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| November 20. The book is now ready for
sale. You can purchase a copy on the
website and get info there. Price is a
reasonable $14.95.
Please
click here for more info. |
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|
THE BOOK IS NOW DONE AND YOU CAN ORDER.
Available
on website
click here
from the book, part of Chapter 1
Standing
in the heavy rain with 70 mph winds while watching some 60 canopies go
flying in all directions, toppling over all at once was something to
behold as I had never seen anything close to this in all of my 17 years
selling at festivals, fairs and other events.
My two canopies crumbled and collapsed to the ground right in
front of my very eyes as I stood helplessly watching in complete awe.
All my merchandise was scattered on the ground beneath the canopies.
This would be a day that I would remember for the rest of my life.
|
| October 17. End of the world is
coming again on Friday. Please don't
forget this because the guy said that it is
'going to come quietly.' Meet me in
St. Louie or someplace a little warmer. |
| October 8. Did you hear about the
new kind of Aids going around? It's
called 'Hearing Aids.' You get it from
listening to assholes. |
October 8. Haven't done a show in
almost a month. Lucy just got out of the
hospital after a 33 day stay. She is
doing fine. Looks like I am going to
end the year with only 13 shows. We
usually do 35-40. Had planned on doing
a few more but need to look after my wife.
No shows until April or May.
This weekend is the Riverbank Wine and
Cheese Festival, a little ways off of the
'99,' the highway where futile vendors
go to die. Good luck people.
Good weather, at least. I understand
that the show is sold out. I think
that a lot of the vendors (25% to 35%) will
not even cover their booth fees. You
guys know which ones I am talking about.
Got to keep away from the '99' areas.
If I knew that my wife would be okay, I
would have signed up for it. I've done
the show twice. The first time I was
in an area where people (drinkers)
congregated in the vicinity of my booth and
I did good. I returned the following
year and was in a location way, way, way
down the street out in never-never land and
I only made double the fee, which was not
very good. Might not be a bad event
for some of the vendors and I am anxious to
try it again. They get a decent-sized
crowd out there but you can only hear small
chump change jingling in their pockets and
you don't hear the clear, fresh, crisp
sounds of those twenty dollar and one
hundred dollar bills. |
| September 28. I guess that's it
for me this year. Wife fractured her
hip three weeks ago and had a hip
replacement. While in the hospital,
she had gall bladder complications and had
it removed yesterday. I was planning
on doing a couple shows in October, but need
to stay home to watch the wife. I
wanted to do an Octoberfest in Redwood City
and possibly head on down to Los Osos the
last Sunday of the month for their
Octoberfest. |
| September 23. The weather is going
to get a little cooler this weekend after we
had temperatures in the mid-80s here.
Possible showers in the North Bay on Sunday.
I don't have any shows scheduled for the
weekend and I would love to be in the Fog
Festival in Pacifica. Terrific show
but I think it will be overcast much of the
weekend. There's been quite a bit of
fog around this past week on that side of
the Bay and overcast in the East Bay. |
| September 20. Even though I wasn't
able to sell at the
Newark Days Celebration, I am providing
you with an analysis of the event.
After all, I paid $200, so I am going to put
in my two cents worth. |
| September 17. Please prepare
yourselves for the end of the world on
Wednesday. I am not sending in any
booth fees until after that if we are still
around. I wonder if anybody out there
takes this stuff seriously. |
|
| September 11. Well, 9-11 came and
went and so did the Castro Valley Fall
Festival, which pretty much sucked at this
year's new location since C.V. Blvd., was
having construction. Didn't do all
that great-nothing like when it was up on
the Blvd., or in the Village. Review
will be done soon. Meanwhile, grab yourself
some lumpia and halo halo and read what I
have to say about the
Adobo Festival in Milpitas over Labor
Day Weekend |
| August 23. Yesterday, I drove down
Hesperian here in Wayward and was preparing
to make a right hand turn. I saw a guy
in the crosswalk, so I stopped and waited.
