iCal Server Alert/cannot dismiss

I had a reminder in iCal that had a significant amount of text in its notes field. I decided that I would prefer it to be a calendar event so I highlighted it, copied it, and as I have done in the past, clicked on the day and pasted. iCal came back with "The server responded with an error". Then it displays the text of the event which goes off the bottom of the screen. So, if there is a dismiss or delete or any other information even about the particular error, its below th ebottom of the screen.

And, iCal seems locked up. Regardless of the key hit, it just responds with a beep. I can't dismiss this event, I can' do anything with iCal at all. All menu commands are grayed out, I can't even quit it, I have to force quit. I have done that as well as totally restarted the mac and the same thing occurs, it comes up immediately displaying the same thing and I am stuck there.

Thanks!