Gilroy Councilman Craig Gartman is proposing a 4-day 10-hour workweek for the city to save the city money, save employees money on gas, and reduce pollution.

The city of Gilroy could save up to 25 percent in energy costs, customer service would be open longer hours, and city employees not commuting an extra day would help reduce emissions.

Many cities across the country, as well as the entire state of Utah have adopted the non-traditional workweek from taking every Friday off to taking every other Friday off.

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America’s birthday, time to celebrate with parades, barbecues, picnics, festivals, and fireworks!

Here are some places to view fireworks and enjoy a day of celebrations:

San Jose

San Jose America Festival at Guadalupe River Park’s Discovery Meadow.

Enjoy international music, multicultural crafts and a variety of ethnic and festival foods. Activities for children are in Kidland.

Performances all day Friday at the Main Stage and the Blues Stage. There are also concerts Saturday and Sunday that include Night Ranger, Starship, Amanda Miguel and Diego Verdaguer.

July 4 - San Jose America Festival and Fireworks Show; Free

Gates open 12:00 pm; fireworks 9:30 pm

July 5 - Dia de la Familia Preciosa; $10

Gates open 3:00 pm

July 6 - Kinhcert on the Green: $15

Gates open 1:00 pm

Directions, Public Transportation, Parking, Bicycles

Event Map

FAQs (everything you need to know)

Santa Clara

Picnic and Fireworks Extravaganza. Central Park, 909 Kiely Boulevard; Free

Pancake Breakfast at 8 am, followed by games and entertainment throughout the day including a carnival area, petting zoo, face painting, and swimming at the International Swim Center. Bring a picnic lunch or purchase foods at the event.

Fireworks at 9:30 pm

Schedule & food prices (PDF)

Milpitas

Independence Day Festivities. Milpitas Sports Center, 1325 E. Calaveras Boulevard; Free

Water activities at Milpitas Sports Center Pools during the day; pool party 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

Barbecue, at the pool party 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm; nominal fee.

Concert & Fireworks at Milpitas Sports Center Football Field; 8:00 pm (gates open at 7:30 pm); bring a picnic dinner.

Morgan Hill

Pancake Breakfast, 5-K Run & 1 Mile Walk, Historic 4th of July Parade, Downtown Family Festival, Live Entertainment & Car Show. Beginning 7:00 am.

Fireworks about 9:30 pm.

Annual Street Dance & Live Concert - Thursday, July 3rd; Downtown Morgan Hill - 7:00 pm

Event information

Berkeley

Berkeley Marina; Free

Activities will include entertainers, arts & crafts, free sailboat rides, free dragon boat rides, a giant slide, art projects, face painting and massages; beginning 12:00 pm at the Berkeley Marina.

Fireworks, end of the Berkeley Pier at 9:30 pm.

There is valet bicycle parking free of charge near Adventure Playground!

Event schedule

Redwood City

Activities will include arts & crafts, food, kids area, parade, and yes, fireworks.

Festival - 9:00 am

Fireworks, Port of Redwood City - 9:30 pm

This weekend is the 11th Annual Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend in Menlo Park.

This event includes cooking demonstrations, gardening exhibits and demonstrations, hands-on activities, continuous music, food, along with over 100 vendors and exhibitors.

Cooking demonstrations on Saturday will include Ted Allen (”Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and “Top Chef”) preparing dishes with Robert Mondavi wine at 12:30 pm; Joseph Keller (Bistro Zinc) preparing fresh tomato soup with crab guacamole at 3:30 pm; and Bev Gannon (Hawaiian Airlines) preparing macadamia nut-crusted mahi mahi at 4:30 pm.

Then on Sunday, cooking demonstrations will include Joey Altman (KRON’s “Without Reservations”) preparing a panini of brie, figs, prosciutto and arugula at 2:30 pm; and Amy Machnak (Sunset magazine) will prepare fast-and-fresh, 30-minute recipes at 4:30 pm.

The Eco-Lounge will highlight Sunset’s eco-friendly outdoor furnishings and green products and there will even by an eco-fashion show. There will also be eco-friendly presentations.

Hands-on activities include stringing an orchid lei, painting a terracotta garden pot, creating edible art at the cupcake station, making chocolate chip cookies, and hands-on Weber grilling.

The Sunset garden staff will give gardening tips and answer questions about raising tomatoes and orchids.

There will be wine seminars, including Robert Mondavi wine seminars. (Taste tickets for $3 each are required in the beer and wine garden.)

Check the Presentation Schedule for stage locations and times.

