Why Halloween is super, and other tales

Yesterday was the fun-filled conclusion of Cleveland Beer Week, which included much quality friend time, out-of-city visitors and adorable miniature beer steins with a doctored (to say BEER) FREE stamp logo on them. It was pretty wonderful and delicious.

But that's not why you're here, exactly (although, the fact that there's a homebrewing group called the Society of Northeast Ohio Brewers -- allowing them to get the Web site beersnobs.org -- is pretty fantastic and grin-worthy). You're here, instead, so I can tell you that when we were driving in, I saw a man driving past in white face-paint, done up like a mime. But with glasses, which makes it all the more surreal.

And so I can tell you that a friend of mine, who body paints in his free time, painted two friends and myself as a dog, a cat and a mouse one October a few years ago. We bought tails and ears and looked the part, and decided the perfect thing to do was to go out to a bar.

And can you believe that not a single person -- not the waitress, not anyone we walked past -- even mentioned our attire? Lesson learned: dress up oddly in non-October months for maximum effect. The process and the company were still entertaining, though.