May 5-7th is the official opening of the Ocean City season, and it’s going to be a really big celebration with bands, children’s entertainment, food, you name it! And guess who has to miss it? Yeah, that’s right — me. Just wanted to whine about that for a moment, and to make sure that plenty of you regulars are going to be there to get the party started and ring in summer the Ocean City way.

More details at www.ococean.com.

Crocuses blooming… birds chirping… cats shedding… looks like Spring is finally here!

Maybe I’m a bit of a pagan at heart, but spring tends to bring out the optimistic, resolution-forming, today-is-the-first-day-of-etc side of my personality more than dreary January 1st always does. If you’re like me, and are currently starting to wonder when “holiday weight” stops being a valid excuse, then maybe we should all get together and run in the Ocean City Marathon. Seriously! It starts at 7 a.m. (hey, we’re being good here!) on April 7th, and the winner gets a $1000 prize. All finishers get to attend an after-party with complimentary refreshments. Hmm, I wonder if that might include Fractured Prune donuts…?

hey, it was good while it lasted.

But I had to share this with somebody:

The Ocean City community is getting ready for a big old-fashioned St. Patrick’s Day celebration, complete with a parade, Irish festival, and of course serious partying going down at the local Irish pubs. I wonder if they’ve already started making the green beer… how do you make beer green, anyway?

Fun fact to make you look smart at the pub: Killian’s Irish Red is not actually an Irish beer — it’s made by the same company as Coors. Tastes a lot better, though!