Some well-known and lesser-known reasons to visit San Francisco.

Golden Gate Park

A few highlights
Conservatory of Flowers
Since 1879, locals and visitors have marveled at San Francisco's Conservatory of Flowers, the oldest glass-and-wood Victorian greenhouse in the Western Hemisphere and home to more than 10,000 plants from around the globe.

Japanese Tea Garden
Many people's favorite part of the park, this was originally built as part of the sprawling Midwinter Fair. Begun by an Australian in 1894, this intricate and private (depending on the season) complex of paths, ponds and a teahouse features native Japanese and Chinese plants. Also hidden throughout its five acres are beautiful sculptures and bridges. Makato Hagiwara, a Japanese gardener whose family took over the garden from 1895 to 1942, also invented the fortune cookie.

Map of the Park Notice how it ends right across the street from the Pacific Ocean. Very handy after biking/rambling through the park all day. Also, many great picnic spots and photo opportunities.


Japantown & environs

Cherry Blossom Festival April 16-24

Fun shopping for electronic gadgets, anime, video games, Asian art, anything made in Japan. I like to check out the origami papers and pick out some mystery groceries for a picnic later.

Origami Papers new arrivals monthly. 1,000 sheet 3" mini assortment only $3.75. New Books coming in March: Baby-gami (wrapping methods for baby), Naughty Origami .

Also home of San Francisco's Jazzhttp://www.sfgate.com/traveler/guide/sf/neighborhoods/wa.shtml scene:

The Jazz scene on Fillmore began to define the area, with greats like Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday frequently playing clubs in the neighborhood.

Coming Soon:

The Haight, home of hippiedom

The Castro

And many more. That's enough for today though. Check ~Fav Five~ for updates.


BONUS: Handy Street Festival & Seasonal Events Guide

Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter

I love alamedalink! (Parental Advisory: Partial Nudity)

It's actually just some PHP trickery that displays whatever you type into the URL as the last word. But anybody who would like to endorse the site this way, please feel free!

This message brought to you by the alamedalink chamber of boobsterism...uh boosterism!

Yahoo Tests Blend of Blogging, Networking

We heard from people that they have a strong desire to stay close to the people who are important to them, but at the same time they didn't want to feel like they were exposing themselves online," said Julie Herendeen, Yahoo's vice president of network products.

Although many critics continue to dismiss blogs as mostly prosaic rambling, 27 percent of online adults in the United States read them and another 7 percent write them, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Article about the BBC online "Sex ID" test

...a groundbreaking experiment designed by a team of top psychologists to determine one's "brain sex." In sum, whether one thinks like a woman or a man. After 20 minutes of spatial puzzles, word associations and facial-cue quizzes, I received my result: I think like an average woman.

I got the same result. Not sure why, but that surprises me. The test takes 4ever to take, but it's kind of interesting.

In other news, the double-dipping dater [inlink]twisted,169[/inlink] emailed me the proposed lineup for this Friday. He'll have to fend for himself this week since I'll be hanging with (e:j3sse) then.

Progression of a school play:


(My niece front right) Good sport


Fading fast


Get me the HELL out of here!

I can so identify with that.

And...

Dress up at home:


Halloween costume from 2002[inlink]twisted,2[/inlink] lives on.


Now that's fun.

p.s. - speaking of Halloween costume fun, my sister just told me my nephew, inspired by their visit to the weather museum, made his own weather museum using his volcano and tornado costumes, and making a tsunami out of his blue comforter. He also demonstrated earthquake-proof building techniques with his building blocks. She wanted to give me a heads-up on likely costume requests next year, and said he's also developed a fixation on the Titanic. Dear God anything but that.