The fine folks at 511.org suggest using the possible BART strike to join a van or carpool. Or, just, like, work from somewhere else. Home, other office, whatever.

The site is a pretty good one normally for checking traffic, etc. But I couldn’t help but imagine, were I dependent on BART for transportation, just wandering into any ‘ol business nearby and saying “but they said I should work somewhere closer to home?!”

Hell with vanpools. Let’s jobpool. You go to mine, I’ll go to yours, it’ll be fun!

Gridlock here we come . . . .

Got the Summer blues? Try something new! Go to a new restaurant, take a class, try a new sport, learn to play a musical instrument!

Why not:

• Explore a new neighborhood that you haven’t set foot in before
• Learn to play the Shukachi (Japanese bamboo flute)
• Try some Turkish food (don’t forget the Turkish Coffee!)
• Take a Segway Tour of the Wharf for laughs
• Watch (or learn to play) Bocce Ball at Aquatic Park
• Learn how to make some unique crafts like beer pint etching, graphic t-shirt printing, or making silver rings.
• Take a striptease class and learn to pole dance!

Any more suggestions for a change of pace?

I should have time between taxi calls to make it over to Santana Row. (Stevens Creek Blvd. just off 880 in San Jose.)
If you have ever watched the Food Network you should remember seeing Chef Giada De Laurentiis. She will be at Santana Row (June 28) to sign copies of her new book

I had a blast at the Gay Pride Parade and Celebration yesterday. I marched with the Outright Libertarians, a LGBT Libertarian group. We carried our banner and signs with slogans like “Get Government Out of Your _____!” Most of the crowd was either supportive, curious or bored (we didn’t create much of a spectacle), but one retard spit water on me as I passed him. That was kind of a drag (no pun intended), but I didn’t let it slow me down. Such is life at the flank.

Unfortunately, we did not get any pics of our group marching. I know there are a bunch out there, so if you happen to spot one, let me know, wouldja? Hopefully something will appear on the SF Pride website soon. If nothing else, I’ll check out the rerun of the KRON footage on Saturday night.

I pitched in at our booth afterward. I believe we had over 500 people take the “World’s Smallest Political Quiz”. As you would expect here, it was largely people who strongly believe in social freedoms, but don’t understand that all freedom is intertwined. Still, there were a significant number of folks who believe in liberty across the board. I hope we see the results of this effort with a few new faces at our LP meeting next month.

The party around Civic Center was wall-to-wall body parts. I was hungry, so I forged my way through the crowd in search of some frozen-fried grub from the usual assortment of carnival food stands. I bought some grilled flesh on a very sharp stick, and not wanting anyone to lose an eye, desperately searched for some oasis of free space in which to consume this dangerous-but-tasty snack. I thought I had found it behind the Official Merchandise booth, but some testy fellow informed me that I was not welcome near his car. Sometimes, you just can’t win. A big thanks goes out to the Ramada on Market, for being the only place I could find that would let me wash my hands after eating my grease treat. It was much appreciated.

Watching the reactions of tourists has got to be my favorite part of the people watching. Sometimes it’s better than the costumes they’re ogling. Next year, I think I’m going to bring a camera and document the tourists.

Last night I had the pleasure of trying out the newest location of Osha Thai. The Second Street location (between Mission and Howard) has been open for about a month, and I can already tell you that they will do very well. They are open late, the food was moderately priced and quite good. The service was pretty good, too. – I recommend the spring rolls and peppermint infused water.

If I’ve learned anything from popular group blogs, it’s that when the going gets sparse, the self-promotion gets going. So, in that spirit, here’s a little story.

Back in the dark ages of the web, before blogs, I started a site called SF Stories to chronicle my own tales of the city. San Francisco is made of stories, and I decided to tell mine there.

I wrote there for about six years, and, just recently compiled the best of the stories into dead tree form. The self-published book led one reviewer to call me “an amiable, chihuaha-loving Charles Bukowski, but one that’s not as angsty and knows how to use Photoshop,” which is just about the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about me.

So, hey. Check it out.

