Irish Trojan in Tennessee

Happy Birthday, Becky!

By Brendan Loy

Friday the 13th

By Brendan Loy

We've got a big weekend coming up, in terms of the calendar: tomorrow is Flag Day (and the 233rd anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army), which of course means it's also Becky's birthday. And then Sunday is Father's Day -- my first as a dad -- and thus the final day of the U.S. Open, which will be kind of a big deal since we'll be visiting the golf-loving Zaks.

But before any of those special occasions can arrive, we have to get through today, which is... [cue horror-movie music]... Friday the 13th!! AAAAAHH!!! ;)

So, has anyone had any bouts of bad luck yet?

Personally, I don't suffer from Paraskavedekatriaphobia -- and a good thing, too, because tonight Becky, Loyette and I are flying to Phoenix! The drive to the Nashville Airport will be Loyette's longest car ride to date, followed by her first-ever plane trip. Wish us, um, luck!

UPDATE: A Friday the 13th fire and power outage in Washington, D.C.!

Commuters should expect major delays on Metro's Red Line this morning after a fire on the tracks near the Dupont Circle station, officials said. At the same time, a power outage in downtown Washington is affecting thousands of homes and offices, as well as traffic signals and Metro elevators and lighting.

It sounds like the fire and power outage were unrelated and coincidental. LOL! Friday the 13th is off to a rip-roarin' start. (Hat tip: ChrisN.)

Happy May Day!

By Brendan Loy

In honor of May Day, Sen. Joe Lieberman would like to remind you that it's a "good question" whether Barack Obama is spending today contemplating the plight of the proletariat and listening to songs like this:

;)

In other news, Pajamas Media asked me to elaborate on my Obama/Wright post in an article for their site, so I did. It's not my best work, and both liberals and conservatives will find plenty to dislike in it. But I hope it's at least food for thought.

Happy Earth Day!

By Brendan Loy

Bowling for delegates

By Brendan Loy

Hillary Clinton's April Fools joke. Not bad!

Audio here. Poorly synched video here.

Ah, foolishness

By Brendan Loy

As you may have noticed, it's April Fools Day. Here at the Irish Trojan's Blog, I managed to pull off my third-ever, at least somewhat successful April Fools joke. (Flashback: Kerry-McCain '04, Dean O'Hara resigning.) But what else is happening around the Interwebs on this day of jokes and pranks?

Well, as usual, Google came out with a couple of obviously fake new "products." Frankly, their April 1 "announcements" are kinda lame, IMHO, because they're never really believable -- with the notable exception of the one time they made an April 1 announcement that wasn't a joke, back in 2004, when they introduced Gmail on April Fools Day. Remember that? And how it was endlessly debated all day long, with lots of people saying it was literally too good to be true? Best marketing stunt ever!

Anyway, the most kinda-sorta-believable fake "news" report I've seen today is the announcement of a Microsoft-Yahoo merger. (Ma-hoooo?)

Meanwhile, over in Britain, the Daily Star reported that Daniel Craig thinks James Bond should try being bisexual. Not to be outdone, the Sun revealed that "French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to have pioneering stretch surgery in a bid to make him taller," so that "when surgery is completed he will be an inch taller than his stunning ex-model wife Carla Bruni." And, sticking with the Bruni/Sarkozy theme, the Guardian announced that France's first lady "has been appointed by Gordon Brown to spearhead a government initiative aimed at injecting more style and glamour into British national life." Heh.

And then there's this, from the BBC:

Methinks the Brits are just plain better at this April Fools business than we colonists are. :)

Additional roundups of sundry April Foolishness can be found here, here, here and here. And here's a list of the ten best April Fools pranks ever.

Did any of y'all see, read about, experience, or pull off any good April Fools jokes today?

Happy Easter!

By Brendan Loy

MP3 File

Top o' the mornin'!

By Brendan Loy

As a follow-up to my dad's post, Loyette and I would like to wish you & yours a very happy St. Patrick's Day:

Awww. :) Cutest. Leprechaun. Ever.

And in brief tribute to that other madness of March...

By Joe Loy

...a very blessed Saint Patrick's Day to one and All ~ and a reasonably ;> Enjoyable one as well.

