| PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY DAILY REPORTS FROM TYSON WELLS |
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2010 TYSON WELLS A&C SHOW IMPORTANT: Be sure to check out our vendor forum and hear what other's have to say about their shows, etc. |
| February 8. This month we are averaging
almost 200 visitors per day to Starving Vendors.
For today it looks like we shall be ending up with
around 270, which would make this the second-busiest
day ever on the website. Congratulations
people. Our Whiskey Flats review is drawing
quite a lot of people on Google searches. I JUST CHECKED the weather for Quartzsite and saw that temps will be around 75 next week (maybe). Gosh, I could have really used that in January when we were having all that bad weather. No rain today and a bit of sunshine. Starting to show signs of life after getting home on Thursday. Had a craving for a good burrito, so my wife and I drove over to Chipotle in Castro Valley. |
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Who doesn't love a good burrito? Many years ago we had a Burrito Shop about 1 1/2 miles from us here in Hayward but they left the location. One year while doing a 'defunct' craft show in Redwood City, we came across a place in that mall which had excellent burrito's and we went there for many years. Last year, I went to Chipotle in Fremont and found their burrito's to be pretty decent and decided to try the one in Castro Valley which was okay. A bit pricey - $6.10 for the burrito plus $1.25 for guacomole. |
| February 7. SUPER BOWL. Well, I
guess that everybody has their prediction.
Let's go with Colts winning 31-27. Or maybe
38-27. I would probably still take the Colts
with them giving up 4. Bet your grandmother on
it. Millions upon millions of dollars will be
bet on this game and a lot of it on hunches.
Mostly every bettor thinks that they know something
special about the game or consider themselve's
experts on Football. Then of course, there are
those who just bet to make the game more
interesting. I am more interested in watching
The Who perform at halftime. Sunny day here in Hayward. Sitting in my living room and watching the Monk Marathon. Celtics and Orlando then the Super Bowl. THE WHOOOOO? I guess I am going to be wrong about the score? Watched the halftime show. The Who was pretty big 35 year's ago. Supposedly they were not paid for their Super Bowl Performance. To my understanding, none of these half-time performers get paid for their appearances - maybe plane fare home? Here's an article about Towsend and Daltry from the SJ Mercury News. |
| February 6. Early AM. Raining cats
and dogs outside (Hayward). I know people who
were going to do DeAnza College today. Uh uh.
Rained out. Terrible. This part of
Kalifornia is really getting one heck of a lot of
rain. Tahoe has plenty of snow. I
checked Quartzsite and 50 percent chance of rain.
I am so happy that I have left there because I would
get a bit wet packing up. Good luck to
everybody there. SUPER BOWL ODDS. Colts favored by 4 1/2. Even though the Ain'ts have a good shot at it. I'll take the Colts. Click here to see all kinds of odds. Turned out to be a nice day here. No rain since early morning. Great for those doing DeAnza. I checked the weather for next weekend in Kernville (Accuweather.com) and they are not showing any rain or snow. However, Weather Underground does mention rain and/or snow on Friday. Weather.com says showers on Sat. Who knows? Lots of luck, people. Morning temps around 35 degrees. I will not be there. Good show. Lake Havasu (Winterfest) is showing 70/50 percent chance of rain on Sat/Sun. I did that show for 6-7 years but have passed on the previous two. Catching up on American Idol. Recorded all episodes since it started on Jan 12 which is the day I left on my nightmare trip. Yesterday, we had a total of 206 visitors to this website. A lot were looking at my review on Whiskey Flats. We've been averaging around 180 for the past week. Many looking at Ripon, Lake Havasu, Bok Kai in Marysville and of course, the two shows we just finished in Tyson Wells. |
| February 5. Made it home last night.
Long 10-hour drive. The show was terrible and
hardly anybody there. Not going to do any
shows until April. Been raining a lot in
California and I do not trust the weather.
Really do not want to get my merchandise wet.
IT'S AN UGLY LOOKING DAY IN HAYWARD and it looks like it's going to rain any minute. Don't care. On my sofa; got my blanket here and the TV in front of me. I am ready for SNOOZE-TV. Actually, I plan on catching up on American Idol (DVR) as soon as my head stops spinning from the trip. It always takes awhile to 'wind down' after a long drive like that AND to recover from several weeks in hell. NOT DOING ANY SHOWS UNTIL APRIL The weather here in California has been raunchy for the past month and I expect these patterns to continue through Feb and Mar. Hopefully, it will not be very wet in April. I had a ton of rain out in Arizona in mid-January and that is enough to last me a long time. Have to eliminate shows where I do not show a decent profit. I do believe that I am going to eliminate my Oregon trip in July. Economy is bad and I do not expect to make a lot of money there. Will decide within the month. Chance of going up there is about 30 percent. I like WInchester Bay but when you see both your canopies blowing over in strong winds (70mph), you really don't want to go through the 35-40 mile and hour gusts that they constantly have. Coos County Fair would be okay and if I could line up two other good fairs, I would consider. However, nothing excites me right now and I am through pounding my head up against the wall with these shows. I do not wish to take any chances. I AM TAKING MY VERIZON WIRELESS INTERNET CONNECTION ($129) back to Best Buy. It failed me for four days out in Arizona and was quite frustrating to deal with. The actual service (500mb for $50/mo) is not reasonable and I do not recommend it if you are a heavy internet user and need to upload/download large files or a large number of images. Not satisfied. In this day and age, for $50 for 500mb is a king's ransom to pay for service. Should be more than a gig or unlimited. FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY WE ARE AVERAGING AROUND 180 visitors per day at Starving Vendors and I expect that number to increase because a lot of people are searching for Lake Havasu Winterfest, Whiskey Flat Days and Ripon Almond Blossom Festival. My reviews of those shows rank very high on Google. And of course, we do have a number of people who have been following the Sell-a-Rama and the A&C Show in Tyson. BTW if you are looking for me, I have left and my space will probably be empty unless homesteaders have settled on my property and are trying to sell. SAY IT AINT'S SO. The state of Kalifornia is considering soliciting advertising for it's 708 electronic message boards. Uh uh. How many people slow down and are distracted by those boards already. You know, a lot of us do look at those message boards for road and traffic information. So now you would be slowing down during the advertisement waiting to see the info. A potential mess and probable disaster. I know the state needs money, but......? HOWARD STERN TO TAKE COWELL'S PLACE ON AMERICAN IDOL? AI producers are attempting to convince the shock-jock to come over. I think that would be great but they are having a difficult time in doing so. Read here. MY FIRST 'OFFICIAL ACT' today was returning my Verizon VZ Wireless Connection to Best Buy. Got my refund. End of story. End of that nightmare. Life must go on, but not with that. 500mb for $50. NO!! |
| H |
 |
I DROVE PAST HOME DEPOT AT
4:00PM and there were 4-5 of them at each of the two
entrances. Perhaps looking for night-work? I found this shot on the internet and have no idea who took it. This is in front of a Home Depot. I guess it demonstrates the mentality level of some of these people. Honestly now. Are you going to take these crotch-grabbing, middle-finger raising lowlifes home to work on your deck or kitchen? NO WAY JOSE. |
| February 4. It's early morning. I am probably going to pack up this morning and head home. This whole trip has been so frustrating and I have reached the point where I just need to go home and take a 'vacation' from all these shows. I have put in so much effort and hard work and I am getting very little in return. I probably won't do any more until at least April and if I find something else that provides income for me, so be it. I don't even feel like I want to look at any more craft shows or festivals any more. This is a trip that I wish I never made and I am sick and tired of struggling through each and every week/weekend like this. Been quite stressful and I just want to spend time with my family. Have you ever heard the expression 'Don't get your dauber down'? Well, my dauber is really down and I just think that I want to drop out of sight for awhile and get away from everything right now. You can only bang your head against the brick wall so many times. I know that many people have enjoyed reading about these events but it just really isn't fun anymore doing them. My wife has been sick since September and it's been really tough doing all these shows without her. These shows were all something we did together and to tell you the truth, it's just no longer fun anymore. Over the months, my body has taken enormous wear and tear and I think that it's time to step away from much of this and possibly pursue a different trip down another avenue of life. Maybe after a couple months I might feel differently but there is no rainbow in the horizon and there is no pot of gold. |
| February 3. Good sleep but woke up early. Didn't hear any rain last night/this morning. Wonderful. Chance of rain today down to 10-20 percent. Been looking at weather reports for Whiskey Flats on Feb 12-15 and it could be a little wet there for people. It's a great show for visitors and the people come. Not sure if they will spend though. This is my worst year ever here in Tyson and I have a feeling it's a sign of the times that we are going through. Mostly retirees and snowbirds out here and a different crowd that you will see in Kernville. I wasn't there last year but it snowed. Couple years ago temps got down around 27 degrees. |
| February 2. Ground Hog Day. Walked
out in front of my canopy and didn't see anybody so
I knew it was going to be a lousy day. Small
crowd today and poor sales again. Just nobody
around. WE HAD OVER 5,000 visitor's to Starving Vendor's during the month of January. In October, we had over 5,200 to the site. Fantastic. I do believe that we might hit 5500 in February. Loads of people checking out Havasu, Whiskey Flats and Ripon. Great review for Ripon. Make sure you take heed of my advice. I would not recommend doing it. If it's windy, you had better get yourself tied down. |
| February 1. Very slow day here in Tyson
Wells. Only had a couple sales and other
vendors did equally (or worse) as bad. Few
people here on a typically slow day. GROUND HOG DAY is coming up tomorrow. Will we awaken with customers walking the aisles? If not, we can expect 6 more days of harsh sales. HAVE CHECKED THE WEATHER FORECASTS on several websites and am showing huge differences in upcoming weather conditions. Rain? Maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. I don't know. Will most definitely be taking precautions and get stuff off the ground and out of dripping areas. |
| January 31. Well, one
month down and it was a rough one. Can't deal
with many months like this one. Bad weather
all over the place and excruciatingly slow sales. Not a good day. The Celtics lost to the Laker's by one point. They have been struggling and I think that they have dropped to around the 4th or 5th best team in the NBA. Facing reality. SALES WERE VERY SLOW TODAY. Less people than yesterday but that was expected. Not too many vendors making any money. Tough. LOST MY VERIZON CONNECTION THREE TIMES TODAY. Was able to get back on with no delay or BS. However, this baby is going back to Notso Best Buy a couple days after I get home. No questions asked. |
| January 30. I have been watching the
Australian Open (tennis) and have noticed how
unnaturally large Serena Williams' arms are.
