Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello, hello. Happy St. Paddy's Day to you all. : ) Since it is that lovely American-Irish holiday that everyone uses as an excuse to get blitzed, I've granted myself permission to use a terrible play on words to start this post instead.

This story about a lay missionary nurse who travels all over the world to help those in need even while holding down a home with a husband and children in Galway certainly makes Irish eyes smile (Boston Globe). My other Irish story I found today isn't specifically positive so much as it's a continued step in the right direction. When I studied abroad in Ireland in 2003, I got a good look at the Northern Irish peace process and the dynamic between the two groups there. The Boston Globe had a story this morning about Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams calling for an open dialogue and continued unity in the face of militants trying to rip apart the peace process. 

On a slightly related note, it turns out there is another holiday in Boston today. People from home make fun of me for Patriot's Day, saying it's just a day we get off so we can drink and watch the Boston Marathon. But today's holiday is even more esoteric than Marathon Monday, in that only Suffolk County in all of Massachusetts', like, 30 counties celebrates it. Today is Evacuation Day. Yep, who could forget that? Liquor stores, state agencies, schools and libraries are all closed to celebrate the day Revolutionary soldiers hauled 50 cannon up a hill and drove the British out of Boston. Yeah, I'd never heard of it either, and I've lived her for seven years (Boston Globe).

Here's one for the "you're not going to believe this" files. As Yahoo! Sports reports, a 62-year old novice golfer hit a hole-in-one on her first-ever swing. The kicker was she didn't realize not every golfer does it, even while her golf pro was jumping up and down next to her.

Turns out those Harvard kids are as smart as they're supposed to be. Business school students devised a contest to encourage the use of non-disposable containers and a way to measure usage and reward those teams that were the most green. Who says MIT has a monopoly on experiments? (Harbus.com)

This last one is a nice-feel good story to end on. As reported in the Chicago Tribune, Bashur was a seeming mutt rescued from an Iraqi roadside and shipped home to a father from a paratrooper son. A coincidence helped the father learn a little more about the "mutt" who found a new home in America. 

I will leave you with one final thought...

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Definitely need this this morning...

I got some bad news last night about someone I used to work for and with that definitely unsettled me, so the happy news stories were required reading this morning. I'm just glad I could find this many. 

ABC News recently reported on people it's calling "Recession Angels" - people who don't have much of their own but still give of themselves to help others. One pharmacist in Alabama gave his employees $16,000 of his own money in cash with two stipulations. They had to give 15% of what they got to charity and spend the rest in local businesses. 

Most of you know I studied abroad in Ireland my junior of college and actually ended up minoring in Irish Studies. Since then I've kept a close eye on the doings of the Irish and Northern Irish. Having visited Belfast briefly - thank you, food poisoning - I got a look at the situation and setting of the "Troubles," so news stories about the conflict always catch my attention. I was really pleased to see this Boston Globe story about Catholics/Protestants and Irish/Northern Irish banding together against the violence finally. Being there showed me how hard it is for them to break habit and stop fighting each other. 

The Baltimore Sun (yay, Maryland!) had an article about a man who left his house to the SPCA who had guardianship of the man's dog should the man outlive his companion. The man was so concerned about his dog's welfare he gave his $1 million home to the animal shelter as a bequest. 

Along a similar vein, a story that appeared in the Montgomery Advertiser told the story of a dog who was returned to his owner after five years. The dog didn't seem to be worse for the wear. 

Who says high school students today aren't socially aware and are unable to shut up? Students at South Huron High School took a 24-hour vow of silence to aid the "Free the Children" project and raise money for a well in Kenya. The Times-Advocate in Exeter, Ontario, Canada, reported some of the students not only didn't talk, they cut off all forms of communication - texting, emailing and social networking sites like Facebook. 

As if tightening your belt through this economy wasn't enough, it's insult to injury when you have your things stolen from you. Police in Pennsylvania uncovered a ring of daylight thefts in Lackawanna County, using eBay of all things. Victims of the female thief were invited to come and identify their stolen possessions. All expressed joy that while they couldn't take them home yet, they were just glad to have found their (mostly) heirlooms again. (WNEP 16)

And last, but certainly not least - it gave me the biggest laugh of the morning - Chris Buckley of the Daily Beast decided that if he couldn't read good news, he'd write it himself.