:}

Manhattan: Foley's Pub bans "Danny Boy" for the whole month :)

By Joe Loy

And here you always thought March Madness consists merely of Basketball, Politics, and half-arsed-baked Recruitment Center Bombings in Times Square but OH No: now it's Katie bar th' Door to boot ~

It's depressing, it's not usually sung in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day, and its lyrics were written by an Englishman who never set foot on Irish soil.

Those are only some of the reasons why a Manhattan pub owner is banning the song "Danny Boy" for the entire month of March.

"It's overplayed, it's been ranked among the 25 most depressing songs of all time and it's more appropriate for a funeral than for a St. Patrick's Day celebration," said Shaun Clancy, who owns Foley's Pub and Restaurant, across the street from the Empire State Building.

The 38-year-old Clancy, who started bartending when he was 12 at his father's pub in County Cavan, Ireland, promised a free Guinness to patrons who sing any other traditional Irish song** at the pub's pre-St. Patrick's Day karaoke party on Tuesday.

...At least one patron at Foley's was glad to hear the song was banned from the pub for the rest of the month.

The song is "all right, but I get fed up with hearing it — it's like the elections," Martin Gaffney, 73, said in a thick Irish brogue...

Happy Leap Day!

By Brendan Loy

It's February 29!

Some people today are celebrating their first birthdays since John Kerry was a presidential candidate. (Quite a few, actually. Apparently there are about 4.5 million Leap Day babies. Some of them even have a website!)

And, as the AP points out, this is the first Friday Leap Day (which I'm sure is significant, uh, somehow or other) since 1980, when Ronald Reagan was a presidential candidate, and the last until 2036, when Chelsea Clinton will be a presidential candidate. (Or at least, that's what my sources at Diebold tell me.)

Anyway, it's a good day to be a frog. Ribbit!

Also, if you're a woman, today is traditionally considered a good day to propose to your man. If you're a Greek woman, though, set that wedding date for next year; getting married during a leap year is apparently considered bad luck.

You can read about the history of Leap Year here.

Attention grammar snobs!

By Brendan Loy

It's National Grammar Day!

CORRECTION: My bad. It isn't today. Next Tuesday, March 4, is National Grammar Day.

I guess this means Hillary's concession speech will have to be grammatically correct.

Happy (?) Valentine's Day

By Brendan Loy

In addition to being my dad's 60th birthday, today is also, of course, Valentine's Day -- "quite clearly the most horrible holiday in the history of the world," according to my brother-in-law. (Not that any day in February, holiday or not, can be expected to be terribly pleasant when you live in Rochester.)

Needless to say, Casey isn't the only man who's less than enthusiastic about Valentine's Day. Nor is hatred of February 14 unique to the male half of the species; plenty of people, of both genders, have had Valentine's Days from Hell.

But hey, a West Virginia radio station is going to make sure that at least one couple in the Mountaineer State will get a nice Valentine's gift: a free divorce. (Just don't tell West Virginia winner Mike Huckabee -- who is celebrating the third anniversary of his "covenant marriage" today.)

Anyway, to the beleaguered men who don't want anything to do with this holiday, just remember: Steak and BJ Day (NSFW??) is only one month away.

P.S. Somebody alert Bill O'Reilly! There's a War on Valentine's Day brewing! (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)

P.P.S. On a marginally related note, the U.S. Supreme Court may soon weigh in on the constitutionality of dildo bans. Link goes to Volokh's post, titled "Dildoes Going to the Supreme Court?," in response to which a commenter writes: "Cert also to be granted on this question:  shouldn't the plural be 'dildi', or is that just pretentious?" (Again, hat tip: Insty.)

The big 6-0

By Brendan Loy

Sixty years ago today, Harry S. Truman was President of the United States; Joseph Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union; Israel wasn't a country yet; gas cost $0.26 a gallon, and crude oil was $2.50 a barrel; a first-class stamp cost 3 cents; the minimum wage was 40 cents per hour; John McCain was 11 years old; the singer Kenny Loggins was five weeks old; the New York Yankees were reigning World Champions after beating rookie Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers the previous fall; Army's football team had recently seen their 32-game unbeaten streak snapped; the defending NCAA basketball champ was Holy Cross; there were only 21 amendments to the U.S. Constitution; the fastest any human being had ever run a mile was 4 minutes and 1.4 seconds; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 167; and, oh yes, my dad was born.

