Food for Thought - Republicans, economy sabotaged!!!

Dwell on this one for awhile. Do ever think that the Demofats have been screwing up the economy and creating all kinds of problems for the people of the United States and the Republicans? So basically, they made the Republicans (i.e. George Bush) look worse than they really are in order to get a Democraft in the White House who keeps claiming that changes are coming?

Think about it. Dwell on it. Come to terms with yourself. There is truth in that someplace.

San Francisco Crystal Fair

SAN FRANCISCO'S CHRISTMAS CRYSTAL FAIR

Location: Fort Mason Center, 99 Marina Blvd. @ Buchannan Street, San Francisco
Dates: November 29-30, 2008
Hours: Saturday 10am - 6pm, Sunday 10am - 4pm
Admission: $6.00 (children under 12 free accompanied by adult)

If you like minerals, crystals, geodes, semi-precious jewelry, etc., then you might find a trip to this event enjoyable. We were vendors at this event many times but people came there mostly for the 'rocks' and I would tend to believe much of our merchandise wasn't suitable for this type of event. Many of the dealers do quite well there. You can see some really beautiful amethyst cathedrals there. At one time, we were selling them also, but we were not equipped to be lugging them around in our van and they were quite heavy. You have to be very careful when handling them.

Here's a link to the website: http://home.earthlink.net/~sfxtl/ You can find out about future events or if you wish to be a vendor there, you can take care of that.

It was enjoyable doing the show and the other vendors were very nice. There was a Safeway across the street where we picked up food occasionally. Nothing to eat over at Fort Mason. We did this event before in November and February and it always seemed to rain on at least one of the days. Our biggest problem was the traffic head down Van Ness over to the Bay Bridge. That was a mess. In some areas, you would have to wait for 3 light changes before you could snake your way through the intersection. Probably be quicker to head over to the Golden Gate bridge, go to San Rafael and take the Richmond bridge and 580 over to 880.

Off topic: If you ever attend this event, drop over to Mike, who is set up there to give massages and he is pretty decent. Whenever we did this event, both my wife and I always stopped by his space for one. Prices are reasonable.

COSTCO GAS

After holding steady at $2.43 for the past week, the COSTCO in San Leandro lowered its prices to $2.35. Throw in our 2 percent rebates and that comes to $2.30. Keep going baby, keep going. I recall that last year, prices decreased until one week prior to the election and then a couple weeks later, they began going up.

It would be nice to get this down under $2.00, but is that asking too much?

I keep wondering how come their gas prices are $.30-$.50 lower than everybody else? Are the other people trying to make larger profits and does Costco use the gas prices as a 'leader' to get people to shop there? Well, if the average shopped purchases 12 gallons of gas and if Costco should have had their prices 25 cents more (in-line with other gas companies, who have been ripping us off big time) than they are theoretically giving each 'shopper' $3.00 and if their lower gas prices bring more people to spend money in the store, then that is one hell of a 'leader' for them.

In and Out Burger opens in San Leandro

Nov 4. San Leandro, CA. Stopped by the new In and Out Burger over on Lleweling Dr. (Just off Hesperian/880) and there were around 20 cars in line. At least this one is 4 miles closer than the one out in Union Landing in Union City.

I saw a lot of construction going on next door at the old Target Store, so I asked the guy who was taking orders outside what was happening. Told me that it's going to be a new Wal-Mart. 'Wow' I replied. Just what we need, another Wal-Mart. 4 miles closer than the one in Union City. Whoopie do. Hardly ever go there anyways.

So then just before I gave my order, I told him "Well, you'll never have to worry about losing your job over here." He said "Oh Yah." This In and Out Burger is already getting quite a bit of business and is at a prime intersection. With Wal-Mart coming....wow. Actually, They should call this one "In and Down and around Burger" because it's going to be difficult getting back onto Hesperian.

The burgers here are well worth the price and are pretty good. We have two other great burger places in Hayward. Val's is top of the line and is located at 2115 Kelly St Hayward, CA 94541. (510) 889-8257. Here's a link to their menu.

And of course, another good place is Sams Quarter Pound Burgers on Hesperian and is actually located in San Lorenzo. 18401 Hesperian Blvd(between Bockman Rd & Hacienda Ave)San Lorenzo, CA 94580(510) 278-6339. Drive-thru and burgers freshly made. Good milkshakes.

Inhaling Helium (balloons)

Please check our website for more info, comments, etc.

I have noticed that there are is a huge number of people doing google searches on this topic and coming to this blog to read up on it. I have an entry back on June 10 that goes into detail over this. Inhaling small quantities is probably okay, but if you do it to an extreme it may be very dangerous. Here is an update. For more information, click on the June 10 link above. When we were selling at the Hercules Cultural Festival, there was a man located across from us filling up balloons with helium and I saw dozens upon dozens of kids opening up the balloons and inhaling the helium and having fun talking like Donald Duck. And they kept on going back for more. I recalled that I read something about this being dangerous and did some research. I know that this is a lot of fun for the kids and we adults did it when we were younger also.

Although the vocal effect of inhaling helium may be amusing, it can be dangerous if done to excess. The reason is not due to toxicity or any property of helium but simply due to it displacing oxygen needed for normal respiration. One must be aware that in mammals (with the notable exception of seals) the breathing reflex is not triggered by insufficient oxygen but rather excess of carbon dioxide. Unconsciousness, brain damage in and even asphyxiation followed by death may result in extreme cases. Also, if helium is inhaled directly from pressurized cylinders the high flow rate can fatally rupture lung tissue.Neutral helium at standard conditions is non-toxic, plays no biological role and is found in trace amounts in human blood. At high pressures, a mixture of helium and oxygen can lead to high pressure nervous syndrome; a small proportion of nitrogen can alleviate the problem

So, if you don't believe me, then go ASK ALICE.

Up and coming events

Here's a listing of events that we will be particpating in over the coming weeks. Please come out and show your support. The name of our business is DandL CREATIONS.

Nov 7-9 Antioch Holiday Craft Fair, Fairgrounds, Antioch, CA
Nov 14 Kennedy High School, Fremont, CA
Nov 21-22 Noel Notion Christmas Bazaar, Mount Carmel School Auditorium, Mill Valley, CA
Dec 6 DeAnza College (contingent upon the weather...rained out yesterday)

Come on out and support your community and of course, ENJOY YOURSELF. The weather is looking great. At least so far!!!

Support Your Community Events!!!

Earlier this afternoon I was in the vicinity, so I drove by the Orinda Holiday Bazaar. There were only 4 booths in front of the building. Last year the entire area was filled up with vendors especially in the area off to the right and along the walkway in front. I realize a number of vendors must have located inside due to the rain. I didn't go inside, but I could tell that the total number of vendors had to be down considerably. I noticed perhaps 20-25 people departing the events and they were carrying no bags. (purchases)

The promoters of this event always do a wonderful job and are to be commended for their efforts. The local community must support this event and not be just going there and socializing. You have a number of smaller vendors that do just a couple shows a year selling their hand-made jewelry, etc. and they are satisfied with just making a small profit. However, you do have vendors who need sales to exist and if they don't do decently, they do not return the following year. And of course, that is what happened here.

The show loses money from these vendors' booth fees and that 'income' would be divided amongst various community organizations.

People, this pertains to all of these community type events. You need to support these shows by purchasing from the vendors, etc., that are offering their goods. Excellent time to start your Christmas shopping. We all are playing a huge part in the total success of events such as this one. There were vendors out there last year who made virtually no sales in really beautiful weather. The economy was better back then, but no excuses.

Please read what I had to say regarding last years' event here and I would probably say the same this year also.

Store Fixtures

If you are a vendor or store owner, I am providing you with a number of businesses that sell store fixtures.....i.e. grids, shelves, display cases and much, much more. I've been to all of these over the years and those are the places where I have picked up things for our booth and store (that we once had).

Nearly New Store Fixtures, 3950 Norwood Ave, Sacramento, CA - (916) 920-3003 (this is a big warehouse up in Sacramento that has used fixtures they picked up from store liquidations. Interesting. You could browse here for hours.

These other three sell new fixtures:
Visual Merchandising Systems, 2260 Paragon Dr, San Jose, CA 95131 408-436-1307
Grand & Benedicts Fixtures, 2368 Tripaldi Way, Hayward, CA (510) 782-1988
Union Store Supplies & Fixtures 22128 Mission Blvd, Hayward,. CA - (510) 881-2845

Cowrie Shell Chokers

I am your 'blogmaster' and this is not any kind of spam. I wish to show you some of the beautiful cowrie shell chokers that we hand-make and sell on our website: http://www.dandlcreations.com/

These are of excellent quality and I am sure that you would proudly wear one of these. On-line secure ordering and payment through Authorize.net. Shipping within a couple days as it does take time to make these. Here are some samples:

Shows, Festivals and Events

If you are a vendor, I'd like to find out how you did/are doing this weekend. Especially if you are at the Orinda Holiday Bazaar. I was rained out at DeAnza today and the rain was widespread throughout Northern California.

Did anybody else drop by the Orinda event today? Kind of curious. Large crowd. Small crowd. Spending. Not spending. Wet crowd, Dry crowd. Either comment in this blog or send me an email at StarvingVendors@aol.com Drop by Starving Vendors and read what I have to say about many events and other things Loads and loads of stuff to read. You will love it. Great reading on a cold, rainy evening, ya know?

Anybody out there participate in any other events? Or visit anything else?

You can order shell necklaces, cowrie chokers and a whole lot more at our main website: www.dandlcreations.com

Mervyn's is closing

I guess that we all have heard that Mervyn's is closing ALL it's stores...something like 170? I heard a while back they were just going to close around 40 of them with just a few in the bay area. However, things changed, I guess. They are bankrupt.

I drove near there today and the parking lot was packed full right outside the Mervyn's in Southland Mall (Hayward). Went down Winton Avenue and their were a couple guys waving huge signs 'MERVYN'S GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE."
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DO YOU CHRISTMAS SHOPPING AT www.DandLCREATIONS.com for great buys on shell necklaces, cowrie shell chokers, wrap skirts, shoulder sling bags and a lot more We are always open morning, noon and night...come on down.
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I find that very hard to comprehend. They've been around for years and now they are biting the dust. They still have a JC Penney's and Macy's at Southland, but Mervyn's was one of their 'anchor stores.'. You've got Ross over there and you know the type of crowd that brings into the mall as it has been going downhill for several years now. There are a good number of stores closed over there and it's not going to get any better.