For directions, maps, parking, free shuttles, discounts, box office hours, and more, check here.

Sunset Magazine
80 Willow Road, Menlo Park
800-786-7375

Saturday and Sunday, June 7 & 8
10:00 am - 5:00 pm

General admission: $12.00
Seniors (60+): $10.00
Children (12 & under): Free

$1.00 discount if you park at Sun Microsystems and take the shuttle over or if you bike to the event.
There is also a free shuttle from the Menlo Park Caltrain Station.

This weekend is the 13th Special Olympics Northern California Summer Games on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.

Athletes from throughout Northern California will compete in aquatics, track & field, bocce, tennis and volleyball. Athletes trained for 6-8 weeks and then participated in a regional competition to qualify for the Summer Games.

A short list of events includes Aquatics: assisted swim, flotation race, individual medley, and relays; Track & Field: running & walking events, high jump, running long jump, standing long jump, softball throw, tennis ball throw; and wheel chair events.

Bocce is played with one small ball and eight larger balls, four for each team. The small ball is thrown first becoming the target. Then each larger ball is thrown with the goal of placing it as close to the small ball as possible. The 4-person team competition for bocce will take place at Martinez Waterfront Park.

On Friday evening, there will be an Opening Ceremonies that will include the traditional parade of athletes and the lighting of the Special Olympics Caldron.

Volunteers are a very important part of Special Olympics throughout the year. During the Summer Games, there will be more than 300 coaches accompanying the athletes and another 1,300 individuals will help at one of the five venues hosting a competition.

Schedule, maps and parking here.

Special Olympics Northern California Summer Games
University of California, Berkeley and Martinez Waterfront Park

Friday, June 6 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm - Opening Ceremonies
Saturday, June 7 - 9:00 am to 4:00 pm - Competition - event times
Sunday, June 8 - 8:00 am to 2:00 pm - Competition - event times

Admission: Free to all events

For information about Special Olympics Silicon Valley, including upcoming events in the South Bay, check here.

The American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women and The Best Places group did a study to find the most heart friendly cities for women. The Bay Area came in third in the study with Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro area first and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC area second.

The study used the 200 most populous metropolitan areas. Some of the selection factors in the study included: cardiac mortality rates; physician diagnoses of diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol; smoking cigarettes; alcohol use; healthy eating; exercise; among other factors.

Go Red For Women conducted this study to help women better understand how personal health and environmental risk factors influence heart disease.

The Go Red For Women site points out these heart health statistics:

• One in three adult women has one or more forms of cardiovascular disease.
• Cardiovascular disease kills approximately 460,000 women per year, approximately one woman per minute.
• More women die of cardiovascular disease than the next five causes of death combined, including cancer.

For more information about Go Red For Women, the study, metro area rankings, heart healthy tips, and more check here.

MetroFi, which provides free and low-cost wireless Internet access in the South Bay has told the nine cities it operates in that it will discontinue service in 30 to 60 days. MetroFi has offered to sell the services in each city to that city or any third party. MetroFi founder, Chuck Haas, says he is also exploring the sale of MetroFi itself to a third party.

MetroFi, like Earthlink, struggled to operate its networks, underestimating costs and overestimating revenue.

Milpitas will be taking over Earthlink’s Wi-Fi network there and cutting back on service. It will be interesting to see what transpires in Milpitas.

Concord, Cupertino, Foster City, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale are the MetroFi cities affected in the Bay Area. If those cities or a third party does not buy the network then it will be shut down in those locations.

San Jose’s network was only located downtown. There is larger coverage area in the other Bay Area cities.

I have tried the free service on a number of occasions and found it to be sporadic. There were times I was under an access point, had trouble connecting, and when connected there were times when it crawled. I could not image paying a monthly fee just to remove the advertising banner.

With free Wi-Fi now available in many coffee shops, cafes, and libraries along with mobile broadband (not free) there are options.

The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is an event held at cities across the country, including the Bay Area this summer, to promote awareness and raise funds for breast cancer programs including, research, screening and diagnosis, treatment, and various services.

Locally, Team Willow Glen was organized so its members could train together in preparation for the Avon Foundation’s walk in San Francisco July 12 and 13. They have scheduled training walks up to the last week before the event.

The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer starts at Chrissy Field in San Francisco, crosses the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin, then back to Chrissy Field to camp for the night. The second day is through San Francisco ending at Golden Gate Park.

You may have a personal reason for taking part in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, a sister, mother, best friend, or even yourself. Men are encouraged to join and participate for someone they know or themselves. Janet Fouts, team captain of Team Willow Glen, pointed out to me that it is important to remember that men get breast cancer too.

