Presidential Weekend

It has been kind of an interesting weekend here in the low country. I have discovered some new things in and around Savannah. Some I would recommend and others I think you should avoid.

This past weekend was the annual Irish Festival. Every year a few weeks before St. Patrick's day, the Savannah Civic Center is taken over by green wearing Fenian lunatics who make their children do traditional Irish dancing while they sit and drink Guinness. I had never been before and every year I kept telling myself I should go. So this year I threw down the 10 dollars for a ticket and walked into the arena.

What a joke! Aside from the main stage that features numerous Irish acts, there wasn't much to see. If you were older and enjoyed "traditional" Irish music, then the 10 bucks to get might be worth because you could sit there all day, eat and drink and listen to some tunes. I, on the other hand, had no patience to sit and listen to the same traditional Irish songs over and over again. So I wandered through the vendor stalls and it is filled the typical Irish nick knacks that many a souvenir shop around the Ring of Kerry carry minus actual Irish selling them. The only thing worthwhile about this event was possibly eating some good food. Well, I was fooled again. First off, you have to buy "food tokens" which if any of you have ever attended a church festival or the like, realize that this is the scam to end all scams. You inevitably walk away with left over tokens that aren't good for anything and can't be turned back in for cash, which means you just wasted more money.

After getting my overpriced fish and chips, I walked out of the convention center to meet some friends in Forsyth Park. My buddy, Tyler, send me a text saying that there was a tree climbing competition in the park. I was slightly intrigued by this and decided to check it out. What I didn't realize was how serious a competition this was. This competition was actually the Husqvarna North American Tree Climbing Championship and had tons of super-fit dudes in harnesses and helmets, working ropes and swing from branch to branch like Spider-man. It was awesome and FREE! Plus it was sponsored by Husqvarna and they had all sorts of chainsaws and power tools on display and I walked away with a product catalog. Not that I need a chainsaw, but come on, I have a Y chromosome. You can find more info about this competition here http://www.northamericantcc.com/

I also started reading a book that I just can't put down. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall might be the coolest book about everything I have read in a long time. Basically it is manifesto about running barefoot, throwing out everything we think we know about running long distance and how to get back to running for days on end like our ancestors. Whether you believe it or not, it is a good read. Check it out here http://www.chrismcdougall.com/