Saratoga Irish

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

You know those movies that seem to be on TV all the time. Every time you change the channel, there it is. One of those movies is "High Fidelity" staring John Cusack. The story revolves around Rob ( Cusack) who owns a used record store and keeps track of his life by putting everything into lists. The top 5 songs for a funeral, the top 10 date movies, but most important is the top 5 breakups in his past. For you see, Rob and his girlfriend are breaking up. Rob decides to visit the women in his top five breakup list and find out, why. Although it's on all the time this movie is worth the watch, if only to see a young Catherine Zeta-Jones or Jack Black knock out a fantastic version of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On". It also has a great line by Cusack,"What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?" The character of Rob also makes mix tapes for all his girlfriends. ( now to the point of this blog. If you are not a avid reader of this page and don't know who Bill is, stop at this point and go back to the blog for September 17th and get up to date.)

Bill told me she was going back to Florida on September 30th so this is my last chance to win her over before she leaves. Desperate times call for desperate measures. So what would John Cusack do at this point? You got it, a mix tape. So Bill here is what my mix tape to you would be.

I've been searching a long time
For someone exactly like you
I've been traveling all around the world
Waiting for you to come through.
Someone like you makes it
All worth while
Someone like you keeps
Me satisfied. Someone exactly
Like you.

I love you so, I always will
And in your voice I hear a choir of carousels
Oh, but am I ever gonna hear my wedding bells
I was the one who came runnin' when you were lonely
I haven't lived one day not lovin' you only
But kisses and love won't carry me til you marry me Bill
You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw you face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.
You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.
You give your hand to me,
And then you say, "Goodbye.
"I watched you walk away,
Beside the lucky guy
Oh, you'll never ever know
The one who loved you so.
Well, you don't know me
Well that's my mix tape and Bill if you are reading this, we shared a moment that will last forever.

Now for fun, who can name the songs and artist that were used in the mix?

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Eastern Division Champions, 9 years in a row, 10 out of the last 11. Need I say more. Oh, yes Mr. Murphy, they backed in thanks to another loss by the Sox but sometimes it's easier to get going again when you back into the driveway.
Question for the day. What is the difference between the Hot Dogs at Yankee Stadium and the Hot Dogs at Fenway Park?
You can't get Hot Dogs at Fenway in October.
That one never gets old.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

The blackest day of summer has arrived. We closed the pool. No longer will we hear the gentle sound of the water from the jets rippling across the waves. No more the sound of happy children splashing about. No more the sexy bodies of the bikini clad women sunning themselves around the pool. Ok two out of three, the kids haven't been in the pool for about a month so there hasn't been the sounds of splashing fun. Ok ok ok there weren't any women either, but I can always hope and dream. The day doesn't deserve any photos, the only bright spot is that the Yankee magic number is 1. That means Brian that the only chance the Red Sox have to win the Eastern Division is if the Yankees lose every game left and the Red Sox win every game they have left. I guess it's pretty much over except for the crying. The Yankees will win the Eastern Division for the 9th year in a row and the sad but second place Sox will watch the playoffs from their homes.


Ok so it needed photos.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Exercise, the bane of my existence. Everyone asks me if I've been exercising along with my diet. No. I hate exercising, work alone gives me a bit of a workout and I did start to walk for a short while. Sean has spent his life running, I see or feel no joy in running. When I was young running was a punishment. At football practice if you did something wrong, take a lap. Since I had kids I don't even have to run for a beer anymore. They talk about "a runners high", never, I think that the brain cells that you kill by drinking are the same ones that give you the runners high. It's your body's way of the protecting the brain cells that let you keep all the useless knowledge for trivia at the bars, while you drink more and kill off the exercise brain cells. The time has come for something though. Sunday I walked the 5K cross country course in the state park. The plush greens and rolling hills of the 3.1 mile trail only took me 54 minutes to finish, or as the saying goes, a stroll in the park. I'm not really that proud of the time when you think that Sean used to run the same course in under 15 and 1/2 minutes. By my calculations I would have not have been to the peerless pool( 1 mile mark ) when Sean would have been crossing the finish line. So what's the use? Should I go out again? Ok, I'll try again. The worst part about walking for exercise is that you can't quit. On a treadmill, step off it. Two miles out in the woods the only way to quit is to walk back to where you started in the first place, it's a vicious cycle. So if you are out in the park today and you hear heavy breathing deep in the woods it's not some pervert it's just me trekking along . Happy trails to you, until we meet again, or la dee dee, la dee da, la dee dee, a backpack on my back.