They don't have steroids testing in tennis?
Damm. Totally ridiculous. Go ahead and
try to tell me that she is not on steroids.
When is all this garbage going to end!!! There is a likelihood of showers over next weekend and a good probability on Monday, February 8. I do believe that I shall start packing on Thursday removing the slower-non-selling merchandise and then pull down everything on Saturday and be out of here just at the crack of dawn on Sunday. Perhaps 7:15. Probably get home around 6:00pm? This has been a rough 2 1/2 weeks here so far. Only a couple nice days weather-wise and poor, disappointing sales throughout both shows. |
| January 29. Looks like another nice day
here in Tyson Wells. However, we are now
showing rain for next weekend (Jan 5-7) and if that
report is still saying rain, then I will probably
leave on Thursday. I want no part of it. STARVING VENDOR'S NEWSLETTER was sent out this morning. If you are not on our mailing list or a member of Vendor News (forum) then click on this link and I will be sure that you recieve one. IT WAS A VERY SLOW PAINSTAKING DAY. Two sales is all I got. Cheap people just looking for junk and dollar stuff. This was Friday-Opening Day for the show and super slow for most of us. No money. Not funny. Weather was nice and sunny with temps in the mid 60's. MY INTERNET SERVICE STILL SUCKS. Has gone off twice in the past 30 minutes. Not good at all. Need something a lot more reliable than this. CLIFFSIDE APARTMENTS ON ESPLANADE IN PACIFICA are still standing. They are still trying to save them but I just don't think that you can stop mother nature when she is trying to claim the area. It's going to go. Don't know when but it's going to go and the ocean will continue to tear away the cliff area. |
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January 28. Heard some
raindrops around 4:00am this morning. Nothing
much. Checked Accuweather and no rain forecast
for today or for the next 11 days. Finally was able to use my Verizon internet service. Apparently, they fixed the problem or whatever. My friend has the same thing and his never went out. I have lost faith in this thing. Was a rather slow day for sales but the show does not open until Friday. They did have a good number of people browsing up and down the 8 rows of this event ROUND BALL. I turned on the second half of the Celtics-Magic game last night and stretched myself across my sofa bed. Saw Ray Allen pop in a couple three's and the C's were up. Next thing you know, it's half-time of the following game. I had closed my eyes for just a second and dozed away. Darnit. I was pretty tired, I guess. Celtics ended up losing. They are not going anywhere this year. Finals could be Lakers-Cavalier's. Who knows. |
| January 27. I am still having problems
with the Verizon wireless internet. Can not
get a connection. They said that they are
having problems in Arizona but that has been going
on for several days now. I had reception for
awhile. I just think that this is an inferior
product and you should not depend on it. It is
frustrating. People, do not buy this product.
Unreliable. ON THIS DAY in 1970, I entered the US NAVY. I went on a train to Philadelphia from Trenton, NJ where I joined a large group of other guys and we all hopped on a train bound for the Naval Training Center in Illinois. The ride took about 16 hours and I actually had a decent berthing compartment all to myself. When we arrived there, there was a huge amount of snow on the ground but it was sunny. IF YOU SEE THAT MY UPDATES ARE RECENT then I was able to find an alternate internet service around here and does not necessarily mean that my service is working. |
| January 26. Having Internet problems with
the Verizon service. I think that I am going
to take it back when I get home because I am
dissatisfied with it. It can get very
frustrating at times. 7:00pm: able to
connect. Don't need these kind of
aggravations. SETUP DAY over in space P24. Began unloading around 8:00am and my friend Al, dropped by around 9:00 and assisted me in getting my gridwork up and my buckets and sacks out of the motor home. Excellent. I really appreciate the help. |
| January 24. Final day of the
Sell-a-Rama. Poor sales. Good amount
of people but not buying. Spent all day
shuffling things between my motor home parked in
back of my sapce. Sun-dried loads of clothing
today. Half an hour in the sun and they were
dry. Take the clothes down and pack them up
and put more clothes up. Busy day. Worst
sales I have ever had here and I am sure that a lot
of vendors can say the same. VERY NICE WEATHER with temps in the mid-60's and plenty of sun. HAD A NUMBER OF BAD HAIR DAY EPISODES. My Verizon Wireless $139 was not working today and I can't figure out how to get customer service. I call the number they give me and they don't have a menu item for the WiFi. Frustrating. I logged onto one of the $4.95 local services and it wasn't bad today. Faster than Verizon. I have a money back guarantee on the device and will return it for a refund when I get home after Feb 8. MY DIRECTV SATELLITE DISH has been inoperative and I just can get it working. I was able to tinker with it today and still have problems. Can't get a signal. Thought that there was a wire loose, but Tony climbed up on my roof and checked and it looked okay. BAY AREA WEATHER REPORTS. Checked the forecast and saw more rain headed that way. Wow. Looks like a rough winter. |
| January 23. No more rain. Sunny with
temps in the low 60's today. Not bad.
Cold morning though. I have updated the daily
log for
Tyson Wells and we are current on that. I
didn't add new pictures yet, but if you haven't seen
pictures of what 71 mile-an-hour winds can do to our
booths then
click here to see the disaster. Be sure to read the part about the idiot who tried to drive through a flooded street just 100 yards from here. Stupid is, stupid was. Sales were awfully slow today and way down from last year. Fewer people walking around this place. I'm way way down from last year. Will have two booth up and open for the A&C Show here which starts next Friday. JUST CHECKED THE WEATHER REPORTS for Hayward. Looks like more rain. Been following the stories about the apartment buildings over on Esplanade in Pacifica which are in danger of falling into the ocean. Hate to say this, but I don't really think that you are going to stop Mother Nature from doing her thing. Our coastline will continue to erode no matter how we attempt to stop it's progress. Sorry. Maybe one day San Mateo, Burlingame and San Jose will be coastal cities? Not in the near future, but many many years away. OH GOSH. Each night I check the news on KTVU.com which is located in Oakland. Just read about the shooting in front of Kohl's in Southland Mall in Hayward, just two miles from my house. Wow. I think that there was a shooting over there a couple months ago. Lot's of riff raff frequenting the mall area. Not good. Been getting a craving for a good pizza lately. For sure there is nothing good around here. Where ya gonna go? Coyote Pizza and sandwiches? Now in a location near you. WOW. I AM RICH. I just got this email and I am laughing my head off. Check it out. Dear, I am David Chong, Attorney at law. A deceased client of mine, that shares the same last name as yours,who lost his life alongside his wife and only child in (Beirut-bound charter jet) plane crash on the Monday, 9 January 2006, 12:12GMT.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4594104.stm Prior to the Death of my Late Client. I have contacted you to assist in distributing the money left behind by my client(S$11,300,000.00 Million) is lodged in the bank. Regards Barrister David Chong |
| January 22. I woke up at 1:30 and I was
shivering. Went over and turned the heater up
higher and grabbed another blanket. My usual
quilt was beneath me covering up my wet sofa bed
where quite a number of wet items had been placed
earlier. I checked my shoes and they were
still quite wet so I placed them directly in front
of the heater outflow where the warm air would dry
them up. Have got around 6 hours left before I
go out and access the damage to the canopies which
are laying on the ground. Be sure to read my
daily log of the Tyson Wells Disaster-rama
Will try to update it as the day goes on with a
blow-by-blow description of the day's events.