I could have made the turn but you never
know where the cop is lurking and needs to
make his quota. As the guy crosses
near my car I see that he is walking slow
and texting at the same time. Doesn't
that crap anger you? Unfortunately, I
didn't honk my horn to scare the shit out of
him nor did I cuss him out. It's just
pitiful. My light was green but you
know, I can't stand stopping for every freakin red light after every block and
waiting for two minutes. So, here's
this guy walking in front of me waiting for
him while he is texting and walking slowly. |
| August 22. The Zucchini has come
and gone. I think that the crowds were
down and people kept padlocks on their
freaking wallets.
You can read the review, I still have
more input though. Enjoy. |
 |
|
August 20. THE ZUCCHINI IS
HERE. Annual festival held in Kennedy
Park in Hayward. We will be located in
Space #71 this year. Show starts at
10:00am both days.
We went down this afternoon and set up our
canopy and grids. Will finish early AM
Saturday. |
August 16. Didn't do all that
great in Stockton and was strongly
considering not returning next year.
However, we had a couple good spurts toward
the end of the day, so we will likely
return.
Just checked the temps in Quartzsite.
Only 109 today. We've been having
great weather here in Southwest Northern
Kalifornia. Just a bit cloudy in the
AM and temps in the low 70s mostly. I
can handle that. Great weather for the
Zucchini this weekend in Kennedy Park.
We have changed our location this year to
Space#71. Hope it's better, but at
least we don't have a huge ass tree 4 feet
in front of our booth and tree stumps to
crawl over along with a big crack in the
sidewalk.
August 10. Office Worker of the
Month Award goes to the lady working in the
office of the Stockton Barrio Fiesta.
First of all, once again I had to have my
insurance company fax my info twice because
she claims that she didn't see it the first
time. Hmmm. Deja vu!! Then she
called me up and told me that my insurance
company had sent her a cancellation of
insurance. So I call my insurance and they
told me that they didn't cancel it. I
called the lady back and she read the part
that said that the insurance is cancelled on
August 18. Then I ask her the magic
question. What date is the show? August
13-14. So, what is wrong with that. The
insurance is cancelled after the event.
Boy, what a dumb shit. I'm sorry. |
 |
July 30. No show this weekend for me.
Events this weekend include the Garlic
Festival in Gilroy, which is way too
expensive. Art & Wine Festival on Park
St. in Alameda. Also, Courtland Pear
Festival (1 day) out along the 99 close to
Lodi.
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|
| July 19. I would have been doing
the Jackson County Fair up in Oregon at this
time. But due to health issues, we
can't. The headlines up there:
|
|
|
| July 13. Another cloudy ugly day
here in Hayward. What happened to
summer? Wow. Reminds me so much
of the Oregon Coast. Remarkable.
Wish I was there. |
July 11. Was windy and cloudy in
Vallejo. People not spending much
money again. What can I say?
Booth spaces $350 and not worth it.
Read my review in a few days. Been
kind of slow putting up things on here.
Sort of lost my mojo, know what I mean?
Today it has been overcast and cooler here
in the Bay Area. Gosh, when I walk
outside my door, I feel like I am up there
on the Oregon Coast. Actually, we
would have been up in Winchester Bay (near
Coos Bay), Oregon on Wednesday. Over
the year's we have done the Oceanfest there,
along with an assortment of county fairs,
having had to endure all kinds of weather
conditions. We are unable to make that
trip any more due to wife's medical
condition, mainly having to have dialysis
three times a week. Have to make a lot
of sacrifices. It has been very tough.
Well, since we couldn't make it to Oregon,
why not have Oregon (weather) come here? |
| July 5. We will be able to do the
Adobo Festival in Vallejo this weekend.
A Silverado truck rammed into van on 880 on
Tuesday and totaled it. I bought
another van on Saturday and will load it up
with 'goodies.' However, I am having
problems with the other guy's insurance.
All State is really dragging their asses.
These people are disgusting to deal with.
They are offering me only $1600 for my van
but I want a comparable replacement.
Isn't that the shits. I have three
unreturned phone calls to my claims
adjuster. I am not satisfied with the
people I have dealt with. Why should I lose
over $2000 on this fucking mess. All
State totally sucks. |
| July 4. Hoping you all had a nice
and profitable 4th of July. I was home
this weekend, not being able to do Mt.
Shasta's Celebration due to wife's medical
problems. High temps were only in the
80s for the weekend and that is just
perfect. I've done shows up there in
temps nearing 110 degrees. That was
hot. Made us feel like zombies. |
| June 18. You mean that I paid $300
for this ($&#) ing space at this Martinez
Rib Cook off? Find out what happens
when you are told that set-up begins at
6:00PM and you have traveled 45 miles and
you are unable to set up. The Chamber
of Commerce really botched this one up.
Stay tuned. Check back later in the
week for the whole story. These people
are pitiful. This has gotten me fired
up again. |
| June 17. Regarding Deshon Marman,
who was the guy who wanted to wear his pants
low..... I guess he just wanted to
make an ass of himself! |
| June 14. The weather is looking
great for the weekend finally. We will
be in Martinez for their rib cook off event. |
| June 7. We were in Foster City
over the weekend and we were spared the
miserable weather they had predicted.
Nonetheless, sales were not too good.
You can read my review in a few days. |
May 27. Did Castroville Artichoke
Festival last weekend.
No show for this Memorial Day Weekend.
Could have done Morgan Hill, but I passed on
it. I really miss going down to Arroyo
Grande for the Strawberry Festival but I'm
pretty much priced out of it. We did
it for several years and were located up on
the main street (space#35) but had to tear
down on Sat and then set up again Sunday
morning. Not for us. We have
gotten too old for that. Let
the'youngsters' do it. It's a very nice
event, though. One of my favorite
shows and getaways. |
|
|
| May 17. Rains are back again.
Looks like no rain in Castroville this
weekend for the Artichoke Festival, but it's
going to be a bit on the cool side.
Oakdale will be warmer for the Chocolate
Festival. |
| May 10. No show for us this
weekend. Looks like rain. Can't
believe it. I thought that we were
done with that stuff. Ya know, winter
is ovah!!! Helloooo. We had such
beautiful weather for awhile and then the
winds started picking up and the clouds came
rolling in. Very cloudy in Ceres this
past weekend, but the show was good.
Not much sun. |
 |
|
CERES STREET FAIRE
May 7-8
It's time for the 2011 Ceres Street Faire.
We have been doing this event for 18 years
now, our longest-running event. Over
the years here, we have had to endure rain,
wind, heat, etc. Looks like great
weather this year, with temps in the mid
80's. |
 |
| April 19. Surprise, surprise,
surprise. Took a drive down Castro
Valley Blvd. today and this is pretty much
what I saw. The middle is all dug up
and the place is a mess. Spoke to
somebody and they told me that it's going to
take seven months. So what is going to
happen to the Fall Festival in September?
Even if they move it back to the Village,
there will be many problems to overcome? |
 |
|
NEW RESOURCE FOR VENDORS
The
Bedbug Registry
The Bed Bug Registry is a free, public
database of user-submitted bed bug reports
from across the United States and Canada.
Founded in 2006, the site has collected
about 20,000 reports covering 12,000
locations.
|
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|
April 11.
Fiesta
Filipina to be held at Fort Mason in San
Francisco on July 30-31. We did this show
years ago when it was affordable and held at
Civic Center Plaza. Can you believe
they are charging vendors $1,000 for a
10x10? Throw away another $500 for
electricity. Want to be a food vendor
there? That's even a bigger rip-off.
$3,000. No way. |
| Sebastopol Apple Blossom Festival is
coming up on Apr 16-17. I had sent in
for it, but I guess I was too late.
Thank gosh. I heard after I sent in
that they are charging $10 admission for
adults and I heard some pretty bad reports
about it from last year. Close call. |
 |
|
OPENING DAY IS HERE!!