That's right -- it's the illustrious Joe Loy's 60th birthday!!

I encourage everyone to leave comments making fun of him for being old. :) Er, and wishing him a happy birthday, too, of course. Hehe.

Happy Birthday, Dad/Papa!!

P.S. Obviously, my dad was a Valentine's baby. What's funny is that Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday in 1948, so if he'd been born a few hours earlier, he would have been a Friday the 13th baby instead!

Also, a fun fact that I learned while researching the history of 1948 for purposes of this post: ten days before my dad was born, an election was held in Ireland, and Fianna Fáil was voted out. As a result, four days after my dad's birth, Éamon de Valera, the first Taoiseach of Ireland, ceded power to John Costello. I'm sure infant Joe had an Irish song prepared for the occasion. :)

There is no truth, However, to the Rumor that his Birth Certificate contained several Instances of Random Capitalization for No apparent Reason. ;)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

By Brendan Loy

Today is my mom's birthday -- or perhaps, considering that I'm typing this with a certain half-asleep, half-fussy baby in my lap, I should say Nana Loomer's birthday. :)

Happy Birthday, Mom/Nana!

It's Groundhog Day!

By Brendan Loy

You can watch Punxsutawney Phil's big moment live via webcast starting at 7:00 AM EST.

Of course, as we all know, tradition dictates that if Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of competitive presidential primaries. If Phil doesn't see his shadow, Hillary and McCain will wrap up the nominations on Tuesday.

Or something like that.

A dream deeply rooted in the American dream

By Brendan Loy

Happy Martin Luther King Day -- or as Hillary Clinton likes to call it, Lyndon Baines Johnson Day! ;)

Just kidding. In all seriousness, today we celebrate Dr. King's birthday, and in his honor, I always like to take 16 minutes out of my day each year to listen once again to his greatest speech, the "I Have A Dream" speech. This year, for the first time, I'll be listening to it from the South, indeed from within the same state as one of the places he mentioned in it. Anyway, here's the video clip:

And here's the audio clip:

MP3 File

It never fails to give me goose bumps.

Only in the South

By Brendan Loy

All I want for Christmas is... guns and knives!!!

Merry Christmas!

By Brendan Loy

P.S. Note the Starship Enterprise ornament:

:)

Humbug!

By Brendan Loy

Casey declares war on Christmas. Well, the hyper-commercialized, consumerist version of it, anyway.

Santas under seige!

By Brendan Loy

First, Santa gets pie in his face in Missoula, Montana... then, Santa gets groped in Danbury, Connecticut... and then, Santa gets cold-cocked in Spokane, Washington. (Hat tip: Scott Fort.) What next? Taking out Santa's knee caps? Drive-by Santa shootings? I've heard of the War on Christmas, but this is ridiculous!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree...

By Brendan Loy

Assuming the baby isn't more than five days early, this Christmas will be the first -- and last -- Christmas that Becky and I spend together simply as a couple, just the two of us. And regardless of when the baby arrives, it'll be the first time we haven't had someone else's Christmas tree (usually her parents' in Arizona) to gather 'round and open presents. So, after briefly perusing the pathetic selection of sad-looking artificial trees at Wal-Mart, I decided that we need a proper tree -- a real tree -- for this very special holiday season. Hence:

For me, this Christmas season has at times felt subsumed within, and overshadowed by, the much more all-encompassing, life-changing "we're about to have a baby" season. But now that the apartment is filled with the scent of pine needles, it finally feels like Christmas. :)

By the way, the shadowy figure at the bottom of the picture is Toby. The cats are, of course, very curious about the fragrant plant in our living room. Heh.

Decorations and lights will follow, obviously, and I'll have prettier pictures to post when that happens. But I'm glad to have the tree up, even if it is all naked.

