Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone. We would say a lot more as like Leo Tolstoy (the author of "War and Peace") we can not proclaim brevity as one of our strengths.

And, to paraphrase The Animals and their 1965 hit song: "We gotta get out of this place, if it's the last thing we ever do."

We were not aware until we 'researched' the song on Wikipedia that 'this place' was referring to Vietnam. Perhaps, there are others who feel this way, but the song seems to play in our minds when we are at chamber of commerce mixers that we simply can't break away from. But, I remember one person was very honest one time at one of these things (this was about 15 years ago). He simply said: "I need to go home to watch Seinfeld."

The above image, oh by the way, is of an Irish terrier.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Bill Murray

We thought we'd feature an image of a famous Irish-American for St. Patrick's Day. When my mom told me she was going to go to Dublin a few years ago, I thought she meant Dublin, Va., where Pulaski County High School is, as opposed to Dublin, Ireland!

One of Murray's most famous films "Ghostbusters" will be on Nick-TV tommorow night at 9 p.m., New York time.

We had initially hoped to see how far apart Lexington, Ky., where the University of Kentucky is, from Priceton, NJ, where Princeton University is, were. But, yesterday's blog entries were quite time-consuming! We assume if they weren't playing at a neutral site that the respective team bus drivers would know the way. That game is currently underway, and at last report (well, it was about 30 minutes ago) Kentucky was winning 11-4.

We also wish the University of Asheville (NC) Bulldogs well as they face the top seed Pitt Panthers today as well. If they win, perhaps that means that one day, I might just be able to go on a Starbucks coffee date with Uma Thurman.

Lastly, we want to make readers that many NPR stations are having fund-drives. We are especially concerned about the plight of excellent small market stations like WMRA in Harrisonburg, Va., and KUNC in Greeley, Col.

That Colorado town is also home to the 'other UNC,' the University of Northern California Bears who are in this year's NCAA field. They will play the two-seed San Diego State Aztecs in the opening round.

Quote of the Week- Samuel Beckett

During the month of March, we will be quoting famous people from Ireland on Tuesdays since St. Patrick's Day is coming up later in the month.

We start today with Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) who is best known for penning the great play "Waiting for Godot" (1953).

The late Susan Sontag directed a stage performance of 'Godot' in Sarajevo, Bosnia, while the city was under siege in 1993.

Haris Pasovic, the producer of the play production, put political pressure on Sarajevo's mayor in 2005 to have a city street named in Sontag's honor, and that ultimately became a reality.

'Godot' is meant to symbolize God. Beckett was considered to be an avant garde plawright but his work has actually been frequently performed. In addition to Sarajevo, the play was once performed by inmates in a California prison.

Here is the quote from Beckett:

"Do we mean love, when we say love?"

Happy St.Patrick's Day!

It is indeed St. Patrick's Day, and Notre Dame fans are assuredly delighted their team is in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament though I think they will get whacked by Old Dominion in the first round!

In other sports matters, we reported last week that the University of North Carolina had a home women's gymnastics meet against West Virginia. The visiting Mountaineers narrowly won the meet in Chapel Hill, NC, thanks to an outstanding performance from Amy Bieski, who was just named EAGL Conference Gymnast of the Week. Bieski also won the all-around competition.

But, several Tarheel gymnasts had solid performances, including Christine Nguyen who was in a four-way tie with Bieski and two other gymnasts for first place on vault. Nguyen also won the uneven bars. Her Tarheel teammate Kara Wright was tied for Nguyen for first place in the floor competition.

If one is in Chapel Hill today, they may want to stop by the W.B. Yeats Irish Pub which will presumably have a green beer on tap for you.

On Friday night, my friends at Tallula's, a Turkish restaurant on Franklin Street, will have a Mediterranean Night starting at 10:30 p.m.

Happy Birthday, Lale Lovell

I wanted to wish my sister Lale Lovell a happy 35th birthday today. Celebrity birthdays for today include Rob Lowe, Patrick Duffy, Kurt Russell and Gary Sinise.

I hope she got my Britney Spears' Greatest Hits cd in the mail.........