so many things i learned today...

first of all, i saw the mississippi river today. i had no idea it was out here! in fact it separates minneapolis from st paul!! wow. that was the first thing i learned.

again my temporary coworkers discouraged me from braving the traffic and heading to st paul and the science museum directly after work. and again i didn't listen, and again it took roughly a half an hour. :)

st paul is pretty beautiful near the science museum. the museum itself is on the river (the mighty mississippi) and the roads all around it are very clean and made of brick. even the line dividing the lanes is made of a different colored brick, very cute!

the exhibit i went to see is called body worlds. its a traveling show comprised of human infrastructures. all the bodies in the show are real, and the person had donated their body specifically for this cause. the scientists have gone in and dissected all these bodies and put them back together highlighting different things, muscles, skeletons, nerves, all kinds of stuff. there were about 20 full bodies posed in different poses, a dancer, ice skaters, gymnast on the rings, a pregnant woman with a fetus inside, all throughout there were different display cases of organs as well. cross sections, anything you could imagine.. to be honest, it was kind of gross. but i had heard about it a while back when it first started traveling and drawing all sorts of controversy, and i really wanted to see it. as a part of my ticket i also got to see this omnitheater ticket to a human body movie. that was pretty disgusting. especially the birth at the end. :( good god.

here is what i learned...

the minnesota science museum doesn't hold a candle to the boston science museum. its smaller, not nearly as interactive, and just sub par. :) but.. it didn't have many children (big bonus) and i found street parking RIGHT in front.

their omnitheater is also not nearly as nice as bostons. :(

i learned that while identical twins can share an amniotic sac or not, fraternal twins cannot...

i learned that at 8 weeks into a pregnancy the fetus is still only half the size of a quarter..

i learned that your liver is about the size of a football.

i learned that out here when some says, "park on our ramp", they really mean, park in our indoor multi-level garage...

when dining alone, bring your laptop. not only do you not have to stare around at other people happily enjoying each others company and be sad, but you look like you are uber-important. :) (or very dorky, but i am going with all important)

i am at a brew pub in st paul not far from the museum. its called great works brewing. i am having the sampler and a portabello sandwich. the mavs/heat game is on on the far tv, but i can't see the score. my guess is the mavs are going to win because they are the home team, and dwayne wades hot streak is going to cool off tonight. :)


the brown trout brown (an english brown ale with a sweet malty taste and a hint of nuttiness, lightly hopped) is hands down the best of their beers. (i realize this is a crappy picture, and the beers are more than half drunk, but my camera was having technical difficulties and i needed to reformat my card.. so i lost the "before" image i took) the great waters house ale was also not bad.

last night the hotel bar woman accepted both of my coupons for my complimentary wine. wooo who..

on monday my dad dropped my car off at the mechanics for me. i was hoping it would be fixed by the time i returned tomorrow night. he was supposed to look at it today and call me with his estimation.. all day i waited and no call. so i called and left him a message. nothing.. why does this always happen to me? i should start taking my car to a dealer, they don't dick around like this.. the inflated prices is probably worth the aggravation in dealing with private mechanics. those bastards.

this bar has internet, which is fantastic!!! that make what i am doing here even that much more important..

it just occured to me that the science museum probably had penny machines too. sorry double D.

by my estimation i am 20 or so miles from my hotel. lets hope when i roll out of here that its apparent to me which way to go. :)