I will be away until the end of March. I am taking a vacation to visit Ireland, to see how the Irish celebrate Saint Patrick's Day. I will be watching the parade in Dublin with interest, and perhaps may have some time to report back. But I make no promises -- I don't know exactly when (1) I will have access to the internet, (2) I will have time to write, or (3) I will feel like working during a vacation.

The next week at this site will (hopefully) be a rather special run of Paddy's Day columns (I'm prefacing them all with "Happy Paddy's Week," since that accurately describes how I'll be celebrating it) from Monday until Thursday. Then on Friday, instead of our usual Friday Talking Points, we're going to have a very special guest columnist, from within our own CW.com commenting ranks (thanks to David Akadjian). So check back Friday for that one, even if you ignore all the re-runs until then. These columns will all post earlier in the day than normal, I should note.

The following week, I don't have any real idea what I'll be doing. As I said, perhaps I'll have some original columns, perhaps I'll just have re-runs. The best I can commit to at this point is to swear that (at the very least) there will be a new column on the first of April (can't resist that day, can I?).

In any case, I apologize for the serious gap in new columns, but everyone deserves a few weeks off now and again, right? I'll be lifting a pint in all your names this Tuesday, that'll have to do for now.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant