School’s out, summer is around the corner. It’s time to get out there and do some of that stuff you’ve been putting off for months.

Remember January 1st and that list you made?

A) Get handle on finances
B) Go to the gym
C) Take up a new hobby

Well, no one is going to make you hit that gym any harder, but if you want to pick up a new hobby for a price that won’t hurt your finances, you should try the San Francisco Community Music Center!

CMC offers a sliding scale pay rate and even some work exchange for dedicated students. They offer a wide range of music lessons and even have rental equipment available. And if that wasn’t enough, they even offer VERY cheap practice space rental, WITH pianos!

There are two beautiful locations in the city: Richmond district, and the Mission district. Both are large houses, surrounded by gardens and trees. There are MUNI bus lines within a block of both locations.

After a few weeks paying a fraction of the usual cost for music lessons with talented professionals, you can even take part in a concert.

San Francisco Community Music Center

The PEW Internet project is supporting the Broadband Census, a project that is being overseen by Drew Clark, a telecommunications and technology journalist. The point is to gather as much information about peoples actual upload and download speeds. From home or work.

The census is open to anyone who wants to participate. So get to IT.

According to the government, San Francisco has 10 service providers. Not sure if that’s truly the case, as I can only think of two, Comcast and AT&T, with very different offerings.

Participate in the census so we can truly see how we stack up to other cities and communities in the U.S.

Photo courtesy of Xamad, Creative Commons.

A quick reminder about this afternoons BYOWB, Bring your own Water Balloon. If you are attending and take pics, feel free to send them to us at Metblogs and we are happy to post.

Date: June 11th, 2008 (The Duke’s Birthday)
Time: 6pm
Place: Alamo Square in San Francisco, CA

If you’re siding with the Mexican’s, wear blue shirts.
If you’re siding with the Texans, wear brown shirts.

Send pics to richard AT metblogs DOT com

A couple weeks ago on the MediaBistro site Agency Spy, a blog about the advertising industry, there was a post about a mysterious (to me) booklet published by “an international trends-led publishing, events and consultancy business” called Piers Fawkes. The booklet, PSFK Snapshot, purported to be a sort of guidebook to San Francisco’s most cutting-edge culture, the places to find the real trend-setters, or “influencers,” which I think is the more current term.

Curious, I ordered the book (seen at left). It’s a square booklet about 4 inches on a side, and about 56 pages long. It lists a few cafes, restaurants, art galleries, community events and so on. The list is pretty standard hipster fare: Blue Bottle Coffee, Red Poppy Art House, The Crucible, Maker Faire, Burning Man. In other words, nothing you wouldn’t learn living in San Francisco for one week, or by reading this blog, SFist, and BoingBoing for a month or so.

I got through the whole book in about 90 seconds, and when I was done I understood even less what the book was for. Suppose it is absolutely essential to know that the most snobbish coffee fanatics go to Blue Bottle. If I’m in the advertising industry, what is that knowledge going to get me?

In fact, I was much more interested in the booklet as a product of the Blurb publishing website, where you can upload photos and text and have them print a pretty little book. If I were a photographer, or preparing a booklet for my mother’s 70th birthday or something, it looks like a great service.

more thoughts after the jump

SF indie’s Another Hole in the Head is running from June 5-22, 2008.

The opening night party Thursday, June 5, 9pm, at Annie’s Social Club; features “Thee Merry Widows”, “The Zoopy Show”, “The Undertaker and his pals”.

Free with your “HoleHead” Pass or $5 will also let you see some previews and sip some $3 Redhook all night.

There are movies for everyone playing at the Roxie and Brava Theater, I’m looking forward to “Alone”, a horror movie about cojoined twins, and “Meter Maid Me Massacre”.

“Meter Maid Me Massacre” by Cecil B. Feeder is a locally made movie for anyone who has left their car for two seconds to find a ticket stuck to the windshield. I saw a bit of the DVD, but I’m going to the theater anyway!

