St. Patrick's Day

Due to cultural shifts, expectations of personal space, and of course, a harassment lawsuit, I wasn't too worried about being pinched if I didn't wear the color green today. Getting a good pinch for making the poor sartorial choice of non-green clothing was a standard punishment back when I was in school, but now it appears that tradition has gone the way of the dinosaurs.

I love and look forward to Saint Patrick's Day. Granted, my enthusiasm for the day is a bit less than when I was younger, when friends and I would attempt to seriously deplete Rockford's supply of green beer...to no avail (although we often helped deplete Rockford's supply of aspirin and Gatorade the day after St. Patty's).

St. Patrick's Day is this Thursday, and if you're on the hunt for the best place in Rockford for corned beef and cabbage, here are some great places to check out.

Break out all the green you own and bring the family to downtown Rockford this Saturday for the luckiest and rowdiest parade of the year!

Whether you're nursing a wee bit of a headache on this day after St. Patrick's Day, or you're making life difficult for someone who is, I think you'll find this time-lapse video of the Chicago River being dyed a festive green to be pretty cool...

As I've pointed out in this space before, my kids learned a long while back that I've always thought kids should be in school learning about the famous people who've earned themselves a holiday, instead of taking a day off from school to do nothing of the sort...