I have updated yesterday's events. 7:25am. Now getting light out here. Preparing to walk around here and see what other damage happened and access the damage to my canopy and determine if I can put together something that will be useable for Saturday and Sunday. Also for the next show. OPENED FOR BUSINESS BY NOON. Was able to fix a canopy with parts from another. Will stick around for the end of this show and will be in space P-24 for the A&C Show. THE WEATHER IS LOOKING FINE THROUGH FEB 5. However, how the heck can you trust these reports? |
| January 21. Big mess over here in Tyson.
Rain. 60mph winds. Some canopies
damaged. Many spaces have several inches of
water and more coming. Raining like hell over
here. Can only sit and watch. Check out
my 'daily log' just to the left here. Worst
weather I have ever encountered in 17 years of doing
shows. At 5:00pm we returned from dinner over in Quartzsite. I pulled the motor home alongside my space and I noticed that my front cover was open. Hopped out and began to tie it up. A huge 60 mph gust comes up and blows my two canopies over and everything is laying on the ground. I look up and I see another 30 foot canopy going airborn and heading in my direction as it landed on top of my canopy and dangled from the top of a motor home. Click here to see more pictures of the disaster.  |
| January 20. Turned out to be a decent day
with no rain and some wind and then cloudiness
during the afternoon. Smaller crowd today and
low sales. Fizzled out after noon-time.
Predicting rain later tonight and tomorrow with gusts reach 55mph during the afternoon. That is pretty strong and I hope that we do not see any flying canopies. GAS PRICES. Paid $2.69 yesterday in Ehrenburg (AZ) yesterday; same price as Love's over here in Tyson. Checked the price at COSTCO in Hayward and it's at $2.85, down 6 cents from early last week when I left. |
| January 19. Bright and sunny in the
morning; ugly wet and windy during the late
afternoon. Just about everybody closed up by
4:00 by the oncoming weather. We went to
Flying J Truck Stop for their buffet in Ehrenburg.
On the way back, it was very windy and we saw huge
puddles on the ground. Must have rained like a
bat out of hell; cats, chickens, ostriches.......
a lot. Had flooding around and in my booth
(stopped raining) and had part of my back canopy
sagging dramatically. Had to push a lot of
water of the top. Nice and calm right now
(9:15pm). BIG STORM COMING ON THURSDAY. Need to really prepare for this one. A 100 percent chance of rain at night and extremely bad weather during the day. Downpours. Ya know what that means. We are going to get wet. |
| January 18. Was awakened by the rain
around midnight and then again around 4:00am.
Each only last 10-15 minutes which isn't bad since
it will not accumulate on the roof of my canopy
causing it to sag and also will not flood (yet).
However, a steady rain of 8-10 hours will cause a
bit of flooding and accumulated puddes inside the
booth. This was our 10 percent chance of rain.
I wonder what will happened as the week goes on with
the reports of 50 to 80 percent. TURN OFF YOUR GENERATOR PEOPLE. Somebody about 70 yards from me has their generator running and it is 4:21am. Come on people; give us a break. What the hell can you be doing at 4:00 in the morning - getting ready to go fishing? IT WAS A WET MORNING with occasional showers but they tapered off by noontime and we were able to salvage the remainder of the day. Strong winds through a good part of the afternoon. More rain and winds on the way. Spending the night closer to my space and besides I don't want to get stuck in the mud out in the BLM, etc. I don't think you could but if we have a torrential downpour I would be able to walk over to my booth and make sure all is okay. We are going to have showers throughout the week. Looks like a lot of close-open, close-open, etc. MY BIGGEST worries about these rains are rain accumulating on top of my canopy causing it to sag and collect more rain water. I am trying to prevent this by propping up four sides of my older, worn-out, sagging canopy to strategically taking these fiberglass ATV-Flagpoles and bending them to create an arc which pushes the canopy top upward to enable the rain to flow off. Secondly, if it rains for a long period of time, the puddles that form on the ground will turn into one huge 2-3 inch lake. My booth tends to have large accumulations of water. BTW it is 8:54pm and I can hear the raindrops on top of my motor home and it is not raining lightly. If it continues, I plan on going out in a couple hours to make necessary adjustments on my canopy; namely push any excess water off the top areas. ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE WEATHER in the Bay Area for the next several days. Nice to just sit at home and relax. However, out here in Tyson, it's pretty hard dealing with this rain we are having |
| January 17. 10:00pm report from Tyson Wells.
It is now raining. oh ohhhh. Not
good at all. Coming down pretty hard, I must
say. Sales still down for us and many other vendors here at Tyson Wells. I think that they are going to lose quite a number of vendors. There were quite a number of empty spaces here yesterday, but they have been suddenly taken up by new vendors. Perhaps Homesteaders? I don't know. WEATHER was nice today but apparently the rains might still be coming. However, upon checking three different forecasts, it might not be such a sure thing that it looked like a few days ago. Let's hope for the best. I WILL be battening down the hatches on Monday. Be sure to read my review and daily log for the Tyson Wells Sell-a-Rama RIPON ALMOND BLOSSOM FESTIVAL. Just posted my latest thoughts on this festival. Read all about it. It's a bad show and I do not recommend it for anybody. |
| January 16. Hopefully
today will be better. Weather shall be okay
with temps around 70 degrees. Checked Weather
Underground and we now have an 80 percent chance of
rain Tuesday through Thursday, This does not
look good. This looks like a big ass storm
rolling in. I have checked the forecasts from
Los Angeles to Phoenix and there is rain everywhere.
Sometimes these storms have a way of skirting around
the area. How I wish. I think that we
are going to get soaked out here and we will
probably have several inches of standing water
around the place. I have my computer running on battery power this morning and it just doesn't get charged up like it used to. When it was new, I could 3-4 hours use out of it. Now, I'm only getting a little over an hour's use with a full charge. GLOOM AND DOOM? Even though we have been selling for two day's here, things don't look very good here. Today is a big day the way I look at it. Usually the best day for sales in this event. Will this day be considered a barometer and indicator of how sales might conceivable go throught much of the year? ANOTHER RATHER SLOW DAY AT THE O.K. CORRAL. Rough, very rough. Sales were extremely slow until around 3:00 and I had a decent hour or so of sales. This is Saturday, supposedly the best day of the show. I don't know man. If this turns out to be my best day, than I am in deep shit. People just not buying. Go ahead read my daily log on the Sell-a-Rama. See the link off to the left side and check things out. |
| Jan 15. Friday the 15th?
Does that mean it's payday for some people.
Don't know if they will spend it.
Mostly retirees around here so I guess their
annuities are deposted around the first of
the month. Just come people.
