Decent

Well, I had a fairly good day today and thought that warranted posting. It started out pretty nasty (see below for just a small sample of the nastiness), and I was in a wretched mood by the time I arrived at work. Fortunately, I work in a beer factory. It's fun. Just about everybody who walks in the door is supremely happy to be there, and if they're not when they get there, they definitely are by the time they leave. We even get the occasional hardcore fan from several states away making a pilgrimage to the brewery--they are always easy to spot by the awed and disbelieving looks on their faces as they walk into the store very slowly and reverently, which soon gives way to sheer joy and giddiness and exuberant stories about how far they had to travel to get here. These people are loads of fun to be around.

The above photo, incidentally, is of my very favorite beer that we make. It's truly lovely, and if you are a fan of Imperial stouts at all, you have no business not trying some. Soon.

I also got to give another tour today, to my largest group yet--28. I actually started out pretty badly (in my opinion, but was told later it wasn't so). I felt like the first 5-10 minutes of the tour I was only warming up to my usual meaningful banter, and unfortunately the warm-up took place with everybody listening while I repeated myself and said stupid things amplified by a microphone. At any rate, it ended quite well; people laughed at my dumb jokes and were good-natured about my making fun of them. I even passed a sneaky test--one of the tour-goers was an experienced customer of ours who was evidently feeling that I couldn't possibly be up to par with Ken, who is our main tour guide. So, he expressed his doubts to my brother, who encouraged him to ask me his question rather than bugging Ken about whether I knew it or not. I got it right! Hah. I may just be the small back-up tour guide, but I know my beer.