Today’s trivia question:

Q: Which one of the following is San Francisco’s “Sister City”?

Paris
Haifa
or
Zurich

A: actually, all of them are SF’s Sister Cities. Along with

Abijan, The Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire)
Assisi, Italy
Cork, Ireland
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Manila, Philippines
Osaka, Japan
Seoul, Korea
Shanghai, China
Sydney, Australia
Taipei, Taiwan
Thessaloniki, Greece

The days of the live piano player at Nordstrom may be coming to an end. The 152 store chain will decide on a store by store basis, but look for the ivory ticklers to begin exiting early next year. The decision is based partially on finances, but Nordies claims that most shoppers prefer canned tunes as opposed to live piano music, which I find very hard to believe.

If you live in the South Bay, Leiter’s Pharmacy at 1700 Park Avenue in San Jose is accepting unused or expired prescriptions, which they will then dispose of properly.  Why? A few years ago a  US Geological Survey revealed that of the 139 streams they tested, 80 percent were contaminated with acetaminophen, steroids, hormones, codeine, antibiotics, and ibuprofen, along with other expired glop. That’s what happens when we flush this stuff down the john, or add to landfills.

Guess who’s leaving the Food Network?
Bam!
Emeril.
Gone!

The Food Network couldn’t come up with the kind of, um, dough for which Mr. Lagasse was asking, so “Emeril Live” will be closing down production after the December 11th taping. Not to worry. There are enough episodes in the can for reheating for years to come. The food puns stop now.

I love this time of year, so many emotions, so many memories, so much to see and do, that you have to have selective family tradtions. (just so you don’t drive yourself crazy!)  One of my favorite things to do with the family is to drive around the neighborhood and check out our competition!  I’m talking about Christmas lights!  

You’ve got to check out  “Lights of the Valley”

I’m hoping you are sharing this day with family and friends, and remembering the true meaning of this holiday…giving thanks.

In the spirit of gratitude here’s the information I promised you from earlier today!

If you’d like to send gifts to our troops overseas, the American Legion out of San Mateo is accepting your donations – cash is always welcome, but if you’d like to drop off cotton socks, jerky, books – of any sort, and goodies they will happily send out your contributions.

American Legion
130 South Blvd.
San Mateo, CA
650 345 7388

And here’s some good news. Just in time too! Many Bay Area beaches that were closed because of the glop released into the bay by that container ship after it hit the Bay Bridge, will re-open this weekend.

By the way, if you want to help clean up the oil from some of the beaches that are still in trouble, you need to be properly trained.  The city of Berkeley will hold a training session tomorrow (11/17) at the Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 Sixth Street 8a-1p. Space is limited to 80 volunteers.

Answer to todays trivia question:  Celine Dion is the youngest of 14 children.

Bay Area food banks could always use our help – especially this time of year. The San Francisco Food Bank is about 800 turkeys short of its Thanksgiving goal of 15 hundred. The Alameda County Community Food Bank needs about 600 more birds. The Second Harvest Food Bank, serving Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties is also coming up short. Produce and canned good are also needed.

Muni’s going to give a double-decker bus a test drive over some of The City’s busier transit routes. If the test works, the transit system will put more double-deckers to work. Of obvious concern is how the 14 foot tall bus will squeeze through the many tunnels in San Francisco. Not to worry. The Stockton tunnel, for example has 19 feet of clearance. I looked it up so you could rest easy,  and have a worry-free weekend. Please do that.

Here we are, November 13, 2007.  Right on the edge – 9 days from Thanksgiving, and 42 days away from the Big one, the day children of all ages get giddy, make promises to anyone who’ll listen that “they’ve been very good this year!”  and drool over the latest toy catalog that came in the Sunday newspaper. 

I’d like to hear from you…how you do it, how you get thru it, and what you look forward to…
…we’re in this – together! 

‘Glad you asked and we’re glad you’re here!

Stuff we talked about on the KOIT More Music Morning Show this AM: 

‘Looking forward to chilly nights this winter in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace at home?  Well you may have to settle for a DVD of that fire. If the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (you know, the folks that brought us Spare the Air Days) has its’ way, it’ll be illegal to use residential fireplaces on nights with poor air quality. They estimate that there may be up to twenty such nights a year. By the way, there are already similar fire bans in Mill Valley, Sacramento County, and parts of the San Joaquin Valley. In fact, last year, neighbor ratted out neighbor in the San Joaquin Valley, where the first fine is 50 bucks. Subsequent fines can go up to a grand. In Mill Valley you’ll get dinged $150 for a first-time violation. In some parts of the state you can skip the fine by attending, and I’m not making this up, a two hour “residential wood-burning compliance school.”  Insert your fave traffic school joke here. Sheesh.

Oh, before I forget, which I’m doing more and more lately, here’s today’s election day trivia question:

Q: What year was the first national election held on the same date in every state?

A: 1848, when old Zach Taylor was elected to the White House.

Heads up: A section of Howard Street in San Francisco will be closed again this year, in order to accommodate another one of Larry Ellison’s little block parties. Howard between Third and Fourth Streets will be closed starting 8p Thursday 11/8, and won’t reopen until 6a on November 17. Oracle’s big OpenWorld conference will already occupy all three halls of the Moscone Complex. Apparently that’s not enough space for the 45,000 people planning to attend, so they’ll need to set up tents on Howard.  Temporary street striping and detour signs will help drivers in the area. The whole thing went pretty smoothly last year, the first year they closed Howard. They’re gestimating that the whole deal will bring in about 80 million dollars into San Francisco.

The beavers of  Martinez are fast becoming a tourist attraction. A clan of  the semiaquatic herbivorous rodents, including two parents, and two youngsters, have become so popular that they’re drawing crowds of school kids to the shores of Alhambra creek to watch the beavers build their dam, which is progressing quite nicely. Perhaps too nicely. Since last winter, the dam has grown from three to six feet in height. The problem: The creek is part of a flood control plan. Nearby homeowners are concerned, and understadably so,  that if the dam isn’t removed, the winter rains might bring flooding to the area. Sure, the quick fix would be to tear down the dam and remove the beavers. But beavers are territorial, so they’d probably be back, and in full construction mode again. The Martinez City Council is mulling over a recommendation to remove the dam and humanely, to steal a favorite Tony Soprano term, “depredate” the critters. I say give the beavers at least a couple of chances to stay away before taking such drastic measures.  As Councilman Mark Ross said “It’s hard to believe that the hometown of John Muir can’t come up with a better way than killing the beavers.” Hear hear.