I just spent $487.00 to write a letter reminding the US Trademark Office that Catnose is a registered trademark of Vanesa Littlecrow Wojtanowicz who now lives in Rice, MN.  I saved over $1000.  I derive nothing but cold comfort from what seems to be an empty victory.  Grump.

... or, is Minneapolis on a mission to make itself the most ridiculous looking city in the Midwest?

The evidence:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/5735
http://www.wide-formatimaging.com/images/article/1173804621900_wfi03_07heres3.jpg
http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/06/0606/061906.html
http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/05/0405/photo1.html
http://tinyurl.com/3rshgd
http://projects.dot.state.mn.us/35wbridge/index.html
http://www.alumnicenter.umn.edu/about/index.html
http://tinyurl.com/4wycj4
http://tinyurl.com/4uyo3a
http://www.citiesarchitecture.com/Building/969/225_South_Sixth.php
http://www.citiesarchitecture.com/Building/1974/Mill_Ruins_Park.php
http://www.citiesarchitecture.com/Building/1976/Minneapolis_Central_Library.php

May I also note, that most of these monstrosities were funded by cutting Minneapolis Library services, wasting state funds for the "arts and education," and the raising U of M activity fees? Also be sure to blame Pawlenty's stadium fetish. Your tax dollars at work!

Could somebody explain to me how Facebook is supposed to be a step up from MySpace? I'm not seeing it. Facebook is driving me insane with those damn little apps!!!

[Edited because he outed himself.]

Recently Nik accused me of talking smack behind his back on the Internet.  I find this confusing, especially since he immediately knew that I was talking about him on my blog and website.

Help me out: How is blogging publicly, and posting comics online at a publicly  accessible website, supposed to be talking behind one's back, particularly when I am fully aware that the person follows these sites on a regular basis?  Isn't saying something mean about someone on unrestricted postings or sites, about as public as it gets, even when one hides behind an "anonymous" or pseudonymous persona?  Even if I hadn't yelled at the person on the phone, email, or via IM about several contentious issues, how could posting something in a publicly accessible Internet forum be treated differently than say, talking about something in a public arena in the real world?  Could somebody please explain this to me in a logical manner that I am able to understand?  This has been bugging me for days, and I am wondering if this new definition of "behind one's back" supposed to be a construct of the MySpace generation, just me being denser than an ingot of uranium or, just some weird justification to try to make me look like a meanie poop?  Could somebody help me make some sense of this?

While we are at it, when did October 13th become last summer?

Today many things happened, and most of them were weird.

1. I forgot my super yummy yogurt at Courie's
2. I lost all sense of direction.  I went to Courie's work after visiting the Sprint Store to get my upgraded phone.The trip should have taken me ten minutes became an hour-long battle against road construction.
3. I lost all sense of direction again.  I was late to work for 45 minutes even though I left an hour early.  Courtesy, once again, road construction.  Thankfully, some employees at the liquor store were equally late, so the manager was understanding.  So was the client and the booking agent.
4. One of my booking agents used to be a thrasher.  Nothing like talking about going out to Ground Zero to discover dirt on your booking agent's punky, skateboarding past.
5. The drive through guy at Taco Bell heckled me for ordering only one taco and called me cheap.  He apparently couldn't tell the difference between iced tea and Sprite, so I got a nasty surprise.  That's what I get for buying food in the ghetto part of North Minneapolis.
6. Ground Zero was a blast until my knees got sore, but it was nice seeing a few of y'all there.  I was sad, however, because I am no longer allowed to dance barefoot there.  It was kind of funny when Courie pointed out shortly after I was forced to don foot gear, while she was smoking in the rainy outdoors, that they were playing a song about, "Revolution."  The joys of Socialism -- forced foot gear and smoke-free bondage clubs.  At least my clothes didn't stink.  Nevertheless, it just didn't seem the same.  Maybe it was the rules, maybe it was the fact that 18 year olds were allowed to dance there now, but it definitely made me sad when I saw poor Mistress Jean look bummed  on the stage at the chore of paddling a very unattractive bald guy with sumo thongs and a butt with more cottage cheese and hair than a hippie commune.  Depressing.
   

Go Minneapolis!  I am heading to the Minnesota Institute of the Arts to stare at Georgia O' Keefe, return my event kit to my booking agent (who also feels music gets too loud as one ages,) visit with Justin and AJ, and maybe hang around with Harlequin before I pass out from exhaustion.

Cheers.

So I had this gig for an adult beverage company.  Theoretically, the whole trip back and forth should have taken me less than three hours in drive time.  The plan was to leave Rice, meet the other event personnel with the kit halfway, go to the agency for training, do the event, have the other EP pick up the kit at the store, go to my final destination in Minneapolis for some dinner.  But no, it's never that easy in Vas's world.


Anyway, off to call a potential go-see today.

This is cool beyond words!  Run DMC on Reading Rainbow: