Update to the dump visit post

My friend and subscriber, John Glenn (Not the astronaut), just reminded me that I should update you all on a fantastic change to the SF recycling rules, since I had published the post about my trip to the dump.

His note today:

Just a quick Public Service Announcement:

Around Earth Day this year, San Francisco expanded their recycling of plastic. You may have previously been carefully sorting good plastic from bad, but no longer!

Plastic bags are still a NO-NO, even if they are "recyclable plastic." Same with Saran wrap. These must be put in the black trash bin. They gum up the machinery.

But any type of RIGID plastic can now go into the blue recycling bin!

Here's a summary chart:

http://www.sunsetscavenger.com/residential/recycling.php?t=r

Ugly site, useful info

While they should definitely win the award for ugliest website, SanFranGasPrices.com does offer us a very useful service - showing listings of your local gas prices and where the stations are. I was happy to see that the stations I usually choose are both the same price, and within realm of being on the cheaper side. And if you really want to drive all the way across town for the cheapest gas, now you'll know where to go, and you can even map it.


They also offer some other interesting tools, like the gas price temperature map - this map shows the distribution of prices across the country - with California being nice and red - the most expensive. I guess there are other reasons why we live here, right?


And there's this chart that shows the price increase over the months or years. Makes me a little sick to realize it wasn't THAT long ago that I was paying $1-something for gas, and now it's gone up a dollar in about 2 months, where it took 2 years to do that between 2002 and 2004! Scary.

Go to the beach!

I just saw this, and thought it looked so cool, that I must share!

Sue Lawty, an artist working with the Victoria and Albert museum in London has created this project that we can all help her out with - it's called the "World Beach Project." The idea is that people from all over the world go to the beach, collect stones, organize them by color, size, etc. and create some sort of drawing with them on the sand. Then the process is photographed by the artist (one photo of the whole beach, one of the work in progress, and one of the final product.) and uploaded to the V&A site for the project and pinpointed on a google map. You can go here to see what people have done all over the world so far. And there's only one submission from the Marin Headlands, so I think SF is prime for an addition!

I think I'm going to make one soon! I'll share my pics when I do it. And hopefully if any of you do, share too! you can add a comment to this post and put your link here for us to see your pics!

Chocolatey treats

I know wine and chocolate often fill these pages, but there's something about it that draws me in... and this time it's Charles Chocolates - and all their events. I saw a listing for their Chocolate making class on Daily Candy today. Which sounded great! Learn from the experts! Why not? But read further down their page, and they're showing chocolate/foodie movies on their porch for the summer months! How sweet is that?

Sounds like a great way to spend a friday night in the East Bay!

From their site:
All movies will start playing at 8:30pm and are FREE to attend!
June 13th: Chocolat (2000). Lasse Hallstrom. USA.
June 27th: Ratatouille (2007). Brad Bird. USA.
July 11th: Like Water for Chocolate (1992). Alfonso Arau. Mexico.
July 25th: Big Night (1996). Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott. USA.
August 8th: Mostly Martha (2001). Sandra Nettlebeck. Germany.
August 22nd: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). Tim Burton. USA.

Geek out with Dad

All our dad's have probably had enough of the typical Dad's day celebrations - golf, naps, us mowing the lawn for them, things like that. This year, why not try something a little out of the norm - and probably most appealing to those dads you've been giving sci-fi books to for his birthday each year - a trip to RoboGames at Fort Mason. As they say on their website:
RoboGames is the world's largest open robot competition (even the Guinness Book of World Records says so!) We invite the best minds from around the world to compete in over 70 different events. Combat robots, walking humanoids, soccer bots, sumo bots, and even androids that do kung-fu. Some robots are autonomous, some are remote controlled - but they're all cool!

Events include Fire-Fighting, Lego Challenge, Sumo Figthing, Bartending, Botsketball, Kung Fu, Weightlifting and more!

A little fun for us graphic designers

Today I had a productive morning, but I'm losing steam. I came across this video and it totally made me laugh.



Now I know where to send pesky clients, because who needs designers anyway? :)

Back on its perch

The Owl Tree - one of those cozy little corner haunts that adds to the texture of San Francsico - was in danger of becoming extinct when its owner passed away earlier this year, but luckily it was saved, supposedly by his son. But some swanky bar types swooped in and transformed it to the yuppie lounge it is now. Following the style of Bourbon and Branch, they're offering fancy cocktails, and the decor was all cleaned up. The tchocky owls were preserved only in small numbers - mostly in a case to honor the prior owner.

So, it may not be the dingy nest it used to be, but it's probably worth a visit, since it's still an institution.

Sketchy 4th Street

I'm back from a trip to Austin for a conference and back to staying up on things here... Yesterday I had a meeting in Berkeley and took a break to go to Fourth Street in Berkeley for lunch, a trip to the book store, and of course a treat at my favorite little ice cream store there - Sketch.

They make soft serve ice cream in all sorts of trendy flavors - my favorites being Burnt Caramel and Earl Grey. Yesterday they had Burnt Caramel with the delightfully tangy Plain Yogurt in the same machine so I could get a swirl cone of that topped with the unexpected olive oil and sea salt I've been hearing so much about... I must say, it was a delicious combo.

I will admit that I miss their hard ice cream that they used to make - nothing beat the Earl Grey ice cream sandwich between their homemade lavender shortbread cookies... Now I just have to get a cookie on the side - not quite the same.

They do make ice cream cakes - I bet those are divine! (and pricy - saving that idea for a very special occasion)

So, when you get tired of the same old-same old at the Ferry Building in SF, head across the bridge to 4th Street in Berkeley for a larger scale version with many more foodie treats. They also have a Napa Style store (I have a secret crush on Michael Chiarello), with a sea salt tasting bar, many great lunch spots, from Betty's Diner to a really good asian noodle place we tried this time. And, of course, you never know the bargains you'll find at the Crate and Barrel outlet there too!

And while I'm at it, I'll share my other secret of 4th Street - located just 2 blocks down on 4th is the Takara Sake factory - makers of Sho Chiku Bai sake that you have most definitely encountered in local restaurants. Here you can visit their tasting room and learn all about their whole range of products - we had a very educational visit, and enjoyed trying it all! And Sake is nowhere near as expensive as wine, so coming home with some bottles is a reasonable option, and it doesn't get fresher than straight off the bottling line!