For those who missed their High School Prom, because they weren’t asked or they couldn’t find the courage to ask, here is a second chance. On June 6th local Bay Area radio station STAR 101.3 is waving the proverbial magic wand and giving them a second chance.

Rick Springfield will be at there to sing, undoubtedly “Jessie’s Girl”.

Date: 6/10/2006

Location:
Parkside Hall

San Jose, Ca.

Tickets: $35
Time: 7:00pm – 12:00am
Information: 1-877-77-CLICK (25425) or www.star1013fm.com
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Al Gore’s documentary about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, opens this Friday here in the Bay Area.

From Moveon.org:

“”An Inconvenient Truth,” is a true story about the hard science and real threats of global warming and it’s told by one of the most inspiring and passionate advocates for change–Al Gore. How the movie does on opening weekend in your town will decide how the movie is received in the press and possibly how many other cities get to see it….

Plus, Paramount even agreed to donate 5% of ALL box office receipts for An Inconvenient Truth to the Alliance for Climate Protection. So we’ll get to see a great movie and donate to an important cause at the same time.”

The film is showing in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, and Mill Valley, as well as San Jose and Palo Alto.

I plan on seeing it in San Jose at Santana Row on Saturday.

One aspect of city life that continually amuses me occurs when I come across a laundromat that at least slightly goes out of the way to add some flair to such a mundane task. Most of these spaces still possess the sterile overly-used charm of a bus station, but at least the owners sometimes get sassy with the names. Bad puns often abound. In a display of just how much free time I have on my hands, I recently walked about several neighborhoods and took photos of the more kicky laundromats to be found here in SF. I start in my own immediate ‘hood, with the rather confrontationally titled example featured above. If anyone out there knows of additional examples worthy of inclusion, definitely let me know. (Alas, “As the Suds Turn” up by 18th & Collingwood recently had its series finale and has dramatically closed its doors for good.)

The latest dealth toll for the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck on Saturday in Indonesia is now 5700 people. In addition, 200,000 people have lost their homes. And I just found out about it today, making me feel like an out-of-touch American.

You can make a donation to help the people of Indonesia by going to the Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies.

This is also yet another reminder that I am not at all prepared for an earthquake here at home. Lots of information about earthquakes and how to prepare for them is available in the USGS handbook. I have moved my earthquake-preparedness to-dos to a little higher on my priority list. I don’t yet have a disaster kit. The USGS recommends that you always have the following within easy reach:

• Medications and medical consent forms for dependents.
• First aid kit and handbook.
• Spare eyeglasses and personal hygiene supplies.
• Bottled water.
• Whistle (to alert rescuers to your location).
• Emergency cash.
• List of emergency contact phone numbers.
• Snack foods high in calories.
• Emergency lighting.
• Comfort items, such as games, crayons, writing materials, and teddy bears.

Has anybody — like a designer — looked at the SF Weekly’s home page lately? Have they ever looked at it? It’s chock-full of ads, a huge gray masthead (gray??) and the worst kind of internal navigation devices: oversized labelled buttons.
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Friend is trapped in the hospital without her Internet connection. I’m like a chicken running around with its head cut off. Got a friend to donate a powerbook to her for her stay, but upon arrival we found no wireless networks. Not to be thwarted: checked with the adminstration there, and no, there is “absolutely” no WWW hook-up. I thought they protested too much. Next visit, I come with the powerbook and a phone cord. No dial tone- we narrow it down through thorough unit and system testing to the powerbook’s modem card. Owner of powerbook is unreachable. Another visitor tries to get her work Treo to access more than just her work account. PDAs are swapped about, we talk about getting her AWOL to an internet cafe. It’s all a madcap caper. I can’t believe, in downtown SF (well, the Castro) that we are having this under-connected moment. I feel like I’m at WineCamp. My next mission is to get patients to be able to research doctor’s gobbleygook online before and after consultations.

If you use the Bay Bridge you may want to study this PLANNED for JUNE 2nd-5th and 9th-12th

Ok, I hear you: half of you are groaning and the other half are humming the theme song to the wonderfully cheesy 80s TV show.

I loved watching Full House back in the 80s, but come on, I was eight. The fact that it was supposed to take place in San Francisco certainly had something to do with it. As a kid, I grew up in Spokane, WA, but I always felt special because I was born in San Francisco. And here was this show that showed three girls growing up in this idyllic city. Every week, I watched the opening credits of the show,which shows the Painted Ladies and Alamo Square, implying that that was where the family lived.

My friend recently moved a few blocks away from Alamo Square and told me that I should check it out. But like any other local (which I now call myself since I have lived in the South Bay for almost 5 years), I never made it to this tourist spot. This weekend, I finally stopped by on the way to drop off my friend. We jumped out and took a few pictures before the sun went down. And the whole time, I admit, I couldn’t get the Full House theme song out of my head.

What other classic San Francisco activities do us locals never get around to doing, but really should?

… by the corner of Mission & 6th… Sometimes it’s just too early in the day to be forced to ‘think’…

Went on the Saturday volunteer day for first-timers and it was a really great way to connect with other Bay Area people interested in helping out. We worked on preparing a sidewalk for paving in front of four new houses, in land bought from BART.
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