Come on down to Space X19 at the Tyson Wells
Sell-a-Rama. WEATHER. Sitting in the parking lot in back of the show. Low's in the 40s this morning which is not bad at all. Last year it was down to 29 degrees. I can see the flags blowing in the wind and that is not a good sign. Another windy day. ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS DAY HERE. Large crowd but they just weren't buying. Went from 12:30pm to 5:00 without a sale. What the hell can you do? Beautiful weather and the winds died down. ON THE HOMEFRONT (Bay Area), it looks like plenty of rain for the next week or so. Good luck people. |
| Jan 14. Early am in Tyson:
Winds have subsided. They will pick up later
in the day. STARVING VENDORS RECORD. On Tuesday, we received a record number of visitors to this website - 352. Thank you very much. Just want to remind all you people out there to drop by the forum and see what's cooking. You'll love to hear what other's have to say about their shows. http://davejs.proboards.com/index.cgi SURE ENOUGH..... The winds did pick up again. I guess around 30mph for a good part of the day. Just sat there watching the canopy shaking. Made sure that I had my grids perpendicular to stop it from swaying. Don't want to see it collapse again like it did in Pacifica. That would be disastrous. Good amount of people today. Some sales in the morning; not much between noon and 2:30. A few more sales mid-afternoon. Good sales for the day before the event opens. However, a lot of vendors have not returned from last year. Must have been pretty bad for them. Needless to say; Never give up. I know things are hard; life gets frustrating (especially with Obama as president). BEEN PAYING ATTENTION to news reports of the b ig earthquake in Haiti. Original reports of 200,000 people dying. Today they adjusted that figure to 50,000 which is still quite a huge number of people. May they rest in peace and I hope the survivors get loads of help in dealing with this disaster. |
| Jan 13. Live From Tyson
Wells. The Eagle has landed. Arrived on
scene yesterday afternoon at 1445. Nice,
smooth 600-mile trip. Got my canopy and grids
set-up with the help of my good friend and neighbor,
Tony. Tossed all my sacks and buckets with my
merchandise inside. Mission accomplished.
Read my blow-by-blow description of the
Sell-a-Rama. Daily updates. Took care of business around town and returned to our space around 10:30 and continued setting up. Lots of work. Hope to be finished by mid-day Thursday. Very windy tonight. Can hear a number of canopies 'flapping' in the wind. I parked for the night in an empty space near my booth. |
| January 11. One day left
to go before leaving. Too scared to check the
weather reports. DA FOG. Been advised to watch out for the fog in the Bakersfield-Buttonwillow area. You've got that right. Expect to be in that area around 7:00am on Tuesday as I head on out to Tyson Wells. So many times I have hit early morning fog out on Highway's 99, 5 and 101 on the way to shows. Back in 1982, I lived in Pacifica on top of the hill. Talk about fog. Wow. I was there for 7 months and only saw about 6 days of sunshine. Believe it or not, I lived on Sunshine Drive. I'd come home from work at night and had to go 5 miles an hour up Hickey Blvd because I could only see 10 feet in front of me. Pea soup!!! Speaking of Pea Soup, Have you been to Anderson's Pea Soup (Gustine and Buellton)? Been to both locations and had their pea soup. It was good, but I thought that the rest of the menu was sort of so-so. Always passed by the one on I-5 on trips down south. Can't miss it. Only stopped there once because I would be 'flying' up or down the highway seldom stopping while other's are zipping by at 90+ MPH. Speaking of 'zip' I used to work for the post office, but I won't go into that part of my life. WEATHER UNDERGROUND is now the official weather site of choice for Starving Vendor's. Too much rain predicted on Accuweather. I don't like their forecasts. Weather.com is somewhat okay. Maybe 10 percent chance of showers on Thursday evening and that's that. Winds at 5mph after midnight. Winds? Tell me something new about Quartzsite weather!!! Almost always a bit breezy. Never fairs. Heard they had a really violent windstorm back in mid-December. They had an earthquake too on December 31. That's what the wind did to somebody's canopy in December. Not mine. If you want to see what happened to my canopy at a show in October, click here and you can read the whole story. Oh what the heck. I'll put in my 'ad' for COSTCO CARAVAN CANOPIES.
|
| January 10. Ugly dismal
day..... just like the Patriots today against
the Ravens. UGLY. Thank you for putting
me (and other Pat's fans) out of our misery.
They were lucky to make the playoffs with that
defense. With Welker out and the Raven's
double-covering Moss, no chance in hell. WEATHER or not you believe it, but I am getting completely contradicting weather reports for Quartzsite next week. Accuweather has rain on the 17th, 19th, etc., with temps in the 50s. Weather.com shows sunny with temps in the low 70s. Go look for yourself. Don't know what the hell to do. Go to a tie-breaker? Oh, all right. Went to the tie-breaker - Weatherunderground.com and their forecast is closer to Weather.com. Only a 10 percent chance of rain on the 19th, etc. No more Accuweather. Checked the weather for Lebec on Weather Underground up on The Grapevine and it looks fine for my passage on Tuesday morning. Patchy fog, that's about it. No snow this time, thank gosh. |
| January 9.
Does not look like the weather is going to cooperate
in Quartzsite. Supposed to turn ugly on
Tuesday, January 19 with some rain. Not good
at all, but this forecast is always changing.
I dunno. We'll see. Don't know till you
get there but you have to always be prepared for
those showers and wind, which can pick up quite a
bit. Got to have those canopies secured.
I have had a huge fifth-wheel next to me the past
couple years but they no longer have the space.
Really nice to have something blocking that wind.
Fortunately, I do have the sun in front of me to
keep things warmer. San Francisco Flight Diverted Due To Unruly Passenger. I don't know about this one. Sounds like over-reaction, but I wasn't there. SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT -- An AirTran flight headed San Francisco Airport on Friday had to be diverted because of an unruly passenger. Military jets scrambled to divert the plane to Colorado Springs, just hours after it had taken off from Atlanta. Over 130 passengers and five crew members were on board flight 39, the ordeal started two hours before the plane was scheduled to land EUREKA!!! Earthquake, 6.5, Hits Near Eureka; Gas Leaks Force 2 Evacuations An earthquake with a magnitude 6.5 occurred Saturday in the Pacific Ocean, 27 miles south of Eureka, CA, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS reported the earthquake at 4:27 p.m. and was felt as far as 400 miles away. |
| January 8. Looks like we
might have
bad weather coming into Quartzsite on
Tuesday, Jan 19. Could be downright ugly.
Cooler and rainy. It'll be time to batten down
those hatches!! Damm. EARTHQUAKES in the Milpitas area. Had a bunch today around the 1.0 mark. You can see the listing here. THIS DAY IN HISTORY. It was on this day in 1974 that my ship, the USS HANCOCK passed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and docked in Alameda and I was a free man after 4 year's in the Navy. I grabbed my seabag and walked down to the Webster Hotel dowtown and on the following day, I found an apartment on the other side of town. While in the service, I was able to visit Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Okinawa, Taiwan and Australia. Having moved from Alameda almost 30 year's ago, I still return to the Naval Base and have lunch there (usually picking up a sandwich from Dimitra's on Park St.) and reminisce about the old days as I am parked alongside the water, just a short distance from the USS Hornet, an old aircraft carrier decommissioned many years ago and is now a popular tourist attraction in the Bay Area. Have been getting sandwiches from Dimitra's since 1975. Still good. JUST ANOTHER EMAIL SCAM. Received this just minutes ago. I don't recall getting any from the Philippines before.
Let me start by introducing myself, I am MRS.
MARIA CRISTINA GAMBOA, REGIONAL AUDITOR OFFICER
BANCO DE ORO UNIVERSAL BANK. I am writing you
this letter based on the latest development at
my bank, which I will like to bring to your
personal edification. I am a top official in
charge of client accounts
in (EQUITABLE PCI BANK) which is now BANCO DE
ORO UNIVERSAL BANK inside the Philippines the
merger was (2007) The merger is part of a
long-term goal of Banco de Oro to become one of
the largest names in the Philippine banking
industry.
Did a Google search on it and you can read the same thing I just received. FILLED UP MY MOTORHOME AT COSTCO for $2.90 per gallon. Needed 30 gallons, so I saved around four bucks. Whoopie. Just saw that Love's is going for $2.65 in Tyson Wells. Better, but 90 cents more than last year at this time. Chevron is going for $3.05 here in Hayward. |
| January 7. Small Quake
rattles South Bay.
