Oh ladies and gents, I am so ready for the weekend! I have been trying to kick it into gear, so that means working through being tired. Bring on the sleep! I am also looking forward to spending time with the fella, going to Bi-Rite Creamery at least once and getting outside.

Here is a quick list of things to do while not sleeping:

The 2008 Carnival Street Fair is happening in the Mission on Saturday and Sunday. Dance, eat, craft and shop yourself to bliss. Parade on Sunday! :: funcheap SF here and here.

If circle jerks, voyeurism and exhibitionism are your loves in life then you really need to head on over to the Soma on Sunday. The 2008 Masturbate-a-thon will be in full swing for your perverted pleasure. See if you can go the distance and beat last years records, or just cheer on those who are up to the challenge! :: funcheap SF , Masturbate-a-thon

Models, hydraulics, and learning about the bay. Sounds like a perfectly geeky time to me! There will be a guided tour of a 1.5 acre scale hydraulic model of SF Bay & Delta at the Bay Model Visitors Center in Sausalito on Saturday. Features that affect the water flow of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are reproduced, including ship channels, rivers, creeks, sloughs, the canals in the Delta, fills, major wharfs, piers, slips, dikes, bridges, and breakwaters. Cool huh? :: funcheap SF.

Re-live childhood memories of whacking your siblings and friends with cardboard tubes at the Cardboard Tube Fighting League Tournament on Sunday in the Castro. Don your best cardboard Armor, grab your water bottle and get ready to fight to be the best! :: funcheap SF.

And I will definitely be checking out the Carnival Mechanique: Midway of pedal-powered interactive games in Bayview on Saturday. Paul Cesewski is the current artist in residence at SF Recycling and Disposal (aka “The Dump”) and will be re creating an old-fashioned carnival midway. The exhibition will have the ambiance of a carnival and will feature bicycle-pedal-powered marvels and games of amusement made from found and recycled materials. Hopefully this will be awesome beyond compare. :: funcheap SF, Paul Cesewski

Have a beautiful weekend everyone!!

photograph taken by Jared Zimmerman (the Dreamboat) and used because he loves me and doesn’t mind.

It feels like I haven’t been the the farmers market in forever. As of late the weekends are an ideal time for my immune system to get all out of whack. The Alemany Farmers market is my market of choice, but this isn’t about that. This is about my first market, the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

The Ferry Plaza Farmers Market is lovely with its bayside setting, good food, and its beautifully designed building full of deliciousness, but its also by far the stodgiest of the farmers markets that I have been to.

For me this market just doesn’t have the sense of community that the other markets I’ve been to have. It is very different depending on what part of the market you’re in. The vendors in the front of the Ferry Building don’t really seem all to interested in the people who are there to purchase their wares. They are more concerned with talking to each other, and taking money, than answering questions about the things they are selling. The vendors in the back of the building however, are lovely people! They answer my questions, help me pick out exactly what I am looking for if I need assistance, and they are all around friendly, personable people. I don’t know if they have a lottery for spots, but you would think the people in the front would be chipper seeing they have a better chance of attracting lots of customers.

It’s not all bad though. I do recommend this market if you want to purchase a lot of homemade treats, like honey straws, jams and dried fruits. I also like that each vendor displays a sign saying where in California they’re from and a bit of the history of them and their farm. It’s also beautiful on a sunny day, and when you’re done purchasing healthy things you can go inside and get yummy gelato from Ciao Bella or a beautiful cupcake from Miette. Delish!

The candy store hunt documentation has officially begun!

The dreamboat and I stopped by Sweet on You in Berkeley after swinging by the Berkeley Art Museum. I wasn’t really craving candy, for once, but I wanted to stop in because it was a candy shop I hadn’t been to. Once inside I was slightly overwhelmed. If you are looking for a last minute; or not so last minute I suppose, gift for a youngster or someone seriously into plushies, this is oh so the place for you to go. You walk in and its stuffed animals and Beanie Babies galore. It took me a moment to notice the candy, but once I did it was on.

Behind the counter resides all the goodness you would expect from a candy shop; rows of wooden shelves are adorned with glass jars full of colorful gummies, gum drops and other delicious treats. A glass case near the front of the store was home to what seemed to be homemade candies. Caramel turtles, chocolate covered cherries, and peanut butter cups with sprinkles sit, just waiting for you to take one of them home.

