Early morning post and St. Patrick's Day

For the first time in quite a while, I woke up way before my alarm went off.  There was a two to three month span late last year when I was constantly waking up an hour and a half to two hours before my alarm would be going off.  The first couple of times, I thought it was nice to get up early and get some writing taken care of, or watch some shows recorded on the Tivo.  Then?  Then it got really freaking annoying.  I would wake up, and not that slow wake up like you were coming out of a nice eight or nine hours of sleep.  Oh no, my eyes would shoot open, I would toss and turn and finally give up and go to the kitchen and put some more water in the coffee maker and turn it on.  I might as well pump myself full of natural caffeine to get past not sleeping much.  And there were people that would point to the extra coffee as the root to my less sleep, but if I was finished drinking it by one in the afternoon how would that affect my sleep at night? 

It is Saint Patrick's Day today.  I've written about this in the past and pointed out the fact that I hate that places put green food coloring in beer and call it good.  If you are going to support an Irish holiday, you need to drink like an Irishman.  Here are my complaints last year.  And from two years ago.  We'll go even further back to three years past.  So there is the obvious theme there.  If I lived in a smaller town that had a nice tradition, I would partake.  This year, I'm hanging out with a former co-worker.  We're going to drink some whiskey at his house and just kick back and relax.  Nothing too crazy.  Is it because I am getting old?  Perhaps.  Is it because when I go out to a bar, I would like to have good to great service?  Mostly.  Packed bars are not fun bars.  Who wants to yell and scream just to have a normal conversation?  Not I. 

If you are going to celebrate the holiday, grab some Irish whiskey or a stout beer and relax at home.  It doesn't sound much like celebrating if you are at home, I know, but it is more of recognizing the holiday exists without being out amongst the masses.  Call it celebrating the holiday or call it recognizing the holiday, I don't really care.  Grab a glass a raise it high and salute a man.  Or, salute a people.