Well, as mentioned, earlier this month, I was in Washington, D.C., again, for the first time since elementary school, and, honestly, as those (approximately) 48 hours progressed, I think I sort of figured out just why I had done just that, as practically the first thing I noticed upon arriving there Friday evening was that almost nothing there is "open 24 hours", unlike pretty much everywhere in N.Y.C., and even quite a few places in my area over here, in the "Garden State", so, after finding out that the Carnegie Library there apparently has an Apple Store now, I checked into the hotel right around sunset that night, except not before wandering from said Apple Store almost to the National Mall, home of all the famous memorial/monument/etc. landmarks; after that, I pretty much only left the hotel to wander over to a nearby 7-Eleven location to keep myself "hydrated" - I feel like now would be the perfect moment to tell you that there were very few places even open past midnight, let alone being open (almost) "24 hours", and decided to just wander around wherever the following
Indeed, Saturday ended up being as much of a "whirlwind" as Friday had been a "drag", as it started in the Capitol building, before continuing to: the Library of Congress/Supreme Court grounds, the Washington Monument, Tysons Corner Center/Galleria in northern Virginia (the two largest malls in the "commonwealth" of Virginia, along with the D.C. metro area generally, along with being home to the world's first-ever Apple Store), the Smithsonian U.S. Postal Museum, RFK Stadium (the former home of D.C. United/the Washington Nationals and Redskins, along with the former Washington Senators
Overall, though, out of all the parts of the world I've visited up until now, I'd say D.C. was on the "slow" side of things overall, with the more "business-like" and "political" nature to the city, albeit making it almost too "safe" at the same time; even the "junkies" there seemed less aggressive than in, say, Manhattan or Philly or wherever else (except for Paris, but I already told you about my impressions of that city last year...) - not quite as much as places like Barcelona (an "un-popular opinion", apparently, finding that place "safe"...) or Tokyo, though (definitely much more of a "popular opinion" than considering Barcelona "safe", apparently...); some of the groups participating in this year's International Scout Jamboree, an annual, and a global, gathering of Scout groups, apparently also decide
Also, the 2019 NFL pre-season started this month (you bet I watched all the Giants and Jets games live), yet, in the midst of all the "hype" surrounding the games, there was some negative media attention surrounding one of the games (and I knowingly disclose to you that I've indeed sort of "ranted" a few times by now about how the L.A. Chargers handled their departure from San Diego a few years back, playing in a soccer stadium instead of either the L.A. Memorial Coliseum or (Pasadena, CA) Rose Bowl until either 2020 or '21; this is different, though...) during the third week of the pre-season, featuring the Green Bay Packers and current Oakland/future Las Vegas Raiders traveling out of the country, specifically to Investors Group Field in Winnipeg, Manitoba - in other words, western Canada, yet witnessing the league(s) (CFL/NFL), stadium (I.G. Field), and team (Winnipeg Blue Bombers) treat the game almost more like a playoff game instead of a meaningless pre-season game:
Also, the 2019 NFL pre-season started this month (you bet I watched all the Giants and Jets games live), yet, in the midst of all the "hype" surrounding the games, there was some negative media attention surrounding one of the games (and I knowingly disclose to you that I've indeed sort of "ranted" a few times by now about how the L.A. Chargers handled their departure from San Diego a few years back, playing in a soccer stadium instead of either the L.A. Memorial Coliseum or (Pasadena, CA) Rose Bowl until either 2020 or '21; this is different, though...) during the third week of the pre-season, featuring the Green Bay Packers and current Oakland/future Las Vegas Raiders traveling out of the country, specifically to Investors Group Field in Winnipeg, Manitoba - in other words, western Canada, yet witnessing the league(s) (CFL/NFL), stadium (I.G. Field), and team (Winnipeg Blue Bombers) treat the game almost more like a playoff game instead of a meaningless pre-season game:
https://twitter.com/CBrooksie84/status/1159122756572778497
...in baseball, this month actually marks a quarter-century now since MLB went on strike, ending the 1994 season about three-quarters of the way through, and effectively "canceling" the now-former Montreal Expos, who actually led their division upon the decision to cancel the rest of the aforementioned season; after that, though, the Expos' top players essentially ended up getting "sold off" one by one over the following decade, up until the franchise ended up becoming the Washington Nationals in time for the 2005 MLB season!