I’ve lived in the Parkmerced area (which is right next to San Francisco State University) for the past seven years. But by next week, we’ll be moving to a house in the Excelsior District, one of a few areas in San Francisco that I’m not all too familiar with. I understand it’s near the Mission district, the neighborhood seems to have a good mix of Mexican and Asian stores, and that the area in general is quite residential, but as far as nearby restaurants and places to eat, it’s all a mystery. My husband has lived there before, so I’m hoping he’ll get to show the area around to me. It’ll be quite an adventure, that’s for sure.

Anyone here have tips on what to do/see in the Excelsior?

Street fair season in San Francisco is the highlight of the year, as far as I’m concerned. Not so for many residents in the fairs’ neighborhoods, according to a Chron article.

The complaints are easy to predict: loud events, litter in the streets, no parking, blocked access to the neighborhoods. But, for most fairs, it’s one, maybe two days a year. Is it really THAT big a deal?

I don’t live in a neighborhood with a fair – though I can’t figure out why since Iriving Street seems like a good place to throw a big ‘ol party (the N-Judah could add some fun, too). I’d love to have a local event so I didn’t have to truck across the city for street food and local bands.

A survey says the Union, Haight, and North Beach fairs are the most unpopular among residents (that covers just about all the big ones, doesn’t it?).

The problem is usually booze. And North Beach does host more large scale parties than most any other neighborhood in the city (and I don’t count Castro on Halloween as a party – it’s an unorganized mob scene that I’ll never again attend).

But economically speaking – these things are pretty good for the City. So what gives? And don’t get rid of the booze, either. Washington Square Park, a good band, and a beer on a warm day is just about as good as it gets.

Still think they’re just poor misunderstood pooches?

Deputies said the dog ran into the yard and clamped onto [8-year-old] Annette’s face. Her mother, Norma Flores, who was inside the house, and two male neighbors working on a car nearby heard the girl’s screams and ran into the yard. The men, Hector Preciado, 24, and Jesse Revas, 20, hit the dog numerous times with a crowbar and a pool cue and used their bare hands to pry him from the girl, deputies said.

The dog then went after the girl’s mother, biting her arm and legs, deputies said.

After pulling the dog off the 37-year-old mother, the men trapped the pit bull in a garage on the property, and they and Annette and Flores took refuge inside the house. But the dog managed to escape the garage and enter the house through an open door, at which point the four locked themselves in the bathroom and called police.

Why defend these animals? I assure you, loyal pit bull owner, you could learn to love another type of doggy too – one that won’t put your children or your neighbors children at risk.

After living in West Virginia, I became ever-so-slightly more understanding about gun ownership (in the proper context, with the proper safety precautions and training – i.e. hunters in WV with guns, okay, but no one in heavily urban areas really needs one – but I digress). I can’t imagine, however, ever warming up to these animals. They are like guns with A.I. The obvious metaphorical time bombs. And, again, no b.s. about proper training of animals – it’s genetics kids, they were bred to be a certain way, and a certain way they shall be.

Look at that little kid. Are a dog’s, or a dog owner’s, rights really paramount to her health?

(photo: Santa Rosa Press Democrat/Christopher Chung via AP)

Perhaps you are descending upon the city by the bay to celebrate the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots at one of the geographic points that’s as far away as you can get as possible from where it all actually went down without leaving the continental US, and yet still being somewhere where they give a damn. Perhaps you are like me and haven’t been here long enough (this’ll be only my second SF Pride weekend) to have mastered all the possibilities. Perhaps you didn’t even know this Pride weekend thing was coming up—hey, it could happen—and you want to get informed really fast.

Thank goodness for hypertext. Violet Blue has done some heavy lifting putting together her intro guide to SF. (Worker bees: unless your workplace is tit-friendly, you may want to save that link for safer web-browsing climates.) From where to park (short answer that you already knew: Hahahahaha take Muni), where to eat, where to drink, where to get down and where to dress yourself up, this is some fine and useful information.

Me, I might do what I did last year, which was simply head down to Civic Plaza after the parade with an “Okay, now what?” expression on my face. That led to seeing some lovely people, getting a little tongue from one of the Sisters, buying a couple sarongs, encountering a tranny superhero or two (“Storm! You’ve got no tits! …And you’re white”), and just being in awe at how many fellow queer people can be in one place at one time. Before that, I’m gonna try the rock at Thursday Night Live at the Eagle. Have you seen the decor there? It’s like Gay Bennigan’s. And I mean that in a nicest way possible.