Sunday, September 17, 2006


Bill you broke my heart. Wow, I never thought I would utter that sentence. Irish 2000 was great. Music, food, people and the weather, all outstanding. I met up with Chris Bergman at his house and he drove to Altamont. We met up with these two fine ladies, Jill and Bill, ( not their real names but the ones that they use at fairs and the like) As you can tell Bill, on the left in the photo, is everything I look for in a woman. Yeah, she's breathing and a bit drunk. Remember, the more she drinks the better I look. Jill, the responsible one, had to leave to go to work so she left Bill in our care, ( real responsible Jill). Everything was going great, I was witty, charming, debonair, and I bought her more beer, (see above), but then it happened, she left me for some other guy. I was a broken man, I couldn't go on. I was destitute. Thank God there is a beer tent every 50 yards or so. So I say good bye Bill, what we had was beautifull and I will remember you fondly, adieu.







It can't end like this, Bill, call me, you have my number, it's on the card. ( I don't sound too despite do I?)

Back to the Festival. A good number of members from the John Barry Division were in attendance, I'm sure I will miss a few names but I did see, Don McCune, a rare sighting indeed, Don Hughes, Ed and Yvonne Connelly, Bernie McCue and his lovely wife Karen, The Murphy clan, Brian, Shelly and the girls, Paul O'Donnell was selling his wares, Cream of Brockley with a very fine side dish, John Cromie, thanks for the refill of the flask, Joe and Kathy Hogan. Last but far from least; what would a festival be with out him; holding court at the coach; Richard Nelson. At his side and always in charge, Eileen, ( sorry about the shoes).

I would be derelict in my duty if I didn't mention the music. They had music. Ok, I'll give you more, Seven Nations sounded good, Black 47, I was a bit disappointed in, they broke out the old songs to start the show, seen them better, Glengarry Bhoys always a good show, That's all I paid attention to, the rest of the time I was drinking and mingling ( that's Gaelic for looking for women).

On that note I must say, I don't mean to disrespect any of the other volunteers, but Carra Quinn was head and shoulders above the rest. The best bartender at the festival. The prettiest eyes and red hair. A smile like an angel, and she would bring me beer ( if I gave her a ticket, I'm not special I guess, even though I gave her some of the flask). Here take a look for your self

more photos from the Festival

nice girl, nice ink. Speaking of ink, a lot of great Celtic tattoos to be seen in attendance. With all this white skin a perfect place for body art.

since I lost weight and can't wear it anymore they put my old Irish sweater on display

Seven Nations

and just a reminder, Golf outing next Sunday, today is the last day to get a hold of Dave or Paul Maguire about playing. And now that it's 5 am I think I will hit the hay.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006