...in baseball, this month actually marks a quarter-century now since MLB went on strike, ending the 1994 season about three-quarters of the way through, and effectively "canceling" the now-former Montreal Expos, who actually led their division upon the decision to cancel the rest of the aforementioned season; after that, though, the Expos' top players essentially ended up getting "sold off" one by one over the following decade, up until the franchise ended up becoming the Washington Nationals in time for the 2005 MLB season!
...also, in retail news, Canadian Tire appears poised to buy the, obviously, Canadian division of Party City; I've already noticed a few jokes on social media about this costume being the only one Canadian Tire/Party City locations up there will be selling in the future; meanwhile, the "new" Toys "R" Us company will apparently be opening one of its first locations around here:
https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/toys-r-us-returning-to-houston-with-store-in-the-galleria/285-f1ca931c-c540-4cb3-8f2a-65d260caf208
Not much planned personally in the meantime, though, except for the "bi-annual" (every other calendar year) BU-Cornell college hockey matchup at MSG right after Thanksgiving (which will be awkward, at least this year, considering the game will start in November, yet the return commute might end up finishing in the following month, December); speaking of which, since I know I didn't quite do so the same way this summer, I figured I would give you many 2019-20 college hockey schedules all at once!
I know I told you recently that I didn't have too many "personal" plans for what was left of this summer, but, alas, that just changed within the past week, since we'll be off to San José, Costa Rica, and other (relatively) large cities/towns nearby, like Alajuela/Belén/Cartago/Escazú/
Also, the aforementioned NFL pre-season game between the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders in Winnipeg, Manitoba, ended up getting played on a shorter field (80 yards, with the end zones getting moved out to what would usually be the 10-yard line), and with holes where the goalposts would usually be for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers; as expected, barely any fans, whether of Green Bay, Oakland, or CFL/NFL football generally, ended up showing up... Not the first time that happened, as it turns out, since the Chicago Bears got forced to move the 1932 NFL Championship Game between them and the long-gone Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans indoors, from Wrigley Field to the now-gone Chicago "Stadium", due to arctic-cold temperatures in and near Chicago and other cities in the region!
(also, speaking of "weather", here, now, are Accuweather's "fall forecasts" for Canada/the U.S.!)
Not much planned personally in the meantime, though, except for the "bi-annual" (every other calendar year) BU-Cornell college hockey matchup at MSG right after Thanksgiving (which will be awkward, at least this year, considering the game will start in November, yet the return commute might end up finishing in the following month, December); speaking of which, since I know I didn't quite do so the same way this summer, I figured I would give you many 2019-20 college hockey schedules all at once!
I know I told you recently that I didn't have too many "personal" plans for what was left of this summer, but, alas, that just changed within the past week, since we'll be off to San José, Costa Rica, and other (relatively) large cities/towns nearby, like Alajuela/Belén/Cartago/Escazú/
Also, the aforementioned NFL pre-season game between the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders in Winnipeg, Manitoba, ended up getting played on a shorter field (80 yards, with the end zones getting moved out to what would usually be the 10-yard line), and with holes where the goalposts would usually be for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers; as expected, barely any fans, whether of Green Bay, Oakland, or CFL/NFL football generally, ended up showing up... Not the first time that happened, as it turns out, since the Chicago Bears got forced to move the 1932 NFL Championship Game between them and the long-gone Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans indoors, from Wrigley Field to the now-gone Chicago "Stadium", due to arctic-cold temperatures in and near Chicago and other cities in the region!
(also, speaking of "weather", here, now, are Accuweather's "fall forecasts" for Canada/the U.S.!)
(...speaking of sports once again, there's now been Harvard v. Yale added to MSG's calendar Sat., 1/11/20, exactly five years after the schools' previous matchup at MSG; before then, though, the Irish sport of hurling will make its way to Citi Field in Queens on a Saturday this coming November!)
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