Do you have space for my wii in your bag?

In preparation for what is reported to be the third largest St. Patrick’s day parade in the country, we drank a good deal last night and stuffed our bean pole of a trombonist into a tiny plane and sent him home. Scranton is at the very least the most surprising city one could ever visit, with a community spirit and draft specials completely out of line with geography and culture. There was an asian coffee shop employee this morning (full disclosure: 13:30 EST) who charmed $2.80 right off me by answering the phone and taking messages in a full this-is-my-grandmother-from-Thailand accent, which was not her real voice. This was probably an effort to get attention, and it worked. Sometimes you just buy food named as a bathroom scent. I could have just exercised my tipping power and stuffed a couple bucks in the fish bowl on the counter instead.

Tomorrow marksthe second celebration of St. Patty’s day this year. The first was at Penn State and Tight Nightgown prods. Present State Patty’s Day, 3.02.07. Now we have Scranton Slim and The Greek Events Presentation, LLC present Parade Day 3.10.07. There are many things happening that are newsworthy and I just missed getting my photo with Channel 16’s roving reporter Whit Whiteson (“I grew up watching your father…”), but was probably on the news anyway. Drink specials stary all over town at 7am and you are not allowed to move a car within about 6 blocks in any direction of the federal building in front of which events will take place. The police are already out, and there are bunches of drunks on the street holding bouquets of shiny green mylar items they are presumably trying to sell. The good thing is, the drafts are only $.17 tomorrow, so the shiny hats should be cheap too. The goal is to partake, and to show up not wearing diapers to work tomorrow night and to do justice to this little piece of art called Hairspray.

Also, we played wii bowling in the hotel bar last night for a while, and then my roommate came up to the room and bought a wii at 5 am because he couldn’t figure out how to cancel his bid in time. So if you get a random text saying “we’ve got beer and wii bowling in 418,” you know it’s no scam, and you will get your own controller.

Also there is a 24 year old Scrantonite who built a bunch of huge k’nex models and dresses alternately like a 10 year old (yesterday) and a zoologist guest on Ellen (today). He has displayed models at the k’nex factory just down the road. His current project is in front of Boscov's at the Steamtown mall and is quite engaging for men to look at. Women don't seem to care.

Also down the road is an agency that trains and deploys pharmaceutical sales people, who are often from the Midwest. Next time you see a pharma rep, thank them for their sacrifice. They had to get up at 8 this morning.