Once Upon a Time in Minnesota

Just got back from a work trip to Minnesota, don't chya know. Or should there be a question mark after that? I don't know. I don't really understand the local expressions, such as, Uff da! Which I am told does not actually have an exclamation point after it, or hand gestures. I'm still not clear what it means, but I find it nearly impossible to say without said exclamation point or hand gesture. Anyways, here are some random snapshots from the good ole' twin cities. (By the way, no one there was able to tell me why they are named the twin cities. I suppose I can ask Google, but, funny that the locals had no explanation other than they are two cities near each other.)

You too can do yoga in the basement of an old diamond store that looks like it was attacked by a Zelda bomb. Well, maybe you can't. But I did.

There's an aquarium in the Mall of America. Yesterday's special show was "Sharks after Dark," which I didn't think a whole lot about until I saw this wall ad for it. Why the disco ball? What exactly DO sharks do after dark? Do they bust out ass-less chaps and get down on the dance floor in a haze of red light and vodka buzzes? This actually seemed so cheesy it made me wonder if the sharks are even real. Do they have styrofoam sharks with awful paint jobs that they try to pass off as real sharks with bad lighting? Well, I guess I will never know. I just hope the caveman below made it out okay.