M - Metrodome

Metrodome - place

It may have been reviled by baseball purists, but I have fond memories of the Metrodome, and I'll miss it next year. I liked the Big Blue Baggie, the old plexi-glass and the wind that pushed you out of the doors at the end of the game. Outdoor baseball is nice, but when you have to travel 3 hours to get to a game, the threat of rain-out (or snow-out if it's play-off/world series season) is a real deterrent. I don't care if they're ugly, Minnesota needs a retractable roof.

I liked that it pretty much remained the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (named to honor a person, rather than advertise a sponsor). I saw a World Series Game and an ALCS game in the Dome. I sat in a luxury box (and a press-box, but that was for football, and was a debacle). And I'm proud of the Twins undefeated-at-the-dome World Series record.

Like it or hate it, the 'Dome was the 10th man for the Twins, and, as pretty as the house that Joe Better Build is going to be, I think it will take away soem of that home-team advantage that the Twins used to have. I'm also biased, because I think that all of the new-style super-ballparks are way too theme-park-ish (all you need for food is Natchos, Frosty Malts, Hotdogs, Peanuts etc. and over-priced beer... you're going to a Baseball Game to watch Baseball, not out to a fancy dinner). I'm not big on the gimmickness of many of them. I'll reserve Judgement on Target Corporation (tm) Corporate Ball Field until I see a game there.

(I do have to say, despite being the home of the Orioles, Camden is decent for a new-style ballpark.)

SEE ALSO: Noise, Baseball, Home Shopping,

G - Gas Station

Gas Station: place

I love pay-at-the-pump. As long as I've owned a car, I've never gone into the gas station to pay for gas.

I strongly dislike when people have to leave their car at the pump to go in to pay. I am not patient in that way (and it means I have to idle and waste gas and pollute more).

There was a "Food'n'Fuel" two blocks up from my home when I was little. It was a treat to get to walk there and get candy. Only very very rarely was I allowed to go alone. It is gone now that the city of Duluth has fixed the ridiculously deadly multi-intersection that it was a part of.

I do not like that the BP station nearest to my house advertises the Gas Price and the "Gas Price with purchase of a carwash" price on their sign. Their carwash is crappy (and not worth saving 20c per gallon). It is convenient though.