diff --git a/lib/gntp/LICENSE b/lib/gntp/LICENSE
deleted file mode 100644
index c274a5a2..00000000
--- a/lib/gntp/LICENSE
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-Copyright (c) 2013 Paul Traylor
-
-Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
-a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
-"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
-without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
-distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
-permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
-the following conditions:
-
-The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
-included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
-
-THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
-EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
-MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
-NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
-LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
-OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
-WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/lib/gntp/cli.py b/lib/gntp/cli.py
index bc083062..97e74af7 100644
--- a/lib/gntp/cli.py
+++ b/lib/gntp/cli.py
@@ -118,9 +118,9 @@ def main():
 
 	# This would likely be better placed within the growl notifier
 	# class but until I make _checkIcon smarter this is "easier"
-	if options.icon is not None and not options.icon.startswith('http'):
+	if options.icon and growl._checkIcon(options.icon) is False:
 		logging.info('Loading image %s', options.icon)
-		f = open(options.icon)
+		f = open(options.icon, 'rb')
 		options.icon = f.read()
 		f.close()
 
diff --git a/lib/gntp/core.py b/lib/gntp/core.py
index 957b5270..6492c6f3 100644
--- a/lib/gntp/core.py
+++ b/lib/gntp/core.py
@@ -74,8 +74,15 @@ class _GNTPBase(object):
 		self.headers = {}
 		self.resources = {}
 
-	def __str__(self):
-		return self.encode()
+	# For Python2 we can just return the bytes as is without worry
+	# but on Python3 we want to make sure we return the packet as
+	# a unicode string so that things like logging won't get confused
+	if gntp.shim.PY2:
+		def __str__(self):
+			return self.encode()
+	else:
+		def __str__(self):
+			return gntp.shim.u(self.encode())
 
 	def _parse_info(self, data):
 		"""Parse the first line of a GNTP message to get security and other info values
diff --git a/lib/gntp/notifier.py b/lib/gntp/notifier.py
index 1719ecdf..fb923568 100644
--- a/lib/gntp/notifier.py
+++ b/lib/gntp/notifier.py
@@ -69,7 +69,8 @@ class GrowlNotifier(object):
 		then we return False
 		'''
 		logger.info('Checking icon')
-		return gntp.shim.u(data).startswith('http')
+
+		return gntp.shim.u(data)[:4] in ['http', 'file']
 
 	def register(self):
 		"""Send GNTP Registration
diff --git a/lib/gntp/shim.py b/lib/gntp/shim.py
index 3a387828..2d6b6d73 100644
--- a/lib/gntp/shim.py
+++ b/lib/gntp/shim.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ https://pypi.python.org/pypi/six
 
 import sys
 
+PY2 = sys.version_info[0] == 2
 PY3 = sys.version_info[0] == 3
 
 if PY3:
diff --git a/lib/gntp/version.py b/lib/gntp/version.py
index 2166aaca..4268a538 100644
--- a/lib/gntp/version.py
+++ b/lib/gntp/version.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # Copyright: 2013 Paul Traylor
 # These sources are released under the terms of the MIT license: see LICENSE
 
-__version__ = '1.0.2'
+__version__ = '1.0.3'