YOUR DAILY DOSE
- Feb 11-Aug 31
To see YOUR DAILY DOSE postings prior to
Feb 10, please click here to
read.
FORUM VENDOR FORUM: We have a board/forum where we tell about our experiences
with various shows, promoters, etc. I think you will enjoy reading
about what many of us go through in our weekend rituals. Come on
down and check us out. It doesn't cost anything and hopefully you
will contribute with some of your own experiences. http://davejs.proboards.com/index.cgi
UPDATE. Castro Valley Fall Festival coming up on Sep 12-13.
We are located in spaces 344-345.
August 31. End of another month. Stoned Soup Street Fair was
terrible for many vendors. No further comment necessary.
Next up: Casa de Fruta. Stay tuned.
ELK GROVE PUMPKIN FESTIVAL on Oct 3-4. Sent in my application last
Thursday. Received receipt and notification today. Monday.
Do you hear that San Jose Italian Festival. Are you still looking
for my #*$#$*#ing application that you claim you never received?
RICHMOND HOMEFRONT ON THE BAY FESTIVAL held near the Bay over there is a
one-day show being held in early October. The booth fee for this
one-day event is $150. Stay away from that one. It was two
days last year and it was bad. Can only get worse, especially with
the economy like it is. Very unreasonable. Should be more like
$50. A bunch of us did it last year and it was just terrible.
They should call it the Barbary Coast Thieves Festival because you have
a large number of riff-raff roaming the area looking for the opportunity
to prosper. Once again, uh uh uh.
FIRES RAGING NEAR LA is what the news says. I do believe that Mt
Wilson is north east of Pasadena. I guess to say that they are
'near LA' sounds like a more exciting news story, huh? Actually.
who the hell is going to lift and ear if you say 'Huge fire raging near
Sierra Madre.' So, I guess if the fire move 20 yards to the West,
the headline will be "Fires approaching LA, millions preparing to
evacuate." Anything for news people.
August 29. They should call it the 'cup of noodles' soup street
faire because that's all these people can afford. Not really a big
crowd showing up and sales were slow for just about everybody.
Amazing...no sunglasses. What's up? No shammies?
Actually, there was one vendor with about a dozen sunglasses on his
table. This is not a good show for the vendors and I don't expect
to be back next year. Several times during the day, this show was
bordering on the edges of doozi-ism!!!!
WEATHER was great with temps in the low 70s. Some people can't
handle it that hot here.
August 28. Heading down to Grover Beach later today for the Stone
Soup Street Faire. Staying at the Vagabond Inn over in SLO. Got a
good rate on it, but it appears as though it doesn't have wireless.
I would have had it if I kept my reservations at Bed Bug Motel in
Atascadero, but it was a 30-mile drive to GB and it's only 13 to SLO.
WEIRD BUT TRUE. Bridge smeared with butter to stop suicides.
Chinese workers have covered a giant steel bridge
with butter because officials are fed up with traffic jams caused by
people who slow down to watch suicide victims leaping to their death.
Government officials in Guangzhou in south east China ordered workers to
smear butter on all of the climbable surfaces of the 1,000 foot long
steel bridge.
Government spokesman Shiu Liang said: "We tried
employing guards at both ends but that didn't work - and we put up
special fences and notices asking people not to commit suicide here.
None of it worked - and so now we have put butter over the bridge and it
has worked very well. Nobody can get up there and anybody who tries
either falls"
WEATHER IS LOOKING FINE FOR THIS WEEKEND. Temps
down in Grover Beach will be in the 70s and a bit cloudy, of course.
I'll take it. Showing 77-83 in San No Way Jose with sun on
Sat/clouds Sunday. If you are under the trees there at the
Italian, you will be fine.
August 25. Another bad hair day. Found out that the San Jose
Italian Festival never received my application which I sent from Oregon.
So they say, I think they mis-placed it. Talked to the bank and they
never cashed my check. Where the hell is it then?
Hellllloooooo.
TED KENNEDY HAS DIED. Brain tumor.
Chappaquiddick? Mary Jo Kopechne?
STONE SOUP STREET
FAIRE. Sound like a doozey? We'll find out this weekend.
Signed up for this festival in Grover Beach past Pismo. Only $150,
but expenses, etc., are just a little more than San Jose. However,
I have a good feeling about this. I have already started my page
on the event and you can read the 'preliminaries'
NEWPARK MALL. Dropped by there this afternoon to check it out.
Looks like it could be a nice event for people to attend. However,
crowds weren't that great and vendors weren't making much money. I
drove down Mowry and headed for the entrance to the Mall. I
spotted a bunch of booths and headed over there. Lots of traffic
congestion and it took me several minutes to get a parking spot. I
walked over and discovered that it was a farmer's market and it was
hopping. There were quite a few booths there, but the craft fair
was not located around there. Went back into the van and drove all
the way around the mall until I saw more canopies. They had
several food booths, entertainment (?), beer, wine, sufficient number of
porta potties and of course, a bunch of vendors and not a whole heck of
a lot of shoppers. I am not crazy about 'mall shows' and this one
was no exception. This is the first year for the event and from a
vendor's standpoint, not very good. Not enough people and not too
many buying. I did feel 'energy' there, but it sure the hell
wasn't coming from shoppers.
August 22. Did the
Salida Town
and Country Parade and Festival, a one-day show located just north
of Modesto along Highway 99. It was a nice community event for the
locals, but the vendors did not fare so well. Not many people
buying. Weather wasn't bad. A bit cloudy with temps around
90 degrees. Humid.
THAT'S ALL I CAN STANDS AND I CAN'T STANDS NO MORE. We live in a
nice quiet neighborhood. On Thursday night, a bunch of people in
back of us kept us awake until 2:30 with their loud talking.
Today, I heard them yelling and shouting at 7:00 and it continued until
10:00. I then walked around to my back yard and stood on my deck
to talk to them. "Uh, excuse me." I said to them several times,
raising my voice each time. I got their attention and they turned
off their music and all 7-8 of them listened to me. "On Thursday
night you kept everybody around here awake until 2:30 in the morning and
it looks like it's going to happen again. Well, I really don't
think it's going to, is it? I then heard several of them
acknowledge that. As I walked away, I was holding my cell phone.
I said loudly "Okay Officer. I did what you said to do. You
just heard me tell them in a very polite way to keep things down.
I paused for a second and then once again, raising my voice. "Yes
Officer, I will be more than happy to call you back if they keep doing
it. Thank you very much." WIth that, I left and I hear them
no more.
August 21. A BAD HAIR DAY. Was watching TV last night and
they said that they are ending their 'cash for clunkers' program on
Monday at 5:00 pm. That's where you bring your old, beaten up, run
down piece of junk down to a dealer and, etc. A couple weeks ago I
received a letter from Air Quality Management telling me that I could
bring my 1988 Pontiac Grand Am down to a dismantler and get $1,000.
It's barely running and I was going to junk it anyway. Don't know if
it's in the same program but I could use a thousand bucks. Anyhow,
I didn't have a pink slip, so I downloaded the application for a
replacement and it said I had to get it notarized. This
morning I drove over to the post office to mail some orders at 8:35 am
and it was closed. Opens at 9:00. I went to The UPS Store to get
my paper notarized and the lady (Indian) said she didn't have HER BOOK.
I drove over to U-Pick Auto Parts, which was listed as participating in
the program and it was gone...out of business. I drove across town
to another UPS store and the guy notarized my paper. I noticed
that he didn't write anything in the book and I asked him (Chinese)
about it and he said 'not for DMV.' Helllloooooo. Wow.
I quickly hopped in my van and rushed over to DMV, where I imagined a
lot for cars and a long line waiting, since this was Friday. I got
there and the parking lot was empty. Not a car. I drove
around to the door and began reading all the signs on the windows.
Open on Mon, Tues, Thursday and Friday. Closed Saturdays.
What the heck? I looked inside...dark. I searched around and
found another sign...We are closed on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Fridays of
each month. So be it. Closed for full moons too, I guess.
Adventure to continue on Monday.
OLD SHOWS. I had a link to 'mini-reviews' of a number of older
shows that we did a number of years ago. I shifted the link around
on the menu and it looks like it is more visable. I re-did some of
the pages also. This contains shows such as the Oakhurst Mountain
Peddler's Fair, Manteca Crossroads Street Fair, San Francisco Crystal
Fair, San Leandro Cherry Festival and many more. Follow the menu:
Guide to Shows>Old Show Reviews.
LAKE COUNTY FAIR. Just heard from them after giving them more than
a month to decide. Fair is Labor Day Weekend.
I apologize for not meeting your expectations. However, at this
time, we do not have a space for your merchandise.
For a better chance in finding booth space at this fair, I would
suggest putting in your application much sooner than the middle of
July. Many of our vendors place an application with us just after
they are posted on our web site in January. Thank you for your
interest in our fair.
Ray
Lake County Fair
and I responded:
Why
didn't you tell me this in the first place? (no space) I am
not impressed at all with the way this was handled and I really have
no interest in ever doing your fair. Gosh, do you treat everybody
like this? You people are terrible and quite inconsiderate and of
course, I will pass this information on to my fellow vendors.
NOTE: If you hang on to an application longer than a week,
then one would assume that they have been accepted. If you are
filled with vendors, all you need to do is to inform people that you
are full and that's the end of it. This is not a rocket
science, you know. I am not somebody who is going to get
three, maybe four spaces and I am sure that you would handle things
differently. But me, I am a struggling vendor trying to make
ends meet just like everybody else out there and I wish that you
would treat us with a little dignity and respect instead of tossing
our paperwork aside. I don't appreciate that and I am sure you
wouldn't either if you were put in the same situation. Don't
bullshit me, okay? One of these days, when you are struggling to
find vendors, don't ever come looking for me. Seriously, if
you treated me like this now, I can only imagine getting even more
shafted if I were there. Hasta la vista, baby. And I speak for
all the vendors around that have ever had this happen to them....You
can kiss my ass!!
August 19. While looking through Craftmaster, noticed that Santa
Rosa is going to have it's Christmas Crafts and Gifts Fair in December,
which will run for three weeks in November and December. Saw
that they are getting 500 vendors (doubt it-we haven't forgotten how bad
that show was), but that is way too many. They did not have this
show the past few years, but we did it before during the middle week of
the three and it was bad. Too many vendors and not enough money to
go around. Now, we have the poor economy, so that makes it worse.
I'd stay the heck away from this one. Three weeks? Uh uh.
If you want to see how organized they are, try going to their website.
www.santarosacraftfair.com. It's out of whack and so is the
show. Maybe they are waiting to get money from vendors to pay for
their website, etc.
DOES ANYBODY KNOW anything about the Antioch Holiday Craft Fair?
Haven't seen it listed in Craftmaster and haven't received the
application in the mail. Are they going to have it? Not a
great show, but at least it's something inexpensive in November.
COSTCO gas in San Leandro is going for $2.93. Most of the prices
around here still over $3.00. Boy, are we ever getting ripped off.
As long as this country allows investors to buy oil futures, we are
((*&#$ ed. It's all about how gas is perceived as an
investment.
GAS PRICES GOING UP during the next couple days. Announce supply
shortage (again).
LAKE COUNTY FAIR. Sent in my application almost six weeks ago.
Emailed them after two weeks and was told that they 'have a new
administration' and they are taking longer than usual. The fair is over
Labor Day Weekend. After 4 more emails with no response, I know where
the problem is and it's not with their 'administration, but rather with
Ray Starks, the Vendor Coordinator. Sent him an email today and in
big, gigantic letters, I typed 'ARE YOU FORGETTING ANYTHING?' He's
going into my 'Bitter Business Bureau.' Asshole. Actually, I
sent in for another show a little while ago and figured it they treated
me this bad now, what are they going to be like if I did the fair?
No way Jose.
August 16. Festival was pretty slow both days. Rough
weekend. Next up: Salida on Saturday.
August 15. Nice weather. Little wind. Zucchini awfully
slow. Unbelieveable. Extremely low sales and small crowds; down at
least 1/3.
August 14.
Hayward Zucchini Festival. Began setting up around
12:00. Got to my space and it was only 8 feet wide. Read the
story.
WEATHER. Okay. But we had strong winds around 1:30pm while
setting up. A bit cool under the trees. Will be okay over
the weekend. No rain. Some sun. A few clouds.
NEW VENDORS COULD SHOW UP because they are having the Art and Soul
Festival in Oakland, moved from Labor Day weekend. Heard the show
wasn't that great last year, so you might have some of their vendors
come here. We shall see. Art and Soul A&C is $425;
commercial is $650. NFW. Here it's $200/$400. I just
read the reviews in Craftmaster and almost everybody had negative
comments. Kind of wondering about one of the reviews.....he had
$30.00 in sales (Paintings) and said that he would return. Must
have spent that money on drugs or something. Go figure.
Yah...we will definitely see people from Fart and Soul. The
closing of the Bay Bridge could have something to do with the shifting
of the event to this weekend from LDW.
August 13. New Page. Notices
and ads which I created during many of our shows and compiled them
on one page.
August 12. Preparing for this week's Zucchini Festival at Kennedy
Park on Hesperian Blvd. in Hayward. Hope we get a good turnout and
people bring their moolah, know what I mean? You can drink your
beer and watch the entertainment, but at least get off your duffs
sometimes, huh? Great weather for this weekend....sunny with temps
in the mid-70's. Will be setting up on Friday. Looks like we
lost 100 booths last year and this year, they are having the Oakland Art
and Soul the same weekend. Heard a large number of vendors did
poorly last year there. I think that more than likely. we will get
more vendors exiting from that show and coming to the Zucchini than ones
leaving Hayward for the Art and Soul. We shall see. This
will be a ghost town if more vendors leave. Show has been going
downhill for the past 4-5+ years.
HELP WANTED.
2010 Vendor Coordinator. Jefferson County Fair, Madras,
OR. full-time position with complete benefits.
Blondes need not reply. Call 503-392-3922 Common sense
required!
ANOTHER INDIAN CASINO. They want to build an 85 acre casino/hotel
in Richmond. Claiming it's going to create jobs, etc.
F-them. We don't need any more Indian Casinos. We know who
is going to get rich from this. Local communities need to get a
cut of their profits. They pay nothing. So which Congressman
will get paid off to push this?
RIFF RAFF AT THE ZUCCHINI. Vendors, watch out for the riff-raff
that frequent the show. Be alert. I'll be watching our
jewelry very carefully. Had some girl try to walk off with one of
our belly dancer skirts in Tillamook on Saturday. Turned her over
to the County Sherrif to have her booted. Didn't press charges.
Only 15 years old. If I catch people stealing from me, I'm sending
them downtown.
August 10. Am shocked to see how much oil prices have risen during
the past two weeks. Found out the investors are the one's who have
driven the price up due to some kind of oil agreement between the US and
China. Isn't this disgusting?
August 9. Heading home to Hayward today. Temp in Redding
only 100 degrees. Up here in Tillamook it's won't be too bad for
the one hour I need to load up and get out of here. People just do
not buy here. Sales were better on Saturday, but unacceptable.
Need to start selling Doc Bottoms A-Spray.
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED. Long drive home. Left Tillamook at
7:15 am and arrived home around 8:45 pm. Clear sailing until we
reached Highway 80 in Vacaville, then bumper to bumper for many miles.
August 8. Forecasting rain for today. Now 9:30 and it looks
like the sun is trying to break through. Will head over to our
booth after the David Ortiz steroids press conference at Yankee Stadium.
Last day and we should have a good crowd, but unfortunately, it's one
cheap ass crowd, know what I mean.
ZUCCHINI FESTIVAL in Hayward starts next Saturday, August 15.
Weather looks decent,
August 7. Cloudy in the morning and rain later on. More
expected tomorrow.
HAVE HEARD THAT Sandy Foreman, in charge of vendors at the Jefferson
County Fair has been removed from her position. Whoopie.
Be sure to read my
review, etc. Boy, did she screw up things.
VERY BAD DAY. Terrible sales. Nobody buying and the crowds
were lower than expected. Had a mist for a couple hours during the
early PM and there were showers in many of the local communities around
Tillamook.
FOUND OUT WHY there are few returning vendors here. Didn't know
this was a bad fair. Saw that the attendance is around 77,000 and
figured you must get good sales, you know? Uh uh uh. Sucks
big time. This people do not spend their money. This show is
expensive. Admission, carni, games, food....... lot of
money. Do you think they have any money left over for the vendors.
They couldn't give a rat's ass as far as we are concerned.
August 6. OREGON TRIP FOR 2010 is pretty much in jeopardy.
Sales yesterday were slow and more of the same expected today.
Everybody keeps telling me that they really pack them in on Friday and
Saturday. Rain is no longer forecast for those days - but a lot of
rain is heading this way next week. 30 percent chance we come back
to Oregon next year. The economy is way down up hear also and I
just don't think it'll be worth it. Nice trip though. If I
can find three decent shows 'back home' for these four weekends, then
it's 'bye-bye Balboni.' I need action, man. No action here.
Give me some good street fairs....hard to find in California in July and
August. If we happen to come up here, it'll be Winchester Bay,
Jackson County Fair (hot), Coos County Fair and then the Klamath County
Fair (hot) down south.
SLOW SALES TODAY. Very cloudy and a bit cool. We did get a couple
minutes of rain. At least it cleared the deadbeats out of here.
GAS PRICES ARE up around $2.89 here. Just checked COSTCO in San
Leandro and it's $2.85. Looks like prices have gone up $.20 since
I left the Bay Area several weeks ago. Damm
August 5. The fair opened today and things have been slow.
Weather good and for the first time in almost a week we have had a day
with sunshine. However, sales are slow for just about everybody
here at the fair. Loads of kids because they get their ride
tickets for $20. Goes up to $30 tomorrow. Wow.
That's where all the kid's money goes. There's older people here,
but you have to cut their pockets open to get at their money. Quite
slow. At least in Myrtle Point it was lively that first day.
The Senior Citizens there had much more life than these middle-aged cowfolks.
INTERNET CONNECTIONS are hard to find around here. Only can pick
up occasionally in my motor home which is parked at least a hundred
yards from any building.
CONGRATULATIONS SANDY FOREMAN of the Jefferson County Fair. You
have been elected to the Starving
Vendors Bitter Business Bureau. What are you going to do now,
Sandy Foreman? Rather than going to Disneyland, why don't you just
go to hell. You show absolutely no concern for the vendors.
Hell, you didn't even know where they were located. Sorry for
the language, people. Take the money and run. Vendors are
just an afterthought there.
August 4. Late sleepers here. Drove the motor home to our
space around 11:00 and continued setting up. Was wondering where
all the vendor booths are, so I took a walk. We are located near
one of the entrances and it looks like we'll get good traffic flow.
(but?) Three food booths directly in front of us. Our friends that
sell Thai food at Coos County Fair are directly in front us. We've
got Philly Cheesesteaks next to them.
WEATHER doesn't look too bad until Friday. Showers?
DESCHUTES COUNTY FAIR, Redmond, OR was this past week and one that we
did last year. Lots of people, but not much buying. Carnival
and food, that's what they came for. Anyhow, I heard that Saturday
night was rained out because of heavy rains. Somebody told me that
there was 8 inches of water on the ground. Wow. Sorry I
missed it. I have good flood experience (Chandler Ostrich
Festival, March 2006)
August 3. Drove up from Myrtle Point to Tillamook. Weather
is mild.....a bit cloudy, no wind. Rain forecast for Thursday and
Friday might screw things up. You can only do what you can do.
INTERNET CONNECTION. Didn't find one when we were setting up, but
when we parked in back of the fair in the dry camping area, I was able
to get online. Completely unexpected. Don't know how long
this will last.
August 2. Loaded up the motor home this morning from 7:05-9:30 and
then hit the road for Tillamook, spending the night at Depot Bay, a
drive of around 150 miles. We do have internet hookups there.
Cloudy here with no wind (yet) and we are on the East side of Highway
101, a couple hundred yards from the ocean.
You can read about the trip here and along with updates of the Tillamook
County Fair.
OREGON REVIEWS. Going to do some changing around on the Reviews
for the four Oregon shows. Will just have only the actual reviews
on the pages. I will then have another page that will have all the
extra stuff. Should get it done in the next few days. That
way, if you just want to read the individual reviews, you can or you can
read about the whole trip.
The event is billed as Canada's largest country music festival with
attendance estimated at 15,000. Police and festival organizers
told a news conference at the site Sunday that one person was killed
by falling debris from the stage and about 75 others were injured,
most of whom were treated at the site.
ARE THEY SURE ABOUT THAT ATTENDANCE?
OH GOSH. I DID IT. I CHECKED THE WEATHER for Tillamook.
Weather.com says rain on Thursday and Friday. Accuweather shows
showers Thursday, Friday and possibly Saturday. That's all I need.
August 1. Typical morning over here once again. The last day
of the fair and I hope that they come out. Parade later. Did
okay yesterday but down over 30 percent for the fair. Maybe going
to be down even more unless we have a great last day like we did in
2008.
2010 OREGON TRIP. Still up in the air on this one. The
Jefferson County Fair really blew me away and might have changed my way
of thinking for these fairs. A real #*$*# ing doozey that I'll be
talking about for years to come. Tillamook is one week later next
year, so we have to find one for that week also. If I come up, I
might end up doing the Jackson County Fair over there in hot, hot
Medford along Highway 5 and I sure as hell will not do the Douglas
County Fair in Roseburg.
