high class and low brow

Yesterday we went on a field trip with our friends from Patrick's. We spent the morning at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts looking at art and art and more art. My eyes got full eventually and I couldn't tell a bowl from the Tang dynasty from a hole in the ground, but it was an education. I think I discovered that you mosey around and really look at only about 25% of what you walk by and you don't try to see everything. The place was packed, too, which made it difficult to absorb. I wanted to look closer at The Astronomer but a pack of old hens moved in and I was elbowed to the side.

The second part of our adventure was at the Summit Brewery in St. Paul. We had a very nice tour with a friendly young woman name Jeannie and then we spent the late afternoon hours in the tasting room. They were quite a hospitable bunch there at the brewery, laying out cheese and crackers and cookies and plying us with their nice selection of beer. We got back on the Govenaire's bus which either has no shocks or really bad shocks (I can't believe Minnesota's roads are that bad) and nearly shook our eyeballs out of their sockets. The Summit folks kindly sent us off with beer glasses, cases of beer, and souvenir t-shirts and hats. A good time was had by all.

Here are the pictures from the field trip if you are so inclined to view more of the debauchery.

One thing I loathe about the week leading up to New Year's Eve is that they review the news of the past year. And this being the end of the decade, we not only have to hear about all the current bad shit going on all over the world, but we have to review the bad shit from the last year and the bad shit from the last ten years. Oh my God. How did I make it through the turn of the century? I don't don't want to know about that stuff unless there is immediate danger to my own personal self. If a bad guy is coming down my street, I want to know. That's the extent of my interest in the news. That kind of news anyway.