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So one of the things I hadn't thought about is that certain groups monitor the blogs, so that simply by mentioning DELAVAN ART GALLERY, for example, or DAN MAFFEI, I merit some attention. Of course, they're looking for positive attention, so I doubt the words Walsh or Sweetland will get me repeat viewers.

Speaking of Sweetland, I think he's stalking me. I've seen him twice just this week. Oh, wait, I work at the civic center, never mind. But the first time he was buying a hot dog, and I'm pretty sure he parked his car in Judge Tormey's spot.

The post-standard recently reported that the governor is sending out a lot of angry letters about empire zones, apparently to yell at companies that got the benefits and hired little or no people. The article doesn't say for sure what the next step is (hopefully something more than another angry letter). It's a good first step, but I say we mail out one big angry letter to all our state representatives in the form of a signed petition.

The Barack Obama fundraiser at the Delavan was a good little event. I didn't get the phone call from Tom Buckel I expected but I did get called by a friend about some goings on this weekend, and unfortunately the crowd was between me and the door, so I had to go hide behind some art and take the call. Sorry to anyone if I seemed like the guy from that bit on Trigger Happy TV who would yell into the giant plastic cell phone (they actually did have one skit that began "I'm in an art gallery!")

Maffei.