Annie’s Social Club
917 Folsom at 5th
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.820.3907

Brava Theater
2781 24th Street
San Francisco , CA 94110
415.820.3907

Roxie Cinema
3117 16th Street
San Francisco , CA 94117
415.820.3907

Another Hole in the Head Information

(Filmmaker Cecil B. Feeder also released another film about everyone’s favorite traveling late night snack stand, the Tamale Lady. If you’ve been out after dark in the Mission, you’ve probably encountered her tasty treats. “Our Lady of Tamale” celebrates the woman behind the tamale.)

I’ve been very curious to find out what was going to happen at 1746 Post since it’s been torn apart… and I’ve discovered quite some news!

Anime, Manga and overall Japanese culture fans will be ecstatic to hear that Viz Pictures (an offshoot of local Anime and Manga publisher Viz Media) is a partner in building a “J-Pop Center” in Japantown! The Center will include a theatre for showing releases from Viz Pictures, Anime and other Japanese features. Also expected are a branch of the already popular Kinokuniya Bookstore, a cafe and some Japanese clothing shops… a one-stop J-Pop shop!

The website for the Viz Cinema does not show a lot of information at the moment, but it does state that it is slated to open in Winter of this year.

Gavin Newsom was walking from bar to bar in the Castro district of San Francisco yesterday urging voters to vote YES on Prop. G. No on Prop. F.

Proponents of Prop. G say it will clean up the shipyard; make new housing, shops and park area available to San Franciscans. They also say the deal with Lennar Corp. to develop the area will not go through if Prop. F is passed.

Opponents of Prop. G say Prop. F will guarantee 50% of all developed housing be affordable to people who already live in the area. The proposed townhouses for the area would start at least $500,000, and be out of reach of the neighborhood families financially.

Whatever you choose, get out and vote on Tuesday!

My wee one and I attended the monthly gathering of the “San Francisco Chihuahua Meetup” on Sunday, June 1st. The meeting takes place regularly on the first Sunday of the month, at Stern Grove. (A change in day is tentative for the next two months while the Stern Grove Festival runs on Sundays)

This was my first visit to the function and I made an entertaining error in parking and location. I have only been to Stern Grove once and did not realize the size of the place!

I parked my Zipcar at the front entrance, grabbed paws and started the descent into the park. At once, I realized, cars can indeed drive down into Stern Grove. Oops! Oh well, I thought, it’s a nice day for a walk. As the long hill wound down, I started thinking, “I may have to extend the car reservation!”

We walked through a little girl’s party, passed a large, old-fashioned house where a graduation party was happening… and then we entered the concert arena. By this time, I’m feeling a little “Alice in Wonderland.”

Two women were in the concert area with their small dogs. We stopped and talked to them, and they pointed us further down the path to where the rest of the small dogs were having their party.

Out of the concert area, I chuckled to myself EVEN MORE as I was greeted by an even LARGER parking lot I didn’t know about, closer to the event I just walked a mile to get to… oh well, nice day for a walk.

We were finally there! And there were just dozens of chihuahuas everywhere, as well as dogs big, medium and small. Winks and I met Bobby, a fluffy mop dog, and a woman who was nice enough to drive us back to the car I had parked miles away. Winks sniffed some butts, got a new shirt and we got the car back to it’s spot in the Castro with 2 minutes to spare!

It was a good day!

Calling all tiny dogs!

Tomorrow, Sunday, June 1st, at Stern Grove in San Francisco, from 12pm to 2pm, you will be able to sniff butts your own size a plenty!

A group of chihuahua-lovers on Meetup.com are holding a gathering of chihuahua’s, mixes and their cousins for all to enjoy.

A new post tomorrow will contain pictures of my own tiny companion enjoying the festivities.

Here are some helpful links:

San Francisco Chihuahua Meetup on Craigslist

Directions to Stern Grove

How many of you have walked it within San Francisco? A good place to start would be The Presidio. Get outside and enjoy the Wilderness… it’s free!