RIP USA. Just saw that they are initiating a bill in Congress to
make Puerto Rico our 51st state. NO WAY JOSE. Actually we
could get rid of a few states. Wire your Congressman today.
FOR SALE: NOW YOU CAN OWN A PIECE OF THE MINEFIELD. I am
selling 2ftx2ft squares of grass from the field in "THE MINE FIELD" in
front of us at the Jefferson County Fair last week. Very well
fertilized. Only $195.00 apiece. Hurry. Offer limited
to supply on hand.
TAKE THIS SHOW AND SHOVE IT. Sent in my application for the Lake
County Fair (CA) almost four weeks ago and no decision on it. It's over
Labor Day Weekend. I contacted them a few days ago and was told
that they have new administrative staff. Well. almost four #*%*#
weeks. This crap is ridiculous. My world does not revolve
around my acceptance by this fair. Don't they realize that people
need to have decisions within a reasonable time.
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT had employees breaking into baggage
again, from what I saw on the news. Absolutely disgusting.
You are limited in the number of bags you can take with you to the
cabin, but you can not fit all your valuables in it.
July 31. Nice weather again. I have learned to appreciate
that cooler, cloudy weather. A few breezes here and there.
Had a decent day here at the fair and the families came out during the
afternoon. It was nice to see the parents spending money on the
kids. One more day to go. Saturday is the day. Lots of
kids tonight, of course, but they didn't buy.
July 30. Have just awarded Sandy Foreman (in charge of vendors at
the Jefferson County Fair) the Golden Skunk Award for the month of July
2009. She skunked the vendors really bad by tossing them in the
outer edges of The Mine Field and not being receptive to suggestions
made by vendors. Not a clue about what she is doing.
Read the review on the
Jefferson County Fair
for more info. What do you think I do.....wake up at
3:00 in the morning just thinking up this stuff?
STREET CORNER TALKING...is the title of my new column on the
front page of the website. I am now
providing a variety of info on that page and I am throwing in, at no
cost, my two cent's worth.
WEATHER is looking decent today. Morning clouds and refreshing.
Will be near 80 today. Looks like 70 degrees and partly sunny in
Tillamook next weekend.
PREFERRED CUSTOMER, MY ASS!! Been getting DirecTV for many years
and therefore they call me a 'preferred customer'. In January
before I headed out to Arizona they somehow convinced me that I wouldn't
get reception unless I got a separate account for my motor home.
So, foolishly I opened a second account for my motor home and ended up
having to pay AN EXTRA $79 for it that month. So, on this trip I
decided to use one of my home receivers (from my original account and
everything comes in fine. I'll bet that DirecTV is ripping off a
lot of its 'Preferred Customers' that way. That is a shame, huh?
Always trying to find ways to extract $$$ from people.
July 29. Another very good night's sleep. Another day of
hot, humid weather. They are having record-setting heat in the
state of Washington. If Myrtle Point had not changed their dates,
we would have been part of it at the Thurston County Fair near Olympia.
104 degrees there today.
I do not expect much heat up in Tillamook, just off the coast.
DAVE'S DOOZIES. I have added another event to this listing of
shows. Sorry Mike. Click here
to find out what this doozie is. No particular order. Later on,
when I get more in there I will rank them. Right now, just pondering
which ones I will add.
STARTING OUT THE DAY completely cloudy. I can take that.
Probably get sun this afternoon and get up in the 80's again.
BAD HAIR DAY. Power to the motor home went out yesterday
afternoon, broke my sunglasses, zipper broke on the canopy covers, wife
lost sunglasses, had to wait 45 minutes for UPS delivery truck
(for a package from home with my bills), slow sales today, customer
found broken zippers on two bags, ran out of water in the motor home,
lost my free internet connection (fair now charging me an unfair $19.95
until Sunday). And it's only 5:00PM.
ANOTHER MILLION DOLLAR IDEA. Things were slow earlier today.
I had broken my sunglasses and they were unfixable. I dug out our
duct tape and went to work taping my sunglasses to me hat. Neat.
A hat with sunglasses. Price $39.95. What an idea. I
went next door and was looking at my neighbor's sunglasses for $10.
I picked up a pair and was preparing to try them on when he told me to
go across the aisle and buy a pair from the other guy for $5.00.
Well, that's what I did. I walked across and showed the guy my hat
with sunglasses and he didn't want to get in on the ground floor with a
$5,000 investment so that was that. I picked up a pair of
sunglasses and tried them on. Good. Fit snugly.
July 28. Month is almost over. Coos County Fair opens today.
Another good nights sleep but that will change tonight. The show
is 10-10. Very humid during the day and cooler at night.
Would like some cloudcover during the afternoon. Temps are in the
mid-80s but it seems hotter than the 95 degrees we had everyday in
Madras.
PRETTY WARM all day long. Had a very good morning crowd.
Senior Citizens came in free and spent. Tailed off around 3:00.
Not much happening except for excited kids heading for the carnival.
July 27. Had a good night's sleep. Sacked out at 7:00 PM (no
typo) and slept until 5:30. We went out at 10:00 to continue
setting up. Temps are in the mid 70's but it is humid, so we
closed up and will return in the evening to finish up.
July 26. Woke up early this morning and will be packing our things
into the motor home by 6:00 AM. Last night, we pulled down our
merchandise and stuffed it all into containers, sacks and bags between
7:30 - 8:45. Usually during that time, a fair is pretty busy.
Not where we were. Lots of people in several areas, perhaps 50
yards from our vendor area. So depressing when I stood at the end
of a pathway in front of some other booths and could not even spot the 5
vendors up against the fence. And what is really bad is that there
was one vendor who luckily was in the 'middle of all the action' and
they did extremely poor. People all around them and they could
care less. It's really weird how people at one show/fair will
freely spend their money while at other events people do not give a
rat's ass one way or another. Live and learn while trying to
understand. Please read the review for the
Jefferson County Fair.
COOS COUNTY FAIR is where we are heading. 230 miles back near the
coast where it's substantially cooler by at least 20 degrees.
Spoke to a friend at the Jackson County Fair in Medford (Highway 5) and
said it was hot there. Quite a number of people. Glad to get
ot of this place. Had some really nice neighbors all around us and
it was enjoyable despite not making any money. It will take
roughly six hours to get over to Myrtle Point.
July 25. TGIS. Last day for the fair. No hope.
Dave's Doozies. New page on the
website. Guess what the first entry was? I shall list the
all-time worst #(*#$ shows that I have ever done. Enjoy. The
person in charge of vendors here is going to be inducted to the
Starving Vendors Bitter Business
Bureau.
AUCTION started around 5:15. Doing the cows first, etc. Wish
they would have done it yesterday in order to give the kids some money.
July 24. TGIF. Hopefully people will come out today.
Does anybody have any money? Biggest sale yesterday was two hairy
visors. Another day in the dungeons, I guess.
THIS IS FRIDAY AND IT'S SUPER SLOW again. Hardly anybody here.
Was told that they have several events today and Saturday and those
are over in the other side of the fairgrounds. Nobody is going
to walk over here. It is now 2:30PM and Sam (lady in charge of
vendors) still has not returned here. Yah, yesterday she told
me "I'll get back to you this afternoon." I suggested some
kind of lighting over here in the field so people could see the way
when it gets dark, but apparently the fair is not concerned about
it. They got our $300, so why should they care. Thought
about talking to the Fair Manager, but these people are nothing more
than a bunch of small town money grabbing hicks!! Problem is
that they will find 20 other suckers to pay them $300 for spaces
next year. Hopefully, people will read this and say 'No Way,
Jose." Go someplace else. No money here. Just
watch when my review hits near the top of Google searches.
Jefferson County Fair sucks.
GOT SOME ROPE FROM MY NEIGHBOR. My canopy was listing to the
left and every time the wind blew, the canopy rocked left and right.
Straightened out the canopy and tied it to a light pole ten feet
from us . Works just fine. Canopy doesn't move when the
winds blow 20-30 MPH over here.
WE CLOSED UP AROUND 8:15. Had some people walking around
the booths, but not much buying. Not worth sticking around
only to add to our frustrations.
July 23. Another hot one here in Madras. I guess it'll be
another slow day here. No reason to expect otherwise. Last
night they had some king of idol or Karaoke singing thing going on and
they had around 200 people watching. At 6:30 last night they had
45 people in the food area, 30 people watching some other performance
and zilch over in our vendor area. Puts new meaning in the word
SUCK. Getting ready to head across THE MINE FIELD in twenty
minutes.
ANOTHER ROUGH AND TUMBLE DAY. Not many people. Lookie-Lu's
and grabbers mostly with few sales. This show sucks. Cow
shit all over the place. Somebody call the Board of Health,
please. Thank gosh the wind is blowing the other way.
VERY WINDY AGAIN TODAY. A bit cooler, but the wind is really
whipping away. Canopy is swaying to the left and I hope the whole
thing doesn't come tumbling down. Cooler today.....88 degrees
maybe. Warming up to 92 on Friday, 98 on Saturday and 102 on
Sunday. It's bye-bye Balboni on Sunday morning. Will tear
down around 6:00AM and "Hit the road, Jack. Aint' gonna come here
no more, no more, no more, no more Jack."
DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING THIS FAIR NEXT YEAR. Very bad.
It's all about the pigs and cows over here. Pigs fly.
Cows rule.
CLOSED UP AT 8:30 TONIGHT. Couldn't take it any more.
Hardly anybody around. What am I going to make in two hours?
Ten Bucks. Quite windy and getting cooler. Gone. Call
it a night.
July 22. Very slow at the Jefferson County Fair.
Check out what I have
to say, etc. Much more than just a review!!
WEATHER. Hot, hot, hot.
THE MINE FIELD. Check back tomorrow to see what the 'mine field'
is.
July 21. Cool morning here in Madras. Won't be that way for
long. Set up our canopy and grids yesterday after arriving.
It was too hot and too early to set up anything else. Will
continue setting up this morning around 7:00 when it's not so hot and
finish off tomorrow morning before the fair starts at 11:00. Going
to have long hours starting tomorrow as the fair closes at 11:00PM.
Get your fair updates
and review here.
DESCHUTES COUNTY FAIR starts next week in Redmond and they get 230,000
for it. I think that they get 30,000 for this one.
Hopefully, they aren't saving their $$$ for that one. We did it
last year and people spent their money mostly on food and the carnival.
I'll always remember that I had the worst hamburger in my life there.
A booth was selling hamburgers at $3.00 apiece. Pretty cheap, huh?
You know these food booths usually charge $5 and up. Well, this
place had a sign saying 2 hamburgers for the price of one. That alone
has to be a warning sign, but I decided to give it a try. I
brought them back to my booth and took one bite. It was gross.
Tasted like it had been sitting there for a month. I threw them
out. Serves me right, I should have known better. During
that fair, our motor home was parked quite a distance from the booth, so
we had to eat fair food. We try to stay away from eating food at
shows because sometimes it's not cooked properly and costs too much.
I had gotten food poisoning at an event in Antioch (CA) a couple years
ago and that's enough for me.
DOG DAYS. Hopefully, they won't allow dogs in here. Last
weekend was ridiculous in Winchester Bay. It looked like the
people brought their dogs down to socialize with the other mutts and to
sniff one another's genitalia. Keep in mind, that when somebody is
dragging their pooch around, they very seldom buy anything. So
funny. Everybody thinks their dog is the cutest or whatever.
It's amazing that when two dogs, one large and one tiny come face to
face, the smaller is the aggressor, jumping up and down, barking, etc.
Pretty brave when they know the bigger dog is leashed. Just showing off
for their master's. Trying to impress him. Usually
the bigger one will just stand there staring at the other. Then
there are times that dogs will 'sneak a pee' in a booth. Quite
often, myself and other vendors have spotted 'mysterious' wet spots in
our booths. I have seen instances where dogs have pee'd on
people's beautiful tablecloths. Also, dogs have stopped in front of my
booth and have done their business while the owner just stands
there pretending not to notice.
INTERNET. Was able to get online early this afternoon. It's
1:30pm right now and we haven't had to turn on the air conditioning.
Nice breeze right now.
SOME SCOOP ON CAMBRIA. Just got an email from a friend who said he
did the most recent Cambria American Legion parking lot show. Said
that it was only half-filled with vendors and they did not do very well.
We are planning on being there in September.
July 20. Departed Winchester Bay and drove to Madras, a distance
of 235 miles for the
Jefferson County Fair. Very scenic drive and we made it there
by noon-time. When we left at 6:00AM it was quite foggy.
Arrived in Madras and it was getting HOT, HOT. Set up canopy,
grids, etc., and will leave it there until Tuesday evening, when we put
up our merchandise. Wanted to get here early to get some
relaxation time.
July 19. Weather is mild here. Very little fog off in the
distance and no wind so far. Supposed to be a nice day, but you
never know in this area. Ended up rather windy yesterday and a bit
on the cool side.
July 18. Spent the night in the parking lot again. $11 for
dry camping. Woke up somewhat early and was able to get online,
but not very long. Lots of problems here. There are a bunch
of RV's here along with trailers containing ATV's and other off-road
buggies. I hear a number of cars leaving, perhaps going fishing.
I don't know, I didn't ask them.
ANOTHER FOGGY MORNING HERE and the windshield has moisture on it, so it
will probably be a little more humid today.
When I stepped outside, I saw that the ground was quite wet and there
was a mist. I drove over and parked near the event and took a walk
around. Found out that it was very foggy this morning and there
was an extremely heavy mist. They said that you couldn't even see
across the street. That's the way it gets up here sometime.
Hope this stuff goes away by 10:00, when the show starts.
SALES were okay up until around 2:00PM when the wind began to pick up,
making it a lot colder than it had been. The morning was foggy and
had a partial clearing late in the morning. However, the fog kept
rolling in and we hardly saw the sun all day. As the afternoon
wore on, it became colder and colder. Our sales were better than
yesterday and we could have doubled our sales if the winds didn't pick
up. They are really treacherous. Only had one canopy fly
away today. If you are a betting many, the over and under on
canopies blowing away is 3.
July 17. Was able to upload yesterday. Been having
connection problems and I could only get on-line for 15 seconds.
Same problem today.
INTERNET. Found a spot where I can access the internet.
Shhhhhh. Though that I might be having a problem with the
computer.
DA WEATHER. It's a bit foggy out here again and if it clears up,
then it will be a nice day with temps in the 70's. Maybe by noon
time. We are at the Winchester Oceanfest (OR) and I really think
they should rename this thing the Fogfest. We are probably half a
mile from the ocean, so a more appropriate name should be considered.
My other choice of shows this weekend was one in Cottage Grove along
Highway 5. I've had enough of that hot stuff along that highway.
Temps have been in the 100's lately and this weather over here is
actually very refreshing.
SALES WERE OKAY today and not really bad for a Friday. Maybe one
of the better Friday's I have ever had. Had a decent crowd out
here and it was a mixture of tourists and mostly locals. You had
your 'walkers' out there in the morning as sales were slow until
noontime. Be
sure to read my review.
July 16. Got online late yesterday afternoon and this morning.
However I wasn't able to this time. Hopefully I'll get on line
sometime soon.
Please be sure to read my on-going log of daily adventures in my
reviews. We are in Winchester Bay right now and you can read
what I have to say
about the tri
TWITTER. Anybody out there Tweet or whatever? A lot of
people are on Twitter and you can sign up and 'follow me' by clicking on
the box to the left of here.
July 14. Boooorocka Bomba throws out first pitch of All Star Game.
Sounded like a third of the people there were booing him. Next
year, it'll be 2/3.
July 13. Another slow, agonizing day at the RCBF for sales.
Music good. Read the review.
TWITTER. We have all heard of it and I have decided to join up.
You can get my updates by 'following me'. Just sign on and take it
from there.
GAS PRICES are continuing to fall. I filled up my motor home
yesterday. Should have filled it up in February when I could have
gotten gas for $2.05. I went over to a Chevron station in San
Lorenzo and saw that it was $2.96. I pulled up to the pump and I
just sat there for a minute trying to recall what the prices were at the
other stations. I sure as hell wasn't going to pay that much, so I
pulled away. Went down the street, got some propane and headed
back home. I passed by a Union 76 station and they had it for
$2.85, so I got around 40 gallons there. Saved over four dollars.
Not much, but every freakin dollah helps.
July 12. First Day of the
Russell City Blues Festival. So brutally agonizing kind of
day for sales. I just can not do any more of these type of shows.
People pay 15 smackers to get in and just sit there and listen to the
music all day long. So depressing. (get it? blues?
depressing?) Had spurts of sales and fortunately I managed to
catch the fee the first day. I think the music was okay and quite
a bit better than some of the loud garbage we have had to endure at a
number of shows.
SCARING US AGAIN. I guess when newswriters get bored, they conjure
about stories about global warming, earthquakes, etc.
Here is today's story. If you don't hear from me soon, then it
was really true.
July 10 Jackson's Glove Hid Disease, Pal Says.
Michael Jackson's sequined white glove became a signature fashion
item for the King of Pop, but according to a friend of Jackson, it was
really used to cloak the early stages of his skin disease.
Click here to read story
OREGON TRIP COMING UP. Leaving Wed, July 15. I just popped
up the weather report for Winchester Bay (our first show - Oceanfest)
and I saw AM Showers for today, but it looks like some clouds over next
weekend with temps in the high 60's, which isn't too bad. Just
have to worry about the wind. I am really scared to look at these
darn forecasts. Just checked Accuweather's 15 day forecast for our
stay in Madras, OR and we are showing 96 #($*#)$*ing degrees. That
part is not looking good. At this point, the weather looks okay in
Myrtle Point and Tillamook showing temps in the mid 70's two weeks from
now, but that doesn't do me much good because we'll be in those places
the end of the month and the beginning of August.
July 9. Look for us, DandL CREATIONS, at the Russell City Blues
Festival in Hayward adjacent to the City Hall. There will be a
total of 11 vendors there for the weekend. We have to use their
canopies as opposed to our own. I am really not in favor of this
and I myself, have mixed opinions about the reasons for this. They
claim that the city wants all the booths to be uniform, all the same.
Paid $250 for the space and must assume that they tacked on $75-100 for
the canopy and of course, part of that is included in their 'net
profit.' I say, screw uniformity. All of us are accustomed
to using our own canopies and that facilitates setups. Moreso, I
use an EZ-up type of canopy and I secure the grids to the canopy.
With their canopies, oh gosh, I can only secure my grids to the four
sides. Additonally, the spaces are all open and we have to cover
up at night or take our stuff out.
July 7. Was watching the news last night and heard them mention
about a fire raging out of control in Jefferson County, Oregon. My
head shot up so fast and I almost freaked out because we shall be doing
the Jefferson County Fair in two weeks and that's all I needed. I
checked out the location and saw that it was closer to Highway 5 just
south-east of Cottage Grove. The fair is located much farther
north-east in Madras. However, we were planning on spending a
night enroute in that vicinity.
July 6. Arrived back from the Mount Shasta 4th of July Festival on
Saturday evening.
You can read about it here. It was nice up there and
temperatures were only in the low 90's and we had a breeze most of the
time and it had a cooling effect.
BOY AM I IN THE WRONG BUSINESS. At the current time Simon Cowell
(American Idol) is negotiating a new contract for between $100-140
MILLION DOLLARS. Ouch. Whoa. American Idol makes a net
profit of nearly $1,000,000,000. That is once again, ONE BILLION
DOLLARS. I have done some research and have found that the
contestants (after the try outs) get paid $1,000 per episode. When
the 10 of them go on tour, they are paid in excess of $100,000.
WEATHER is somewhat cool around here but that's fine with me after those
hot days up north. The weather has been rather strange on both
coasts as we have been experience rather cooler weather than normal and
the East Coast had been deluged with large amounts of rainfall lasting
several weeks. Much better there now.
Preparing for our Oregon trip. Will be leaving on July 15.
Will spend the first night at Seven Feathers Indian Casino in
Canyonville and then continue on to our first event, which is the
Winchester Bay Oceanfest, located close to the Oregon coast on Highway
One between Reedsport and Coos Bay. The area is popular for
off-road driving in the sand dunes and boating. It gets quite
windy there and we really have to secure the canopies down and tie them
to buckets filled with water. Lots of people tie their booths to
their vehicles.
RUSSELL CITY BLUES FESTIVAL. Decided to do this festival located
on the grounds of Hayward's City Hall. Need to make some gas money
for the Oregon trip and don't want to sit around for the weekend.
A number of people are doing the Brentwood Cornfest which is a three-day
show and should be hot out there. I don't like doing it.
They want you to stay open on Fri and Sat evenings, but they charge you
for electricity. Matter of fact, surprised they charge you for
#($*#$* toilet paper. City permit. Insurance.
July 3. Taking my time this morning. Was awakened at 2:20 by
a couple of drunks leaning on the railing two doors down and talking
loudly. Opened the door and told them to keep it down. I'm
glad I didn't have to toss them off the railing. Slept fine after
that.
July 2. In Mount Shasta City. A day of delays and last
minute stuff. Had just a bit of rain yesterday afternoon.
Not much. It tried to rain, but it couldn't. But just enough
sprinkles to make you think. The forecast was for sunny and 93.
At least it's not 107 degrees like it was 2 years ago. That would
have been rough. Gas is $3.13 over here.
SET UP. We finished setting up this morning. Got there
around 6:00AM when it was nice and cool. Many booths on Castle
Street set up. Few booths set up on Mt. Shasta Blvd. as the street
was closed off around 5:30.
SALES were lousy and this was one of the worst days of the year.
Hardly anybody thee on a Thursday Who he hell is going to a
festival on a Thursday!!! AWFUL day; AWFULLY HOT
July 1. I guess a lot of people are getting ready for the big
weekend. We are heading up to Mount Shasta City for their festival
and will set up most of our stuff tonight in our space on Castle Street.
WEATHER. Hot up there with a high of 93 degrees expected around
3-4:00PM.
GAS PRICES are slowly coming down. COSTCO in San Leandro is $2.89.
Just checked Redding and their prices are around $2.89, a bit cheaper
than the Bay Area. My COSTCO membership has expired and I will not
renew....just too expensive to renew. You notice that they've got
all their products bunched up so you end up paying $15-18 for one item?
I mean you get about 10-12 things and you are up to $200. I don't
need 10 pounds of hamburger, 8 chickiens, 128 rolls of toilet paper, 2
big boxes of frozen lasagna, 50 pounds of potatoes. The overall
price for individual items isn't bad, but I just don't want to buy that
much. Smart and Final is doing the same thing now. Just give
me Food Maxx. At least I know it's at least 20 percent cheaper
than Safeway, Lucky's, etc.
MOUNT SHASTA gas prices. Ouch. Just checked gas prices there
$3.12. No way. I'm filling up in Redding before I get there.
June 30. Year is half over. When I stayed at Motel 6 in
Atascadero a few weeks ago, I couldn't find my alarm clock when I packed
up my stuff on that Sunday. I checked through a couple bags I had
and it wasn't in there and now I have come to the conclusion that it was
stolen. I thought that I had it on the table there on Saturday
morning when I left for the day, but it wasn't there. Please read
below for more important information:
TAKE NOTICE. When I was leaving on Saturday morning around 6:00, I
closed the door of the motel room. I thought that it would
automatically lock, but when I jiggled the handle, it opened up. I
opened it and shut it several times. I checked the locking
mechanism and things seemed okay. The door would just not lock.
I took out the key card and slid into the slot and pulled it out.
I closed the door and it was able to lock. Beware people.
Anytime you stay in a motel please be sure that your door is locked when
you leave the room.
ANOTHER MOTEL 6 STORY. Many years ago when I was staying at
another Motel 6, I walked over to a room. I thought it was ours,
but was the one next to us. They used keys back then. I took
mine out and stuck it inside the keyhole and turned it. THE DOOR
OPENED. Wow. Did I have a master key or what? Or did
some of the rooms have common locks? There was an Indian couple on
the bed. The guy was rubbing the girls stomach and they looked up
at me. I looked at them 'whoops, sorry wrong room' and I closed
the door and that was that. Oh gosh..... If I could
have only gotten there 15 minutes later. Whoa. Maybe I could have come
back to check up on them?
SPEAKING OF KEYS....Back in 1995 after I purchased an Aerostar van, I
walked over to another van which looked exactly like mine. I stuck
the key inside the door and it opened. I was surprised when I
realized that it was not mine. I didn't try to start it up though.
I just got the hell out of there so nobody would think that I was
stealing it and end up getting sent to San Quentin for 25 years.
I mentioned this to a friend at work. He told me that he had a
smaller car. I think it was a Toyota. He said that he found
the exact same model car in a parking lot and was able to open the door
with his key, but I can't recall if he told me if he could start it
up. I imagine so.
BERNIE MADOFF. Just look at his name. It is pronounced
'Made off.' Isn't that something. His name said what
he was going to do. How about Bernie Made-off with billions of
dollars.
He was sentenced to 150 years.
June 28. Did the 'Crusin in the Sun' car show at Fernandez Park in
Pinole. In the sun, all right. We were located out in the
ball field....deep second base and fortunately we had a breeze blowing
our way. Fortunately, the sand did not kick up. There were
quite a good number of cars and I'd say it was pretty good. We
don't normally do car shows. A fair amount of people and we had
enough families there to make purchases.
June 27. A hot day all over the place. Up to 90 here in
Hayward.
WHAT THE HELL DOES JESSIE JACKSON HAVE TO DO WITH STICKING HIS NOSE INTO
MICHAEL JACKSON'S DEATH? AND NOW RACIST AL SHARPTON'S NAME IS
POPPING UP. WTF? come off it, people
GAS PRICES have been dropping. COSTCO in San Leandro is at $2.91.
Keep going. Can't understand why it went up to begin with this
time. Oh well. We got screwed again.
STARVING VENDORS FORUM. We had around 1700 page views on the old
forum.
http://starvingvendors.createforum.net/viewforum.php?f=2
I am going to keep it up for people to read. We are trying to get
the new forum rolling, but you can still go back to the old one and post
where appropriate. If you want to post similar topics on VENDOR
NEWS, the new forum, feel free to do so. I look forward to hearing
from you. Let's get some new blood.
JUNE 26. MORE ON JACKO:
Britain's
The Sun, citing sources at the UCLA hospital where Jackson
was treated, is reporting that Jackson stopped breathing shortly
after a shot of Demerol, a drug similar to morphine. "Shortly after
taking the Demerol he started to experience slow shallow breathing.
His breathing gradually got slower and slower until it stopped," the
Sun source said.
WEATHER. The temps are climbing all over the place.
Going to be 107 degrees in Redding on Saturday; 90 in Mount Shasta.
Hope that we don't go much over 90 for the holiday weekend.
Predicted temps have been rising each day.
JUNE 25. MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD. Cardiac Arrest. Gone.
Here's his 1993 Super Bowl performance, This was a day that
Charlie's Angel Farrah Fawcett should have owned the front page news of
many papers, but she was overshadowed by the death of one of the
greatest entertainer's ever. Whether you liked him or despised him, he
was sure to grab your attention.
MOUNT SHASTA 4TH OF JULY.
Just checked the temps. Looks like
the low 90's on Wed-Thurs. Just hope it doesn't go much higher.
We had temps around 106 a couple trips up there....2007, 2006...
and it was almost unbearable in the afternoon. I know that it can
hot up there. I'll let you know something..... when it's 106
degrees over there and you look down the street at the mountain and see
it half-covered with snow, it does not cool you off Actually, there are
a number of people/tourists that do climb the mountain, but that is not
my can of tuna.
June 24. Leaving for our Oregon shows on August 15. Only
three weeks away. Probably spend night number One at the Seven
Feathers Indian Casino in Canyonville and then head across to Winchester
Bay on the following day to set up. I will be updating this
website whenever I can. Web access could be sporadic and I might
go 2-3 days at times without getting on.
WEATHER is great. We had temps in the low 80's today.
OVERNIGHT RV PARKING AT INDIAN CASINOS. Just found a website that
lists the Indian Casinos that allow RV Parking for the night.
Click her to see.
I am going to compile a listing of places where we can park our RV's
overnight in the Western States...CA, AZ, OR, WA to begin with.
Look at the bottom of the menu on the left. No listings yet, but
there will be shortly. I am going to have a number of things
dealing with RV's.
GAS PRICES. Heard on the radio this morning that gas prices 'have
reached the highest level they will for the summer.' Uhhh.
Today is the third day of summer. Okay. Whatever.
Looks like COSTCO in San Leandro is going for $2.93
WEATHER is looking good for the next week into the 4th of July weekend.
Hope we all have nice shows and make $ome money.
June 22. Summer is here, I guess. Northeast still getting
swamped.
CHABOT COLLEGE FLEA MARKET. Did it on Saturday. I don't
recommend this to anybody. I don't think that anybody made very
much money...even the people selling the cheap junk. I think that
the crowds were somewhat smaller. Nothing of mine sold really
good.
INFINEON RACEWAY. Saw the NASCAR race yesterday. It was a
good race, but the yellow flags came out a lot over the last 20-30 laps.
We were up there on Turn 9 and saw some great spinouts. It's
amazing how the driver's were able to steer clear of one another.
Trying to get out of there was hell. Took around 1 1/2 hours to
reach the highway. Worse than bumper to bumper... cars merging,
etc. Not sure what the attendance was, but I saw quite a few seats
empty around the place. As we headed home on Highway 37, the big
semi's came roaring by on their way to Highway 80 to head back East to
wherever. Whenever the Johnny Walker truck passed by a biker, the
guy on the motorcycle would wave and the driver of the truck would sound
his horn. I guess that's the drink of the biking world?
GAS PRICES. Scared to look at them anymore. Tired of this
crap. We are at their mercy and there are people making
millions/billions off it. My local Chevron station dropped 4 cents
to $2.99. Surprise. Got a long ways to go.
June 19. Starting to look more like summer. I guess the
Northeast is getting swamped with rain.
COLISEUM FLEA MARKET. Yesterday we took a walk around the flea
market. I was thinking about selling there today. Wow.
That's the messiest flea market I have ever seen. No way.
Loads of people selling junk, etc. Uh uh.
June 18 Isleton Crawdad Festival which was sheduled for this
weekend has been cancelled. Additionally, the event has been sold
and they claim that it will be held next year. They were in debt
to the tune of $100,000 and some non-private group purchased it and it
will be held in an unspecified community north of Isleton.
They may have had problems getting vendors and they also had problems
with the Fire Dept. They have always had problems with this 'party
festival' over the years. I feel sorry for the vendors who had
signed up to do the show - you know, it's a little late to be deciding
to cancel a show. Now, hundreds of vendors are left without a
show. I guess they are kind of pissed?
CRAFTMASTER NEWS. Tim, the editor, has been dropping by our
FORUM and is answering a lot of questions that we have about his
excellent publication and about shows, prices, etc.
Read this topic to hear what he has to say
June 16. It's Tuesday morning and cloudy again. All day
long, not a glimpse of the sun.
CHABOT COLLEGE FLEA MARKET. Will be there this Saturday.
Come on down and check us out. Heading out to Infineon Raceway to
watch NASCAR.
FOOD. Stopped by Giovanni's in Morro Bay on Friday PM before
setting up in Cambria that evening. Had my usual halibut and chips
and it was delicious, of course. Parked over on the ocean side to
eat. I've been eating their food for many years and every time I
am in the area, I always go here. Great fish, etc.
GAS PRICES. Drove down Main Street in Cambria. Gas was going
for $3.39. Damm. I did fill up later on Highway 101 north of
Atascadero and I paid $3.15. This is really getting to be absurd,
you know.
CAMBRIA is a nice little town and has basically one main street where
shops are located and the tourists do come by. You will not find a
McDonald's or any other 'food chain' restaurant here. You will not find
a Lucky's, Safeway, etc. I guess they banned them and that's okay.
There are some places to get food....not many though. I picked up
some BBQ at the Main Street Grill and it was good, like always.
RELAXING. It's nice to come to this area because it's nice and
relaxing. Sometimes it can get windy and cold during the summer.
I have taken trips down here and it's been 105 degrees in Paso Robles
and 20 miles over on the coast, it would be windy with temps in the
50's. What a difference. Kind of cold running around with a
pair of shorts on.
MODESTO AMERCIAN GRAFFITI CAR SHOW. I did not do this event, but I
have heard that it was lousy. They tried to claim that they get
20-30,000 for this event, but more like a few thousand, at most.
It's so funny that they call it 'American Graffiti' as they try to
capitalize on the movie. I think that we've got the wrong graffiti
here.... graffiti...you know the stuff they draw on walls and
trucks all over Modesto? That's what they are talking about.
I did this event when it first started and it was bad. Still bad,
after all these years and they charge nine bucks a head. And
to think that I almost did this event. What a loser of shows,
okay? Many vendors packed up on Saturday.
Jan 12. Another overcast morning around here. What's going
on with the weather nowadays?
HOME SWEET HOME. Man's house mistakenly destroyed in
Atlanta. Imagine driving up to a house you own only to find it's
not there anymore. That's what happened to Al Byrd of Atlanta on Monday
afternoon.
Check it out. I guess HE'S pissed.
HOME SWEET HOME. The Red Sox unmistakenly destroyed duhhh Yankees
with late rally. I guess THEY'RE PISSED.
Check it
out. Brad Penny was masterful on the mound, but didn't get the
win because DelCarmen blew it. You know HE's pissed.
CAMBRIA. We are heading down the road today to do a Mike Knapper
at the American Legion Parking Lot. We could have a shower in the
morning, You know I'm pissed.
THE TRIP. Left San Lorenzo at 10:15 and arrived in Atascadero at
1:10PM. Less than three hours. Very quick trip. Temps
around 80. Drove down Highway 41 to Morro Bay and got some fish and
chips at Giovanni's. Best around. Temp was 60 and a
bit breezy and not really too cloudy.
GAS IN CAMBRIA. I was shocked to see that gas is going for $3.39
in Cambria. Ouch. Surely I am not filling up over there.
June 11. Haven't found the mattress yet. Dismal weather for
the weekend around here. Checked the report for Cambria....wow.
Rain on Saturday morning. Oh gosh. That's all I need.
Temps around 60 degrees for the weekend there? Yuck.
DALY CITY- Fil AM Festival. It's going to be held on September
19-20 at Serramonte Mall (again).
Click here to
read about it and get an application. Last year it was bad.
Weather cool and foggy (June) and people just not buying. They
just came to pick up free health information, eat and watch the
entertainment.
June 10. An Israeli woman tossed away an old mattress that had her
mother's life savings of a million dollars stashed inside. Never
going to see that mattress again, that's for sure.
Click here to read the story.
BASEBALL. Big Papi pops one as Sox mow Yankees 7-0. Beckett
shows down Bronx Bombers and Aroid on one hit over six innings in
masterful performance. Red Sox 6-0 against the Spankees this year.
Sox have Wakefield on the hill today and his knuckleballs will hopefully
drive them batty.
Story
WEATHER here in parts of Kalifornia has been weird. In the Bay
Area, we had some drizzle this morning and we are having continued
cloudiness each day. Will we have a summer?
AT&T. Received a letter from them telling me that I could 'qualify
for a lower rate on my DSL." I called them up and the guy tried to
sell me a 'bundle package,' which I did not want. They have NO
LOWER RATE. I looked at the 'signature' on the letter - Kevin M.
Kearney (Executive Director - Telecommunications) and told the guy that
I would like to speak to him. He had never heard of the guy.
Ain't that a crock of bull!!
June 7. Hercules Teenybopper Annual Get-together. Lots of
people, but there just for the social gathering. Poor sales.
Won't be there again.
You
can read what I have to say.
GAS PRICES. Three dollar gas prices coming soon to a neighborhood
near you.
CAMBRIA ARTS & CRAFTS SHOW. Next weekend. Weather should be
fairly decent. Perhaps morning cloudiness and breezes (or more)
during the PM. You can bet on that. Never fails. Very
nice area, but the show can be slow at times. Mike always gets a full
house for this one. A nice get-away weekend. Temps in the
low-60s. Graduation weekend at Cal-Poly. Local (Morro Bay,
SLO) motels hard to find or wayyy too expensive. Staying in
Atascadero.
AMERICAN GRAFFITI MODESTO is another show this coming weekend, We
did it the first year they had it and it wasn't too good. We
packed up at 2:00PM on Saturday and headed home. Did not return on
Sunday. It was a super-hot weekend. Hope the show is better
for the people doing it.
June 6. Every time I pass by a gas station, I just can't stand to
look. I just get depressed every time I see the price. This
is really ridiculous.
June 5. Improving weather and hopefully we all will have a nice
weekend. We shall be in Hercules for the Cultural Festival.
Not that many choices this weekend...Casa de Fruta, etc. We set up
this afternoon at the show, but too much wasted time driving, etc.
Took about an hour to get there and 45 minutes to set up our canopy,
grids, cover and other stuff. Over two hours to get home because
we had to stop off for food. Too much traffic and too many #($*#$*
red lights.
June 4. Weather not looking too bad for the weekend, I think.
CASH FOR TEXTBOOKS. Do you have any old (good-condition) text
books laying around. Check out
http://www.cash4books.net/main.php and enter the ISBN code and
see what they will pay you for it. Easier than putting them on
Ebay or whatever, but I don't think that you'll make much. I just
tried two super old books and they didn't quote me a price. So
much for another great $$$making idea. If you have some fairly
recent texts, give it a try.
June 3. Hercules Cultural Festival. Received a call from the
promoters and they said that they might cancel the event because of the
weather. What weather? If it rains, it will not accumulate
to very much.
June 2. Woke up to hear it raining for about five minutes around
5:00 this morning. We do not need rain this weekend.
GAS PRICES. Passed by the Chevron station and saw gas up to $2.87.
Oh gosh. Isn't that so depressing. It has now more than
doubled since bottoming out several months ago. Bama.
June 1. Please read what I said about Susan Boyle on May 28. and
now.....Newspaper claimed that police were summoned to the
singer’s hotel and she was assessed under the Mental Health Act
following what was described as a
breakdown after her
surprise second place finish behind dance troupe Diversity. BBC News
reported Sunday that Scotland Yard said that police were called to a
London Hotel on Sunday to doctors assessing a woman under the
Mental
Health Act. That woman was taken voluntarily by ambulance to a
clinic, they said, according to the report. At the request of doctors,
police accompanied the ambulance.
OREGON COUNTY FAIRS. Heading up to Oregon on July 14 for several
weeks of county fairs. I wanted to start off with a 4-day show at
Cottage Grove, but I can not get close to our booth with our motor home
and no way am I hauling my stuff in. So, once again, we will be in
WInchester Bay on July 17-19. After that, we'll zig-zag our way
across the state to Madras, just north of Redmond for the Jefferson
County Fair (July 22-25). After that, it's back out to the coast
for the Coos County Fair in Myrtle Point (July 28-Aug 1) followed by the
Tillamook County Fair (Aug 5-8) way up on the coast and then back home
on August 10 and the Zucchini Festival the following weekend. I
cringe every #($*#$ ing time I drive by a gas station and see those
prices go up and up and my plans kind of going up in smoke also.
Ouch.
GENERAL MOTORS. Obamaodama stepped to the podium for his press
conference. "Good morning," he said to the people there.
Nobody responded. It was not a good morning. GM will be
restructuring and WE will be paying for it. Isn't that nice?
Are some of their cars going to be produced overseas? If we are
'bailing' them out, then why would our government allow them to maintain
factories in foreign countries?
Read
this...very interesting. They are going to do more
manufacturing in Mexico, etc. THAT is your tax dollars at work.
We are getting snowed under by Obama, inc.
WEATHER. Another cloudy day. Could have rain later in the
week. Who ever heard of rain in June? Wow.
May 31. We have reached the end of May and we are having to endure
some weird weather. Been pretty cloudy the past week or so and the
gas prices are skyrocketing once again. That is definitely not
going to help the economy.
Foster City Art and Wine Festival.....or should I say the 'Foster City
Bark and Whine' Festival.
Check out my review.
May 28. A WALKING TIME BOMB. It looks like this Susan Boyle
(Britain's Got Talent) is going nuts and pressure is getting to her.
She went off on a couple of F-rampages this week. A neighbor told
The Sun: "The reason is because if Susan doesn't get what she wants, she
goes wild." Read all about it.....
BGT contestant goes wacko. She has a mad crush on Piers
Morgan. Watch out if she doesn't win. They'll have to put
her in a straight jacket. This lady is not normal. I think
that the BGT producers most certainly have their hands full and they are
probably going to wish that they never 'discovered' her. She's an
odds-on favorite to win at 4-7
May 27. Weather looks halfway decent through the weekend.
They are forecasting rain on Tuesday. Raining in June? Uh uh uh.
RIDICULOUS. Just received word that they were requiring vendors at
the Boulder Creek Art and Wine Festival to have fire extinguishers.
Have you ever heard of that? I think that I'll buy 200 fire
extinguishers next year wholesale and sell them there. Wow.
Totally unnecessary. You know, the booths are lined up alongside
the road facing inward. The odds of a car slamming into these
booths are a hell of lot higher than a booth catching on fire. In
16 years of doing shows, I have never seen a booth catch on fired AND I
have never seen anybody require vendors (other than food) to have fire
extinguishers.
THE
ULTIMATE ADVENTURE CRUISE. To The Point is excited to
offer the ultimate adventure cruise along the pirate-infested coast of
Somalia! Click on link to read more.
May 26. RISING GAS PRICES.
Here's a
website that lists the weekly gas prices in the US, Belgium,
Netherlands, France and Italy. This chart shows the weekly prices
from 1996 to this week. France is at $6.20...US $2.54.
Check it out. Europeans are paying more than twice what we are.
May 25. Dismal weather again. Cloudy and cool
both mornings in Morgan Hill and just downright fugly in Hayward.
I guess the sun didn't come over the weekend and temps in the Bay Area
were in the mid 50s'.
-
SPAM. Been getting a heck of a lot of Spam lately. Yesterday
I had this guy bee-bop into my booth and ask for a business card and I
told him that I didn't have any. This happens periodically as you
have these people collecting the cards and sending you BS emails OR
selling names.
FOSTER CITY A&W FESTIVAL is coming up this coming weekend.
Weather looks okay and weather reports are predicting 'partly sunny'
with temps in the high 70's. Not bad, but it doesn't say anything
about the wind and that does get pretty strong during the latter part of
the afternoon.
NEW ICE CREAM FLAVOR.
In honor of the 44th President of theUnited States,
Baskin Robbins Ice Cream has introduced a
new flavor: "Barocky Road."
Barocky Road
is
a blend of half vanilla, half chocolate, and surrounded by nuts
and flakes. The vanilla portion o the mix is not openly advertised
and usually denied as an ingredient. The nuts and flakes are all
very bitter and hard to swallow.
The cost
is $100.00 per scoop. When purchased it will be presented to you
in a large beautiful cone, but then the ice cream is taken away and
given to the person in line behind you. You are left with an empty
wallet and no change, holding an empty cone with no hope of getting any
ice cream.
May 23. Was in Morgan Hill. Setup no problem. A bit cool and
breezy during the AM; sunny and warmer during the PM.
May 22. WEATHER is looking great for the weekend. Morgan
Hill is showing 76 degrees. Mostly sunny on Sat; partly cloudy on
Sun. Would somebody please explain to me the difference between
mostly sunny and partly cloudy? If it is mostly sunny, then
doesn't it have to be partly cloudy. If it's partly cloudy, then
doesn't it have to be mostly sunny. I just don't get it.
GAS WAS $2.31 AT COSTCO about one week ago. Today it is now $2.49.
Are we totally screwed or what.
ONE YEAR AGO. This weekend last year we were up in Lake Tahoe and
the weather was just horrible. Rain, snow, cold, etc. There
was rain at other events also
ARROYO GRANDE STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL is this weekend. Truly one of my
top ten favorite shows. Weather is going to be fine there this
weekend. Temps 66 on Sat and 63 on Sunday. I was there a
number of years ago when temps were in the high 70's and the people were
dying from the heat. We no longer do the event. We were
located on the main street and we had to tear down on Saturday evening
and we just got too old for that. Motels are not cheap around
there; price of spaces is high and the cost of gas is excessive.
Too bad. Lovely area. It's Friday afternoon right now and I
would have been driving down there right now. I really miss that
trip. They have spaces below the main street, but there's
substantially less foot traffic.
AMERICAN IDOL. Here's a shot of Adam Lambert, the runner-up.
Uhhhhh.
May 21. Well, Kris Allen is our latest American Idol. I
guess that he came on pretty strong the past few weeks. I thought
that Adam was going to win. Simon didn't appear to be
overly-thrilled and I really think that the judges expected Adam to take
it. Surprise, surprise, surprise. Why do I keep getting the feeling that
the voting is being manipulated?
May 18. The weather in Castroville was great...temps in the low
70's and a breeze. Kept thinking about all our good friends up in
Oakdale with the 106 degree temperatures. Huge crowds at the
Artichoke, but mostly eating, drinking, watching and socializing.
Not really great for sales.
Click here to read the review.
FESTIVAL NAMES. The Oakdale Chamber of Commerce has decided to
rename it's annual festival 'The Oakdale Hot Chocolate Festival'
after two years of excruciating temperatures exceeding 106 degrees.
Castroville Artichoke changing its name to 'Salinas
County Police and Fireman's Annual Block Party' due to the huge numbers
of police and firemen at the event. Team Pro Events has
moved it's Art and Soul Festival in Oakland to the third week of August
and will rename it 'The Art and Sew Festival', which will feature
hundreds of women selling their crochet, knitting and other handmade
projects. Sorry, people...just trying to make you laugh.
Don't be like 'Bill' (the guy who emailed me last week after the
Strawberry Festival) who doesn't appreciate humor and takes my reviews
too seriously.
Oakhurst Home and Garden Show. Wow. They really did a number
on this show. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, it
was broken a little bit and needed to be tweeked, but they completely
destroyed this event by moving it to the week prior to Memorial Day
Weekend and eliminating the Mountain Peddler's name from it.
Honestly, a home and garden show over there? You are right near
Yosemite and if you do things right, which they haven't done in years,
you can attract the tourists. (if there are any left) with a visable
location and a good corresponding theme. Have heard that this show
really sucks now. I understand that a number of vendors weren't
aware of the changes until well after they had sent in their money.
Well done, Oakhurst. You can just about kiss your events goodby.
May 16. Left for Castroville around 5:15 and arrived at 6:30.
Took a couple hours to set up. There were 4 blocks of booths.
In our area, we are set up in quads and I love it. However, I
don't think we get as much foot traffic. Great weather.
DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN. But not for me. Just checked the
temp for Oakdale on Sunday. They are saying 106 degrees.
Ouch. That's what we saw last year. No thank you.
May 15. On Saturday it shall be 102 degrees in Oakdale.
Sunday 103. Castroville 78 and 82...not bad at all. 94 and
98 in Oakhurst. It's a hot weekend inland. Cooler along the coast.
May 14. COSTCO gas creeping higher and higher. $2.31 per
gal. Other stations approaching $2.50.
BAD DAY FOR BOSTON. Sox lose, Celts lose and the Bruins are out of
it.
May 13. Going to be 103 in Oakdale this Sunday for the Chocolate
Factory moved to Mexico Festival. Glad I didn't sign up for that
one. Castroville=mid 70's. Great. Good luck people. I
think that people are still pissed off because they moved out and don't
want anything to do with the festival. Live and let die. Thousands
of workers got screwed. I still boycott Hershey's products.
JUNE 25-28. Looking for a show. That's the weekend for the
Placer County Fair. Was thinking about doing it, but after a
weekend at the Rawberry Festiblow, I'd rather not. No $$$$$$.
May 12. Summer is here and looks like the rains are long gone
until whenever.
AMERICAN IDOL. Final three will perform tonight. Adam or
Danny? I think that Adam is more marketable than Danny, but it
seems as though Danny might be a little more popular. Each of the
2, I mean 3, have their own following but what is important is Who
will pick up the votes from Allison's elimination last week.
QUARTZSITE, AZ. Going to be 109 on Monday. Just
curious.
All three idols were fantastic tonight. Watch out for Kris.
Improving and it looks like he will pick up Allison's votes and could
cruise into second place, knocking out Danny.
SCUMBAG MILLIONAIRE Alex Rodriguez and the Spankees lose to the Jays 5-1
behind Doc Halliday's complete game. Bruins beat Carolina and move
on to Game Seven.
CHP Investigating Rash Of Freeway Shootings.
FREMONT, Calif. -- The California
Highway Patrol was asking for the public's help Tuesday in locating a
gunman responsible for a series of nighttime shootings along Interstate
680 near the Sunol-Fremont city line.
Click here to
read more.
May 11. You can read my review on the Strawberry Festival.
Nothing much to say here, but check it out. I left there around
6:30 and was able to listen to the Red Sox game on the radio and got
updates on the Celtics, who pulled it out against Orlando. I
remember that I hadn't tivo'd The Amazing Race, which was to conclude
tonight. It started at 8:00 and I knew that I would miss half of
it. I felt like I was in the race because I was in a hurry to get
home.
ALL THE RIGHT MOVES. Great weather. Castroville 68 degrees
on Sat/Sun for the Artichoke Festival; 92 degrees in Oakdale for the
Chocolate Festival. We were in Oakdale last year and the temps
were around 106 degrees. It was hot. One of the reasons why
we chose to go to Castroville this year. Another reason:
cost of booths.
FUNNY WANT AD: FOR SALE BY
OWNER.
Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, 45 volumes.
Excellent condition. $200 or best offer. No longer
needed, Got married last month. Wife knows f *****g
everything.
SUSAN BOYLE Britain's Got Talent contestant that surprised everybody
will perform on May 24.
POSTAL RATE INCREASE. Today first class postage went up 2 cents to
$.44. I guess this is the third straight year it has increased by
2 cents in May. Hope we still have a Postal Service next May.
Going to need some form of bailout.
May 9. Drove to Roseville this morning for the
Strawberry Festival. Arrived at 6:30 and set up. Oh
gosh. Big fairgrounds.....cramped up into a 10x10 space.
Rather warm throughout the day and sales were very slow for us and a
huge majority of the vendors, Just don't think very many people
are buying anything else beside food, drinks, etc. We had
reservations at Best Western, but we cancelled and drove home.
Long drive.
May 8. Looks like a great weekend, as far as the weather goes.
CRAFTMASTER NEWS April/May cover.
Please click here to download a pdf file of this months 'beautiful'
cover. That's my picture there. Check it out.
STEROID-BALL. ARod hits homer on first pitch as he comes back from
DL. Manny on 2nd day of suspension. Dodgers lost yesterday.
Chance for the rest of the division to catch up. Great sports
night on the tube: Celtics vs Orlando, Red Sox and Tampa
Bay, Yankees in Balitmore and last, but not least, the Giants playing
the Mannyless-Dodgers. Let's roll. Too much
magic against the Celtics...clobbered, down 2-1. CC Sabathia shuts
out the O's. Since April 15, Dustrin Pedroia is batting .400 after
starting out at .172
NEW ROSEVILLE STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL or ROSEVILLE NEW STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL
or...... Just had a 'courtesy call' from Johny5 Productions
reminding me of setup times. Very nice. I think these
promoters seem to be pretty decent and hopefully put on a great $$$
event for us. I just love their 'at home commercial' rates.
Other promoters & chambers of commerce: Grab your clipboards and
take notes. You have something to learn.
HOW TO MAKE A QUICK EASY $5000. Put an ad in some of the show
publications for an event. Make one up and submit it. List a
non-refundable $20 processing fee. In turn, 'vendors' will send
you their payment for the booth along with a separate $20 check.
You return their booth fee along with a letter saying that the show is
full, but you keep everybody's $20. You get 250 applications and
all you spend is return postage along with paper and envelope costs.
net profit=$4800. Sounds easy, huh? Well, we have promoter's
put there who are doing something similar to that. There are
promoter's out there that have shows filled up and people are sending in
applications and the promoter's are keeping the 'processing' fee.
IF THIS EVER HAPPENS TO YOU, CONTACT THE PROMOTER AND THREATEN HIM WITH
LEGAL ACTION. This did not happen to me, but I just want to make
people aware.
SMOG CHECKS. I often wondered it is advisable to get an oil
changed before your smog check.
I found some tips
to use before heading to your smog station. Yes, it is recommended
to get an oil change and you can read why.
OIL CHANGED. When things go bad, everything happens. I
brought my motor home over for an oil change. When I tried to
start it up, it wouldn't kick over. Tried their battery jumper and
it didn't start it. Tried my auxillary battery and that didn't
work. I looked in my wallet and I didn't have my AAA card with me. So, I
had to leave my motor home there and walk home and get my van.
Came back, took out the battery and ran over to Kragen around the
corner. All the while, not totally sure that a new battery would
solve the problem because there's always the possibility that the
problem could be the starter. I tried firing that sucker up and it
started. Pfew. Thank gosh.
May 7. STARVING
VENDORS FORUM. I have created a forum for all of us to use.
You can provide comments on shows, promoters or anything imagineable.
We can touch upon a lot of subject matter. I am still in the
learning process and not much on it yet, but if you would like to post,
I have many topics. I know that you people have a lot to say, so
please post on the forum. Want to let off some steam? Want
to give kudos to a great promoter or event? That is the place to
do it.
COSTCO GAS in San Leandro jumped 4 cents today to $2.23. Continues
to rise.
THIS WEEKEND'S EVENTS. There are a number of events this weekend,
but probably nothing very profitable. I will be at the NEW
Roseville Strawberry Festival. I have a lot of friend's doing the
Mother's Day in the Park in Los Banos, Casa de Fruta and also there is
the 4-day May Fair in Dixon. Then, there's always the one-day
festival in Windsor. Anyhow, on Monday, I would like to see some
entries on the STARVING
VENDORS FORUM so everybody can see what the shows were like.
Now's your chance. I'll make a new topic called - This week's
shows May 9-10 and you can enter your comments there.
May 6. AMERICAN IDOL. Allison gone. Final 3...Adam, Danny and
Kris. Looks like Allison peaked too early.
'M*A*S*H'
Star Comes Out of Closet. After a long career that
included a starring role on the TV show 'M*A*S*H*' and bringing to
life popular Disney characters, David Ogden Stiers reveals that he's
gay. When asked by the Gossip Boy blog if he was gay, the
actor replied, "Yes, I am. Very proud to be so," according to WENN
May 5. BASEBALL. Great day. Red Sox beat Yankees again.
Are 5-0 against the Bronx Bozos. ARoid could be back with them on
Friday. They ARE NOT packing the house. Too many high priced
seats and the team stinks.
May 4. CRAFTMASTER NEWS. Just picked
up my copy from my P.O. Box and saw the cover. It looks really
great and my name and website are mentioned in the top right hand corner
of the picture. Click on the picture to see larger version.
When you are viewing the picture, you can click on that image to see an
even larger one that shows the printed part better.
JOBA CHAMBERLAIN FAMILY DRUG AND ALCOHOL REPORT. Hey looks like
this NY Yankee pitcher has all kinds of problems in his family. He
was busted or DUI and
now his
mother was arrested or selling meth. I know it's cruel for the
press to do publicize this, but he's a Yankee and anything goes, ya
know.
May 3. WEATHER. So far, this has been the worst weather I
have seen during this month here in lower Northern California.
Terrible. Checked Accuweather.com and didn't see rain in the
forecast for Ceres, but we have been having some freaky weather lately.
so anything goes.
CERES STREET FAIRE. Attendance down. Rain stopped just
before 10:00AM, phew! However, people not buying. Be sure to
check out the
review for the whole story.
CELEBRITY APPRENTICE. It's down to Joan Rivers and Annie, the
poker player. Those two have been going at it for weeks. I
hope that Annie wins it because Joan acts like such a bitch. I
picture her as being straight out of a horror show
CRAFTMASTER NEWS. Before you go looking for shows, please be sure
to check out that front page. I haven't see it yet, but I
understand that one of my pictures (Mt
Shasta 4th of July festival) is on the cover.
I have that shot on the home page of this website.
ROSEVILLE STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL. Weather is looking good for next
weekend with temps in the 80's. Let's hope that this is the end of
the rain. Crazy weather lately, so you never know.
CERES STREET FAIR. Had consistent sprinkles throughout the
morning. There were quite a few people, but a lot didn't come out
until the afternoon, when the rain stopped.
May 1. WEATHER not looking very good. Will have a
couple showers in Ceres this weekend, but it shouldn't be disastrous.
I checked
Accuweather.com and they are not showing rain during the day.
Rain tonight. I'm scared to check weather.com. For tomorrow,
we could have a couple showers. Let's hope for decent weather.
SWINE REPORT. More schools closing in the Bay Area as the flu
spreads.
CHEATER REPORT. A-Rod won't discuss latest on book. Alex
Rodriguez refused to address allegations that he used steroids when he
was a highly touted high school player and with the New Yock Yankees.
Click here
to read more.
JOSE CANSECO is trying his hand at
mixed martial arts, with seven-foot-two South Korean Hong Man Choi his
first opponent. The Canseco-Choi matchup will take place on the Dream 9
card May 26 in Tokyo
click here to read more
SPORTS REPORT. Mark Texeira, the 180-million dollar man is
batting .192 for the Spankees. Isn't that great? Big Papi
did not hit a single home run for the Sox in April. Wow.
Apr 30. GLOOM AND DOOM. Antarctic Ice Shelf Falling Apart.
There ya go, another thing to worry about. Massive ice chunks are
crumbling away from a shelf in the western Antarctic Peninsula,
researchers said Wednesday, warning that 1,300 square miles of ice — an
area larger than Rhode Island — was in danger of breaking off in coming
weeks. To read more,
please click here.
CERES STREET FAIR. Lots of people checking the blog and this
website for info on the Ceres Street Fair. Probable rain. Oh
gosh, when is this rain going to end? See below.
RED HAWK CASINO in Placerville. Went up there today. Very
easy to find-separate exit. Lunch Buffet was good and cost $12.00.
Large selection of food. Casino just opened a few months ago.
NBA. Celts lose in 3 overtimes to the Bulls 128-127. Ray
Allen gets 51, but not good enough.
SWINE UPDATE. It's going to be bad. You know how big soccer
is in Mexico. All there games are being played with no fans in
attendance. Gosh, I guess that they sometimes have 100,000 people
packing the stands waiting for the announcer to yell 'SCOOORRRRRRRRRRE."
San Mateo County is reporting cases.
WEATHER. Looks like we are going to get some rain on Saturday in
Ceres. Weather.com says Rain; Accuweather says 'a passing shower'.
I guess since I have a choice on that one, I'll take the passing shower.
Doesn't sound as wet. I guess between the ice shelf falling apart,
the weather and the asteroid that's heading toward the earth, I have my
hands full, don't I?
AMERICAN IDOL. Predictably, Matt was eliminated last night.
Next to go will be Kris, leaving a final threesome of Adam, Danny and
Allison. Quite surprised to see that Adam was in the 'Bottom two'
this week. What gives? Or are the producers playing games to
add a little suspense and drama to the show. Or are they trying to
make Adam's follower's vote for him. instead of taking his success for
granted. Dunno. This surprise might have saved him from
being eliminated next week. Allison has been coming on strong the
past 3-4 weeks and she has shown great improvement. We could have
an unexpected final of her and Danny. But my favorite choice
remains to be Adam.
ALEX BARRY RODRIGUEZ on steroids since high school and cheating too.
Read the latest.
FARRAH FAWCETT. Her health has taken a turn for the worse, and her
family is now holding a bedside vigil. According to Radar Online, the
actress became "gravely ill" on Monday and is confined to her Westwood
home. Here's hoping she'll be able to pull through yet again
Apr 29.
Tourist bus crashes in Soledad and flips over onto its side.
Passenger falls out and plummets to road underneath. Wow.
Many of us have driven that way on 101.
PLACER COUNTY FAIR. Was checking shows for the end of June.
Price isn't bad for 4 days in Roseville. However, I have never
seen a show ending at 2:00AM such as this one. No way.
PIG FLU. As of this morning there were 114 confirmed cases here in
California. Read somewhere that they are predicting 2 million
deaths from this flew when it goes full-scale. As vendors, we will
probably be exposed to it sooner or later. They are trying to do
everything they can to curtail exposure....flight cancelations from
Mexico, cancelling sports events, etc. All that is not going to
work, people. It's going to come. Flip a coin, either you
get it or you don't.
HELP WANTED. Opening for bus driver in San Antonio.
Driver
texting for 6 minutes crashes bus into car in front. Don't you
just hate these people with their cell phones. How many times do
you get behind some driver doing 50MPH in a 65 and when you pass them,
they have that #($*@)$*# cell phone glued to their ear. We now
have laws for that, but these people still do it. I guess
they are getting fined $1.00 or something like that.
Apr 28. Starting to get a few degrees warmer each day. Let's
get up into the 70's for the weekend.
UHHHH... Now I have heard everything. Chihuahua owners
Dorothy and Lavern Ultey of Rochester Hills, Michigan had a scare when
their little dog Tinkerbell was blown away by a 70 mph hour gust of
wind. The couple claims that a PET PSYCHIC reunited them with
their pooch. A pet psychic? Come on now, let's
get real.
AMERICAN IDOL. Down to the Final 5. I think that Matt is
going to be eliminated and then Kris. Final three? You need
a lady in there and that is going to be Allison. Of course, Adam
and Danny will make it. So that will be your final 3 shortly.
GAS PRICES. COSTCO went up .02 today to 2.19 in San Leandro.
Getting close to summer.
SPORTS TONIGHT. I've got it made. Celtics and Red Sox are
both playing tonight. The C's need to win this one at home and
hopefully end it in 6 to rest up a few days before entering the next
round, which apparently isn't going to be Orlando. Too bad the
Shark's lost last night. They had the best record in the NHL this
year. Unfortunately they have had a lot of injuries the past
couple months and have been struggling. What the Puck!!!
BARRY BOND'S claims that his 'on-field persona was just 'an act.'
Yah right. Once an A$$ho always an A$$ho. He made an
appearance at the ball game last night.
Apr 27. What the hell is it with this weather? Cloudy today
with high temp 58. Showers on Saturday? Oh no. Not
this again. Rain in Hayward, but not Ceres. Weather.com is
show rain on Sat and temps in the mid-60's and Accuweather has NO RAIN
and temps around 80 degrees in Ceres.
BASEBALL. Red Sox win 11th in a row. Yankees lose.
Wakefield goes 7 innings allowing just one hit. Jason Bay's 3 run
shot in the 9th wins it over Cleveland. Sox will probably move
into first place tonight as Toronto is losing 6-1.
Apr 26. Great weather. A bit breezy at times.
BASEBALL. Red Sox go 9-0 on homestand. Swept the Yankees
today, winning 4-1. Jacoby Ellsbury shocked pitcher Andy Pettite
and the Yankees by stealing home.
SHOWS COMING UP. We will be at the Ceres Street Fair this coming
weekend. I think we look good, weatherwise. This is the 15th
year we have done this event. A lot of the vendors that I spoke to
this weekend are doing the Clayton Art and Wine Festival.
SWINE FLU in Mexico. People wearing masks all over the place
and sports events being played with no spectators. Might be coming
to US.
Apr 25. Nice weather today, thank gosh. Best thing about
today? The Red Sox beat the Ysnkees 16-11 and are only one game
out of first place. Kill the Yankees. Sweep em.
CUPERTINO CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL. Arrived this morning at 6:45AM
to set up. Finished at 10:00, believe it or not. Did we take
our time or what!! I guess they were missing perhaps 10 vendors
from last year, when they lost around 30. The shows are tough.
The crowds seem perhaps a little less than previous year's and the
people that came spent a lot less. This is silicon valley, people
and it's been hard hit lately from the recession. Seems like more
Japanese attended today as compared to last year
Please click here to read the review. I have written about Saturday.
Sunday will be up in another day or two.
APR 24 SCAMS. Just received another email telling me that
I've going to get a lot of money again. This is to officially inform
you that we have verified your contract file presently on my desk, and I
found out that you have not received your payment.due to necessary
Verifications & Procedures, etc. Decided to do a
little more research on scams and you can
click on this link to read about that. Interesting and
informative. Please do not respond to scams. You have no
rich relatives, you didn't win any lotteries, etc. People are out to get
your money.
RED SOX SPANK THE YANKEES...5-4. Bay's homer ties it in the 9th
off Mo. YOOOOUUUUUKKKK's blast in the 11th sends everybody home.
Sox move past Yankees into second. That's eight wins in a row for
the Sox. BTW: Orlando Hudson of the Dodgers is batting .382.
Why? He sees good pitches because Manny follows him.
STEVEN'S PHILLY CHEESESTEAKS. (see below also) Going to setup our
booth in Cupertino this PM and afterward will make a trip to Sunnyvale
on the way home to try their cheesesteaks. Read the reviews on
Yelp, etc., and it seems like they make a decent one there. Of
course, I have not seen anyplace that comes close to the one's back
East. Have tried Amato's the San Jose area (Saratoga) twice, but I
would rate them as 7.25 and a 5.5. Not as good as advertised.
Solly. There's another one down there called
Jersey's in Campbell and will try that one next.
SETUP IN CUPERTINO. Arrived there just before noontime.
Nobody else setting up this early. 12-5. I parked in the lot
and took out some things and placed them on the grass behind our van.
Of course, we were located in the far corner, of course. Great.
I took out our canopy and set it up and then began unloading our grids
to set up. This elderly guy parks beside me and than says 'you
can't park there'. Whoa. I turned around and told him that I
had to set up. He then said that its 'permit parking only'.
I told him that I had no place else to park. Who the hell was he
anyways? I told him that I did have a permit to park there for the
festival. I looked at his car and didn't see any permit on his
car, nor did I see any permits on 6 of the other cars that I checked.
Actually, I was surprised to see a 'handicapped' sticker on his license
plate. But I wouldn't make a big deal over that though because
there are a lot of people with disabilities that are not significantly
noticed. However, I forgot to ASK HIM to see his permit.
STEVEN'S PHILLY CHEESESTEAK, Sunnyvale, CA. Stopped by there on my
way home and picked up 3 of them. A small line, but it only took
about 3 minutes to place my order. I waited for them and then
drove 40 minutes back home. They were only $6.75 and are a little
small for a hungry appetite. Okay for the price, though. I
love my cheesesteaks with the onions and peppers cooked separately and
slopped on top. However, they mixed all the ingredients
together...steak, cheese, onion, peppers, etc. and I will deduct 3
points right off the top for that. I can get cheesesteaks like
that at any festival. The rolls were somewhat okay and the meat
definitely was not rib eye or round. The sandwich had it's own
distinctive taste to it and I just thought it was okay. I am very
fussy with my cheesesteak's and I take them seriously. If I rated
my last one at Amato's as a 5.5, then I will give this one a 4.75, but
let's give them another .5 because they are priced accordingly.
Overall score: 5.25 They had drinks available, but you
had to purchase in the can from the fridge. Credit cards not
accepted, but they have a separate ATM machine beside the counter.
I have a couple more places in mind in the San Jose area and I will try
another one in May sometime as I search for the Great California Philly
Cheesesteak.
The lady at the cash register that took my order was very friendly.
She asked me if I would like Mustard, Mayo or Ketchup on my sandwiches.
I looked at her. Mustard on a Philly Cheesesteak? Not on
your life, I said.
Apr 23. AMERICAN IDOL. It just dawned on me that Adam is not
going to win. Just keep in mind that the person with the most
votes at the end may or may not win the finale. I strongly think
that it is actually up to the producers to determine the 'most
marketable' and 'versatile' performer and that may not be him.
It's all about money. Just about everybody thinks that Adam will
win. Great singer. Fantastic performer and very charismatic.
He makes sure to give kudos to somebody involved with the show each
weekend. However, he will not win. Just about every week, he
rolls over everybody and to continue the spirit of 'competition' alive
while keeping viewers watching you must throw in the unexpected.
You must show the other competitors that there is always hope, no matter
how good the performer is and to keep their hopes alive. You need
to create controversy. THIS IS ENTERTAINMENT. Your winner?
Adam and Danny are top 3 finalists, for sure. Watch out for that
third person, who will probably finish number 2. It's all about
entertainment, making money, keeping the viewer$ and $ponsor$ in the
game. Maybe I am wrong. All said, Adam is truly the best.
SPORTS REPORT: Met's get beaten by Cards 12-8. Pujols smacks
2 HRS. Mets off to slow start at 6-9. Our pennant winners
are both struggling...the Phils and the Rays.
THREE YANKEES I TRULY DESPISE: Johnny Demon, Joba The Hut
Chamberlain, Mark Curseira. Three that I really don't mind and
it's hats off to them and they don't make me vomit: Derek Jeter,
Hideki Matsui and Mo Rivera. Perhaps my two favorite players of
the past 10 years could very well be Pedro and Manny. even though the two of
them pretty much 'deserted' the Sox, but when Pedro pitched, I stopped
what I was doing. When Manny batted, everbody stopped to watch
him.
Apr 22. Another nice day and hopefully cooling off. Still
was close to 90. Temps will drop int the mid-60's by week's end.
SHOWDOWN ON FRIDAY. Red Sox vs Yankees in Fenway Park. Jon
Lester against Joba Chamberlain. Both teams tied for second at
9-6. Pedroia, Ellsbury and Papi are starting to heat it up.
Texeira batting just .222 after 15 games. Great!!! Kill the
Yankees. Boston Bruins move on to next round in their
run for the Stanley Cup. Manny Ramirez just launched a moonshot
out of the stadium in Houston. 4th homer in 5 days.
AMERICAN IDOL. Down to 5 now with the elimination of Lil and
Anoop.
LEMOORE PIZZA FESTIVAL. Heard about the show there.
Terrible.
Click here to read what a vendor had to say. That my friends,
was one doozie of a show that we 'weeded out' from last year.
Read about the show here. Apparently from a visitors
standpoint, it may have been enjoyable and festive. But a lot of
us look at it in a completely different perspective....at least from a
vendor's point of view. I notice that they do have quite a bit of
entertainment along with a variety of pizza contests, etc., which is
excellent. But when you are a vendor you mostly notice kids
skateboarding up and down the while being rude and arrogant, a distinct
lack of porta potties, etc.
BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT.
Shaheen Jafargholi Listen to this 12-year old boy 'get down'.
Wow. How about the winner of the 2008 competition.
George Sampson
WEATHER or not you want to believe it, but there is no rain forecast for
the weekend, thank gosh. Rain probably next Tues or Wed, but who
cares. Just dry weekends, please. Heat wave going away
tomorrow and things will cool down dramatically around here.
HOCKEY. The Sharks are dead ducks in the Pond. They play
Anaheim tonight, down 2-0. Bruins up 3-0 and should be moving on.
Another world championship for Beantown sports?
ASTRONAUT EDGAR MITCHELL: UFOs ARE REAL On Britain's Kerrang
radio show on July 23, 2008, Mitchell told the world that the 500+
witnesses telling us that a UFO from another world crashed in
Roswell, NM, in 1947, were in fact, telling the truth, and that a
government cover-up of UFO and alien information began at that time, and
continues today.
click here to read more
A massive solar storm could be catastrophic for the United States
and other countries, scientists warn.
MLB TONIGHT. My Red Sox got rained out. Will play 2
tomorrow. Yankees won over the A's. Manny 2-3 so far
tonight vs the 'stros. One homer, three RBI's and he is now
batting .342 this year with 3 HRS and 10 ribbies. You know I
hate that!!! He came up in the 9th with 2 on and nobody out
and hit a deep fly to right, missing a home run by 10 feet. He
would have tied the score.
AMERICAN IDOL. Just watched the first two and Lil will be one of the
two to go this week. Maybe Matt has run out of luck, but we
are now getting down to the one's that really truly have a chance of
winning. Maybe Chris may be around another week. Lil
could end up getting the 'ethnic' vote and end up high this week.
Only way she hangs in there. ADAM=GREAT=WINNER.
Excellent tonight. Bring on the finals versus Danny.
BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT producer Simon Cowell is trying to
bring together the winner of their 2007 contest,
Paul Potts
and Susan Boyle the
front-runner in this year's competition. He'd like them to
perform a duet, but maybe love could be in the making for these two.
They both are totally amazing vocalists.
GOOGLE STREET VIEW CATCHES UFOs FLYING OVER CITY. We all
have seen GSV's fantastic shots and people are always discovering
unusual objects, crimes, nudity, etc., on there. Click here to see
UFOs hovering over houses in London.
I'm
not too about that one. In this article, they refer also to a
Street View sighting in Berkeley Heights, NJ. Yah, it kind of
does look like an alien, but I seen better looking aliens, etc., in
cloud and rock formations than that. People stay off those drugs.
Call 1-800-Pey-otee.
WEIRD AND WACKY UFO STORIES. The website Weekly World News
contains a lot of oddities, etc. and has a
section on UFOs if you are bored and feel like reading.
PEREZ HILTON. I guess that you now have to support gay marriages
in order to win beauty contests. He proceeded to inquire about her views
on same-sex marriage. He blasted runner-up MISS USA contestant
(Carrie Prejean) for her answer. She answered that it was "great" that
the option is available in some states, but that "in my country and in
my family, I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman
-- no offense to anyone out there."
According to Shanna Moakler "she lost the crown because she wasn't able
to convey compassion for ALL the people that as MISS USA she would be
representing. and if YOU like it or not, gays and lesbians make up this
country as well. THIS is why we have judges so they can find the RIGHT
woman who obtains these qualities. I think that the judge who
posed the question to her wanted to put her on the spot and not have her
win.
Miss California answered the question and the way I look at it this it
was a 'no win' situation and the question should not have been asked.
If she said that she supported gay marriages, then she would have been
desecrated by many more for those beliefs. You put her on a spot.
And now, Hilton is capitalizing on this by making a big deal over this
issue in interviews and on his blog.
RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR. Oh gosh. SF mayor Gavin Newsome just
put his name in the hat in the state's election for governator in 2010.
Whoops...is The Terminator running? He announced this on 'Twitter'
as he is trying to attract younger voters by making them think 'he is in
touch' with them.
Apr 20. Happy Birthday to me!! Just checked the weather.
91 degrees today and cooling off tomorrow. Weather.com shows rain
on Sat/Sun. Accuweather shows no rain. Weather Underground
has 'chance of rain' on Saturday. Their forecasts only go 5 days
in advance. Who the heck believes these things anyway?
PATRIOT'S DAY in MA and the Red Sox game starts at 11:00AM Eastern time
and that means 8:00 out here. The C's almost drop another to the
Bulls and put up a good fight, winning it on Ray Allen's shot at the top
of the key. Thought that the fat lady was going to sing tonight.
You just can't lose the first two playoff games at home.
Apr 19. Here's my review of yesterday's event.
Click here to read. Anybody do the Lemoore Pizza Festival?
Did it last year and it was #($*#()$.
THE GOLDEN ARCHES signs of McDonalds are not safe to park beside.
"
.
BRIDGE PRICES GOING UP. Prices to cross our Bay Area bridges
could be going up in 2010. Stay tuned They say that tolls
will rise by $1.00 on each of the 7 bridges. They are considering
charging 'car-poolers.'
WEATHER. I guess it reached 90 here today in Hayward.
Nice weekend, but that's getting a little too warm for me. Going
to cool down by week's end and we can expect temps to dip some 20
degrees or more. Predicting rain for next weekend. Why?
That sucks.
THAT'S THE WAY IT IS.
Nurse laid off while aiding in surgery A Dean Health
System nurse assisting in a minor surgery in Madison, Wis., was removed
from the procedure to be laid off, a company spokesman said.
Adults are often reminded to drink responsibly but
customers entering a new cocktail bar where they are literally enveloped
in a mist of alcohol are warned to breathe responsibly. Just 40 minutes
inside the venue – which delivers an intoxicating vapour of gin and
tonic – will leave you feeling slightly merry.
Apr 18. LOS BANOS STREET FAIRE. They stuck me all the way on
the end of the street. Not happy with that. I think they
switched me with somebody else who applied at the last minute. Four
blocks of booths. Way too big of a show for the Lost Banos
community. Beautiful day, but a little too warm. At least 85
degrees. I guess summer is here. Kind of a boring day.
Sales were...... well, we had sales. I can't say that about all
the vendors. I'll put up a review later on in the week.
Looked like they had less junk and dollar items then they did last year.
Lack of porta-potties. People have to go, why make it so damm
hard? Three in the middle of the show 1/2 block away on a side
street or on one end where they had a car show with 3 of them.
YANKEES. Always a nice day when the New York Yankees lose 22-4.
Red Sox win 6-4. However, the C's lost to the Bulls by two.
No KG.
Apr 17. AREA 51. Wondering what is happening in Area 51
nowadays? Here is an
excellent website with a forum pertaining to daily occurrences.
Stories of aliens and UFOs are far fetched as we all know now that this
is an area where they test new aircraft, etc. Click on the
'discussion forum' in the menu to read. A number of years ago, we
drove the E.T. Highway east of Groom Lake and Area 51 but didn't see
anything unusual. However, we were there during the daytime.
At night, there's stuff flying all over the place.
LAS VEGAS buffets are really great and can be expensive. My
favorite is at the Bellagio and I enjoy Paris also. A lot of the
better one's are a bit pricey costing in the neighborhood of $25 each
but the food is usually excellent. You get what you pay for.
Mandalay Bay and The Mirage are decent also.
Here is a great
link that shows the buffets in Las Vegas. The Wynn Las Vegas
Buffet is the most expensive (Fri-Sat) at $37.95. I haven't done
that one.
Apr 16. Starting to warm up. Winds dying down. It's a
wonderful day. The Yankees are losing 10-2 in the opening of their
new ball park. Wonderful. Kill the Yankees.
Apr 15. MELISSA HUCKABY.
CBS News reported Wednesday that Huckaby had been
hospitalized after a suicide attempt a few days before her arrest. She
tried to harm herself by swallowing three X-Acto knife blades, according
to correspondent John Blackstone. Well, I guess that about
sums things up. I guess that she was the killer.
ASTEROID HEADING OUR WAY AGAIN.
An asteroid the size of a 25-story building will come within
18,000 miles of Earth on April 13, 2029 -- closer than the
communication satellites that orbit the planet,
Discovery.com reportedThe asteroid, called Apophis,
has only a 1 on in 45,000 chance of colliding with Earth. But it
will then be back for another shot seven years after that. In
case you are wondering, that is a Friday the 13th.
12 INCH TREE FOUND GROWING IN MAN'S LUNG.
A five-centimeter fir tree has been found in the lung of a man
who complained he had a strong pain in his chest and was coughing
blood. The 28-year-old patient, Artyom Sidorkin, came to a
hospital in the city of
Izhevsk in Central Russia
last week, Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reports. Doctors x-rayed
his chest and found a tumor in one of the lungs. Suspecting cancer,
they made a decision to perform biopsy, but when they cut the
tissue, they were amazed to see green needles in the cut.
Apr 14. BOW YOUR HEADS. At 12:00 noon on Saturday, we are
asking that all vendors take a minute of your time to bow your head in
tribute to the passing of Marilyn Chambers who died on Monday.
MELISSA HUCKABY
arraigned
today on numerous charges. For some reason, I just can not
picture this lady as doing it. I believe that she is covering for
somebody. I keep going back and looking at a statement that she
made: “It’s not my grandfather’s,” Huckaby told the paper of the
missing suitcase. “It’s mine and someone took it.” Now, why did
she say that the suitcase was 'not my grandfather's.' I don't see
where anybody asked her if that was her grandfather's. So, why
would she say that, unless.........? The truth shall condemn
one and set the other free.
NEW TALE OF WOE. I have just added our experience with the S.F.
Arts Commission regarding a street artist permit to our Tales of Woe
section.
Click here to read about it. We now have 6 stories there; our
Highway 128 Nightmare in Oregon last summer, Chandler Ostrich Festival
of 2006, A Nightmare in Tucson in 2007, Memorial Day Weekend in Tahoe in
May 2008, COSTCO CANOPIES. Check them out sometime, okay?
BITTER BUSINESS BUREAU honorable memberhip has been granted to the
S.F. Arts Committee for their actions on March 26.
Congratulations Assholes. Email me if you have comments to add
about them. I would be interested to hear what others have to say
about their experiences with them. I have already heard negative
things about these ladys who do the reviews of applcants.
starvingvendors@aol.com
NIKKI AMBER. Up and coming 14-year old Filipina solo artist from
the Bay Area.
Click here to see her new video - "When I Look in Your Eye".
When you listen to her, keep in mind that she is only 14 years old and
has a promising career. Please support here.
Here's a link to her website.
LET ME KNOW. If you have any comments, suggestions, etc. please
let me know
starvingvendors@aol.com Vendors, please tell me
about your latest events. I'd love to hear from ya.
JACKPOT. A 38-year-old Reno woman who originally planned
to spend a quiet Easter at home is $33 million richer after hitting
the second largest Megabucks jackpot in history at a Sparks casino.
Rachael Renee Romanick hit the jackpot Sunday night at Terrible's
Rail City, according to International Game Technology, the maker of
the progressive slot machines.
LEMOORE PIZZA FESTIVAL. Well people, It's time for the 2009
Central Valley Pizza Festival which we participated in last year.
Click here to read my review from the show. No thank you.
I think we shall pass on that one this year. We will be in Los
Banos this weekend.
Apr 13. CASA DE FRUTA. Morning was warmer than yesterday and the
clouds gave way around noontime to a really beautiful afternoon of
sunshine and warmth. As for sales today...wicked bad.
Horridly terrible. Small percentage of people buying continues.
Next week: Saturday in Los Banos. Supposed to be in
mid-80's.
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY. 2nd Inning. Tampa Bay 9 YANKEES
0. Nobody out in tbe second inning. KILL THE YANKEES. Wang
shelled. Carlos Pena hits grand slam. He has 6 RBI's
already. Wang's ERA 29.23. Wow. Will take him a
long time to get under 4.00. Let's dig into the bullpen.
NEW ROSEVILLE STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL. Held over Mother's Day weekend.
I would like to congratulate them for being the first festival to list a
price for a 'home commercial business' space. Excellent.
$240. This is priced between the A&C and Commercial.
Application
WINDS. Very strong winds on Tuesday around noontime.
30-40MPH. Buckle down people.
CELEBRITY APPRENTICE. Boring without Dennis Rodman. Even
though he lasted longer than he should have, he was still entertaining.
A hopeless alocholic. But he is totally boring when he is sober.
After 2-3 drinks he loosens up and is full of life and ideas.
After he has more than 5 drinks he starts acting wild and doesn't care
about anybody and he can be the jack of asses. Melissa and Joan
Rivers are providing the entertainment now with all their rants and
ravings. Like mother, like daughter. They are the
causes of dissention on the show.
LOS BANOS. Looks like a lot of us will be in Los Banos on
Saturday. Starts at 8:30...a bit early, but it gets warm there.
Expect 85 degrees there.
MELISSA HUCKABY. Accused murderer of Sandra Cantu now has a RAPE
charge to deal with. Wow. Sick. Sick. That has
opened a new can of worms.
HE
BIRD IS GONE.
Former All-Star pitcher
Mark "the
Bird" Fidrych was found dead Monday in an apparent accident at his
farm. He was 54. Worcester County district attorney Joseph D.
Early Jr. says a family friend found Fidrych about 2:30 p.m. Monday
beneath a dump truck. He appeared to be working on the truck, Early
said. He only had one good year, but he was great to watch.
MARILYN
CHAMBERS dead at 56.
click here to read story "Behind the Green Door" brought
something more in Chambers, an attractive young woman who had begun her
career as a legitimate actress and model. While the film was still
in theaters, the public learned that its star was the same young blonde
smiling and holding a freshly diapered baby on boxes of Ivory Snow
laundry soap (which the company touted as "99 and 44/100 percent pure").
The manufacturer quickly replaced her, but it was later discovered that
she also had a small role in the 1970 Barbra Streisand film "The Owl and
the Pussycat."
Apr 12. Beautiful day. A bit cool and windy at Casa de Fruta
in Hollister. Mike had a packed house there. 42 spaces with
38 vendors. Good crowd, but not buying. I think a good
number of people are not going to catch the fee this weekend.
Click here to read the review. If people don't need it, they
just don't buy it. This economy is absolutely horrible. The
promoter's seem to have no problem getting vendors for their events as
all of us are trying our darnedest.