MILPITAS --
An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.1
rolled through the South Bay Thursday morning,
jittering nerves but causing little or no damage,
officials said.
click here to read more TV Show 'Trauma' Filming Sniper Scenes In SF. SAN FRANCISCO -- The TV series "Trauma" was filming scenes in San Francisco Thursday involving a sniper targeting uniformed authorities. The NBC fictional series follows a group of paramedics and doctors who save lives under extreme circumstances. Filming of the sniper episode began Thursday and will continue Friday and early next week. Thursday's filming was set to take place between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. near the Palace of Fine Arts, according to the San Francisco Film Commission. IMPORTANT DRIVING TIP: Do not use your cruise control when driving on wet, slippery roads. Click here for explanation. LARGER THAN LIFE. Watching Alabama win the National Championship made me think of the day's when Joe Namath played for them back in the early 60's before signing with the Jets. I was 12 back then and paid attention to the top college teams. In 1964 Number One Alabama lost to #5 Texas in the Sugar Bowl by a score of 21-17. In the final minutes, down by four and facing 4th-and-goal at the Texas 1, Joe Namath (with injured knee) ran a quarterback sneak but was stopped short of the goal. In the Cotton Bowl that year, Arkansas quarterback Fred Marshall drove #2 Arkansas to a touchdown with 4:41 left to beat #6 Nebraska 10-7. Notable members of the 1964 Arkansas team include Jerry Jones, later the billionaire owner of the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL and Jimmy Johson, whom Jones would hire as coach of the Cowboys More on Joe Willie: He was "Broadway Joe", the guy who guaranteed a Super Bowl victory for a three-touchdown underdog New York Jets team (believe what you may about the prediction) -- and then delivered. He was a charismatic presence who became a larger-than-life figure. Click here to read more on him and another article. I love his comment: "I like my Johnnie Walker Red and my women blonde." Here is another great article on Broadway Joe on Drunkard.com. |
| Januaty 6. Only 5 more
days left until I leave for Tyson Wells.
Weather outlook appears pretty good with temps next
week hovering around the 70 degree mark there.
Finally was able to get my generator operating.
Turned out there was a problem with the circuit
board and that was not cheap. Too bad it's
going to cost me nearly $3.00 per gallon to fill up.
Heading for COSTCO soon for the gas. Prices
are raising rapidly. Dammit Obamabodamma. YUMA OLD TOWN JUBILEE starts on Friday. Have done that one before but my sales were going down and wasn't worth to travel 600 miles each way and spend 3 nights in a motel. No more of that. That was fun when we had a good net profit a few year's back but no nowadays. Lettuce Days coming up later this month. Also, there is the Bluegrass Festival in Blythe toward the end of the month. Lake Havasu is next month but they have a full house or it and no more spaces available. |
| January 3. First Bad Hair Day Report of the new year. |
 |
BAD HAIR DAY.
Looked for my cell phone and couldn't find it.
Anybody see it someplace. Checked all over my
house and car and can not locate it. Was hoping
that I left it on, so I called my number.... uh uh
uh. I checked beneath the sofa and found the USB
Connection for my camera which I lost two months ago;
our thermometer; my watch and three crumpled up dollar
bills. No phone though. You always find
things when you aren't looking for them. |
| January 2. Nothing much
doing today. Heard DeAnza FM was pretty slow.
People just looking for the dollah stuff; you know
what the hell I'm talking about. NBA. Celtics managed a win over the Raptor's 103-96. Three starters out. Pierce, KG and Rondo. Wow. Had lost three in a row. Tough. IS THIS REALLY JFK on a boat with naked women frolicking? BELIEVE TIT OR NOT? |
 |
DECEMBER
28--In a colossal screw-up, the gossip web site TMZ
today published a photo purporting to show John F.
Kennedy frolicking on a yacht with a harem of naked
women--except that the image actually appeared as
part of a November 1967 Playboy photo spread, The
Smoking Gun has learned. The TMZ hoax was billed as
an "exclusive" featuring a photo that "could have
altered world events" had it surfaced prior to JFK's
presidential campaign. click to read more |
| January 1. Happy New
Year's people. Sure to watch the hockey game
outside. |
 |
Check out the hockey action on
New Year's day in Fenway Park. The Bruins will
be hosting the Philadelphia Flyers at 10:00am on
NBC. Might be some bad weather moving in before the 3rd period and we might see some snow showers. Should be interesting. Looks like the only good seats are out in 'left field.' |
QUARTZSITE. Just checked out the weather and it looks like we 'might' have temps in the mid-70's by the time the Sell-a-Rama starts. That would be nice and sure to draw a crowd. BANG BANG. NBA players pull guns on one another over gambling debt. How about that!! Washington Wizard teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other during a Christmas Eve locker room argument over a gambling debt, according to The New York Post. Read about it here. |
| December 31. That's it
people. Readership here at Starving Vendors
has been pretty low the past couple weeks because of
the holidays. After all, who is really looking
for shows during the holiday season? As we get
into January, I am certain that visits to the
website will be reaching all-time high levels. SURE ENOUGH. Drove past our local Chevron station and the price was up to $3.01. Boy, was I ever pissed. Gone up 10 cents during the past 5-6 days. COSTCO? That's at $2.79. Just about the cheapest stuff around. The prices last year at this time? About a dollar per gallon less. FOOD MAXX. Unfortunately, I had to do some shopping this afternoon. I really try to stay away from grocery stores before these major holidays, but had no choice. Not enough toilet paper to last into the new year, etc. Got near the checkout line. Helloooooo. First three registers had lines over a dozen people long. So, I bee-bopped over to the other side and found a couple aisles with only 3-4 people in them. Wow people. Where did you get the 'stupid pills' at? When I was approaching the line, an elderly Chinese couple were holding onto each side of a box which they were using to carry their purchases. Looked heavy. Shopping carts were in short supply but man, I sure as hell ain't walking around the store with another person carrying a box. Wow. It was funny because they were moving sideways with the box bumping into people left and right. And we aren't even close to midnight yet, ya know? I am staying home where it is safe, I think. WILD IN THE STREETS. Watching the news and police - many police have arrived on the scene of a shooting on International Blvd in Oakland. Going to be a wild night. Nice to stay home. They are planning on some kind of thing at the Bart Station where Oscar Grant was killed last New Year's Eve. Come on people. You must have something better to do. |
| December 30. Winding it
down. Let's get this year behind us and forget
about it. You know what I mean. It was
rough. I have now gone 6 weeks without a show.
Usually I'll pick up a Flea Market or two in
December but not this year. I just don't have
the right stuff and it's not worth setting up,
especially at Chabot. Tire kickers, etc. GAS PRICES at Chevron went up 4 cents today to $2.97. COSTCO here in Wayward rose a penny to $2.78. I imagine once again we shall be over $3.00 yet again. Thank you Obamabodama. Celtic's drop third in a row. Lose to Phoenix after dropping games to the Warrior's and the Clipper's. Pierce has been out and now Garnett with his knee. Tough road trip. Going to be a long season. FOLSOM STREET FAIRE. Just ran across these pictures of the Folsom Street Faire in San Francisco (2009) |
| December 29. DUMP TIGER.
Investor's have lost 5-12 Billion dollars in stocks
in companies in which Tiger Wood's sponsored.
Wow. Better dump what you have. AT&T,
Gatorade and Nike are the three biggest one's. COSTCO GAS PRICES IN ANCHORAGE, AK. Going for $3.22 up there. $2.77 here in Hayward. Thought it might be cheaper up there. Uh uh uh. Medford, OR $2.63. In Quartzsite AZ it's $2.69. Not good at all. |
| December 28. The year is
winding down. A bit ugly outside....
cloudy and drizzling. Slightly chilly
but not too bad. Supposed to rain off and on
throughout the week. It's winter. It's
California. What else? QUARTZSITE WEATHER. Wow 16 more days. Just checked the weather and we are looking sunny with temps around 70 degrees. Nice start. Hopefully, I won't get caught in a snowstorm like we did a couple years ago heading up over The Grapevine. Rough. Stopped for over three hours and waited it out up there. Loads of trucks, cars AND OUR MOTORHOME sliding all over the place. They have already closed The Grapevine because of snow a couple times this month. http://www.accuweather.com/us/az/quartzsite/85346/forecast-15day.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&zipchg=1&metric=0 GAS PRICES ARE KAREEPING UP AGAIN. COSTCO over on Hesperian is holding steady at $2.77. However, a couple local Chevrons have put in their two cents worth and are now at $2.91. COSTCO will keep their prices lower in order to draw in after-Christmas shoppers. As for me, I don't shop their too often. I just want the gas. I don't think the deals are that great because they force you to buy large quantities of things and I just don't have the money OR the room to stock up. I like the meats, though. I'm 'retired' so I can't afford to spend huge sums of money. After I pay everybody standing in line outside my door, I don't have that much left. You know what I mean. |
| December 26. Rain tonight
and probably tomorrow. Cold nights and
mornings. THE GREAT ESCAPE could be the title of one of my exits from festivals this year. However, in this case I am referring to the movie, which I watched for perhaps the 50th time. Dunno. What else is there to do on a cool Saturday afternoon when you are not at a show and feel lazy. Great movie, of course. I found a link which tells about the filming, which was done in Germany almost 50 years ago. Wow. That was filmed back in the early-60's. Remember then. You could walk safely down the street back then. |
| December 25. Merry
Christmas everybody. Hope we all are enjoying
the holiday's. Had to cut back on spending
this time around. I guess this economy is
tough on everybody. Worried about this $(#*$#
Health Care reform thing. The one's that
already have health plans are the people getting
totally screwed. WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO PAY
FOR THEM NOW!!! Damm. Something is
really wrong with this government when these bills
are passed through Congress along party lines.
The Demcraps are the majority now so they are
passing through some really sour legistration.
You know, they should require a 2/3 majority in each
house, not overall. One thing really wrong
with this country that will never get fixed.
MY CHRISTMAS DREAM. Another dream about a festival. Really crazy. When I got to the event I found that my booth was located next to where they had cows. No idea what the event was. I didn't like it and they wouldn't place me elsewhere. I asked for a refund of my $250 and they wouldn't give it to me. I then walked around the event and found some of my vendor friend's and sat down and chatted with them for about two hours. I knew them but I can't recall who they were. During the entire time 'I was there' not a one of them had any sales. (Boy, does that sound familiar) Matter of fact, nobody even came around. I guess that is my 2009 version of a nightmare. When I woke up there was no money beside me. Hope I don't have any more dreams like that. Second time this month I had one like that. Where's those good ol' sexy dreams at? |
 |
MUSIC. Found a good site for playing online music. Try playlist. They have thousands and thousands of songs to choose and add to your own 'playlist.' Easy to listen to while you are online. You can find a good selection of oldies, etc. there. Whatever you like to listen to. I highly recommend it. Best of all, IT IS FREE. |
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TEXTING. Was driving down Hesperian Blvd. yesterday. God forbid, I didn't want to go out driving because of all the nuts on the roads. There was a car to the left of me that swerved about a foot into my lane and I had to turn a bit to avoid HER. As I passed by the car I saw a lady that was actually texting. She had her phone thing located toward the bottom right of her steering wheel and she was looking down. I actually saw it. Damm. Excuse me, did not they just ban that kind of stuff. |
| December 23. Cold morning over here with temps dipping into the high 30s. Almost as cold as it is in Quartzsite this morning - 37 degrees. Hope it warms up in three more weeks. Windy tomorrow. Rain a couple times over the next 10 days. Gotta do better than that, people. Let's get a new weatherman in there or something. |
| December 22. Our Starving
Vendor's Newsletter should be coming out by the end
of the month.
Visit our home page to sign up. Form
located toward the bottom. Don't miss out. GLOBAL WARMING. After you are finished reading this website, google 'global warming fraud' and see what you come up with. I am not a firm believer of global warming and doubt that is what we are really dealing with. Global Warming is a multi-billion dollar business. |
| December 21. Any Survivor fans out there. Watched the finals on Sunday evening. Didn't really expect Natalie to win but she rode Russell's coat-tails all the way to the end. I pretty much knew that Russell was not going to win because they focused on him too much during the episodes in order to make you think that he was going to win it all. |
 |
SURVIVOR 20 HEROES
AND VILLAINS Next series will include 10 'heroes' and 10 'villains' Included amongst the contestants are Colby, Boston Rob, Russell, Rupert, Jerri, Sandra, Cirie, Parvati. Click here to see more. Of course, this series has already been filmed in Samoa and there are 'spoiler' threads out there that tell how things went. I did a search on it and I was able to find the order of finish. Now, I don't have to watch it when it comes to air on February 11. WARNING: Do not click on that link if you don't want to know the winner. In addition, this information may or may not be true. |
OREGON SHOWS. Here's a link to a website with events in Oregon. |
| December 20. T'was the
weekend before Christmas, when all through the house
not a creature was stirring, not even a vendor.
What can I say? Beautiful weather for December
and no place to sell. AT&T DVR. I know we're all tired of seeing that commercial with the four controls for their DVR. I don't see how the hell there can be 4 shows on at one time worth recording. I can't even find ONE worth watching. |
| December 18. Looks like a quiet weekend coming up. Nice weather but no show. Only flea markets around and I don't have any junk; I don't have dollar stuff; I don't have socks, I don't have stolen stuff, etc. 25 days left till Tyson Wells. Can't wait. Bring on 2010. Can't wait!!! |
| December 15.
Looks like the show in Napa wasn't too profitable
for people. Some rain. Decent crowd on
Saturday but a lot less on Sunday. Some rain.
I didn't do this event. Received word that
Tucson wasn't too good either. I've done the
4th Avenue Street Fair a number of times, but that's
too far too go. I really enjoyed my (850
mile/each way) trips out there when the weather was
good. However, the last four times there (Dec
& Mar) we ecountered rain, mud, more rain and plenty
of wind along with some downright ugly clouds.
Great crowds for the event, but not many are buying,
especially nowadays. Booth Fees are way too
high. I've done a number of shows at The
Parking Lot and a dusty lot down on the 200-block
and that's enough for me. Out of range; out of
money. My range is now 240 miles for weekend
shows AND EVEN LESS Get your Tiger Woods Trading Cards. Collect all 19 mistresses.  |
| December 14. While browsing the web, I came across a website with stories about amusement park accidents. There have been quite a few of them. Check it out. |
| December 13. Something to
do on a Sunday afternoon when you don't have a show. |
 |
Watched a show about Charles Manson today which was
about two hours long. Interesting, sort of.
I did some research on a number of things from the
show and I found out that Sharon Tate and Jim
Morrison (of Doors fame) were classmates at Alameda
High. Never knew that. Kind of amazing the 40 years have now passed since the killings. 1969 was quite a year. |
| Not too bad of a day weather-wise with not much rain. A few sprinkles hear and there, but nothing much. Watching the weather for next weekend as I try to decide what to do. Most likely will call it a year and end my shows until January. I am in the process of loading up the motor home for AZ next month. MY GENERATOR hasn't been working on my motor home and I had suspected that it was most likely the solenoid. I called up AAAA Generator and he had a guy come out. I took it to his 'shop' storage space on Thursday and he took it out and wasn't able to figure it out. He pretty much sat there with the generator in front of him dumbfounded! He wasn't trained for this type of generator. So, he put humpty-dumpty back together (I hope) and I drove off into the sunset. What a waste. People, do not ever have AAAA Generator in Hayward do work on your RV or whatever. This is turning into another of my 'Tales of Woe.' Shit. |
| December 12. Supposed to
be an ugly, rainy and windy day. No show for
me. NEWS TRAVELS FAST. Was told today that Quartzsite was under three feet of water. I googled and found out that this happened way way back around Sep 9. I guess that they had a little bit of desert rain. Saw some pictures of it. There were no vendors out there yet. GROSS EXAGERATION. BTW gas price at Chevron in Quartzsite is $2.69. Love's in Tyson is $2.59. It was $1.89 when I left in early February. $1.69 when I arrived there in mid-January. Stuck my head outside the door at 6:15 to check the weather. I didn't see anything; most definitely did not see my shadow. it was dark. I heard the rain and went back to bed and back to 'nightmare on Elm Street.' No show today for me; fer shure. Looks like a wet and windy Saturday all ova da place. THE SUN HAS APPEARED OFF AND ON today and you get the feeling that 'it's beautiful day out there.' NOT. Sunny for 30 minutes or so and then it rains. Sitting in my living room and glancing out the window to see 'bright sunshine.' My heart sinks thinking that I should have been out there trying to sell our stuff and try to earn some $$$$. But then the rains come again and it's 'thank gosh I didn't' all over again. Kind of like an all-day roller-coaster ride, if you know what I mean. TIGER WOODS' $22 MILLION YACHT |
 |
Here is a shot of his yacht
which is now docked at Old Port Cove Marina in West
Palm Beach being loaded up with food and provisions
supposedly for a Caribbean cruise, where he will
attempt to salvage his marriage.
Click here to read more.
Click here to see Tiger Woods' Dubai property.
Wow. |
| December 11. LA
'madame' comes forward tosay that Tiger Woods' used
the services of of her girls. Count up to 17
AND GROWING. MERIDIAN SQUARE CRAFT SHOW in San Jose. Looks like rain on Saturday. Booths being moved over to area in front of PETCO. Probably won't be there. I'm a hard-core vendor and I'm out there in all kinds of weather, but I don't want to get my stuff wet. WEATHER UNDERGROUND shows 90 percent chance of rain WITH thunderstorms. No way, Jose. Winds 13mph. That's an ugly ass driving rain. Wet wet wet. |
| December 10. Tiger Woods
is not Wally Cleaver. He's not Afro-American.