I am back! A little burning wire is not enough to stop this blogger from blogging all day. Wednesday night the cable went out. With it the internet, phone service and my life as I know it. I couldn't check on any news of the day. I had to read a real newspaper, and I couldn't get the repair man here until yesterday. When the cable repair man shows up this is what he found. Something happened with the electrical service and the cable became the ground. When it overheated, it started to burn, as did the grass under it and the side of the house. A call to National Grid was needed. You have to love a voice menu that asks, is this an electric emergency press one. I finally get a real person and relay my situation to them. They tell me that they will have someone out to me soon. How soon? Sometime today. A National Grid service man arrives about an hour and a half later. He checks the meter, everything fine, I don't know if he noticed the burnt grass he standing in or the singed siding but we are going down to the basement. Here's your problem, the entry wire from the meter to the panel in the basement has shorted out. Have to get an electrician. Is it me or does your cell phone have bad spots were you don't get service? Mine is my house, I have to call from the driveway. Back to the story, I call Alltone Electric and tell them what's what. I even ask for Ed Connelly to do the work. I get a call back in about 15 minutes from the boss himself and he will be there in about an hour. The electrician gets there and replaces the wire that the National Grid serviceman said was bad, guess what! Not the problem. At this point it's about 5pm and I'm a bit pissed. The electrician then calls National Grid and tells them to send someone. Good thing I bought all those candles for Saturday night because it was about 8:30 when the National Grid lineman showed up. We check, yes we I held the flashlight, the meter and everything is fine, we go into the basement and check the panel, everything fine. Start to turn on the circuits and not fine. Now this guy says, problem in the panel you need to get your electrician back. I tell him to hold on and we go out into the driveway to use my cell phone. I call Dave from Alltone who was good enough to give me his home phone number in case something like this happened. I hand the phone to the National Grid guy and he gets a few instructions. We walk to the pole and low and behold a wire is dangling at the connection. Why the first National Grid guy didn't look at the pole is beyond me and apparently beyond the serviceman realm. An hour later we are up and running. Now the bad news. When the cable wire burnt through and became disconnected, the electric lost it's ground and sent a serge of power through the house. I lost the TV in the living room, the TV in the family room, the play station 2, my alarm clock, Jack's cd/alarm clock, a cd player, a power serge protector and giving it's life to save the computer, a second heavy duty serge protector. How was your Monday?
Last Thursday night we held our monthly meeting. We swore in four new members my son Mike, Kevin Quinn and his two sons Liam and Kieran. Welcome guys.
Saturday night we held our first dinner dance. The turn out was very, very small but those that did show had a good time. Only one casualty, we killed a bottle of Tullamore Dew.
This Saturday is the Irish 2000 Music and Arts Festival check their website for information. www.irish2000fest.com
Remember. Golf outing, Oct. meeting ( nominations for officers at this meeting) Murphy memorial and last but not least the division web site www.saratogaaoh.com

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Labor Day weekend is over, so I guess so is the summer. I worked all weekend so I missed a lot.
Some of the highlights of the summer of 2006. With the wettest May behind us, ( it rained, it hailed and even snowed on the Colgate University commencement on May 23), we headed into a warm June. Sean got a job and moved to Maryland to live and work with Sara. The Red Sox led the American League East and showed no signs of letting up. July started with the same great weather as Dave, Murph, Chris Kelly and the one and only Dick Nelson journeyed to Boston for the national convention of the AOH.
The weather stayed great until the summer picnic and of course it rained. A little rain is not enough to stop a hearty group of Hibernians from enjoying an afternoon together. Track season opened with all the fanfare we have come to love. T-shirts, mugs, hats, bobble heads, blankets were all give aways for track patrons with the usual spinners getting more than an average person would need in a lifetime. If you missed any of the give aways check eBay, where dreams of riches keep people selling junk over and over.
Now it's September, the Red Sox have dropped like a rock and the Yankees are in their usual spot atop the American League. With a nine game lead the division seems to be wrapped up for the ninth straight year. Baseball games were the hot spot to be this year. Sean saw two games at Camden Yards in June, I took the kids to Yankee Stadium in July. Samantha had so much fun she went with her friend to a Friday night game and sat in the bleachers. Murphy went to Fenway to lead the Red Sox nation against the Yanks and Sean saw another game in Camden Yards. Let's think about a trip to see a game or two next year as a group.

So what are the events this fall to look forward too. Thursday night is the monthly meeting. We are bringing in a few new members so please dress to impress. Meeting time 7 pm at the K off C hall on Pine Rd. Saturday night is our first Dinner/Dance. This is an idea that we have kicked around for a long time. The night starts with a cocktail hour at 6 pm at the VFW hall. We then will chow down on some of the finest cooking known to man. That's right it's a pot luck dinner so everyone please bring your favorites to share with the group. I will provide music for your dancing pleasure after dinner. This is a night when we don't ask anyone to do a lot of work, no 50/50's, no auctions, no ticket takers just bring food and relax.
Saturday September 16 is the Irish 2000 Music and Arts Festival, this is a must for anyone who has never been to it. A great day of music and beverage and people. For more info check the website at www.irish2000fest.com
Our yearly golf outing is September 24, come out and have a lot of fun with the guys and girls on the links. $80 gets you golf, dinner, food and drink at the turn and a fun day.
October brings the Murphy Memorial day. Each year we go to the Saratoga Battlefield and lay a wreath at the monument to Tim Murphy. This monument was erected in the early 1900's by the Saratoga Hibernians to recognize Timothy Murphy, a sharpshooter who helped win the battle that is referred to as the "turning point of the American Revolution". This is one of, if not the oldest monuments in this country erected by the AOH.
So enough for now. See you all Thursday night.