San Francisco Blog

Weekend wrap-up by Janine Kahn

Sorry to shake you out of tryptophan-induced slothfulness, but it's Cyber Monday, kids. And that means you're supposed to blow what's left of the shopping dough you didn't honestly have last week on marginally-cheaper memory cards and online escorts or something. It's your duty to god and government! At least that's what we took away after running into these clever signs on Powell and Market streets last Friday (see above).

See more photos from our Black Friday romp through Union Square at All Shook Down's sister blog, The Snitch.

On Saturday night, ASD correspondent Jackie Lopez ended up (wo)manning the door at Milk Bar for the Toys for Tots drive. She blogs about the experience, which included a good dose of heart-melting generosity:

"It appeared that many had taken full advantage of the Black Friday sales. Mr. E arrived with huge toys: a ride-on fire truck and a life-sized doll. A sweet lady brought in a massive bag of toys straight from Mervyns (yet another victim of hard times, which is going out of business on Masonic and Geary.) Another woman donated a load full of children's pop-up books from Borders' bargain section. One man came in with two enormous white teddy bears, which a friend had to pry out of my arms. Other popular items included High School Musical dolls and Transformers, board games and, amazingly, video games."

Read the rest of Jackie's dispatch here.

Also on Saturday: Your fearless web editor braved the madhouse that was the Cal Academy of Sciences on Thanksgiving Weekend. And boy, was that a mistake. Don't get me wrong, it's a magical place, and we did manage to find the Bay Area's newest hidden glory hole (see photo), but an hour's a long time to wait to view the rain forest exhibit. Do yourselves a favor and go on a weekday. Or sit in the comfort of your home and flip through the opening week slideshow music editor Jennifer Maerz shot months ago.