Happy Memorial Day, now that's an oxymorn if I ever heard one. Not to get to political but we are at war and the death total increases more each day. Why don't we spend this Memorial Day thinking of ways to get our leaders to stop this war instead of worrying about the family picnic that we have planned. Don't get me wrong I love picnics and it is a good time to realize and appreciate the loved ones we have. So how many of you know someone that has given their life for their country? I was too young for Viet Nam and too old for Desert Storm. I work with vets from Nam and I knew guys that went to the middle east for both Desert Storm and now in Iraq but thankfully they all are safe. Not to offend any of the older folks out there but I am a product of the 60's. I grew up watching the war on the news every night. I remember watching the reports of the protesters and I remember a banner hanging off the front porch of a house on Western Ave in Albany saying, "Remember Kent State". I tell you this because the other day I was driving down Central Ave in Colonie and at the Wolf Rd. intersection there was a protest going on. There could only have been 25 to 30 people there and the passerbys were more concerned with getting to Colonie Center then what is going on in Iraq. We are at war, our young people are dieing for what? Democracy? They held an election, a government was formed, let them police their own country. Are our children dieing for oil? I hope not with the cost of gas at record high prices. Most of our elected officials are of the age to have been a part of Viet Nam ( of the members of the 108th congress, 86 served in active duty, 59 in reserves. 30 members are combat veterans). Why is it that I can remember but they can't. It seems to me that we are mired in the same mess we were 35 years ago. What is the old adage, if you don't learn from history you are doomed to repeat it. With that all in mind, have a great day with your families.

Division Notes: Chris Bergman and I went on a scouting mission Friday night. The Social Hour was again held at Peabody's and had a nice turnout. Some wives and family were present. Chris and I would like to hold the next Social Hour at the City Tavern on Caroline St. on the roof top bar. What a great spot with a view of the downtown that you don't get from any other place. Here is the web page http://www.saratogacitytavern.com/ we can discus this at the next meeting. The meeting will be held on Thursday June 7, 2007 at Tinny's Tavern http://www.tinneystavern.com/ I don't want to have the Social Hour on the next night after the meeting so let's shoot for June 15th.

It was a big weekend at the Curran's. Planning for the weekend I got the gladiator out of moth balls and had it inspected Friday morning. Four hours and four hundred dollars later. With it's new brakes I drove to work. Too bad I couldn't drive it all the way home. It started to act up and I got to within a mile of home when it died. Being too old to sleep on the floor somewhere I opted to pass on going to Colgate on Saturday night and wait till Sunday morning. Saturday was Mike's first prom. Decked out in his fancy tux Mike went to dinner at one of his friends home. All the parents showed up a couple of hours later for all the photos. Katie looked very beautiful in her prom gown and even looked good when Mike stood next to her. It was great to see all the kids excited about the night and the parents happy to see them dressed up. Jack and I went down to the city center to watch the kids walk the red carpet into the prom. On Sunday Mike called to tell me he had to work so Jack and I headed out to Hamilton for graduation. The day seemed nice but as it neared graduation time the storm clouds rolled in. We arrived around 12:30 only to find out that Sean and Sara had left about 20 minutes before. It was great to see the grads and their parents but the rain was coming down and Jack and I were having flash backs to last year so we decided to head home. On Monday Mike and I went to Cooperstown after his Dr. appointment, to see the Hall of Fame game. My second game of the season and the same two teams as before. Doubleday Field is a tiny ball park so the home run derby before hand was great. The starting players only played an inning or two then the minor leaguers took over. By the third inning the lowest number on the field was like 67. The numbers on the players were so high it seemed like a football team instead of baseball. On one line drive to right the Blue Jays right fielder botched it big time, I found out this morning that the Jays let SI reporter Tom Verducci play right for the last five innings. The game was fun, it was my first big league game without a beer since I was 12 years old.
Monday night ended with the Maple Ave Awards night. Jack was given the award for boys chorus, good job Jack.

AOH Notes.
Wednesday night: Memorial day Parade in Saratoga. gather in front of Burke's on North Broadway at 6pm. Parade steps off at 6:30 after the parade we are going to gather at the Olde Saratoga Brewery for a few pints.
Friday night: Social Hour Peabody's Sports Bar & Grille anytime after 5 on the patio in the back of the bar. Join your brothers for a fun night. Wives, girlfriends and what not are more then welcome, they are wanted. You guys are an ugly lot.

Photo album from the weekend can be found here http://picasaweb.google.com/saratogairish/Weekend
Thanks to Jake Krong for the photos from Colgate

Social Hour. Well we tried to have a social hour this past Friday. It was a success. Not a huge success but a success anyway. We needed to bring extra chairs to the table and we had a good time. The next Social Hour is scheduled for Friday May 25 anytime after 5pm. On the patio Chris, and everyone else. The beer is cheap and so are the wings. Let's try for a bigger turnout this time. I want to take over the entire patio with Irishmen and women.