Black Friday

By Brendan Loy

I just got back from my first-ever excursion into the early-morning madness of "Black Friday." There were a couple of items I wanted to buy, for myself and others, that were on really good sales, so I braved the lines at Office Depot, CompUSA and Radio Shack. The store employees were pretty harried (especially at Office Depot), but they were doing their best, and my fellow customers were quite friendly. (Hey, it's the South.) A couple of the things I wanted to buy had sold out by the time I got to them, but others weren't. Overall, it was a reasonably successful shopping trip, and in any event, it was kinda fun to participate in the grand insanity that millions indulge in every year on the day after Thanksgiving. Also, because I was up so early (I left the apartment shortly after 5:30 AM), I got to see Venus, Saturn and Mars -- a very bright, very red Mars -- in the early-morning sky, which I don't often have the opportunity to gaze at. Oh, and while waiting in line for a store to open, I ran into a lawyer who works with the ex-clerk who preceded me at my current job! Small world.

Did any of y'all brave the Black Friday crowds?

Gobble gobble

By Brendan Loy

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

And remember, if you're feeling sleepy after dinner today, don't blame the turkey.

UPDATE: Thanksgiving Dinner a la Becky:

'Twas a yummy feast!! And it's not over yet. I'm particularly looking forward to eating those pumpkin pies. :)

Turkey, you're doing a heckuva job!

By Brendan Loy

It's Thanksgiving, which means it's time for the annual presidential turkey pardoning:

You know, when President Clinton was in office, a turkey had to donate $5,000 to his presidential library to get a pardon.

P.S. The Washington Post has an article on the history of the turkey-pardoning tradition, which apparently doesn't go back nearly as far as is annually reported. (Hint: 1989, not 1947. Bush, not Truman.)

UPDATE: Welcome, InstaPundit readers! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

Happy Veterans Day

By Brendan Loy

Today is Veterans Day. Also, yesterday was the 232nd anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps. Both occasions give me an opportunity to reflect once again on the military service of my maternal grandfather, Giff Loomer, who fought in the Pacific theater as a lieutenant in the 2nd Marine Division during World War II. I blogged about this at length back in September, and the post, to my surprise and delight, was Instalanched.

I don't really have anything to add to that post -- if you missed it, I'd just recommend that you go back and read it -- but I did want to blog a few pictures of Grandpa and me that my mom recently scanned and sent me:

Those photos are from 1981, 1984 and 1986, respectively. (In the last photo, I'm with my cousin Alexis, making airplanes with Grandpa.) Sadly, Grandpa -- who was the most hale and hardy of my grandparents, and seemed destined to live well into my teenage years if not longer -- died in 1991, before my tenth birthday, due to an unlikely cascade of complications from surgery. As a result, I never got to know him through an adult's eyes, or talk to him about the things we might have talked about when I got older... including, perhaps, his war experiences. He was reluctant to talk about them at all, but as one e-mailer said in response to my September post, "The key, I think, is for them to live long enough, and you get old enough, that you can spend an evening drinking and talking with them." Alas, Grandpa and I never had that chance.

Anyway, God Bless Grandpa Loomer and God Bless all the brave men and women who have put their lives on the line to defend our nation and our freedom.

Happy Halloween!

By Brendan Loy

"Trick or treat!"

"Give me some f***ing candy or I'll shoot you in the face!"

UPDATE: Here's a far less scary jack-o-lantern... well, unless you're a Rockies or Yankees fan:

More Red Sox pumpkins here.

By the way, credit for the Cheney pumpkin (Dick-o-Lantern?) goes to Bill Z Bubb. (Hat tip: Phillip Torrone.)

How my birthday became unexpectedly awesome

By Brendan Loy

At 10:45 PM last night, I was sitting on an MTA bus in Nashville, brooding silently. My "worst birthday ever" was winding down with a whimper. Oh, I'd had fun counting down to midnight with Kristy the night before (after which she serenaded me with an interpretive dance to the strains of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," played on my iTunes), and of course, I'd gotten my free taco from Taco Bell. But mostly, my 26th birthday had been drudgery: a six-hour mandatory CLE class, a pair of Southwest flights that had gotten me from Denver to Nashville, and now a couple of lonely bus rides. At 10:45, I was en route to the Greyhound station, from which I would depart for Knoxville. It looked like I'd be spending the final 75 minutes of my birthday travelling to, and then waiting around in, a grungy Greyhound station. (My bus wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:45 AM.) I was cranky, I missed Becky, and I was just generally annoyed about the overall suckiness of my birthday.

When the bus dropped me off at around 11:00, things got even worse, because now I was in the heart of Nashville at 5th and Broadway -- which, for those who don't know, is the home of a whole bunch of great honky-tonk bars. The sound of live music was wafting out into the street, tempting and torturing me.

I would love, I thought, to spend the last hour of my birthday sitting in a bar, listening to some live country music. And with almost two hours until my bus was scheduled to leave, and the bus station only three blocks away, I had time to do just that. But it was (I thought) logistically impossible: I was dragging around a suitcase and a garment bag and hauling a heavy backpack with, among other things, my laptop inside it. With all that luggage, I'd barely have fit through the door of one of the bars. And it's not like I could leave my luggage somewhere. I was traveling alone, so I had nobody to watch my stuff. So I turned away from the awesomeness of Nashville nightlife and resigned myself to the fact that the last hour of my birthday would be just as crappy as the first 23 hours. Up the hill toward the Greyhound station I walked, still brooding.

But then! When I got to the station at around 11:10, I beheld a miracle: it has lockers!!! Okay, maybe not a "miracle," but a possibility I hadn't considered, for sure. Anyway, yeah, the station has lockers -- big ones -- so I didn't hesitate: I picked up my bus ticket at will call, then stuffed all of my bags into a locker, secured it, and headed right back out into the night, back to 5th & Broadway, to finish off my birthday in style.

It was about 11:25 when I got back there, so I figured I had about 35 minutes at the bars before I needed to head back to the station. Naturally, I resolved to make the most of it. So I started out at Second Fiddle, where I listened to a couple of songs; then I headed to Layla's Bluegrass Inn for a couple more songs; then to Tootsies for a couple more (including "Happy Birthday," although they were singing it to an attractive young lady on the dance floor, not to me); and finally (or so I thought) to Legends Corner for yet a couple more. Totally awesome.

When the band at Legends finished playing "Sweet Home Alabama," which I love, and I saw that it was 11:58, I figured that was my cue to leave. So I tipped the band and headed out, crossing the street with every intention of turning away and trudging back up to the Greyhound station. But then I glanced into the window of the Full Moon Saloon, and found myself drawn inexorably inside by the gravitational pull of the comely female fiddle player in the snug blue jeans. (It was the fiddle that drew me in, of course; I love fiddles. What did you think I meant?) Unfortunately, that band wrapped up their set literally 20 or 30 seconds after I walked in the door, so I headed back out onto the street again... but now my appetite was whetted for one more bar, one more band, one or two more songs. Hey, it's only your 26th birthday once!

It was midnight now, but I reckoned I could afford another 5 or 10 minutes. So I slipped into The Wheel next door. The band there played a couple of nice songs, and then at around 12:07, busted out Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." Now that is a thoroughly proper way to end a session of honky-tonk bar-hopping, not to mention a birthday (albeit a few minutes late). I hooted as they started playing it, sang along for the chorus, then walked back out the door (applauding as I went) after they finished. I turned left and headed back toward the Greyhound station. It was 12:11 AM. I got back to the station at 12:19, retrieved my stuff from the locker, and made my 12:45 bus with plenty of time to spare. I even got a good seat.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a crappy birthday turns awesome at (literally) the eleventh hour. In 45 minutes, I went to six bars, listened to six bands, and totally redeemed my birthday. Then I slept like a baby on the bus ride home. And I'm half-consciously humming "Ring of Fire" as I write this.

I love Nashville. :)

Happy Birthday to meeee

By Brendan Loy

According to a survey in Glamour earlier this year, the average person begins to consider him/herself an adult at age 26.

Well, I guess that means I'm officially an adult.

Though I have a feeling the real, undeniable confirmation of my adulthood will arrive in about two months...

P.S. I set this post to publish at 9:22 AM Eastern -- my birth time. :)

602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

By Brendan Loy

Via e-mail, Bonnie Stone reminds me of something very important that I almost forgot: today is National Mole Day!

