's safe, which has become a high-priority item for me when traveling, was mounted on the wall near the door, vertically. This made it awkward at best to put a computer into it. We ended up only putting small valuables such as our jewelry, wallets and small electronics in it.

The hotel contains a buffet, which was poor in my opinion. The food was not very good, and the service was lousy. The other food amenities were a Pizza Hut, a little snack bar by the pools, and an ice cream/sweets counter. There was one lounge-looking area, but I didn't get to try it.

There is also a MagiQuest game for the kids to interact with objects laid out in the first 5 floors of the 8-floor hotel. Note: if you go, avoid rooms numbered less than xx10 on the first five floors! The game was kind of fun, especially for a 6-year-old boy, and we did a lot of stairclimbing as the elevators were so slow. Maybe MQ is really an exercise program!

The water park was fun, but there isn't a whole lot there after you've explored for a day or two. The kiddie pool had one piece of non-functioning equipment, but it did have two slides. The wave pool alternated between large "fun" waves and smaller "bobbing" waves. There were long stretches between the waves too, which diminished the fun. There was a climbing structure leading to the two large slides, which featured a 1000 gallon bucket that filled every 5 or so minutes and tipped over, dumping water on the structure below.

I didn't get to try the soaking tub, because it was small and filled early and nobody seemed to leave it. Nor did I try the three inner-tube slides, though my son had a blast on them.

The last water feature was a "recreation pool" that ranged from 3 feet to 5 feet depth. Unfortunately, it was so crowded most times, that unless you were a tiny tyke, you wouldn't be able to swim more than 4-5 yards at a time.

The safety equipment was decent and there were plenty of lifeguards on hand to keep everybody safe. Towels and deck chairs aplenty.

So overall, I thought Great Wolf was fine for a weekend getaway. I wouldn't spend more than 3 days/nights there in any circumstance. Rack rates were kind of expensive, though local employers (Boeing, Microsoft, etc) have discounts available to them. A lot of activities seemed to carry a separate charge, from the teen club to the spa, from the daylockers to the MagiQuest game.

My rating: 6.5 out of 10 and don't stay longer than a couple of days

As a long-time comics fan since first reading my stepbrothers' silver age books many many years ago, I have tried to make at least a modest effort to visit and put my dollars to work in "Eastside" comic book shops. Psycho5, Xanadu, even the Barnes & Noble and the magazine stand at Crossroads mall, to name a few.

Since switching to Mile High Comics years ago, my subscriptions have dwindled and I no longer read any of the issues that come in my shipments. This is sad, but as a part of my childhood, I treasure my comics and I do try to keep in touch with what's going on in the Marvel Universe.

On hearing that Comic Stop, a well-regarded comic book store located in North Seattle, would be opening a store in Redmond Town Center, I was excited. While I no longer have lots of spare cash to pour into books, I still like to visit the shops and buy things that strike my fancy.

I've visited the new store in Redmond Town Center four times.

The first time, the store was closed due to the Emerald City ComiCon. Fair enough. I stopped by on a bad day.

The second time, the store was open, but the proprietor was playing some kind of PC game and didn't pay much attention to me as I browsed. Normally, I like benign neglect like this, as I don't like being watched as I browse the shelves. I purchased a couple of books and eventually had a short conversation with the proprietor.

The third time, the guy had moved down to the recesses of the street level of Redmond Town Center (a mistake IMHO) next to Sweet Factory. I knew this would be happening, from my conversation in the second visit. Again, he was gaming, but I needed to check out some Olivier Coipel art, so I bought a few books, and a single trading card that I needed to complete a set. We chatted a bit about the trading cards. Purchasing things had become cumbersome, as there was a new sign posted saying that credit card purchases would incur a 5% fee due to "circumstances beyond our control".

As the son of a merchant that takes credit cards, I know that Visa/Mastercard do not allow surcharges like this, and beyond that, it has been proven through behavioral studies, that people shopping with credit cards buy more than those paying with cash. Since I'm a credit card carrier, I rarely have much cash on me, so I was limited to buying only 3 books and the trading card.

I also inquired about a specific title and was told to come back in two days, as a new issue of that title would be arriving.

Today was the scheduled arrival day and I stopped into the store at about 11:20am. The shipment had arrived, and the guy was stocking some books. I mentioned that I had come in because he told me that my title would be arriving. He acknowledged me, but said he hadn't gotten to my title yet. Fair enough.

What happened next boggled my mind! I began browsing the books on display, to allow him some time to dig through his boxes for my title. I also picked up a magazine that I would have bought. Instead of going through his shipment to find my title, he plodded through the boxes as they were packed, checking them off along the way. I kept browsing and began to grow impatient. I even caught him reading a book he was unpacking!

After seeing him read books instead of unpacking his shipment, I headed to the counter to wait, in a hinting, subtle way to say "find my title dammit" Unfortunately, he didn't get the hint and continued plodding through the boxes as they were packed. Needless to say, this made me mad, so I put back the magazine and headed toward the door. I paused briefly to give him a chance to talk to me, or call out or something, but nothing was said.

With nobody in the store but me and the proprietor, knowing that I was there for a specific title, he chose to ignore my needs and to unpack his boxes in the order in which they were packed. I even had cash in my pocket, ready to buy my $25 or so worth of books, but he didn't want my business enough to say "Hey, wait a sec, let me find that title in these boxes for you" In times like these, where discretionary dollars are harder and harder to come by, Comic Stop Redmond Town Center doesn't give a damn about customer service, they don't respect my time when I come in, and they don't project any kind of professionalism when it comes to greeting walk-ins (potential customers!)

You'll get no more business from me, Comic Stop Redmond Town Center. And I hope that this blog posting helps save a few more foolish people from visiting your shop and suffering the same treatment I received.

Yup, I've take the (tiny) plunge and set up an eBay store.

The intention is to complement the Queen Anne PC/Data business. Not only can I sell off all of my and my friends' treasures (!), but I can also sell on behalf of others on consignment.

With these tough economic times, we all have a few extra items gathering dust in the garage, or we have games/books/CDs that are no longer being played.

Come check it out at http://stores.ebay.com/YourBuyingBuddy