I notice that there are a lot of vendors doing the inexpensive shows
($150-200) because they are not putting a lot of money at risk and these
promoter's have absolutely no problem getting a full complement of
vendors.
HILARIOUS. A Mexican couple came over to our booth and they asked
the price of one of our knives. "Ten Dollars," said my wife.
The guy looked at my wife. "How about seven dollars?" he asked.
My wife then said "No way, Jose." The guy was surprised and his
wife suddenly gave him a weird look. "How did you know my name?"
he said. "I don't know" my wife said as the wife appeared to be
very upset.
EMBARRASSING. A lady picked up one of my flying, screaming monkeys
and was wondering how it worked. I was hoping to sell one of them
for $6 to her little girl. I placed my two fingers into the
pockets and pulled back on the legs (like a slingshot) and I let go.
The right hand of it flew off to the right, while the rest of it went
toward her. She laughed. "So, that's how they work?" she
said. I looked at her. "Yes, that's the way they work....but
not quite like that."
Apr 11.
Supposedly they have found the killer of Sandra Cantu in Tracy,
They have taken a 28 year old lady.
Melissa Huckaby into custody. A Tracy woman, who was one of the
last people to see eight-year-old Sandra Cantu alive, was arrested early
Saturday for the murder of the young girl.
It was in her suitcase that they found the body and she gave an alibi
that it was stolen from her. Sure, she had enough time to think of
the alibi if she did it, but I can't see a motive for her doing it.
What would make her kill an 8-year old girl?
Melissa Huckaby, 28, had been interviewed by police since early Friday
evening and was taken into custody at 1 a.m., authorities said.
The arrest ended a wild 16-hour period filled with rumors about
Huckaby's possible arrest.
Apr 9. Scott got booted from Idol last night. Considering
that he was blind, he did really great. However, I just couldn't
picture him as being the American Idol. Not enough vocal range and
not much entertainment value. I'm still picking Adam or Danny to
win. Top Two. Watched Carey Underwood the other night on the
Country Music Awards. Pretty good and very lovely.
WEATHER. Looking good for the weekend. I hope the people
drop by Casa de Fruta over the weekend. Will be in Los Banos the
following Saturday and then the Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival the
following weekend.
STOCK MARKET is up a couple hundred at 7:40AM. Surged past 8,000
mark. I think that many investors are going to start jumping back
in. Need to get it over 10,000 so some of the retirement plans can
recoup for a lot of people. Many people have taken a beating,
losing more than half their retirement. I think that right now,
the stock market is a good indicator of where the economy can be headed.
But as far as jobs and houses? Your guess is as good as mine.
Get those gas prices back down under $2.00, please.
GAS PRICES. COSTCO in San Leandro went up to $2.17 today. Oh oh.
BASEBALL. My Red Sox lost yesterday. John Lester looked good
over the first couple innings, but then he got knocked around.
Yankees lost, they are 0-2 this season. Texeira not looking good,
but I do believe that he is a slow started. Varitek looks like
he's off to a better start this year for the Sox. I think that he
had too many personal problems (divorce, etc.) on his mind last year
coupled with some injuries. Dice-K on the hill today in the rubber
game of the Tampa Bay series. A's not looking too bad against the
Angels.
Apr 7. Even though my Sox got rained out, it was a nice day
because the Yankees lost. Their top 2 free agents fizzled out.
CC Sabathia and Mark Texeira bombed out. Wonderful. However,
as we all know such will not be the case for long.
Apr 6. Showing a lot of rain coming up this week. We are
looking at perhaps 4 days of rain here in Hayward and that could really
mess up next weekend when are at the Casa deFruta A&C show.
Accuweather.com is showing rain for next Sunday. Well, I guess
that's better than raining at 6:00AM Saturday morning over there when
everybody is setting up. We have done the Easter event there many times
and you can expect any kind of weather. We've been rained on,
heavy winds, cold, warm, etc. The whole brickowski!! (what's
that? I'm just inventing words as I go along). We first
began doing this event in 1994 when Casa deFruta was much different.
BODY OF SANDRA CANTU FOUND. Terrible ending. No suspect
yet. I thought that it might have been a passing truck driver, but
it looks like the area where the suitcase with her body was dumped was
difficult for a large truck to make it there. A neighbor? I
think so.
VENDOR TERMINOLOGY. Over the years, I have come up with a lot of
words to describe various circumstances that we come across. And
there are other words and phrases that many vendors use.
I have
decided to add a page with various explanations of many of these terms
Examples: Drink and pee festival.....When
the temps get pretty hot, you end up drinking a lot and making numerous
bathroom trips throughout the day. Take the
money and run. A common practice amongst a number of
promoters whereby they charge high booth fees and provide little in
return. Very little money spent on advertising. Also these
promoters can be referred to as 'rip-offs'
I am skimming through a lot of my pages looking for words that might
need a little more description.
RAINED OUT. Baseball season opens today. My Red Sox have
been rained out in Boston. Early April weather can be brutal at
times. Heavy rains and winds today. I was all set to make
some Philly cheese steaks today. Would have had to pick up some
fresh rolls this morning. Philly Cheese Steaks are not part of
Boston tradition, but I just wanted to have my favorite food on opening
day. Every so often, we'll cook up some Italian Sausages and load
em up with onions and peppers during the games... reminding us of those
great sausage sandwiches a number of food vendors sell outside
'Fenway Pock'. They smell so delicious. I guess that I'll
get stuck watching the Yankees this afternoon and rooting against them,
of course. True Red Sox fans really despise the Yankees and I am
no exception.
Apr 5. Very nice day yesterday in Manteca for the Street Faire.
Lots of vendors. I'd call this 'Opening Day' for events for a
great number of people. However...yes that's right..... However,
people just weren't buying. Sales were excruciatingly slow during
the AM and just a bit better during the afternoon for most of the
vendors. Show lasted until 6:00PM.... too long for me. Saw a
lot of familiar faces....some of whom I had not seen in years.
THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE. Two hour show tonight. Without
Dennis Rodman who was 'fired' last week. He was very entertaining
at the least, but he was in a world of his own. Constantly drunk
and trying to womanize. Half the things he said were bleeped
out. My favorite line..."Yah, I love those Russian Bitches."
REST IN PEACE. From what I have heard, the Hughson Fruit and Nut
Festival is no more. Last year was the final year for it. I
guess they tried to salvage it by charging $2.00 admission, but that
wasn't good enough. I don't know the whole story about the show's
demise, but they were losing a good number of vendors every year.
For one thing, having to come to set up on Friday was absolutely
horrible. We had to fight Friday afternoon traffic out of the Bay
Area on 580 and it would take a long time to get there. Hell... it took
over two hours to make it there and you had to use up extra gas and that
stuff just is not cheap anymore. If you didn't set up on Friday
and you arrived on Saturday morning, they intentionally made it
difficult for you. They just weren't around. Maybe it was
their attitude.... however, as I understand it the Chamber of Commerce
is gone. I mean, like.....it no longer exists?
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. I was just searching for the Hughson Chamber
of Commerce and their website is not working. I guess we know what
that means. Anyhow, I have found a good link to a listing of
Central Valley Chamber
of Commerces that some of us could find helpful. I checked a
bunch of these websites, but very few of them list events for vendors.
WEATHER. Fortunately we made it through the weekend with no rain.
Looks like we could get some showers on Tuesday. Rain in Hollister
on Friday. That's cutting it close for their Craft Fair at Casa de
Fruta over the weekend. Mike has a full house for that show.
Apr 4. Went to go see the movie 'Knowing' over in Union City.
Was pretty good, but it stalled when the aliens came into play.
Movie was okay.
GAS PRICES. Looks like they are on the rise again. Chevron
on Hesperian went up 10 cents during the past couple days.
FIESTA FILIPINA... San Francisco June 12-13. Just got a copy
of the Vendor's A&C application. Ouch. $700 for a 10x10.
You won't see us there. I was looking for $375, but I guess not.
Looks like we are going to be in Cambria that weekend. We did this show
for approx 7-8 years and it was okay. However, I can't show
much of a profit.
Apr 2. AMERICAN IDOL. Megan was eliminated. I think
that this year's show is very predictable.
OREGON COUNTY FAIRS. When they moved Coos County a week later, they
screwed up my scheduling and I am sure it messed up a lot of people.
It now conflicts with Corvallis and Redmond, so people will have to make
adjustments. I am planning on going to WInchester Bay and then it
looks like up the coast and across to Highway 5 and up to Madras for the
Jefferson County Fair. It's a small one and it's just north of
Redmond. I'll drive back to Myrtle Point for Coos County and then
either up to Tillamook or down south for the Klamath County Fair.
Trying to get an application for Tillamook but no response.
MANTECA STREET FAIRE. Will be there this weekend with a lot of
other vendors. 400? Too many and not enough money to go
around. Spaces cost less than one/half there of Clovis Big
Hat Days, which we have been doing for several years. But with the
economy, we find it necessary to do cheaper shows, cutting expenses
drastically.
CASA DE FRUTA, Hollister. Will be doing Mike Knapps show there on
Easter weekend. Nothing much else happening and it's an
inexpensive show. It the weather remains okay, then he'll have a
'packed house' as far as the vendors go. We have been doing this
event off and on since 1994. On occasion, we have had rain.
ADDICTED. Been doing shows for 16 years now. No longer a
rookie. It has become more of a lifestyle for us as we try
to do shows every weekend. People aren't spending the way they did
years ago, but it's still enjoyable at times. We get to see many
of the vendors that we have known over the years and get to 'compare
notes' and make our complaints known to one another. Also to catch
up on the 'news and gossip.' Every weekend is an adventure.
And we get to see our 'return customers' if they can find us. We
are selling a number of new products this year and will continue to ad
throughout the year. By years' end, we will have a completely
different look than what we have had the past couple years.
GAS PRICES. Just checked and saw that we had a SIGNIFICANT JUMP in
gas prices at COSTCO in San Leandro. Has gone from $2.01 up to
$2.11. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
AMERICAN IDOL. Looks like 2 of our final 3 will be Danny and Adam.
Leaving this week will probably be Megan. I think that Danny will
be the winner this year. Adam is pretty darn good, but i think he
is a little bit too wild. Great, great singer and most
entertaining.
THIRD WORLD COUNTRY. People are still losing their jobs; companies
continue to close; homes going to foreclosure. Families trying to
live without jobs, money and homes. Hate to say it, but we are
heading toward being a 'third world country'. With all the
cutbacks in building, service, etc., will our country deteriorate?
Twenty years from now things might be quite different.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. 100 employees accepting buyouts.
One year's pay and health benefits. Wow, what happens after this?
I suppose they will not be collecting any sort of pension. What
happens with these people after the year is up?
Mar 30. Weather.com showing rain in Manteca on Sunday.
Accuweather.com has rain late Sunday. Who knows?
EARTHQUAKE 3.9. I was heading over to Food Maxx and made a right
hand turn onto Hesperian at Depot Rd. (Hayward) As I got into the
left lane, I happened to look down at the curb and my eyes focused on
the area that had shifted about 6 inches in 1989...part of the curb was
sticking out. Amazingly, perhaps 10-15 seconds later, I heard a
report on the radio that we had an earthquake. Is that eerie or
what?
Mar 29. Did the Rinconada Hills Center Bazaar yesterday over
in Los Gatos yesterday. Located 1500 Pollard Road. The
promoter of this event was
Nada Kennon of Alpha Zeta Events and Promotions. She was extremely nice
and quite easy to get along with.
Please read my review.
STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. Dennis Rodman. What more
can I say. He was just 'fired' on Celebrity Apprentice.
Terrible drinking problem.
GOOD GUYS CAR SHOW (Pleasanton). Dropped by the show this
afternoon and walked around. Lots and lots of cars and really
spread out. Weather was perfect. Have been there when temps
are over 100 degrees. Didn't buy any food there. Checked out
Philly Cheese Steaks and they were going for $8.00. So much for
that...just stopped by In and Out Burger over on Hopyard after leaving
and ate there much cheaper. There were a number of vendors located
in various areas. They have the Swap Meet area where supposedly
you can only sell car-related merchandise. There was a building
where 'Arts and Crafts' vendors were located. We sold there many years
ago and still the main problem is that it's off the beaten path and much
less traffic flow inside. There were about 15-18 vendors in there
selling and it didn't look very good in there. Think about it:
You go to a major car show and you see a building with a sign that says
"Arts and Crafts" do you think that a lot of people are going to go
inside. Basic rule of thumb is that if you don't sell car-related
goods, you will most likely do poorly. I have done 5-6 car shows
over the year's and we have done poorly. Especially with
today's economy, it's a hard sale.
WEATHER: I just looked at the weather reports for next weekend.
Strange. Predicting rain in Hayward next Mon-Tues (Apr 6-7) on
Weather.com. However, no rain for Manteca (yet) which is 60 miles
away and the site of next weekend's Street Faire. Accuweather.com
shows no rain both in Hayward and Manteca. I mentioned the rain
next Mon-Tues because that could be an indicator that a storm is coming
in and it might rain over the weekend. We have to remember that
these forecasts are all computerized and frequently lacking in
credibility.
GAS PRICES. Oh oh. Just checked COSTO in San Leandro and it
has gone up 2 cents to $2.03. I think that my local Chevrons went
up to.
Mar 27. My wife and I went to San Francisco yesterday to have her
products reviewed by the S.F. Arts Commission.
Read
what happened here.
An F-22 Raptor, one of the Air Force's top-of-the line fighter jets,
crashed today in the high desert of Southern California and there
was no immediate word on whether the pilot ejected.
The jet crashed 35 miles northeast of the base at a location six
miles north of Harbor Dry Lakebed, said Gary Strassburg, a Pentagon
spokesman. He had no information about the area...........The $65
billion F-22 program is embattled, with some opponents contending
that a different warplane under development, the F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter, is more versatile and less costly at $80 million per plane.
Did you read that last line? $80 million dollars for each
#($*#ing plane? Wow. That's not lira, that's not pesos,
etc. That is US American dollars people.
AMERICAN IDOL. Looks like Danny and Adam will be in the Final
3. We'll be down to 9 after tonight. Adam's appearance
was much better tonight and perhaps they are 'grooming' him to be
the next idol. I think that is 'whom they want' to win.
Tremendous vocal range. Looks like he is the most marketable
out of the bunch, with Danny close behind. Lil's performance
this week wasn't too good. Allison gave her best performance
yet and could end up in the top three. Michael or Megan will
be eliminated this week.
Mar 24. Nice day with temps in the 70's. Looking good for
the weekend. will be in Los Gatos Saturday at the Rinconada Hills
Center located at 1500 Pollard Avenue.
MICHELLE OBAMA and
TAMMY BRUCE. Some people are in an uproar over comments she
made on air about Michelle Obama, who was speaking to a bunch of school
kids and made a statement that when she was attending elementary school
the kids said that she 'talked like a white girl.' Well, I'm sorry
but I take Michelle's comment as being racist. Imagine, here she
is sitting down with a bunch of schoolkids and she actually tells them
that she talked like a white girl. Helloooooooo!!! Picture
this people...if the First Lady were white and she sat down with a bunch
of white schoolkids and said that the kids in her class 'said that she
talked like a black girl' what do you think would happen? Hello
Jessie flackJackson. Hello Al notsoSharpton.
COSTCO GAS. Prices came down to $2.01 per gallon in San Leandro.
Include the 2 percent rebate and that's $1.97. Keep going,
baby...keep going. Can we get it back down to $1.80?
Mar 22. Lots of rain and wind throughout the night and AM.
Sunny now and hopefully, that's the end of it. Need good weather.
Mar 21. Did the Chabot College Flea Market. Got there at
6:45. Still dark, but getting light shortly. Felt a few
drops of rain, but nothing to worry about. Weather was fugly....lots
of ominous clouds and just a bit cool. Of course, many empty
spaces and crowds seemed light during the early part of the morning.
Picked up around noon. Felt raindrops at 1:00, so we decided to
pack up. We were done by 2:00 and the rains did not come.
Maybe could have made some more sales? Mostly flea market
mentality looking for cheap stuff.
Mar 20. Did you watch Leno last night?
Appearing on "The Tonight Show," the president told host Jay Leno
he'd been practicing at the White House's bowling alley but wasn't
happy with his score of 129. The he rolled a gutter ball by
quipping: "It was like the Special Olympics or something."
WISH I WAS THERE....
Narcotics
suspects led officers on a wild chase, throwing cash out of their
truck's windows as passers-by ran onto the roadways to grab the bills.
Police say the pursuit began yesterday on southbound State Route 15 near
San Diego. The driver took officers on a circuitous route over several
streets and freeways, eventually getting onto Interstate 5. At
several points during the pursuit, the suspects flung cash out of the
truck's windows, prompting passers-by to run onto the roadways to grab
the money.
Mar 19. EIGHT YEARS OF OBAMA. Several national polls of GOP
voters have suggested Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee in
2008, would be the party's No. 1 choice to head the ticket in 2012.
Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, was the Republican
vice-presidential nominee in 2008, but how would she fare at the top of
the ticket? A nationwide survey by Public Policy Polling finds that if
she were the GOP candidate in 2012, Barack Obama would win by 20 points.
PLEASE..NO MORE SARA PALIN. If that is all the Elephants can come
up with than I conceded the whole country.
Mar 18. AMERICAN IDOL. Looks like Danny is getting the most
votes. Adam's performance of 'Ring of Fire' was agonizing and
disappointing.
Dial
Idol says that either Alexis or Allen will be sent packing.
TIEBREAKER. Weather.com shows rain on Saturday; Accuweather
showing rain later in the day. Weather Underground says 40 percent
chance of rain. (Hayward). I flipped a coin and it came up
tails....so no rain. I guess that's the way it goes.
Mar 17. In a new tell-all, Bob Barker reveals that he was once
asked to star in a porno. Before hosting 'The Price Is Right,' dishes
the National Enquirer, Bob was a "buff" model who once posed as a hunky
gas station attendant, catching the eye of someone in the adult film
industry. Thankfully he turned it down -- otherwise "come on down" would
have taken on a whole new meaning.
AIG. Doesn't that make you sick. Getting that huge bailout
and then attempting to pay out millions in 'bonuses.' You know
what they are trying to do after the public outrage over this?
They are trying to raise their salaries now. Oh, yah sure...that's
okay.. go ahead and raise these people's salaries by $200 million.
Nothing wrong with that, huh? Same shit, different package.
Bastards.
DANCING WITH THE STARS.
Steve Wozniak
(co-founder of Apple) was wearing a set of glasses that appeared to have
masking tape above the nose piece. Another pair of Lenscrafter's?
Wouldn't be surprised. Anyhow, read the link for Wozniak above to
refresh your memories of Apple Computer's beginnings.
PALLEN SCHOOL OF KARATE. A lady made a purchase from us this
weekend in Jackson and upon hearing that we were from Hayward, mentioned
that her son had attended Pallen School of Karate in Castro Valley.
'Are you kidding me?' I asked her. "They had a booth next to us in
Castro Valley and they were really bad...we've had problems with them
for several years. They run through our booth, do demonstrations
in front of our booth and a whole mess of other things. They just do not
listen to anybody. Bunch of animals.' The lady then replied,
'whoops, I didn't say anything.'
Mar 16. Gas prices continue to drop. COSTCO in San Leandro
fell four cents to $2.03. Others dropping also. Hopefully we
can get it under $2.00 for the summer. Doubt it.
Mar 15. Looks like a wet one. Read my review for
Dandelion Days which tells about Saturday there. Check back on
Monday to see what happened on Sunday.
Checked the forecasts and all of them are saying RAIN.....no showers,
but RAIN. It's supposed to start around 9:00AM, according to
Accuweather.
Weather.com does not show rain.
Weather
Underground shows 'rain likely' with a 50 percent chance.
Probably be in no hurry to get there in the morning. Opens at
8:00AM? Uh uh. Late crowd.
Mar 14. WEATHER FORECAST for Sunday. RAIN. Drove
up to Jackson for
Dandelion Days. Kind of slow for everybody. Weather was
okay, but same old story. Very few people buying.
Thank gosh booth fees are only $90.
Mar 13. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. Looks like we have some rain
moving across the state. Most of it seems to be up north, but it
looks like Esparto (Almond Festival) will get rained on Sunday and we
shall have a rainy drive home from Jackson. Showers also predicted
for Hayward on Sunday. Oh well. Today is Friday the
13th...what else do you expect?
PLEASANTON. Forgot about the Country Folk Art and Craft Show at
the fairgrounds. Anybody doing that one? Let me know how it
goes/went. Heard that some of these shows are pretty decent.
GAS PRICES. Paid $2.11 for Chevron today in San Lorenzo.
Southland Chevron continues to rip people off at $2.19. COSTCO in
San Leandro is going for $2.07 and has been holding steady for about two
weeks now.
ALAMEDA. Took a spin over to Alameda today and picked up some
sandwiches at Dimitra's on Park Street. Been getting sandwiches
from there now for 35 years. Still around. At one time,
there were at least 3 Dmitra's around, but they closed two of them.
The owners have retired and sold the one on Central Avenue a while back
and it's now a pizza place. After getting our sandwiches, we drove
through South Shore, which was renamed 'Town Center' a couple years ago.
Construction continues there as several new stores have opened up.
