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I moved to San Francisco seven years ago next month. Ever since I moved, I can remember seeing a neon sign for a restaurant called “The Patio”, which is located in a central location that I pass a few times a week.

I remember this restaurant NOT for the great food and NOT for the amazing ambiance, but for the mere fact that is has never opened in the entire time I’ve been here. It has remained in EXACTLY the state you see in the picture below.

Now, being a man who cares less about important things and more about curiosities, I took this photo, and decided to answer my long running question: “How much money does it cost to operate this neon sign?”

The good news, as I discovered is that neon signs are extremely efficient. “The average neon sign only consumes about 0.8 amps. This equates to about 96 watts (about equal to a single lightbulb). Average cost to operate your neon sign is only about 20 cents per day (if you operate it 24 hours per day).” Therefore, this sign has cost the owner of this space only about $500 for the seven years!

Another website quoted about $3.25/month to operate a neon “OPEN” sign 24×7. That’s about $275 for seven years. “The Patio” is twice as many letters, so perhaps we’re back in the $500 range for seven years.

I’m surprised and impressed…and I’ve lost my loyal blog readers after paragraph 3. Did I mention it is raining again today?

I think Jeff did a nice job selecting the best of our photos from the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show this weekend. The range of displays was truly amazing and gave us a TON of good ideas. Sooooo, as I am want to do, I have delved into our photo scraps and chosen a few oddities for my blog.

So we begin at the beginning. The event was at the Historic Cow Palace, which really looks like a big blimp hangar. It was built in 1941.

In addition to about 20 artistic installation gardens, the show includes an endless display of products for sale, including my absolute favorite. (Yes James…I worked rain into THIS blog entry too!)

At this point, since its past my bedtime, I’m just going to let the remaining pictures speak for themselves. All of these come from the installation gardens themselves. As you will see, the range of themes is quite broad. (Don’t miss the little people of Stonehenge below…”so you’re building a henge are you?”)

More and more, my morning route to work follows a slower, winding path along the waterfront. Frankly, I can sit behind other cars on the freeway anytime, and my path less traveled fills my head with photos yet to be taken. This morning, I stopped at a new spot, and took some quick shots that may turn into something. A nice moody b&w across the bay, and a couple more shots for my graffiti series.

Well, persistence has its perks. With blogger, its all about trying the same procedure at different times of day, loading files in different orders, and perhaps changing from boxers to briefs. I don’t know. Tonight, these pictures loaded.

So, above are Michele and Rob…as promised. (Smile, Robbie, your name is in lights!) And below, is a shot of the “Living Room” of the W in San Diego.

Well, two fun updates here. One is an update from Elena. I think she misses me…young love in Spring 🙂 Yes, she wrote today:

Greetings my dear. I am sorry that did not write to you for a longtime. Where I go to Internet – cafe to write to you letters all computers broke. The manager of it cafe told that it was a virus. So I probably cannot read your letters which you to me sent. Weather here good. The sun shines. Pleasure on soul. How are you? I hope spring came at you in the country? Write.

But the best spam of the day goes to somebody from somewhere. I don’t know more, because I don’t speak whatever the language is. So yes, an entire email–a full page of water cooler fun, I’m sure–but written as such: שמאל דוגמת שמעון פרס