The bi-weekly lunch with the former roommates yesterday landed us at the Dundee Dell, and like every other place in town, they looked to be decked out in St. Patrick's gear way too early.

Even with green shamrocks floating from one corner of the room to another, one cool thing that they showcased was the Guinness Proposition 3-17 posters everywhere. At first glance, I thought the Proposition 3-17 was just a clever way to play on election times and get people to order a Guinness on Monday. But Ben told me that the Irish beer conglomerate is trying to get one million online petitions signed by the end of the day on the 16^th. Even by taking advantage of high voter morale right now, I'm not sure that their scheme will work. On their site, www.proposition317.com, they only had one fourth of the total.

I'm not sure that I'll ever hold my breath for St. Patrick's day to be an official holiday, but I'll be on the lookout for more Guinness marketing material in the upcoming months.