Manteca Crossroads Street Faire - Apr
2-3
This will be the first show of the year for
me. I have been sitting out the rain.
Hopefully the weather will cooperate but the
forecast is not too promising. |
| March 17. Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Looks like ten days of rain coming up in
this part of California. Going to be a
wet weekend. Tough luck for you people
up in Jackson for Dandelion Days.
Rainy, cold, snowy? |
March 12. They continue to come.
Record numbers of visitors coming to
Starving Vendors. Yesterday a total of
566 people visited the site, smashing all
records. Looks like we will go over
10,000 this month.
LOOKS LIKE DECENT WEATHER FOR THE SHOWS THIS
WEEKEND. Dublin and Esparto are two of
the 'local' events. Next weekend is
looking glum. Had a few thoughts about
doing Chabot. Not anymore after seeing
the weather report. Rain also in
Jackson for Dandelion Days.
March 2. We had a record-setting
month in February with 6,481 visitors.
For 15 consecutive days, we had 200 or more
visitors.
SHOWTIME. Have decided to start things
off at the Manteca Street Faire in April.
Do not want to go to Clovis because of
expenses. I know that sales aren't so
great there (Manteca) and those non-profit
groups with booths are a big pain in the
ass. They do not respect other vendors
trying to sell their products. How
would they like it if we ran in front of
THEIR booths waving our merchandise in
people's faces like they do?
BOK KAI FESTIVAL in Marysville coming up
Saturday. I did consider doing it, but
decided to stay home until April. The
weather forecast is showing snow and 37
degrees. Wow. |
| February 24. SNOW TONIGHT IN THE
BAY AREA? Maybe. Stay tuned. |
February 22. Check out my very
tentative show
schedule for 2011. Not sure of
anything after mid-May
THE WEATHER. Snow level early Saturday
morning is down to 500 feet OR LOWER.
Great chance for snow before the sun comes
up. |
| February 19. A rainy day here in
the Bay Area. I guess vendors, etc.
hung around most of the morning. I was
going to drop by but it was too chilly and
wet. Farmer's Market went on.
People still were buying in the rain.
Looks like Kernville is okay. Not much
rain there and the weather will improve for
Sunday and Monday. However, a good
number of vendors were down on Friday. |
| February 13. Bok Kai Festival in
Marysville is coming up on March 5.
I'd consider doing it, but after what I saw
in Marysville in November, I just don't
think I'd do well. Ripon
Almond Blossom Festival is the last weekend
of the month and Accuweather.com forecasts
says Rain. |
 |
|
Whiskey
Flats Days is coming up next weekend
(Feb 18-21). Looks like a rough one
with 2-3 days of snow showers.
Weather.com is predicting snow while
Accuweather.com is saying rain. What's
it going to be? I won't be there this
year and I hope that the vendors don't get
ripped off this year. That was
terrible in 2010 when at least a couple
dozen vendor's got hit.
It's going to be cold there with temps in
the 20's during the early AM. There
are no reasonable motels around there an you
would have to go a long ways to find one
with rates under $120. Going to be a
load of van sleepers at this one. Be
sure to bring some good blankets. If
you have electric blankets, there are
outlets on the business side of the park. |
February 10. Enjoy the good
weather because the rains are probably
coming in 5 days.
Whiskey Flats is next weekend and it
looks like 3 days of rain. Maybe snow
and temps in the 20's during the AM.
Going to be a rough weekend for the vendors.
The parade is the main event on Saturday
(19th) and it might get a bit messy. A
great parade that really brings out the
crowds. The place is packed afterward.
I hope that they have some kind of REAL
Security there this year after dozen's of
vendors got ripped off last year.
Lake Havasu City Winterfest is this weekend.
Beautiful Arizona weather with temps in the
mid-70's. Sorry I can't be there. |
February 7. Had a call from the
San Mateo County Fair the other day.
They are looking for vendors. I guess
you know what that means.
They've had great weather in Arizona for the
past month. I guess our weather around
here is pretty good too. Can't beat
those 80-degree temps in February.
Heard that there were a lot of empty spaces
in the back two rows in Tyson Wells for the
Sell-a-Rama. Nobody wanted to be back
there to deal with the winds. No rain
but 15-35mph gusts, etc. That can get
rough. |
| January 25. Great weather but no
shows. No problem, people have no
money. Heard reports from Yuma that
things were pretty slow there this past
weekend. Tyson Wells Sell-a-Rama has
been slow also. Super weather there,
though. Maybe I'm not missing anything
there. |
| January 14. If you are in
Quartzsite, be sure to check out Readers'
Oasis Books on Main Street and meet Paul
Winer. You will see something unusual;
well, not really unusual, but you have to
check him out. He runs around nude,
except for little thing. |
| January 12. Kind of quiet so far.
No shows. Heard that the Petsaloopa
show in Yuma wasn't all that great.
Fewer vendors & people than in year's past
when the event had a different name/theme.
I have been watching the long-range forecast
for Tyson Wells.
Take a look for yourself and check out
the rain that MIGHT be coming. That's
the way it looked last year. They'll
have nice 70 degree temperatures for awhile,
but that rain might be imminent.
UPDATE: Now there is no rain in the
forecast. Crazy, isn't it? |
January 6. Looks like great
weather in Tyson Wells for January shows.
Just my $(#&$(#ing luck. Temps up in
the 70s when the Sell-a-Rama starts.
No sign of rain, but you don't know for sure
with these 15-day Accuweather forecasts.
Trying to make some extra money since I
don't have any shows for at least two more
months. I signed up for Amazon.com and
I am putting loads of old books, DVD,s,
etc., on there. I have lots of
Photography, sports, travel, computer
(out-dated) and cookbooks (that I won years
ago at storage auctions-yes, you can make
money at them. Long ago, I sold around
10 excellent cookbooks for around $50-80
each on EBay. These one's aren't that
good. I am putting a lot of our
necklaces on EBay and will add our pewter,
clothing and shell creations in the coming
weeks. Have gone back to Overstock.com
and I am listing our necklaces there.
Signed up for Etsy.com and am putting our
hand-made necklaces and shell creations
there. Got to start raising 'funds' to
pay for these repair bills. Just got
my statement from my retirement and we are
not getting COLA's and they are raising our
health plan premiums by $15/month. I'm
glad that I do not have Blue Cross because
those people are paying much more because
they are raising because of this national
health plan. I thought that we weren't
going to have to pay for that? What's
up!!! |
January 3. Not starting the year
very good. All in one day (today!) I
have car repairs of $850 (flywheel, etc., +
7 hours labor- need to drop the trans); $335
for some drain cleaning for my washing
machine. Lost my wallet for an hour
yesterday. All started on Sunday when
I went out to get some gas and halfways
home, my van conked out.
SHOW SCHEDULE. Are you wondering where
my show schedule for 2011 is? I guess
I'll start putting it together soon.
Maybe Dandelion Days in March. Looks
like Casa de Fruta and Cupertino on
back-to-back weekends. Ceres Street
Fair and that's all I figured out.
Beyone that, it gets depressing, you know? |
December 31. Last day of 2010 and
I hope 2011 will be better. I have
received two emails this morning which show
just how stupid some people can be. I
am not opening them because of potential
viruses. One of them is from
support@aol.com and the subject line reads:
Your account has been infected. I have
another email from suport@aol.com.
Update your account to Avoid been suspended.
Can you believe these? So f'ing
stupid. What makes me think that the
same person sent both of these? How on
earth can your account become infected?
Can not spell 'suport' and poor ESL also.
 |
|
PHILLY CHEESE STEAK? Anybody
ever been to
Jersey Joe's Hoagies located at
21 El Camino Real in San Carlos?
Looks like the Cheesesteaks could be
pretty decent and I am anxious to
try one out.
