On Friday, March 17th, Marc Swendner called me in the morning and said something like “Today, I’m claiming my Irish heritage, so it’s a national holiday… take 1/2 a day off and let’s go drink!” I laughed. And then thought “great excuse!”

I told him to call Christine and talk her into it, and we’d do something.

Around 11:00 a.m., we met Marc, Cyndi and Rowan at the Dog and Duck Pub downtown. We paid $40 for 2 beers and 2 orders of fish and chips. Maybe not $40, but way more than they were worth for sure.

We walked around a bit, looking for seats… they had a big tent erected outside the pub, in the parking lot, and there weren’t any seats available… at least not 4-6, which we needed for the adults and kids. So we went inside to eat.

After eating, we headed back outside to enjoy the bagpipe band that was playing… yes, it’s entirely possible to enjoy a bagpipe band, but you have to work at it. Heh. Actually, the bagpipes were cool. Jack dug them… and when they were done, they played the “I’ve been working on the railroad”, or as they call it in Austin, the fight song of t.u. Then two of the bagpipers (do you call them bagpipers?) played the Aggie War Hymm… and there were a surprising number of people swaying during the “Saw Varsities Horns Off” part… cool…

We listened to another Irish-type band (they weren’t Irish, maybe Irish-Americans, but you could tell they wanted to be) or two… which was fun…

Around 2:00, we headed back home, so Jack could nap, and so I could finish out the day at the office, and at least act like I was working… though the Guiness didn’t want me to. Fun times!

On Saturday night, the 18th, Josh held his annual Godfather’s Club meeting. First rule about the Godfather’s club is that you don’t talk about what happens at the Godfather’s Club. At least until Josh does, so I’ll wait until he posts a story about it, and then I’ll point you to it.

Long story short: it was fun, but I paid for it on Sunday. And frickin’ Marc won the contest we had…

Godfather Club photos if you’re interested.