After a long and stupid winter, spring is finally upon us! I find it incredibly difficult to maintain any sort of respectable productivity level when birds are chirping, daffodils are blooming, and people collectively start panicking about bathing suit season.

Even non-baseball fans cannot deny the excitement of opening day in MLB parks across the country. Where else but at a ballpark or an expensive all-inclusive resort somewhere can you drink beer all afternoon on a weekday without judgment? As an Orioles fan, I am cautiously optimistic about their first 4-0 start since I was 14. Every year since the 1997 season, the excitement of baseball startin

g has led to crushing disappointment around mid-April, when I come to the realization that I’m an O’s fan. This year feels different. I cannot wait to get to Camden Yards and feel that Orioles Magic. And stuff myself full of Boog’s Bar-B-Q and Natty Boh’s. Hon.

Another great thing about this time of year? Next week Fishtales will reopen for the season, followed by Mackys, M.R. Ducks, and all the other seasonal bars. I have been known to liken these opening to Christmas, if Christmas celebrated Natural Light and bad decisions instead of Jesus. It’s like a happy reunion for all of the OC locals who have been hibernating or traveling all winter. We venture back out into the world to experience that wonderful sense of peace and calm that envelope the town before the lunacy that is Memorial Day.

My favorite part about spring might be the most overlooked and elusive sign of impending warm weather. It’s like a shooting star; you have to be looking at just the right moment to witness the magic. Of course I am referring to that whimsical sight of flatbed trucks traveling down Coastal Highway, delivering this year’s travel-weary palm trees to their new homes at Seacrets and Fager’s. I look forward to this every year with a giddy anticipation that mirrors that of a college frat boy looking forward to sundress season.