Team Willow Glen has local fundraising events from yard/garage sales to a wine pairing dinner. The wine pairing dinner will be held at Fusion restaurant May 18 with 50% of the proceeds going to the Avon Foundation on the behalf of Team Willow Glen. Information about the dinner here.

Even though the walk is not until July, you my want to consider joining Team Willow Glen now so you can participate in those training walks. Training walks begin (carpool) and meetings are held at Elva’s Coffee Stop, 2206 Lincoln Ave. Willow Glen.

You need not live nor work in Willow Glen to join the team.

For more information about Team Willow Glen, joining, donating, upcoming events, and training walks, check here.

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer
San Francisco
Saturday and Sunday, July 12 - 13

Mark your calendars on May 3rd and 4th! It’s time for the Maker Faire!

If you’re not aware:

“Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It’s for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things.”

The MF is packed with amazing projects, hands-on events, performances, music, and shopping! Bazaar Bizarre is one of my favorite parts of the faire. This year there are 72 Crafters! “A smorgasbord of handmade items, many cleverly made with recycled materials. Something for everyone—jewelry, toys, lotions, art, glass, fiber arts, ceramics, handbags, baby items, even crafting supplies.”

Last year was a blast:

From unique musical guests… To Eepybird and their Coke+Mentos show…

Some odd outdoor contraptions… (you run in the hamster wheel and it would cause the finger to pick the boogie)

And more and more and more. Check out the zillions of photos on Flickr if you need more proof that you will have an awesome time.

Tickets:
Weekend Passes - $20 (kids), $30 (students), $50 (adults)
Daily Passes: $10 (kids), $15 (students), $25 (adults)

[Maker Faire]

KTVU is celebrating 50 years of broadcasting.

KTVU began broadcasting from the old abandoned Paris Theatre in downtown Oakland on March 2, 1958. Later they would move to studios in Jack London Square.

Early programming consisted of old reruns, movies, children’s shows, and sports including the new team in San Francisco the Giants.

In 1974, with a new General Manager, the programming emphasis changed to new, popular off-network shows, and movie packages. KTVU’s Film Director insisted that Hollywood studios send only the best prints of its films to KTVU. This was at a time when broadcast television was on of the few places to see movies.

For many, recalling the early years of KTVU was when they were young and tuned in to such children’s programming like Captain Satellite with Bob March and Pat McCormick’s Charley and Humphrey.

Captain Satellite’s space ship was very high-tech for its time from pie plates fastened to the wall along with garden hose to simulate wiring. The show was live, had kids and animals, which made for some great viewing. Kids and animals on live TV, yup.

Pat McCormick wore a number of hats at KTVU from news anchor, to weatherman, to host of Dialing for Dollars, to doing the voices and puppetry for The Charley and Humphrey Show. Dialing for Dollars was an afternoon watch old movie and win money if you are called and know “the count and the amount.” Charley and Humphrey - Charley was a horse and Humphrey was a dog. Long after the show was of the air they did public service announcements on KTVU.

Bob Wilkins’ late Saturday night Creature Features in the early 70’s became very popular. Really bad movies but it was the breaks with Bob and his droll sense of humor being the reason to tune in. Bob was also the weatherman on The Ten O’clock News and later left Creature Features turning over the hosting duties to John Stanley.

If these shows were before your time, you will no doubt know Dennis Richmond.

He joined KTVU in the late 60’s and became anchor of The Ten O’Clock News in 1976. Over those 30 plus years The Ten O’Clock News has become a top rated news show. Dennis will retire this May 21.

There are videos and photo slideshows that include Captain Satellite, Charley and Humphrey, Creature Features, Dennis Richmond, and other on KTVU’s web site.

Coming from Canada, I’m use to seeing Girl Guide cookies every year. Heck, I use to be one (a Girl Guide, not a cookie) and always made my mom purchase them from me. We had two, count ‘em, two kinds to sell: Classic cookies (vanilla and chocolate, they come mixed in a box) in the summer and Chocolately Mint Cookies in the winter. Good times.

Well all this week, the Girl Scouts of Northern California are selling their cookies so look for them at your friendly neighbourhood hang out spots. They seem to go for about $3.50 a box.

I am completely overwhelmed by the choices, and need help deciding which one to buy. Thin Mints? Shortbread? Samo-wha???  I have no idea why we need so many different kinds here south of the border.

Which is your favorite Girl Scout cookie, and how do you like to eat them?