He has claimed to be Cablinasian.
What the hell is that? Here's a safety tip when gassing up your vehicle. Apparently, static electricity was the reason for a car fire at a gas pump in Kentucky. Don't Get In and Out of Car The real culprit behind most fires at the pump is static electricity. You know the feeling when you walk across a carpeted room and get zapped when you get to the doorknob? That's the stuff. You might feel it occasionally when you touch your car door handle, especially during cool and dry conditions. You definitely don't want to feel it when you're around such a volatile substance as gasoline. Entering and exiting a vehicle can contribute to building up a static electric charge. When in doubt, touch metal on your vehicle to discharge any static electricity when you get out and before you touch the pump. WEATHER: Cold. Too cold. At least a 60 percent chance of rain on Saturday. Looks like I am staying home. If not raining at 6:15am that morning, then I will attempt a set up. Rain expected in Napa for Santa's Helpers. However, that show is indoors. The weather is the main reason I didn't want to shell out $250 for it. Never know. COUNTDOWN TO TYSON: 34 days. |
| December 8. "Here we go
again," is the song that finished off the TV Special
last night as sung by Dolly Parton and Carrie
Underwood. And this
brings us to the next part of the Tiger Woods' saga. MIDDLE-AGED white blonde-haired lady taken by ambulance from his home.
|
| December 7. The rains (and
snow) has arrived. Gas prices dropped to $2.73
at the new COSTCO here on Hesperian Blvd. The
lowest we have seen in awhile. Just hoping
that it keeps dropping. Wish we could get it
down to $2.40 by year's end. FRAZIER PARK (Monday, Dec. 7, 5:10 p.m.)—Interstate-5 has been closed through the Grapevine in both directions. Northbound traffic blocks have been set up by Newhall CHP. Heavy snow is sticking across all lanes and vehicles are reported as getting stuck. Several vehicles have spun out in Gorman on the southbound side. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579688,00.html?test=latestnews Snow blankets areas of the East Bay |
 |
As I drove
down Highway 880, I glanced off in the distance and
was able to see the snow-covered peak of Mt Diablo
along with other smaller hills covered with the
white stuff. In some parts of the Bay Area,
snow levels reached ground level and the heaviest
accumulations were in Danville and Clayton.
Amazing. Another cold night is forecast here
with temps dipping down to the low 30s. One
newscaster said the hills looked like Switzerland.
Uhhhhh. I don't quite think so, but it did
make me think of Colorado with it's peaks of 14,000
ft covered. Of course, you can't compare this
to it as the mountains there are just awesome. |
| December 6 Cloudy much of
the day. Occasional sprinkle or three.
Not many shows around. Decided not to make an
appearance at DeAnza yesterday. Watched parts of the Niner's and Raider's games. The Niner's dissapointed today. That was a game they should have won. They gave it away. Mistakes. Patriots lost 22-21. Heartbreaking. Now 7-5. They'll make the playoffs but will not go far. Defense is shoddy. AMATO'S CHEESESTEAKS, Saratoga Rd., San Jose, CA |
 |
Visited a friend over at Westgate Mall in Saratoga. On the way there, I dropped by Amato's Cheesesteaks and picked up one for $7.70. Got it wit Wiz and onions. This was my third time there and I am still not impressed. The sandwich was good-sized and plenty of steak. However it was all wadded it up with the cheese, peppers and onions. Like I said, I like a lot of onions and I like them cooked separately. Cook steak. Put cheese on top. Cook onions and peppers. Put steak & cheese on roll and pile the rest on. 5.8 |
| December 4. Mostly
cloudy for a good part of the day but no
rain (yet). It's coming. MONK'S final episode. |
 |
Watched the final two
episodes of Monk, which ended it's run of 8
years on USA. Good finish as Monk found
the killer of Trudy. his wife whose car was
blown up 12 years earlier.
Here's a link to some episodes which you might
enjoy watching. Monk was the
show that broke through to a broad audience
of viewers and introduced them to a new kind
of basic cable television.
click here to read more |
COMING SOON!!! Review of the 2006-2007 Chandler Ostrich Festivals. |
| Even though this is quite late, I have decided to compile a review (with pics) of the last two year's we did the festival. I have dug up a number of things I wrote about it and am in the process of creating this long-awaited review. That show was pretty much a vendor's worst nightmare coming true. Un #*$(#)*#*&& ing believeable. I really want to get that event high up in the Google rankings for people to see. They have removed the city name of Chandler from the name of the event. It is now called the Ostrich Festival. I guess that the new promoter's want to differentiate it from the other year's. If I were 'the city' then I would most definitely be P-I-S-S-E-D. |
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please click here to see pictures of the 2006 flooding at the Chandler Ostrich Festival |
| December 2. In search of the great Philly heesesteak Sandwich |
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Had to take a trip out to
Westgate in San Jose, so I detoured over to Calvin's
'World Famous' Cheesesteaks at 1411 The Alameda.
A bit difficult finding the place as it was squeezed
in between a bunch of other businesses. One
parking spot in front just big enough for my van to
get into. Rest of the spots were 'red-zoned.'
Kind of like a hole-in-the wall Philly style
cheesesteak shop. Two tables inside, bunch of
Philly signs on the walls and tables outside.
I imagine this place is packed on Fri-Sat.
dunno. Ordered a couple 'Pepper' Cheesesteaks along with a plain to take home. They were 'okay,' and can not compare to the best one's I have had. (Pudge's in Blue Bell, PA) Wife said her's was 'dry' and my son agreed with me. If I gave it a rating, I would say perhaps 5.65 (out of ten). The roll was |
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okay - 8" long and the steak was basically okay. I
asked for onions and I love to have them
piled on and there was hardly any. I can
not understand paying EXTRA for peppers.
I'd add .5 to the rating if I had enough
onions. Checked out Yelp ratings and saw
that they served Birch Beer, but I didn't
find any. Ambiance means something to me
and at 10:45am, it's kind of dead there. I
gave them credit for not 'slopping' the
whole thing together while cooking.
I'm starting to thing that Philly
Cheesesteaks fall into three categories:
Terrible, okay and fantastic. I can't
really say which of Amato's, Stevie's or
Calvin's is better; they were just okay. |
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The weather today is fair. Plenty of clouds this morning and temps okay. No rain yet, but it's coming. We'll apparently make it out of the weekend, but we are going to have many days of rain. Get ready for it. I wish it would hold off for another week in order to get in another show. Need the money, but I thankful that it hasn't effect my events since September, when shockingly, it rained on the Saturday AM of the Castro Valley FF. |
| December 1 Welcome to December. Rains could be coming next weekend. Yuck. Woke up this morning after another of my crazy dreams. Check out Dreemz-R-Us. |
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I am so tired after this
one. I dreamt that I was at some kind of Asian
festival. I have no idea where it was. I
went there with two other people in two separate
cars. Don't know who. I kept trying to
pick up NESN on the tube attempting to watch the Red
Sox game. I do not know how that got in there.
Got to the event and walked around looking for food.
Lots of people in a multi-level location. Of
course, people weren't buying much. Can't recall if
I brought 'my dollah' with me. I awoke
suddenly before I found some food. Of all the
things out there to dream about, I had to pick a
damm festival. Hope I don't see this one on
the re-runs next week, ya know? |
| CHIP AND
JOHN ISSUE CITATION TO TIGER WOODS FOR RUTHLESS
DRIVING. I'd say that the witch got off easy on this one since they could not 'concoct' or find any evidence of domestic evidence. In other words, they did not supoena the hospital records to determine if the cuts and stuff on his face were consistent of those given by white, blonde haired husband beaters. |
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| November 30. OJ WAS
GUILTY!! Tiger left home at 2:32am to go
work out in the gym? That is one of the
comments that people actually believe. Come on
now. "Elin did not beat me with the golf club.'