This picture has nothing to do with the blog, I just like it. If anyone saw this weeks episode of the Soprano's they might have noticed that they started to play the soundtrack from the movie The Departed. I was hoping for a little Dropkick Murphy's but they opted for Van Morrison doing a cover of Comfortably Numb, the Pink Floyd tune. Hey the picture does have something to do with the blog.

Baseball update Yanks are tied for second in the AL East while the Red Sox are5th fro last.

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day, is it a real holiday or just one made up by Hallmark? I don't know. what I do know is that when you reach a certain age every day should be Mother's Day. I am the third of five children. I grew up in the 60's when women's liberation came to the forefront. I didn't understand women's lib, we lived it. My mother was a working mom before that was the in thing to do. My mom and dad worked different shifts and sometimes two jobs to make ends meet. We were poor, but I didn't know that. My mother taught us many things. She taught us to be ourselves and to be independent. She taught us that we could achieve anything we wanted in this life. OK so I didn't learn everything my mom taught but that was not her fault. They say that women should see how a guy treats his mom to see if he is a good catch or not. Well I guess that's why I'm not such a good catch. I could treat my mom much better than I do, like maybe visit her on Mother's Day instead of writing a blog about her. My mother will tell you though, I stopped the St. Patrick's Day Parade for her on her birthday and the Saratoga AOH sang Happy Birthday to her. I didn't tell her how much I love her but she knows.

My mom was before her time. She won a scholarship to the College of St. Rose in 1936 but turned it down to go to work. She had the highest average in her senior class of high school but was named salutatorian because back then a woman could not be the valedictorian. She was born at the end of WWI, lived though WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Desert Storm and now Iraq. She was the fastest kid in the whole neighborhood and had a son who was the slowest. She was the Albany City Champ in bowling in the early 50's, back when they had pin boys and the ball had only two holes for your fingers. She would play catch with us in the yard and gave us a love for sports that she still has. She was a fixture at her grandchild's sporting events. I can only imagine what she could have done if Title IX was in the 30's. Instead, my mother raised a family that still speaks to each other and understands the meaning of family. The web album for this blog is pictures of my family. You may not know the names, and I have left them off, but look at the smiles. I have put in photos of sports because my mom loves sports. I wish I had more photos but these were on line. So let me end this with just these words, Thank You Mom, and have a great Mother's Day.

http://picasaweb.google.com/saratogairish/CurranS

The chieftain has spoken and now I am the new Chairman of the Social Hour. Well to be truthful he never gave me a title he just asked me to head it up and I came up with the moniker. So let's talk about Social Hour. The Irish are a very social people. the pub has always been an intractile part of the Irish culture. The gathering of friends is always been our strong point. The Saratoga Hibernians under the leadership of Tom Smith started a monthly Happy Hour. Let's face it at a meeting only so much inter action between members is possible so a happy hour was needed to bring together this new band of Irishmen. The groundwork for many friendships were set at O'Dwyers on those Friday afternoons but as all things do the Happy Hour vanished. I decided to change the name to Social Hour so that those members that don't drink, will also come to share in the merriment. Also, and this is a very important point, bring your wife, girlfriend ( of course not the same night or if you guys are into that I guess it's alright ) significant other or just some friends that aren't Hibernians. Now I like to have a drink with Brian and Dick but I surely like to have a drink and conversation with Shelly Murphy and Eileen Nelson much more. Besides if you bring your wife and she meets me, you will look sooo much better in her eyes after that.
So starting this Friday, May 11, 2007, the Saratoga AOH will be gathering at Peabody's Sports Bar and Grille from 5pm till ( I'm not telling anyone when to go home). We will meet again on Friday May 25 to start off your Memorial Day weekend. In the past the happy hour was only once a month, I want to push it to every other Friday in case you can't make it. If for some reason you forget about it you won't have to wait a whole month for the next one. I am not locked into Peabody's it's just that they have a patio in the back, good inexpensive food ( see the menu here http://www.peabodysonline.com/ ) If anyone has a suggestion for June just let me know. The Quinn's are bringing in so many members from Johnstown that I am sure we will have to carpool out to Johnstown some Friday for Social Hour, ( there's your assignment Kevin, find a place for us to go). Remember you don't have to drink to have fun, Peabody's has a fine selection of soft drinks to keep anyone happy. So come out, spin a yearn, (that was for you Rob), get to know your brothers better.
For photos of past Social Hours http://picasaweb.google.com/saratogairish/HappyHoursAOH