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I've found through my years of living and drinking in New England, there are two schools of thought when it comes to celebrating St. Patrick's Day:

Best Day of the Year: "Come on. Everybody's Irish on St. Patty's Day. There are all the breakfast roasts and beer and Guinness and corned beef and cabbage -- yummy -- and Guinness and whisky and don't forget all the great Irish music. Seriously, who doesn't want to go out and get completely blotto on the one day out of the year it's okay?"

Amateur’s Night: "No freakin' way am I going out on St. Patrick's Day. Are you kidding me? There is nothing worse than standing three deep at my neighborhood bar, surrounded by a bunch of drunk guys with names like Spicolli and LaPointe wearing 'Kiss me I'm Irish' shirts. I don't want to eat corned beef and cabbage, I don't want to do an Irish car bomb and I certainly do not want a green beer. Take your shamrocks and leprechauns elsewhere. I am staying as far away from downtown as possible."

I tend to fall in the latter camp, though I have been known to stray into an Irish Pub on March 17. This year, I am particularly annoyed that St. Patrick's Day is on a Friday, one of the few days I can go out and not worry about being in bed at a reasonable hour. Plus, I usually head to the Coat of Arms for an after work beer on Fridays, but because the bar has a British Isles theme, it's going to be packed. This despite the fact the bar is English. I guess Americans don't understand the centuries of animosity drilled into my head by my British grandmother.

That may be why I shy away from the holiday. My grandmother would school us even if we accidentally work green on St. Patrick's Day. "You are not Irish. You are English and must wear orange." I don't remember why orange exactly, but I think it had to do with some battle where the English crushed the Irish and the English happened to be wearing orange at the time. I never really went for this, mostly because I didn't think it was appropriate to symbolically give the finger to an entire culture on the one day they gather to party.

So whether you hole up in a bunker with Newcastle or dress like the Celtics mascot, Lucky, have a good time. St. Patrick's Day is about having fun and, yes, drinking, but it's also about pride. Whatever you do, try not to disgrace the Irish. They've been through enough already.