Monday, August 17, 2015

Replay Amusement Museum, Baseball, German Restaurants & Guntram Shatterhand

I recently discovered that the Ian Fleming novel You Only Live Twice has a fake name for Blofeld where he calls himself Guntram Shatterhand and I am disappointed that name wasn't used in the movie version of the book... and to me it sounds like the name of a Jaeger in Pacific Rim. This past week I actually did a few interesting activities, for once.

Monday evening, I returned to the Orlando International Premium Outlets, a place I haven't been for I don't know how many months. It's largely the same as it's always been. I walked around, went in various stores, and purchased a pair of shirts. Tuesday I didn't do anything but Wednesday, that was a busy day. I went to a pair of locations in the Tampa area. The first one was a place that opened last November in Tarpon Springs but due in part to its distance from where I live and it not being open on Monday or Tuesday, this was the first time I was able to go to the Replay Amusement Museum. 

It's like the special events I've gone to the past few years where you pay a flat fee and you can pay all sorts of old arcade machines and both old-school classic pinball tables and some newer ones. While the tables weren't always in optimum condition (which is always the case at these things) it was still nice to play some tables that the community says are all-time favorites. I am talking about such things as Medieval Madness, The Twilight Zone, the Collector's Edition of The Addams Family, and Creature from the Black Lagoon. They had a healthy crowd there, which is nice as I was worried it was the sort of thing that may not do good business. However, it also meant that I had to deal with snot-nose punk kids or stupid adults too often. Sigh. I am still glad I got to try it out once, and hopefully they keep on doing decent business.

I then drove down to Tropicana Field to see the Tampa Bay Rays play an interleague game against the Atlanta Braves; both teams are about average or a little below average. I am not surprised the Rays are like that, as among other things they have a new manager. There were plenty of Braves fans around; I was fine with that as it meant the stadium was at least half full. I don't blame the owners of the team if they decide eventually to move elsewhere. I would feel bad for the superfans, such as the two women who sat in front of me in the upper deck seats. They were really into it. They even trolled some of the Atlanta fans there, which made me laugh as I was not expecting it. As for the game, Tampa Bay made some dumb mistakes so they were losing; then, Atlanta made even worse mistakes so the Rays won 9-6. It was a fun game with a lot of action. I won't be back to Tropicana Field until late next spring.

Thursday and Friday I didn't do anything but Saturday I went out and about. I first ate at the PDQ in Sanford; I was happy to get food from there, as always. I then went to the German restaurant up there, which is now become a yearly tradition around this time, where someone I know has a birthday get-together there. I had dessert (this time the delicious Schnappsberry Cheesecake) as I listened to the polka music they played. It was nice seeing my pal there as due to circumstances I rarely get to see them anymore.

Sunday, I relaxed and didn't do a thing. The past week has had some rainy weather and as I always say, Florida drivers are even worse in those conditions. When I return a week from today I don't think I'll have too much to write about. Plans could always change, though.

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