It's one of your better 'open-air' malls around. Drove over to the
old Naval Air Station, where I have loads of memories from my 'squid'
days. Parked near the water and looked across the Bay, etc., and
had our lunch. They have built a lot of new homes outside the base
area, but there's been no construction on the base. Just
businesses moving into the old hangars, etc. Really quite
different there with the loss of the Navy. There was a time when
there would be 3 aircraft carriers in port and business booming up on
Webster Street. There's always talk of building new homes on the
former base, but it's mostly cement all over the place and there is a
lot of contamination and that has to be dealt with. Nice memories
over there. Spent four years in the Navy and it was a real fun
time of my life when we were all 'wild'. But we have all grown
older....much older and have matured and have to be responsible for our
lives and families.
SCIENTISTS WARN OF IREREVERSIBLE CHANGES. COPENHAGEN (March
12) - Hundreds of leading scientists warned Thursday that global warming
is accelerating beyond the worst predictions and threatening to trigger
"irreversible" climate shifts on the planet. Well, here we go
again. Doomsday. End of the world, etc.
Supposed to happen by the end of the century. Low-lying cities
will be inundated with floods resulting from rising ocean levels caused
by the melting of the glaciers. Just what I need now. And
don't forget, we still have to worry about that meteorite that is
supposed to come crashing to earth; the 8.5 earthquake that is coming;
fierce tornadoes; war, atomic bombs, etc.... Obama and the economy that
is out of control. He is not doing very good and they took a poll
and he's in deep shit. You voted for him, not me. You wanted
changes. You're getting changes all right...changes in the stock
market, changes in people's jobs, homes, businesses. You voted for
change.
DUUUHHHHH. Just got an email advertising a price reduction
of $100,000 for homes at Seven Hills in Castro Valley.
Now they are only selling in the $700,000s. Now, who da
F is going to pay that kind of money around here now for a new
home. Good luck. Hellloooooooo.
FUNNY ON PRICE IS RIGHT. I am rolling over laughing at this lady.
Just before she placed her bid, her glasses fell apart. She had
the best bid and ran over to the stage and her lens fell on the floor.
I'll bet she bought them at Lenscrafter's. The same thing happened
to my wife and the same thing happened to me. Lenses popped out of
both lf them. Their quality really sucks. One time when I
went for new glasses there, they gave me a bull shit story that they
could not use my old frames AND I WOULD HAVE TO PURCHASE NEW ONES.
However, the next time my wife needed glasses, we went to Kaiser and
NOOOO PROBLEM. They used her old frames. Lenscrafter's
really is bad. Cheap. Liars. I have nothing good to
say about them.
Mar 12. WEATHER. Looking like a great weekend all the way
around and mostly everyplace has some sun.... Jackson, Esparto,
Chandler, Quartz Hill, etc. So, I hope that all (or
most...or some) of us can have good weekends selling our things.
If anybody is doing any of these events, please let me know how it was.
We will be in Jackson down on one of the side streets. Map is kind
of difficult to understand.
Going to do the Riconada Hills Bazaar in Los Gatos. I guess this
is a new location for this promoter's show and is held the last Saturday
of the month from 9AM-4PM. Located at
1500 Pollard Road at the shopping center.
click here for
more info. Alpha Zeta Events.
GREAT MONEY MAKING IDEA. Steve in Iowa bought a horse from a farmer for
$100. The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day. The next day
he drove up and said,
'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the horse died.'
Steve replied, 'Well, then just give me my money back.'
The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already'
Steve said 'Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse.'
The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?
Steve said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'
The farmer said, 'You can't raffle off a dead horse!'
Steve said, 'Sure I can, Watch me. I just won't tell any body he's dead.
A month later, the farmer met up with Steve and asked, 'What happened
with that dead horse?'
Steve said, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a
piece and made a profit of $998..'
The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'
Steve said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.'
Steve works now for the government. He will be the one who figures out
how to "bail us out".
-
Mar 11. AMERICAN IDOL. Voting for Idol No. 13: The Call of
the Wild. Back when Fox executives were high-fiving each other for
deciding to turn "American Idol's" traditional top 12 finalists into the
top 13 finalists -- to really shake things up on the singing competition
-- no one thought to send a memo to the Senior Executive Vice President
for Reality Series Viewer Voting Phone Number Checking. That is too bad,
because then they might have found out earlier that 1-866-Idols13 is a
porn number. I'll bet that a lot of people will now dial that
number out of curiousity. If you dial that number,
instead of hearing someone on the other end saying "Thank you for your
vote " there is a woman with a come-hither voice (it's not Paula Abdul!)
claiming that "hot and horny" girls are standing by, waiting to talk to
you, um, for $3,99 a minute.
For all these Idolettes, the show continued to assign the traditional
1-866-IDOLS01 through 1-866-IDOLS12 phone numbers via which viewers got
to vote. The 13th and final performer Alexis Grace got a distinct phone
number.
Click here to read more and
Idol's Busy Circuits (from Feb, 2007)
ADAM LAMBERT gave another strong performance. Excellent.
Lil Rounds did good also and it looks like they are the two best and I
expect to see them in the finals. However, it looks like Danny
recieved the most votes, or should we say the most
busy
signals on the phone. He was excellent. Scott, the blind
performer is a front-runner also and look for these four contestants to
be in the Final-5, along with a 'darkhorse' who improves down the
stretch.
DID YOU KNOW? The ancient Greek colonial city of Sybaris had
their plumbing priorities in the right place. They are said to have had
pipelines that brought wine from the countryside vineyards directly into
the city and their homes.
Mar 10. Let's start off the day with a flick. The Philly Cheesesteak Movie. Enjoy. Check out our
Philly Cheesesteak page for more info on them. If you live in
the Bay Area,
click here to see where you can get them.
Mar 9.
Laotian
Festival in San Francisco. Saturday, April 11. Civic
Center Plaza. I checked Arts&Crafts booths there... wow.
$700 for one day. And I bet they will be packed with
vendors. Admission is free. Anybody interested?
Mar 8. To rain or not to rain.....that is the question for this
coming weekend. Accuweather forecast has improved and is no longer
showing rain next Sunday.
DeANZA FLEA MARKET. Great weather with a decent turnout.
Several empty rows. Didn't do too well over there, but our stuff
is new. People just looking for the bargains and cheap stuff.
Flowers sold well over there and everything else was just so-so.
No good shows this time of year in NOCAL. Weather in AZ is great
right now, but I'm not going out there for just weekend shows anymore.
Not that crazy.
CHANDLER OSTRICH FESTIVAL is coming up next weekend. New
promoters, but I guess that vendors are still getting gouged. Fees
are too high. They have good crowds there, but they only hit the
food and carnival areas and don't go down into the 'gulley' where the
vendors are located. Return to the streets, please. I heard
that this event was much better when it was located downtown instead of
Tumbleweed Park. It's now been three years since we all were
flooded out there with a couple feet of rain water. Phoenix had
145 days of drought and the skies let loose. It rained cats, dogs,
elephants, giraffes, etc. for 36 hours straight. The rains stopped
around 5:00AM on that Sunday and they didn't begin pumping it out
until 11:00AM. They claimed that they couldn't contact the
workers.
GAS PRICES are going down again. Maybe people are driving less
since it went up over 50 cents per gallon since bottoming out.
Noticed that prices are dropping very slooooooowwwwly. COSTCO in
San Leandro is down to $2.07, after 'peaking' at $2.11 a few weeks ago.
Mar 6. Nice day. However, it looks like rain for parts of
next weekend. Hayward shows rain and Jackson, CA (Dandelion Days)
shows rain on Friday night and Saturday. Might be a no-show for
this one. Not sitting there in two days of rain. Always have
a weather issue there. Last time we did the event 3 years ago, we
arrived Sat AM to see frozen water (rain) on top of the canopy with
icicles hanging down. And that's why the spaces are only
$90.
DeANZA COLLEGE FLEA MARKET. Space Q-42. Saturday, March 7.
Chabot College Flea Market March 21.
Mar 5. This afternoon I watched the last set of dark, ugly clouds
disappear over the Hayward hills taking the last drops of rain with it.
Spring is here (I think). We are looking good for the next 10
days, but never bet on it. St. Patrick's weekend events are
looking good... Jackson, Esparto, Dublin and Quartz Hell, etc.
Let's go people we've got good weather coming, so out and enjoy it.
Bring your green, credit cards, etc.
Okay crafters.....get a load of this guy. Now why didn't you think
of this.
David Phillips makes art from recycled beer cans. A
Plymouth, England property developer crippled by the credit crunch has
discovered a new career in the art world – thanks to recycled beer cans.
Inspired by watching the sea crashing on to rocks near his Wembury
home, David Phillips, 43, cuts up the cans and uses the metal to make
the waves in his art stand off the canvas.
click
here to read story
Mar 4. Oh gosh. Up until now, I figured that Adam Lambert
had a good shot at winning American Idol. Uh uh uh.
Click here to see the picture of him kissing
another guy. Oh gosh. I have no comment on this.
Mar 3. Let it rain, let it pour. But according to a couple
weather forecasts, no rain for Saturday and Sunday. DeAnza
College, here we come. Had hail and high winds early this morning.
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK. I came across an interesting website this
morning called
Weirdomatic.com. I
clicked on a link from another website about a guy (Jamey Turner) that
plays music on an assortment of glasses and he sounded pretty good.
To read about him and watch him in action, playing his 'glass harp'
please click
here. Many other categories are listed in the
website...amazing pictures, weird pictures, strange statues, toys beyond
this world and many others. Quite interesting. Try it.
It's a rainy day today, nothing else to do.
AMERICAN IDOL VOTING. There's a website called
Dial
Idol that measures the busy signals on the call in numbers for
contestants. Early voting shows that Scott MacIntyre and Lil
Rounds are going to the next round....They are far ahead of everybody
else. This is based on the 'busy signals' that the contestants are
getting. Maybe Ju'not Joyner will go through. My favorite?
Adam from last week's group. He will be in the final 3 and I think
that he will finish number 2. The winner will be somebody
who improves over the final 3-4 weeks and really puts on a great
memorable performance. However, I really do think that
the people with the highest number of votes are not necessarily the ones
who win the contest. I think that the producers of AI have
the final say as to who wins. They never have divulged ANY of the
voting totals. Think about it. Good entertainment though and
mostly a popularity contest amongst the teenagers.
Mar 2. Rain. Rain. Rain. Looked at the forecast
for this weekend a couple hours ago and it looked like no rain for this
coming weekend. Just checked it again and now it looks like we'll
be getting more rain. Just have to wait until Friday for the final
answer.
Mar 1. Wow. That was fast....two months down already.
Went up to Marysville on Friday and did the
Bok Kai Parade and Festival on Saturday. Weather was great.
Lot of people, but certainly not the 15,000 that they claim. Don't
know exactly but we will call it 'considerably less'.
The event was okay and we showed a small net profit. They had
around 25 booths and 6 of them were actual vendors. Looked like a
couple of them did quite well. Our table with one
dollar stuff drew the most interest. Read my review on the
festival. I have some interesting stories there about Motel 6 and
read about my 'Interesting Customer of the Day' award.
TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS. HIGHWAY 113. When leaving
Marysville, I decided to take Highway 99 south, then 113 down to Davis
where I would connect with 80. Highway 99 was no problem, except
that there were many red lights. I was in a hurry because I did
not want to drive these 'back roads' in the dark. I connected with
Highway 113 with no problems and it kind of zig-zagged all over the
place. Well, I zigged when I should have zagged and ended up
running into Highway 5, which I didn't want to do. I went a couple
exits down and took Highway 16 East toward Esparto and that's where the
fun began. Wow. Ended up cutting over to Highway 505 and
taking that down to Vacaville. So much for 'short cuts'. At
least I got out of The Twilight Zone before it got dark.
GPS INFORMATION. Here's a page with information on
Global
Positioning Systems. I have occasional problems with mine and
was trying to find out why. Last year I was near Sisters, OR and
it had me driving in circles out in the 'boonies'. Stopped by a
gas station and was told that a lot of people had problems with their
GPR's. Think that there must be huge deposits or ore in the
mountains there. Thought that I'd share some of this information
with you.
Feb 27. Good weather today and tomorrow; but Sunday? Drove
up to Marysville and stopped by the Ripon Almond Blossom Festival.
New location at a sports field a couple miles from downtown, across the
highway. Approximately 40 booths set up in a parking lot with the
carnival area on the other side. Wide open area, so when the winds
blow, watch out for
flying canopies. Saw a lot of vendors that I
know and all of them are concerned about the parade being held downtown,
a little ways from the show and it would appear as though a lot of
people watching the parade will not be coming over. Good idea to
move the show to a new area, but it still needs a lot of work. I
am glad that they did not charge for parking nor for admission.
Feb 26. Weather reports are enough to drive you crazy. Looks
like a wet Saturday for Ripon and Marysville. Reports keep
on changing. Really don't know what to do. Got motel
reservations for Friday night up in Marysville so I can set up early AM
Saturday, but not if it's raining hard. Would like to cancel my
motel reservation if knew for sure it would be wet on Saturday.
VENDOR INSURANCE. Thanks to those that provided me names of
insurance providers and now I have a listing of those in this website.
I think in the coming years, more promoters will force us to provide
proof of insurance of 'purchase' their policies for each event at
highly-inflated costs. Depending upon the number of shows you do,
it might be worth your while to get insurance coverage for the year.
AMERICAN IDOL. Watched the results of the second 12. I
really think that Adam is going to be one the final 2-3. His
rendition of 'Satisfaction' (the Stones) was great, but quite often a
contestant will put on a great performance in the early going and never
match it. He might have a hard time topping that.
Feb 24. Nice weather today and not looking too bad for the
weekend. Let's keep our toes crossed!! Heading up to
Marysville on Friday and will drop by the Ripon Almond Festival to check
out the new location. Looks like they will get a lot less rain
than was expected...according to current weather reports, which we know
change by the second.
DISMAL DAY FOR BAY AREA BUSINESSES. The Oakland A's are not going
to move to either of the 2 locations in Fremont because of local
opposition (again). Good-bye Oakland, Hello Las Vegas A's.
If that is so, just watch how fast they put up a new ballpark
(domed...yuck) over there. They are not going to F$(K around.
San Francisco Chronicle looking to cut expenses; will sell the paper if
things don't work out.
Feb 23. Monday. Cloudy and a few sprinkles out side.
BRENTWOOD CORNFEST. Received my Brentwood Cornfest Application.
Didn't open it. Always too hot out there in July and I don't like
the long 'carnival' hours there. Talked to a lot of vendors and
they told me they didn't do too good over there and neither did we when
we last did it 2 years ago. Not too anious to do any event that
weekend, because it's only a few days away from our departure date for
Oregon shows and we usually have our motor home loaded up and ready to
go by then. Vasco Road in Livermore is extremely hard to drive
when dark because it's mostly two lanes and lots of oncomng headlights
and cars veering into your lane. And then you get these idiots
behind you and getting right on your butt! Parts of the road have
been improved over the years, but it's a good place to stay away from at
night.
LOCKEFORD SAUSAGE. Ripon Almond Blossom Festival is coming up and
two things I will miss over there are my friend's and the Bratwurst
Sausages. I guess that we run into them maybe 5-6 times during the
year. Went out to Food Maxx last week and picked up some
Bratwurts along with onions and 'kraut. Also got some French
rolls, but they are way too small. Ate one for lunch today but
nowhere's near as good as the ones that we get at the shows.
Lockeford must have the best sausages at any show. Huge Brat with
loads of kraut and onions overflowing. Mmmmm. Delicious.
Feb 22. Good day to stay inside out of the rain and watch the
MacGyver Marathon on TV (and the Celtics victory over the Suns....
Rondo and Allen were great as the team came together without KG).
Looks like we are going to have many wet days ahead of us.
US POSTAL SERVICE. In case you don't know, the cost of postage is
going up in May by 2 cents again. In the coming months, Monday
deliveries will be cut back. Mail will only be delivered Tuesday
through Saturday. It is going to happen.... they haven't decided
on the dates. Our Postal Service is going through major changes
and is heavily in debt. Here is an articled from the
Federal Times,
dated in November 2008. Just to mention, There are problems with
Royal Mail in England (the name of their service) and the privatization
of Korea's mail system by SK Global.
COSTCO GAS. I don't know what that means, but their gas prices
dropped 2 cents this weekend to $2.09. Let's hope that it's
heading in the right direction because we continue to get ripped off by
the bastards controlling the prices. The rich get richer and the
poor get poorer.
First thing I do on the morning of any event is to check the weather.
weather.com show showers today; went to Accu Weather and they
showed no rain during the day, but at night. So, then we had to go
2 out of 3 with Weather Underground. So, they said 40
percent chance of rain. Now what do you do? I'd say showers
in the afternoon....hopefully after 2-3:00PM.
CHABOT COLLEGE PENNY MARKET. That about sums up the buyers today.
Feb 20. CUTTING BACK. Decided to change my programming
package on DirecTV, something I had been meaning to do for awhile.
I kept putting it off because I always spent a long time 'on hold' and I
had to prepare myself. I guess a lot of companies force you to
wait like that. Just had to run through their array of button
pushing. I can't recall whether I was informed to choose '1' for
English. I had been recieving the 'Total Package' which was for
$104.95 and included all the channels including the Movie ones..HBO,
Showtime, etc. They really didn't have that great of a selection
of movies and I decided to cut back and get rid of them, so I switched
to a lower priced package and got their Sports Package also, which is
$12.00 per month and includes NESN, which is the New England Sports
Network.
THE GRADUATE. Nothing much on TV to watch, so I tuned to "The
Graduate' which I am seeing for the 500th time perhaps. Good ol'
Benjamin Braddock. I can't believe that the movie has been out for
42 years now. My gosh, how time has really flown by. It just
seems like maybe 10 years ago that happened. It seems
like I was in some kind of time warp and just 'zapped' over here
directly from the 1970's.
RIPPIN' RIPON (Almond Blossom Festival
Feb 27-Mar 1). It looks like this is going to
be a weekend of rain again for many vendors. Weather.com shows
rain on Fri-Sat-Sun. I think that you had better read
AccuWeather's forecast, which sounds better. No rain Friday;
cooler and periods of rain on Saturday; and it's Bye-Bye Balboni on
Sunday. There's
Weather Underground to check also, but their forecasts are only five
days ahead. DISCLAIMER: Of course, nobody is crazy enough to
actually believe that these long range forecasts are accurate.
They are for amusement purposes only!!!
WHERE'S DA BEEF? It's at
Shula's Steak
House If you are a Miami Dolphin's fan, you probably
already know that their ex-coach Don Shula runs his own line of Sports
Bars and Steak Houses across the country. Most of the restaurants
are located in the Eastern coastal areas.
If you bring a really big appetite you can order the 48 oz. Porterhouse
Steak ($66). If you finish it, you become a member of the 48 Oz Club.
What does that get you? Your name engraved on a plaque displayed at the
entrance, your name is added to the list of ten thousand 48 Oz.
Club members on
DonShula.com, and you get an autographed picture of Coach
Shula. But then again, isn't bragging rights and a story of decadent
gluttony a fringe benefit that no one can really put a price on?
Practically every cut of meat is available: 12 oz. Filet Mignon ($33),
32 oz. Prime Rib ($31), 24 oz. Porterhouse, 22 oz. Cowboy Cut, 20 oz.
Kansas City Sirloin and a 16 oz. New York Sirloin. If you don't
like red meat they also have chicken, salmon, lamb chops, Mahi-Mahi and
Lobster on the pigskin, or eh, menu. That's right, there's no
fancy menu here, the a la carte menu is printed on an Official NFL
Football complete with rubber tee.
I can't possibly come close to eating that. I have trouble
finishing off a 14-ounce Rib Eye at Outback; I stick to the 8oz's at
Sizzler. Remember Dan Ackryod in The Great Outdoors movie, which
was filmed at Bass Lake in the 1980's? The steak that he 'ate' was
a 96-ounce Prime Rib. So compare that one to this 48-ounce steak.
Wow. For all you vendors that do the Bass Lake events, the
restaruant was Ruby's, behind the hotel.
PERSPECTIVE. Over 300 people visited the
Whiskey
Flat Days review on this website in the 10-14 days prior to
the event. Seemingly not very many, but actually a good
number. I think that a high percentage of these were vendors
who actually did the event wanting to get info, especially with the
threat of rain and snow. Could be in the neighborhood of 75-100 of
the 200+ people who sold their things there? I think that a
high percentage of vendors in
Ripon
next weekend have already visited my review on their event and I
expect the same ratio of vendors in any of the other reviews that I
have.
Feb 19. KG goes down for Celts'. Team struggles against the
Jazz and loses. Click here to read more on my blog,
The Boston Sports Nut.
Phoenix coming up next; will that be the Land of the Setting SUN?
A VENDOR'S LIFE. It's a crazy lifestyle doing these events.
Certainly you don't become Rich & Famous. Sometimes
you go bananas when there's a lot of people at a show and nobody is
buying. But if you are sitting around in your house, you find
yourself 'craving for the action.' You feel like you 'have to' do
a particular event even if you know that you might do poorly. Just
to be out there around people and trying to sell your things. The
'dreams' of making a couple grand on any given day. You're excited
when you see the beautiful weather and it energizes you and you think
that you are going to make 'the big bucks'. It's like you've got
it in your blood. I love the blue skies, the green money, Benjamin
Franklin ($100 bills), the huge crowds (that used to be) gathering
around our booths. But it's agonizing when you have so many
people, but they are just walking around like stinking zombies.
