No, I'm not Irish.

I like corned beef but that particular meal is not Irish, it's Jewish.

I like beer but not guiness.

I don't own a heavy wool sweater or a "flat cap".

I don't like parades, clover or hurling.

In other words, Happy St. Patricks Day to all you self-proclaimed Hibernians but don't expect me join you in your drunken debauchery.

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At 2:15am this morning, I was awoken by what sound like a airliner taking off in my yard. I looked out the window and saw the line of arborvitaes in my side yard bent over at a 45° angle.

I decided to do a house patrol and I went downstairs to see what I could see. Just as I walked into the kitchen, the lights went out. I grabbed a flashlight and looked out all sides of the house just to be sure I didn't have a tree down.

Then I went back to bed.

At 6:30am, I came downstairs and started my generator. Having lights is nice but having coffee is more important. Especially to my wife who had been sitting patiently for more than an hour, waiting for me to drag my ass out of bed and start the generator.

At 10:00am, National Grid got my house re-energized and I was once again enjoying their very, very expensive electricity.

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Last week I signed up for the USPS Informed Delivery Service that gives you a heads-up on what mail is being delivered to your house. Then they notify you when your mail has been delivered to your mailbox.

Normally I would say something like, "This is a nice service because now I know when my mail is in my mailbox".

Instead I'm going to say, "The USPS is unreliable and does not deliver all your mail."

I say that because there have been at least 3 occasions when I got a notice saying that I would be receiving "X" items. That notice includes pictures of the items to be delivered.

When my mail arrived, there were only "X-1" or "X-2" items, not the "X" items that they said I would be getting.

This was particularly disconcerting the other day when I was notified I had 1 item being delivered and the image of that item showed it to be a bill from Baystate Medical Practices. I know the only thing I owe Baystate is the copay from a trip I made to the Convenience Care Center at Baystate Wing when I had the flu back in January. Their computer system was having a bad day and they couldn't collect the copay so they said they would bill me.

Look, I don't care if some junk mail from Renewal by Anderson gets lost but when a bill gets lost, I have a problem with that.

And more importantly, what else has gotten lost prior to my signing up for this notification service? What don't I know about? What if some long lost uncle left me a million dollars and I don't know about it because I never received the notice?

I'm torn now. Do I call the postmaster to complain or do I cancel the service and return to my state of blissful ignorance regarding my mail?

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The Bruins and the Devils had a hell of an active hockey game last night. Regulation ended in a 3-3 tie and about 20 minutes in penalty time for each team. Neither team was giving an inch and they were beating each other up pretty good. The announcers kept saying, "Man, they sure got a lot of penalties."

The game went into sudden death OT and with only 7 seconds left in the period, the Devils snuck the puck past Korpisalo to score the game winner.

The Bruins are back at it again tonight when they take on the Canadiens. Puck drops at 7:00.

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As for baseball, the Red Sox beat the Twins 4-3 this afternoon.

Tomorrow they take on the Yankees. First pitch is at 7:00.

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The final game in the WBC takes place tonight with the USA taking on Venezuela for all the marbles. The winner of this game takes home the poorly named but very modern looking World Baseball Championship Trophy.

Go USA!

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Here are some links:

• Turns out world-famous "graffiti artist" Banksy is a dumpy old guy who looks like he hangs out in the neighborhood dive bar and bitches about the economy with his buddy Stan.



• Key line in this story: "...saw a 2 inch by ½-inch piece of shrapnel on the hood, which left a small dent or scratch."
  So in other words, nothing...



• Wait till these clowns keep catching their shirt sleeves on the cord, yanking the earphone out of their ears...



• Maybe this explains why I have a lot of "Only in Florida" stories...



• The Very Stable Genius is either experiencing hallucinations, talking to ghosts or talking to himself.