We decided to both get one “homemade” thing. The dreamboat got the peanut butter cup, and he said he was slightly disturbed by it. It seemed to be made with organic or good quality peanut butter, which is ace, but it tends to separate when its been sitting. The cup was oozing with oil and the chocolate itself was a bit waxy. I settled on the chocolate covered cherries, and was totally disappointed when they were lifeless boring maraschinos. Cute, but not really punchy in the sweets department (or worth a buck fifty).

Overall I think its a good shop to visit if you just want to kill a craving for something sweet, pick up “normal” candy and a stuffie for a gift, or are with a little one. If you’re looking for great customer service, and candy worth its weight in gold, you should walk on by.

Hooray for moms visiting! My mom has left sunny San Diego to visit her most awesome child here in the Bay Area, and I am quite happy as I haven’t seen her since this time last year. Luckily shes more interested in doing the “local thing” and visiting her favorite SF spots, including Flax Art Supply, El Cafe Tazo and Amoeba Records. I don’t have to work too hard to make sure she has a good time.

Perhaps you have family visiting this weekend, and just don’t know what to do? Here are some things going on in the Bay Area that might do the trick.

If you have little ones to entertain why not take them over to the 2008 Cupertino Special Festival arts/crafts/music? There will be several fun things going on including a Soccer Tournament, children’s arts, crafts and music, face painting, bouncy castle and a giant slide to name a few. For the adults there will be various information booths dealing with community, health and nutrition. There will also be food and sweet treats. :: funcheap SF

This Saturday is everyones last chance to go on the Wildflower hike at Coyote-Bear Park in Gilroy this year. It’s been sunny and beautiful in the Bay Area the last few days, so I would recommend heading out and enjoying nature at her best. Don’t forget your sun screen and lots of water! :: funcheap SF

Do you like peg legs, eye patches, a hot wench, arrgs, yo ho hos, and a good bottle of rum? Well then why don’t you head out to the Million Pirate March, happening this Sunday during Bay to Breakers? What could be more fun than a million pirates? :: funcheap SF, Million Pirate March

The first flick of the season for Film Night in the Park is The Wizard of Oz, and it is being shown in wonderful Delores Park here in the Mission on Saturday night. Grab a blanket, picnic basket and your tasty beverage of choice and head on out for good times. I’ve been to a few of these, and they’re always awesome. :: funcheap SF

And lastly

BAY TO BREAKERS happens this Sunday. ‘Nuff said.

Have an amazing and invigorating weekend everyone!

I read in the Gate that Mayor Newsom seems to have a new plan for getting panhandlers off the streets, and it involves collecting change in old parking meters, donating said money to homeless charities, and trying to encourage both tourists and locals not to hand over their nickles, dimes and quarters to panhandlers.

While I have a big heart for the homeless (the dreamboat has seen me shed tears for them and their situation) I understand that they can seem an irritating and thankless bunch, and quite a few of them are. An example of an experience I’ve had with the homeless:

A while back I passed a homeless guy on the corner of 15th and Valencia, and feeling very in the mood to help ran to my local Mexican food place and bought dinner and took it back to where him. He took the food, and then proceeded to ask me a million questions about what it was and whether I had provided him with any booze and he didn’t utter one word of thanks (I had given him with a bottle of water and a Negro Modelo, and while walking away was slightly glad I had forgotten a bottle opener, cause he turned out to be such a prick). The next day he didn’t even recognize who I was when I saw him again and he asked me for money.

I was sour on homeless people for a while, then I got over it. I realized I can’t judge all homeless people cause one was a prick, the same way I don’t judge entire races, genders, or sexualities because of one bad egg.

I still wonder what is the best thing to do though. To give money or not to give money? Many people are crying foul on Mayor Newsom for his latest scheme saying that the city isn’t really addressing the problem because it doesn’t actually get people off the streets. I personally say, hey, at least he has a frickin idea. A lot of people in this city complain about the homeless, yet no one is coming up with any ideas on how to fix it. I know we have a government that’s supposed to make things all hunky dory for us, but as the citizens of San Francisco we also need to take some initiatives. If you have better ideas for fixing the problem, let your fellow citizens hear them. Make info-graphic posters, record podcast, hold meetings, stand on your soap box in the streets, write letters. Write the mayor, hell, run for mayor because if you can help our city with its homeless problem, you can probably fix a lot of things. Change, let’s all hop to it!