Honestly, I think anyone could go to the fair for the rest of their lives. True, there's some weird stuff at some, and a lot of it is directed toward the younger set, but then there's the Montgomery County Fair. This one has everything: free movies, rides, games, animals, talent shows, and A Demolition Derby. God, I could watch a demolition derby all day long.

When I was younger, my worst fear was the talent show because I would freeze every time I got on stage. I've gotten better progressively as I got older, and now karaoke is a breeze to me. But there are some peeps out there with legitimate talents that should be showcased. And now, if you hustle, there's a talent show coming up in about an hour at 12.

When you're interning at a place that pays you little to no money, you must find cheap alternatives to anything that you desperately need for the summer. So when you're looking to get out of the city and up north to the bigger NYC for just one weekend, possibly to see a Yankees game or a show or grab a Coney Island hot dog, you need a cheap way of getting there. Gas is too expensive and you don't have a car so that's out of the question. The trains cost like 75 bucks, but they do get you there quick. How do you navigate around the cost-benefits? Buses.

After many weekends of failed plans, I finally made it out to the beach this weekend. And it reminded me how much a vacation like that is needed when you’re actually working a job in the city. It’s one thing to enjoy the summer when you’re on break from school; it’s an entirely different thing to enjoy it when you’ve finally gotten those three days off from work. Once you’re on Route 50, and heading east, you cross the 3.2 mile Bay Bridge, and the world has completely changed. No more rushed traffic to get to work, no more city noises. Just you and the random produce trucks that lead you down your path to the beaches. Man, I need to get back there. 

Anyways, there’s several different local beaches that you can get to in less than 3 hours in Maryland and Delaware, and here’s the best (in order of my opinions).

Need your fix of football? I know I do. The season is just over a month away, but you know those training camps are just getting underway. The local team, the Washington Redskins, have been in training camp for about a week and a half now. Of course, their fans already have them penciled in for a 16-0 regular season and Super Bowl Champions, but this preseason camp has started off relatively earlier than previous years.

If you have any interest in national security and intelligence, tonight is one of those lectures that can keep you in touch with the beginnings of this community. Tonight (6:30 p.m.), at the International Spy Museum (800 F Street NW – Gallery Place-Chinatown), there will be a lecture by Ray Batvinis and Burton Gerber, veterans of the FBI and the CIA, on cooperation between their former agencies.

So you’re looking for some sports to get you through these dog days of summer. Those loveable Nationals are pretty terrible, and you’re sick of going to their games every day only to see them lose. But you need a fix. What can you do? You’re living in D.C.; of course there are those random sports that you can start a following with.

No, this post is not about the International Spy Museum. That is a wonderful experience, and something that you should do before you leave the city, but there is already plenty of people who can explain to you how amazing it actually is. I, on the other hand, will traverse to that well-known British spy, Bond, James Bond.

Over the weekend, I trekked to the local library for the first time in search of something other than books. I actually was looking for an old article from The Washington Post about several murders that happened earlier in the 20th century (long story, another time), but I discovered something even more amazing: libraries now rent out DVDs. For free. Cheaper than Netflix and Blockbuster and Redbox (though those are all good and relatively cheap), the library offers something different for everyone.

I wish I could write another medium-length, partially insightful, mostly useless post to inform you of other happenings in the DC area today, but there seems to be a bigger picture here that refuses to let that happen: my mouse . I am at war with it, this demonic mouse. I have had to rewrite sentences twice so far because the stupid cursor clicks onto another part of the paragraph, interrupting my flow and putting the words in the middle of previous sentences. It is useless and I hate it. Just a terrible way to spend your last day before the long 4th of July weekend; fighting an inanimate object, that is.

The 4th of July in Washington is one of the coolest, most dazzling visual displays one is able to see for the holiday. The fireworks over the monuments combine to depict a scene that seems straight out of a fictional painting; as a witness, you see probably the most beautiful panorama of the city that you could ever have of the cityscape. Still, as with most things that happen in DC, there is a drawback, an enormous one. The sheer numbers of people that will be on the Mall Friday usually reach the hundreds of thousands, plus each person must enter through a security checkpoint that forces you to get there hours ahead of time. I’m not saying the festival and concerts that accompany it aren’t fun, but if you’re not a fan of waiting and waiting and waiting some more, here is some other nearby options for fireworks.

This weekend, I worked at the Nationals-Orioles Battle of the Beltways Series, and I finally figured out what was bothering me in the half-hour before the game begins: No one knows how to win the games. As I am waiting to head into the crowd for my vendor job at Nationals Park, I get to watch the pre-game show that is hosted by some dude. The whole point is to get the fans hyped and fired up for the game, and the key segments come from the contests that they hold on the show. Sometimes, there are hula hoop contests or NERF gun battles (which are usually impossible, especially with no balance), but the primary contests are Nats Make a Deal and Around the Horn Trivia, and here's how you win both.

Every morning, I have two options: listen to my iPod or a daily morning show. A majority of the time, especially when I’m out of the DC area, I go with the iPod since I have no ideas regarding the morning shows in the area. Philadelphia and New York morning shows have remained a puzzle to me, a hidden gem that I will never uncover lest I actually move to the city for an extended period of time. I have always wished that someone could explain to me some of the more popular shows in the morning so I can get my pick, the show that would most allow me to enjoy the roughest early parts of the day. And so, for all you peeps out there who feel the same way, here is my rundown of some of the more popular DC radio station morning shows.

One of my favorite things to do in DC as a kid was to watch the Military Tattoo that took place along the Mall near the Vietnam War Memorial. It was a combination of military history lessons and visual displays of the American military strength. I was dutifully impressed by the decoration, the power, and the discipline that the troops displayed in their movements. Not a fan of military things? Didn’t matter, since we were on the Mall, and there were plenty of things to do.