Reviews
on Yelp look pretty good.
|
|
| December 30. I put our 2 bags of
clothing and a box of kitchen stuff for this
mission/church to pick up yesterday.
Around 4:30pm, the two bags disappeared but
my neighbor's stuff across the street was
still there and that means that somebody
else picked up my stuff and a couple of my
neighbor's bags also. This morning my
box was gone and it might have been taken by
the garbage collectors. Some of my
neighbor's stuff is still in front of their
house. The moral of this story is
two-fold. If you want to give old
stuff away to somebody who says they will be
by to pick it up, you are better off taking
it there yourself IF YOU TRULY WANT THEM to
have it. Secondly, if you want to get
rid of stuff..... old clothing, furniture,
etc., then stick it out there along the curb
and somebody will take it away. Better
yet, put it out there on 'garbage pick-up
day' because there are scavengers out there
'swiping' re-cycle-bles. |
| December 28. It's been raining
like holy hell all night. Power was
knocked out for 3 hours here. Must be
serious flooding in some places. Thank
gosh this isn't snow. |
December 26. Hope you all had a
nice Christmas. Weather was nice
today but looks like we're going to start
off the New Year with a bit of rain.
Snowed heavily today back East. The
49ers truly suck. Coach has to go and
we need to do something about this QB
situation; It's all in black and white-both
Smith's have to go. Offensive line
sucked.
Be sure to check out the newest feature on
the website called 'OUTLOOK
2011' I'm giving my analysis of
shows each month along with tips, etc.
Take it for what it's worth. |
| |
December 25. Merry Christmas
everybody!! It's raining cats, dogs,
elephants, reindeer, etc. Serious
flooding in SOCAL.
|
 |
|
December 23. Went to Southland and
dropped by See's Candies. Damm, that
stuff is expensive. Picked up a SMALL
box of Nuts and Chews. Ended up in a
line of around 18-20 people with only one
cashier. On the other side there were
a couple other people picking out individual
chocolates and there were at least five
people doing assorted tasks.
|
|
When the line in front of me dwindled down
to around 8 people, I got the attention of
one of those workers and asked him 'How come
you only have one cashier over here?'
He told me that 'they were all busy.'
So, here we are with the long line of people
waiting to pay for the boxes that they
bought and there's people walking by the
store and seeing that there's a long line,
they are not bothering to come inside.
People looked frustrated. Soon after, one of
the lady's on the other side called me over
and took care of me. Great.
Right after that, another employee walked
over and began taking care of the
customer's. We need Mr. See to drop by
and SEE this. Man oh man, you've got
to take care of those customer's in line
waving those Franklin's and debit cards.
What happens if everybody gets pissed and
puts their stuff down and walk out?
You don't have a job, huh? |
| December 19. Rather quiet week.
Hibernation for me. Horrible weather
this weekend. Lots of rain and wind.
Wouldn't surprise me if we had a bunch of
diehards at the Chabot Flea Market and the
Telegraph Avenue Holiday Festival over in
Berkeley. Might have been interesting
to have checked out the Avenue yesterday.
There was a break in the weather. Good
luck today. |
| December 14. On Sunday I took a
drive up to Napa to check out Santa's
Helpers Craft Fair. A bit foggy and on
the overcast side during the morning.
Chardonay Hall was packed with vendors and I
really think that your success depends upon
booth location/visibility. Six booths
outside, the rest indoors. Booths
along the perimeter of the hall received the
most foot traffic. There were a number
of them located in the center and I don't
think they did very good unless they had
corner spots. I think that some people
did good, but sales remained slow for a
majority of the vendors. Would I do it
next year? No. Not with this
economy. $275 is too much to pay,
especially if you get a cramped up 10x10
middle space. Loads of jewelry and I
don't think these people sold very much. |
 |
|
GREAT FACEBOOK PAGE.
Check it out.
This page was started by another vendor
and it looks like it has great
possibilities and a place where we all
will be able to share a lot of
information. Great resource.
|
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|
December 10. Watched a new reality show
called Storage Wars, which is about people
bidding on storage units being auctioned
off at storage rental places. Every
rental place around schedules auctions of
spaces which have been left abandoned or
one's that people couldn't pay for. I
went to a bunch of these 8-10 years ago and
got some pretty good stuff which I paid
under $100 for. Now, you are going to
see all kinds of people coming out of the
'woodwork' thinking that they are going to
make thousands of dollars. It's a lot
of fun, but not for me anymore. A lot
of people sell these items on EBay, Flea
Markets, Thrift Stores, etc.
Here's Storage Wars Facebook page |
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|
December 5. 4:15pm. Just
stepped outside and it was raining cats,
dogs, snakes, elephants, etc. At least
it held out most of the day. Just a
quiet day for me at the 3-month long Couch
Potato Festival here in my living room.
Watched the 49ers and it was suckarooski for
them. Need a coaching change.
Should have tossed him after those first 5
losses. Raider's with a good win.
Rushed for over 240 yards against one of the
top rushing defenses in the league.
Expecting more rain her during the week and
if we get a clear day next weekend, I'm
going to check out the Santa's Helpers show
in Napa. |
| December 4. The day started off a
bit wet and we only a few sprinkles during
the day. It was the Couch Potato
Festival for us and the beginning of several
months hibernation. It doesn't matter
to me whether that Ground Hog in Puxatunney
sees his shadow or not in February; I am not
coming out until at least mid-February.
Hope everybody has a profitable show this
weekend. Not much to choose from; Los
Gatos, DeAnza, Indio. |
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Occasionally, I shop at Smart & Final
over here in Hayward. I'd love to see
their CEO stop by and see how things are
going. Quite often, I have to stand in
a lone of 6-7 customers with only one
checker. Today, I walked around the
store and saw two female employees talking
on cell phones. One was working slowly
doing some kind of inventory work while the
other was leaning up against a wall and I
'overheard' their conversations and it was
with friends/family. Other customers
passed by these two also. Therefore,
you are making me believe that I am standing
in a line because you are on your cellphone.
I have previously encountered cashiers
talking on the phone with friends.
Who's the boss? Where is the boss?
You are both fired!!!! |
| December 3. A bit wet today and
tomorrow. Beautiful weather in Indio
for the Tamale Festival. High will be
77 and partly cloudy. I'd gladly take
that for my shows. Huh? What
shows? Oh that's right. No more action
for me until ____ ? Indio was too expensive
for me. $375 booth fee, 2 nights in
motel=$124, gas=$160. Whoa. $659.
A bit much for this economy. |
| December 1. Rains are coming
again. Weekend doesn't look too good.
Have noticed that there are problems with
the server for proboards, where our forum is
located. Keep getting a msg that says
'Too many connections.' |
| Nov 28. Just got back from Morro
Bay. Very cold this morning. Bad
location and poor sales. Check the
review in another day to see the 'world's
smallest lumpia.' This was my last
show of the year and I don't expect to do
anything until the last weekend of January. |
| November 27. Arrived in Morro Bay
around 3:00pm after a rather rainy trip
down. Supposed to be a nice day on Sunday.
Check out my review. Will complete by
Monday AM. |
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Morro Bay Street Faire. Sunday, Nov
28. Not looking forward to setting up in
35-degree temps on Sunday morning. Just
down the street at 275 Morro Bay Blvd. is
the Rock Expresso Bar (Coffee Shop) where I
plan on picking up some really good coffee
to warm up. Stopped by there in August and
got some coffee and it was pretty decent. |
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2011 Lake Havasu City Winterfest.
Thinking about it. Held Feb 12-13. Weather
is usually pleasant, but I have encountered
some sprinkles and it can be a little on the
cool side. Lots of people but I did it back
in 2008 and people just walked around.
Here's a link to the application. I
love what it says on #6. "Vendors may not
drain ice chests or other liquids onto the
street until the show has concluded."