Huh? you ask. Well, to quote myself from 10/23/2002:

This annual holiday — which technically starts at 6:02 AM and ends at 6:02 PM — does not actually celebrate small furry animals that dig holes in the ground, but rather, a chemistry concept: Avogadro’s number, the “mole,” 6.02 x 10²³. (10/23… 10²³… get it?) That’s 602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, for the scientific-notionally challenged among us, and it’s an inconceivably huge number. How huge? A mole of marshmellows would cover the planet Earth 12 miles high, and a mole of seconds would last so long, the universe would die out before it was done!

(Hat tip: myself, in last year's post on Mole Day.) Wikipedia explains the history:

Mole Day originated in an article in The Science Teacher in the early 1980s. Inspired by this article, Maurice Oehler, now a retired high school chemistry teacher from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, founded the National Mole Day Foundation (NMDF) on May 15, 1991.

So, yeah, It's Mole Day. Have some Mole Day cake!

Blogger "RA" of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania has a lengthy Mole Day post on her blog, in which she nerdily explains:

Nestled within National Chemistry Week, October 23 celebrations glorify the mole and Avogadro’s number, approximated at 6.022 x 10²³. A mole is an absolute number without a unit, similar to a dozen. A dozen is always 12, whether it’s made up of donuts or people or cars. It’s the same with a mole, except that it’s always 6.022 x 10²³, which is a number of fantastic magnitude, such that a mole of oranges would be as large as the earth. Practically speaking, when dealing with elements and compounds, the mole allows us to switch between atomic mass units (which are ridiculously small) to grams, which we can see, feel, and measure. So, 6.022 x 10²³ atoms of carbon (atomic weight of 12 amu), or a mole of it, would have a mass of 12 grams, which is so much more helpful because we have known atom quantity and mass. On Mole Day, we’re really celebrating the awesomeness of this one magical number.

"Nerdily" is a compliment in this instance, by the way. :) Meanwhile, in Downer's Grove, Illinois, some high-school students are using the day as an opportunity to show off their extreme dorkiness:

Classes do not begin at Downers Grove North until 8 a.m., but more than 350 students are expected to be at school at 6:02 a.m. Tuesday.

About 14 percent of the student body will be running laps and decorating windows with homemade periodic tables for Mole Day, a national celebration of Avogadro’s number, 6.02 x 10 to the 23rd power, which is used as a basic measurement in chemistry. What was initially planned as a one-time event with 100 people four years ago, has grown steadily, much to the surprise of chemistry teacher Tom Redig who organized the first event. ...

Senior Jess Mulcone of Downers Grove said she first went to Mole Day as a sophomore for extra credit but got hooked on the event. Even though Jess is not in chemistry now, she said she is looking forward to going with many of her friends.

“It’s fun just being at school at 6:02 in the morning,” she said. “No one else is there, and you feel so ridiculous for being there.”

Heh. Nerds! I love it!

But this is stuffed-animal cruelty: "The run or walk starts with a bang from a mole cannon, a tube filled with flammable materials used to detonate a stuffed mole." Oh, the mole-manity!

Hoist the Jolly Roger, maties! It's Pirate Day!

By Brendan Loy

Arrr! Avast, me hearties, it be International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Shiver me timbers!

Now gather 'round the YouTube, ye lily-livered landlubbers, and listen to Ol' Chumbucket and Cap'n Slappy explain the difference between pirates and ninjas:

Arr! Ninjas suck! Arr!

Aye, and let it be known, all across the seven seas, that neither today, nor this Saturday, nor any other day this fall, will the Pirates of Troy be surrendering the Booty! Arrr! Beat the Cougarrrrrrrs!

Also, Go Irrrrrish, Beat Sparrrrrrtans!! Make a block, ye mangy O-Line bilge rats, or walk the plank! It'll be Davy Jones' Locker for Charrrrrlie if we don't win soon, and that be no lie!

So, in conclusion: Arrrrr!

P.S. Guestbloggers are encouraged to use as much pirate-speak as possible in anything they post today. :)

Arr.

By Brendan Loy

Tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.