On Vitner's Pretzel Superthins appears a mascot called "Vinnie" playing a pretzel trumpet. Vinnie strikes an uncanny resemeblance to an illustration I did for General Electric's phone accessories in 2000.

What is it with generic cartoon red sunglasses, and gloves on the hands? I think the gloves are to help keep that fine line between product and humanity. Can't have the product be too human, let's stick some gloves and shades on him. And make those generic red sunglasses too!

And then there is the mysterious non-existent Vitner's website. What? No website?! I want more info on this Vinnie. What is this cosmic connection I have with him? I have a phone call into the sales director, Phillip Bremser, at Vintner's asking him for more information on this elusive mascot.

Idea brought on by Dave and his amazing pretzels.

Here's the most complete list of bowling teams names on the internet:

* The King Pins * The Gutter Gals * Lickity Splits * The Misfits * High Rollers * The Pickups * Spare Me * Split Ends * Holy Rollers * Hit or Miss * We've Got Balls * RTFB (Roll The Fuckin' Ball).. * Mines in the Gutter * Ten Pin

* The Splitters * No 'F' in Strikes * Up Our Alley * Spare Us * Bowl You Over * Striking Power * The Turkeys * 300'ers * Delivery Boys * Cross Overs * Cutters * The Fast Lane * Framed Out * Kingpins

* Kegglers * Huge Racks * Violations * XXX'ed Out * Turkey Buzzards * Scratchers * Strokers * Rollin in the Dough * Bowling is a Ball * Time to Spare * Down your Alley * Pickup Artists

Got any more?

I design better when I'm hungry.

If i just ate something, I can't design. But when I haven't eaten anything in a while, I can design much better. Why is that?

First a giant squid attacks Chicago and now giant french fries?(1) (2) (3)

On the Pioneer Court next to the Tribune Tower, Equitable Building and Chicago River on Michigan Ave in Chicago are a bunch of new public art sculptures that popped up over the weekend.

I talked with the installer and he said they are by John Henry and will be up for a few months. They are gonna be blue and black. Who ever heard of blue and black french fries?

What else could these things be? The artist says they are drawings in the sky. I think they speak about communities of people balancing on one another.

How many hours old are you? I turned 10,000 hours old this past April 7th!

I've got a couple friends who are nearing the billion seconds mark! Let's say you are a billionaire. You have acquired your wealth by receiving one dollar bill every second. It would be interesting how you have to organize all these bills. In just one day, you will have acquired $86,400.00