Wonderful. I had some idiots at the Castro
Valley Fall Festival (and other shows) empty
their coolers in the street and water flowed
into the booth. Show consideration!!! |
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November 25. Happy Thanksgiving. Quite
cold this morning. Maybe 36 degrees here
and lower in some places. Below 0 up in
the Sierras' There have been people
actually camping out since yesterday at
places like Best Buy. Not me. I'm not that
crazy. Don't have much money to spend
anyway. All systems go for Morro Bay this
weekend. Driving down on Saturday.
Supposed to get showers that day, but
supposed to be sunny on Sunday. |
| Nov 23. Brrrrr. Cold tonight. Even
colder on Turkey Eve/morning. 34 in
Hayward; colder elsewhere. 30 in Morro Bay? |
| Nov 20. 9:30am. Took a drive around
the corner to Chabot's Flea Market.
Drizzling a bit and quite nippy out there.
Was going to pick up some socks but didn't
see anybody selling any out there. Perhaps
40 real die-hard sellers out there braving
this ugly day in the pits and they were
quite spread out in 5 rows. I did not
bother getting out of my van. Quite a
number of shopper's cars parked along the
perimeter and I saw around 3-dozen people
walking around. Gosh, this brings back some
memories when we've had to gut-out days like
this freezing our butts off. Can imagine
how things are going at American High
(Fremont), Lynbrook (San Jose) and the
Auburn Mandarin Festival and I am glad that
I am not at any of those shows today.
Anybody care to tell me about their day
today?
comments@starvingvendors.com |
| Nov 20. Windows of Opportunity
seemingly exist as far as the weather goes.
I was surprised to see that it wasn't
raining during the 'waking' hours this
morning but I am not sure as to how much
rain will fall in given areas and hopefully
the threat of rain will not scare everybody
away and lower potential sales dramatically. |
| Nov 19. Just checked weather reports
and they are somewhat contradicting.
Weather.com is showing rain for most of Sat
& Sun (Bay Area & Auburn); however,
Accuweather shows some periods of NO RAIN
during the afternoons this weekend. I guess
we'll have to play it 'by ear.' I'll be
home regardless. |
I was in Yuba City this weekend and I
missed the action; maybe 8 blocks from the
motel and about a mile from the show.
Two teen girls from
River City High streaked across the Friday
night football game vs. Yuba City High and
are facing criminal charges of indecent
exposure along with school expulsion.
The students ran their naked marathon in
front of 5,000 spectators at the opponent’s
field.
Here's the video. After
looking at the girls, yes I can call that
indecent exposure too!
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MOUNTAIN MANDARIN FESTIVAL
Auburn, CA November 21-22
Good luck with the show this coming
weekend. Rain is forecast Fri-Sat-Sun.
Don't get too wet. Here's your weather
report. High 50 Low 36 on Sat. Brrrr.
We're not doing the show because they never
gave us a good spot and I am not throwing
away my money. Last time we did it was in
2007.
Here's some shots. Check out our
newest page - Looking back.
Read about our
exploits at the Sierra Grill in Auburn.
'Bring in Columbo; the case of the
Disappearing Waitress' |
| Nov 15. Resting up this following
weekend after two rough indoor shows in a
row. Supposed to rain. Heading down to
Morro Bay for their Street Faire on the last
Sunday of the month and maybe I can salvage
some sales. Good luck everybody. |
| Nov 15. Was out there on the Obese
Highway in Yuba City for Hell in November.
Couldn't even catch the $75 booth fee. Not
too much money up here. Ouch.
Here's what I have to say. |
| Hayward Hills Swap Meet and Flea
Market. New. Every Sunday. 25976 Carlos
Bee Blvd. Parking Lot H, Hayward, CA
94542. $30 - each space is the size of 3
parking spaces - approx. size is 18'x27'
Brand new swap meet/flea market open every
Sunday on the beautiful campus of California
State University at East Bay. Free parking.
Free Admission. Great bargains.
http://www.haywardhillsswapmeet.com |
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