You meet each and every event with new enthusiasm, thinking that this is
going to be the day. Then you get the sprinkles of rain and the
cold gusts of wind blowing in your face. Reality.
You approach your other vendor friends and see that they are not getting
very many sales that day also. You look farther down and you see
that people are buying another vendor's products left and right and that
drives you up the wall and you begin to wonder what you are doing wrong.
'Stick with my products or go out and find something new' you say to
yourself. Even though nothing is really wrong at times, you drive
yourself bonkers trying to think of what to do and then begin cussing
yourself out for paying so much for that particular event.
There was a day that whenever you paid a higher booth fee, you usually
ended up with a nice space and a load of people. Not anymore.
Even the best of shows have gone downhill because the people just are
not buying like they did several years ago for a variety of reasons and
of course, the promoters keep jacking up their fees and finding ways to
extract more money from you by adding on extra fees. How
about a $2.00 surtax for ass-wipes. It's like a
roller-coaster ride.
There's more vendors at a lot of these shows because people seem to
think that they can make a quick buck selling anything and everything at
these events. So they go out and get a bunch of socks, sunglasses, etc.
and set up. People like you and me used to get by and not have to
do a show every weekend. Now with profit margins so low, we are
forced to do more events trying to make the same kind of money as before
to make ends meet. It can be a dog-eat-dog kind of life out there
in the streets.
Several days before each event, you are checking the weather
forecasts...weather.com, accu-weather and a couple others comparing
forecasts until you see one that's favorable and to your liking, if
possible. You see rain forecast.... you check them even
more. You try looking at accu-weather's 15-day forecast; you look
at weather.com's 10-day forecase and sometimes you are excited to see
those 70+ degree forecasts WITH SUN. Then there are the ones that
say 'showers' and you cringe when you see that. Now, just what in
the heck is 'few showers'. That one really gets me... are we going
to 'just have a few showers' or are we gong to have 'quite a few
showers'. They you see the forecast with 'rain'
continuously for 3...4...5 days at a time and that depresses you.
Then of course, we all then say to ourselves......JUST GO WITH THE FLOW.
Flows? Yah, I've seen lots of flows. I've seen flows of
water two feet deep around my booth (Chandler) at times. I've seen
a flow of water running through my booth (Jackson) on a hill in a
parking lot. I've seen huge 'flows' in my booth in mud and grass
of gigantic water puddles.
Feb 18. Partly sunny mostly cloudy day. The rains are taking
a break for the next couple days around here. Supposed to rain
again on Sunday. Please give me a nice Saturday. Need to do
the Chabot College Flea Market.
RIPON/RIPOPP ALMOND BLOSSOM FESTIVAL to be held on the weekend of Feb
28/29. I have talked to a lot of vendors who will be doing this
event, as it's just about the only event in Northern California to do.
Me? Uh Uh. I don't want to return to a show where they treat
the vendors like shit. It might be better this year since they
moved it to a new location. The area around the Community Center
was terrible.
Read
my review from last year. Too many things wrong with
this show. Hopefully you will have decent weather. I just
checked the
Accu Weather 15-day forecast for Ripon. Shows rain on Friday,
but not too bad on Sat and Sun. 51 degrees on Fri/Sat and 60 with
'brillian sunshine' on Sunday. Okay, we'll see about that one.
BOK KAI FESTIVAL in Marysville has just about the same weather on Sat,
Feb 28.
NEVADA CITY MARDI GRAS STREET FAIR on Sunday. According to
AccuWeather, mostly cloudy and cool (51) with heavy rain possible.
Evening: Rainy.
Not really much else happening this weekend, except for local flea
markets.
The New York Times parody cartoon. Click to make it bigger.
Feb 17. Casinos warned: An iPhone application created to
count cards.
LAS VEGAS — Nevada gambling
regulators have warned casinos about a card-counting program for Apple's
iPhone and iPod Touch that can illegally
help players beat the house in blackjack (to read more on this go
to PAGE ONE
CRAFTMASTER NEWS. Has made dramatic
improvements with their reviews. If you are a subscriber, please
submit your reviews for the benefit of all of us. Very easy to.
Just go to the show listing page, click on the event you did previously
and scroll down to the bottom of the page. You really don't need
to enter $$$ info, etc., but the review is most important. The
vendor world really needs to get as much info on shows as possible.
For the benefit of all. I am in the process of doing mine there
also.
SOLICITING YOUR REVIEWS. I would like to
get other people's opinions at other events this year to put in this
website along with my reviews. I am going to bring forms with me
to shows this year, beginning with the Bok Kai Festival on Feb 28 and if
you want to put in your two cents worth, fill out the form and give it
back to me and I will place your comments on my review.
I will also accept comments on other shows you do and will insert them
someplace for all to see.
Feb 16. We (DandL CREATIONS) shall be at the Chabot College Flea
Market in Hayward this coming Saturday, Feb 21 and located in Space
B367-368. If there is significant rainfall, we will not be there.
READERSHIP. Yesterday we had a record number of visitors come to
Starving Vendors. The most popular page this month has been the
review of the
2008
Whiskey Flat Days, which turned out to be a decent event this year
despite snow on Friday and rain on Monday. Vendors did decent
there, from what I have been told. Surprisingly,
Inhaling
helium from balloons has stirred up a lot of interest. And of
course, we have a lot of people in Northern California looking for
Philly
Cheesesteaks. This page,
Your Daily
Dose is increasing in popularity for the various tidbits of
information,etc., being provided. As we get into March, I expect a
lot of people to be checking our
The Quartz Hill Almond Festival.
RIPON ALMOND BLOSSOM FESTIVAL. I expect readership of my
review of this event to pick up during the next couple weeks.
During the past several months, I have spoken to quite a number of
vendors who really have issues with this event and Dorothy, one of the
members in charge of running the show. I mean, like wow.....
everybody has problems with the lady and her antics. I added a
paragraph at the top of my review regarding her and what needs to be
done.
LADY MISSES FLIGHT. Oh well, I'll just catch the next one.
I'll just go get a drink. No big deal. But for this
lady..... uh uh uhhhh, check out this
You Tube video seen by way over 1 million people.
GRAPEVINE WAS CLOSED much of today. Lots of snow. Thank gosh
we weren't on our way back from Arizona for this one. Lonnngggg
detour around to Highway 101, which we decided to do once last year.
I'm sure Tehachapi got some slow also.
Feb 15. Nothing much happening on a stormy, rainy, windy day in
Hayward. Good day to stay indoors. The weather is pretty
decent in Kernville for Whiskey Flats today. However,
on Monday, it'll be a ghost town as vendors (hopefully) pack up and get
out before the storm comes rolling by.
THE WORLD'S LONGEST FINGERNAILS. A woman recognised for having the
world's longest fingernails has broken them in a car accident.
Read more on PAGE ONE.
MOST MISERABLE U.S. CITY. Just read this AOL report that Stockton,
CA was the most miserable city in the United States. Modesto was
#5. Only 15 percent of Stockton adults have a college degree,
which is one of the lowest rates in the U.S. Unemployment is expected to
hit 15 percent in 2010, while housing prices should keep falling back to
their mid-1990s level when the median home price was $130,000. I
wonder why?
NEW PAGES COMING. I am in the process of constructing some new
pages to draw more interest to this website and to inform others of a
variety of entertainment choices. Debuting now is the 'Blues
Festival' section which describes a number of Blues Festivals in
California and will add other states as time goes on. I shall be
adding shows to this listing frequently. This should increase our
website readership by about 10-15 percent. This section is
mainly for the public and will probably not include many shows that
vendors can participate in, but I will designate this accordingly.
The 'Beer Festivals' (US and World-wide) which will come out in a couple
weeks will increase readership another 20 percent and my goal is to get
readership to reach 10,000 per month by the end of April.
COSTCO. Gas prices at COSTCO are on the rise. San Leandro up
to $2.11. Concord is at $1.97. San Jose's three locations
are differnt prices: $2.15, $2.17 and $2.19. South San
Francisco $2.13. High price in the nation? $2.69
up at South Lake Tahoe. Chevron station located at 2986 US Hwy 50
(Emerald Bay Rd), @Apache Ave., South Lake Tahoe. That
qualifies for our gas-gouger of the day as most of the other stations
there are selling around $2.49.
SPEAKING OF COSTCO. If you do a google search of
COSTCO Canopies, you will see my comments about problems I
encountered when I bought another canopy to replace one of my other
broken canopies. We can all agree that these are cheaply made, but
inexpensive, nonetheless. The old addage holds true: You get
what you paid for. Still holding up after 12 days in Tyson Wells.
However, the top of the canopy WAS INDEED SAGGING in a couple spots
after a heavy rain and I could see tiny droplets of water actually
seeping through the top. Sad. Proven: COSTCO CANOPIES
SUCK.
COMPARISON. I did a search ln denier, which is a unit of
measurement of linear density of textile fiber mass- calculated as one
gram per 9000 meters. I did a search on canopies and found that a
lot of EZ-Up Canopies are 600 denier. There are some Caravans at
500 denier polyester, but I really think that the one I have is 250
denier . The sides feel like plastic.
RAINING CATS, DOGS, ELEPHANTS out here in the Bay Area. Everywhere
we go people say that we need the rain. However, a good number of
us are vendors and we have to sell our things outdoors at various events
and we do not need this much rain. So, I tell ya what people.
You can have the rain on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays. But
give us dry weather Friday-Sunday and a tossup for Mondays, how does
that sound. We have a couple more months to go before the 'rainy
season' ends and we need dry weather over the weekend.
Feb 14. Happy Valentine's Day. HEADLINERS. Real
smart. A little humor for today.
WACKO JACKO IN THE NEWS. Michael Jackson Suffering
from Flesh-Eating Disorder?
New photos that show Michael Jackson with red skin poking out from
under his doctor's mask are igniting questions about the former popstar's health. (read about this on
Page One).
Feb 13.
JUST IN FROM KERNVILLE.
Several inches of snow downtown. Weather should be better there
tomorrow. Snowfall will end around 9:00AM and it might be 'clear'
sailing for Sat/Sun. However there is a WINTER STORM WATCH until
Monday evening. More rain there Sunday evening after 5:00PM. 6
inches of snow today up on Mt. Diablo and Mt. Hamilton is going to get 8
more inches tonight.
NATIONAL DO NOT CALL LIST. I put my name on that a
couple years back but I still get a huge number of B.S. calls from
telemarketers. I don't go running to my phone anymore.
Sometimes when I check my messages, I hear a part of the message saying
'if you wish to be removed from our list, press 9'. I thought I
already removed my name from the lists years ago. No mercy.
NEWEST NAVY SHIP:
USS
BARACK OBAMA
This is what the increase in
taxes on small business support! These new sailors are filling all the new government
jobs promised by the Democrats This high tech vessel was christened by Rev. Wright
The USS Sharpton is currently under construction in
Kenya while the USS Pelosi is being built from recycled
Corona cans in Mexico
NEW ICE CREAM FLAVOR. Baskin
Robbins is introducing a new ice cream in honor of the inauguration, "Barocky Road".
It's half vanilla, half chocolate, surrounded by fruits and nuts!
Feb 12. CRAFTMASTER NEWS
subscribers. New feature. You are now able to provide
reviews of events you have done. Select a time period from last
year and scroll down and find events you have done. Select one and
then you will see an area at the bottom of the page provided for your
reviews. Luckily, you might find other reviews also. Tim
just started this and I think it's a great idea. I really love to
hear what others have to say about their shows and it provides insight
for me. It's a lot better than the reviews on the paper copies of
CFG because you just don't see those 'one liners'.
SURVIVOR. The 56th year of Survivor started tonight. Ran
across this listing of the
25 greatest
survivor contestants ever.Jerri's game was vicious
and innovative. She basically got Kel ousted with a nasty little rumor
about beef jerky....Twila could certainly rub people the wrong
way.....When someone declares they're "afraid of leaves" on the very
first episode, you know they're a goner.....Ethan Zohn owned it, almost
beginning to end. He played almost the entire game with
integrity......Sure Jonny Fairplay didn't win a million dollars, but he
won our wicked hearts with the best Survivor moment in
history.....
Some just think the guy's a jerk, and some will point out the simple
fact that he played the game twice and he didn't win either time
PLYMOUTH ROCK MOVIE STUDIOS. Plymouth Rock Studios
has struck a deal to buy Waverly Oaks Golf Club as the site for what it
says will be a world-class movie and television production campus. A
formal announcement was expected today . “This is a beautiful site and
completely different from anything in Los Angeles County,” Plymouth Rock
Studios founder David Kirkpatrick said. “That’s what we were looking
for, a habitat different from Los Angeles County. For more info,
check Page One
WEATHER REPORT. Whiskey Flat weather is not looking too
good. Rain three out of four days now, but none forecast for
Saturday, the main day of the event when they have the parade along with
a huge turnout. I notice a little bit of rain in Quartzsite on
Monday along with some wind. 15 degrees cooler this week.
Glad we left. However, it will warm up again over there next week
with temps around 75 again. No main events though, just people
selling along the streets on both sides (Tyson and Quartzsite).
THE INTERNATIONAL. Was looking at stats for this website and of
course, most of our visitors are from the U.S. I was amazed to see
which country visited the next most often. Israel. That
puzzles me. The next three countries are: China, Japan and
Great Britain. The common search keywords used in search engines
are: whiskey flat days, inhaling helium, European Festivals 2009
and Philippine Festivals 2009.
JUST WONDERING. I was searching for motels in Jackson (CA) and
came across some reviews for Jackson Rancheria (Casino, Hotel, etc) and
somebody listed
“12 Reasons NOT to go to Jackson Rancheria!” I thought it was
kind of humorous and you have to take this somewhat seriously and
believe at least some of the stuff. I read some of the other
reviews, so there must be a number of problems there.
SURF'S UP. All right Bay Area. Let's get those snowboards
out. Snow levels down to 2,000 feet in the area. and they are
predicting 3-5 inches of snow. That means Mt. Tam, Diablo and
Hamilton.
COSTCO GAS (San Leandro) is up another $.02 per gal; now at $2.09.
Highest prices in the Nation? Chevron in South San Francisco (300
S. Airport Blvd.) and Shell in South San Francisco (240 S. Airport
Blvd.) at $2.59. What the hell is this? A gas war?
Looks like these stations are on the same block. Hurry on over and
get ripped off. I think that I am going to create a page called
'Gasoline Black List' which will be comprised of stations that sell gas
for 30 cents above the 'local average'. We'll call them 'the bad
guys'. Once they are on the list, I will never take them
off. Or how about the 'GAS GOUGERS HALL OF SHAME'.
There are some places in Oakland selling gas for $1.68
ANOTHER MILLION DOLLAR IDEA. Snow Covers. While
heading over the Tehachapi Mountains this past Monday, I saw a good
number of cars pass by with snow on their roofs and hoods. So, how
about making fake patches of snow that you can attach to the roof of
your vehicle. Lets see, they would have to be water proof
and attach securely. Pasted on some kind of magnet....
like the magnetic signs that people stick on the side of their
cars. Don't forget, like always, I want my 20 percent commission
on this idea. Think about it. You'd made heads turn as you
drive down the street with a couple suckers attached to the top parts of
your car. Here you are, the middle of summer and you have snow on
your roof? Cool. Sell at craft shows, festivals, county
fairs, etc.
CRAZINESS. Last night on American Idol, we had several of the
contestants do some over-acting to enhance their moments of fame.
Isn't there just a little more screaming, yelling, jumping and
over-reacting this time around? Maybe they have been watching
Price is Right.... where every contestant has to run down from the
stands, jump, scream, wave their hands, start crying, hugging, yelling,
give looks of amazement , surprise and excitement. Actually
if you could imagine some strings attached to their hands you can
imagine the producers above pulling them as if they were puppets, Ya
know? Same thing with 'Deal or no Deal'.
CLOVERDALE CITRUS FAIR. This is another 3 day event and they are
expecting tons of rain this weekend. Not a good weekend for
vendors. Cloverdale getting 2 inches of rain tomorrow. Poor
Toney!! We will be at the Chabot College Flea Market next
Saturday and it is supposed to rain. Matter of fact, we have at
least 9 days of rain coming up and that is why I like doing shows in
Arizona. It rained twice during the four weeks we were there.
Any time you sign up for a show in Northern California from Jan-Mar, you
are putting your dollars at risk. The tough times get tougher!
Going to have to head over to COSTCO and pick up those boxes of
Cup-O-Noodles.
Feb 11. COSTCO GAS PRICE. In San Leandro COSTCO is now up to
$2.07. Chevron at Southland now up to $2.31. Highest price in U.S.
is in San Mateo at $2.59 at the Shell Station on S. Delaware, a block
from the office. National average is $1.94. $1.55 in
Gillette, WY and that is the lowest in the country. Stock Market
is up around 50 points to 7939.53. Oil down 1.29 to 42.47 and gold
was up 30.30 and now stands at $944.50.
RIP OFF OF THE DAY. I guess that we could call the gas prices at
the Shell Station located at 1790 South Delaware Street in San Mateo as
being the rip-off of the day. Other San Mateo stations have
regular going for $2.19, a full fourty cents cheaper. So, now you
people know where NOT to buy your gas in San Mateo.
THE GOVERNATOR. Watching Street of San Francisco and heard
somebody that sounded like
Arnold Schwarzenegger and to my surprise it was. This episode
was filmed in 1972 and was called 'Dead
Lift'. He played the part of Josef Schmidt, a bodybuilder who
gets enraged when the lady whom he is with makes jokes about him and he
kills her. And of course, just before that, he removed his shirt
to show the lady and viewers his muscle-work. Here's a shot of him
in 1972, but not from the movie.
STOLEN DOG. On one of my pages, I had a picture of the
world's ugliest dog and somebody on another website had linked to it,
which meant that they were using my website and bandwith (150K per
download) for the image. I changed the URL for the image and
substituted the image on the right and that is what they now get on
their website. So, what you see is what they get. And would
you believe that the website I found this on was one telling about
hackers?
BANDWITH THEFT. From time
to time, I find my images being used on other websites. I don't
really care since they are not copyrighted, however sometimes people
actually LINK to them and each time somebody looks at that particular
page, it is downloaded from my website. I have a log that I check
periodically and can tell if people are doing it. So, whenever I
see it happen, I change the image to one that suits the cause!!!
MOST POPULAR PAGE for this month is my review of Whiskey Flat Days
in Kernville. It jumped into first place today as many vendors are
apparently checking it out and are probably worried about the weather.
Might even have a lot of empty spaces there.
UPDATE ON STOLEN DOG. Have checked my log and I find that they are
no longer linked to our website. I guess he didn't like being a
'number one asshole'
Feb 10. I started 'Your Daily Dose'
back in September and the page had grown quite large. So, I
decided to start a new page effective today. You can find
everything I posted before Feb 10
on this page.
TRAFFIC REPORT. With one-third of February gone by, the home
page of this website is the most popular page. Surprisingly,
Whiskey Flat Days is second and rounding out the top five are Philippine
Festivals, Inhaling Helium and Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches.
The economic
stimulus package:
If you spend that money at
Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China. If you spend it on gasoline it will go to the
Arabs. If you purchase a
computer it will go to India.
If you buy fruit and veggies
it will go to Mexico,
Honduras,
or Guatemala
(unless you buy organic). If you buy a car it will go to Japan. If you purchase useless crap
it will go to Taiwan.
And none of it will help the American
economy.
We need to keep that money
here in America.
You can keep the money in America
by spending it at yard sales, going to a baseball game, or spend it on prostitutes, beer
and wine (domestic ONLY), or tattoos, since those are the
only businesses still in the U.S.
- WELCOME BACK KOTTER. Having returned from
Arizona where temps were around 75 degrees almost every day and nice,
bright sunny weather, I am now faced with many days of rain here in
Hayward. Welcome to reality. Would have preferred to stay in
Tyson Wells, but sales were just too low and the weather will not be as
nice the next week.
THIS WEEKEND'S SHOWS. Wow. Rain
expected in Tyson Wells on Saturday and Sunday. Kernville is going
to get a soaking also for it's Whiskey Flat Days and so isn't
Cloverdale's Citrus Fair. Too bad for the vendors doing those
events. Doing shows in February can be extremely tough because of
the weather and even harder beause of the economy. If you
are looking for an indoor space in Kernville, right on a main corner,
please check my review of
Whiskey
Flat Days where I have info on it. Might not be a bad idea.
MARILYN
CHAMBERS dead at 56.
click here to read story "Behind the Green Door" brought
something more in Chambers, an attractive young woman who had begun her
career as a legitimate actress and model. While the film was still
in theaters, the public learned that its star was the same young blonde
smiling and holding a freshly diapered baby on boxes of Ivory Snow
laundry soap (which the company touted as "99 and 44/100 percent pure").
The manufacturer quickly replaced her, but it was later discovered that
she also had a small role in the 1970 Barbra Streisand film "The Owl and
the Pussycat."
![[NYPost-Chimp.jpg]](NYPost-Chimp.jpg)