OJ, I mean Tiger (out in the) Wood's continues to
evade the truth and will not sit down and discuss
this with Chip and Ponch. MERIDIAN SQUARE BAZZAR - Dec 12. I am sending in my money for Nada's show on December 12 and am wholly supporting her in her endeavors. I am hoping that other's will follow suit in hopes that we can get a little crowd in there. Perhaps for next year, she can get a show in a mall with a more reliable anchor where people will be drawn in and proceed to browse at our merchandise. Best of luck for the remainder of the year and a Merry Christmas to you. |
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This is what a 3-iron golf club
looks like and can be effectively used for smashing
out back windows of SUV's and inflicting cuts and
gashes on the faces of golfers. This may also
cause golfer's to cancel appearances, attempt to
avoid public scrutiny and evade visits from the
local Highway Patrol. One version of the story has Elin opening a door and grabbing the golf club and smashing the window in order to DRAG said victim out of the SUV. Perhaps, but not necessarily so, wouldn't it be better to just grab victim and pull him/her out of the vehicle. I was wondering if, when Elin ran out of their house, she locked the door behind her to keep robbers out? |
TIGER: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TEACHING KIDS NOW? Lying and skirting the issue. Avoiding the truth. Cheating? Great role model, huh? How are the mom's and dad's of our nation's wonderful children going to explain this? Sponsor's are standing by him as if nothing has happened. Need to boycott the products. Jesus appears on woman's iron |
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Here we go again with another Jesus sighting. Mary Jo Coady, who recently separated from her husband and had her hours cut at work, says the image of Jesus Christ she sees on her iron has reassured her that 'life is going to be good.'
Coady, of Methuen, Massachusetts, first spotted Jesus on Sunday when she walked into her daughter's room.
The brownish residue on the bottom of the iron looks
like the face of a man with
long hair. If you squint. The 44-year-old Coady was raised Catholic. She and her two college-age daughters agree that the image looks like Jesus and is proof that 'he's listening.' |
| November 29 Calvin's South Philly Cheesesteaks |
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Getting a craving for a good
Philly. Been making our own at home with the
steaks they sell at Smart-n-Final. This place
is located at 1411 The Alameda in San Jose
(408-561-1109) Have to take a trip over to San Jose this next week to see a friend doing a show at Westgate Mall and would like to cut across town and check out Calvin's. Been to Amato's out there, but they are not as good as advertised. |
ATTENTION: FUND BENEFICIARY OPEN AND READ THE ATTACHED MESSAGE FROM THE FBI. That's all the email said and it had an attachment which might contain a deadly virus. Come on now, idiots. You can do better than that. Must be some 9-yr old spammer. THE STORY ABOUT TIGER'S WIFE chasing him down with a golf club brings me back to 2:30 on that August morning in 1970 when I was riding a Navy bus from Yakota AB in Japan to Yokosuka and saw a Japanese lady chasing after a guy with a machete. What a way to get introduced to life in Japan. HAD A WEIRD DREAM YESTERDAY WHEN I NAPPED OUT. Of course, you always remember the dream just as you wake up. Apparently, I was someplace with some friends and I had dozed off and then awoke and walked around for a couple hours in public places. I looked in the mirror and somebody did a job on my hair. I was shaved on the left side with sort of a landing strip/short mohawk thing in the middle and the remainder on the right was a crew cut. Anyways, I was now actually awake and thinking about the dream and started to laugh. No way, dude, could that have ever happened. Nice try. Not enough hair. Sorry. I didn't have to go look in the mirror out of curiousity. The dream-maker is not going to get-off on this one. How do you feel when you have those dreams that you have won a huge sum of money. i.e. lottery. And then just after you have awakened, you realize that it just isn't true and you truly feel depressed. MORRO BAY STREET FAIRE today. Several times we drove down there on Saturday and set up at 6:00am on Sunday. All kinds of weather for that one. They've re-done the configuration for it, but I am not doing it anymore. Good for people that don't travel far. SLO County. Can anybody report on that one? Tell us on the forum. |
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November 28. Suisun City Waterfront Christmas Open Market. I've done this event a few times and it's being held on Sat, Dec 5. There are usually 20+ vendors for this and it gets going around noon-time. This is a great show for VISITORS but I have had problems getting good sales. It gets rather cool and breezy during the latter part of the afternoon. Traditional Christmas event features a lighted boat parade, Santa's arrival by boat, Christmas tree lighting with fireworks, charity Christmas tree auction, holiday music & food, horse & carriage rides, pictures with Santa, and much, much more. Click here for website and vendor app.
HIGH WINDS EXPECTED tonight. Predicting
50-60 mph. Glad I don't have my canopy
sitting overnight at an event. I've had
enough disasters for this year.
Heard that there was rain out in Arizona.
Looks okay in Quartzsite but I checked Tucson
and they are having rain over the next 2-3 days.
Enjoyed doing the 4th Ave. Street Fair there for
a number of years (in parking lots) and that
show will be in a couple weeks. Poor sales
and sloppy weather ran us away and it's just too
far (850 miles) to go for a 3-day event. I
can imagine that sales will be slow for a huge
percentage of the vendors there. They say
that they get over 200,000 for it and I believe
that number. If you are located in the lot
at 238 4th Avenue and it rains, there will be NO
JOY IN MUDVILLE. The 'Parking Lot' area
down near 5th Street is paved. My
estimates are that 10-15 percent of the total
crowd venture over into The Parking Lot.
Yes, I did sample part of the crowd because I
was curious and that is what it comes out to. SAW THIS COMMENT ON OPRAH CALLING IT QUITS. "Of course she's calling it quits! She convinced her idiot daytime viewers to vote for the jackass of all times...obama....she can't do much more to destroy our country now that she's done that!" And I say "Amen to that!!!!'
TIGER WOODS' WIFE CHASES HIM WITH GOLF CLUB?
There are plenty of vivid details from the car
crash that sent
Tiger Woods to the hospital:
His SUV hit a fire hydrant and a tree; his lips
were cut and he had blood in his mouth; his wife
smashed a rear window with a golf club to get
him out; he briefly lost consciousness.
There are also plenty of questions, among them: |
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November
27 BLACK FRIDAY
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| THE
WEATHER. Supposed to rain today and clear up
in time for the weekend. Seems to be in the
low 60s on Sat/Sun and sunny for the most part.
Absolutely gorgeous weather for a November weekend,
don't ya think. Good luck at the shows,
people. You have lucked out, especially at
places such as Auburn. This has been one of
the driest November's we've had and nice when you
are doing events, but the money is way, way down.
Not just speaking for myself. Hopefully, shows
like Indio and Napa will be prosperous for those of
you who have forked out the cash. UPDATE; On the news at 9:00am, they said that there were over 3,000 people lined up in front of WaldoMart and fights were breaking out in front of Best Buy (Union City). I passed by on the highway and saw a very full parking lot. Kind of light traffic on the freeways today. I guess everybody was in the stores. THE SMALLER STORES look like they are going to be in trouble this XMas season. Of course, right now people were heading for the larger stores because of all the mark-downs. The smaller stores can't afford to do this. Only mark-downs we are going to see is when they try to dump their stuff on the day before Christmas. UPCOMING WEATHER: Oh oh. Just looked at next week's weather report. Paid for my space at DeAnza and it is looking like rain the entire weekend. Who believes Weather.com anyways. Looks like the rains are finally arriving. I checked Accuweather and they were saying that it would rain on Sat only. Who knows ? Wish that it could hold off until December 13. Was out this afternoon around 4:15 and it rained cats, dogs, elephants, snakes, etc. Thunder. Lightning. The whole shabang. Lasted for about 15 minutes. Dubai, United Arab Emigrates |
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A stark
warning from Dubai. Dubai’s problems stem from
the surreal happenings in real estate there, with
the place being home to the world’s tallest tower
and the biggest man-made islands. The shock
waves emanating from Dubai World’s attempt to
reschedule its debt rocked global equity markets on
Thursday.
Click here to read more There was a time when I thought that we were helping them build this country with the trillions of dollars we overpayed in gas. Suprisingly, but not really unexpectedly, they borrowed the money. |
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Read the Reviews for upcoming shows.
Shafted in Antioch. Selling in Tyson. Orinda Holiday Bazaar (defunct!) Antioch Craft Fair Nov 14-15 Tyson Wells Sell-a-Rama Jan 14-24 |
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING
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| OKAY SHOPPER'S. It's 5:00pm and time to get your butts in line. Toy's R-Us opens at midnight. JC Penney's and Kohl's 4:00am. I think that Best Buy opens at 5:00. I'll see all of you in my dreams (or nightmares). You are quite fortunate that it's not raining tonight. Hope to see you on the 10:00 Channel 2 News. |
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