Posts from — December 2009

If you’re a Bank of America customer, you can get free admission to several SF museums this holiday weekend. On the first full weekend of every month, B of A offers its cardholders free entry into select museums. This Saturday and Sunday, January 2-3rd, with your B of A Card, you can get free admission to:

• The Museum of the African Diaspora
• The deYoung Museum
• The Contemporary Jewish Museum
• The Legion of Honor

Many Bay Area museums have a free entry day once a month. If you are not a B of A customer, and want to get in to some of our fine museums free, check out this list.

Timing matters. Strawberries are twice as expensive in winter as they are in spring; gift wrap is going for 75% off this week, and there are some times in a technology product’s life cycle when a careful consumer should—or shouldn’t—buy. The folks at Gizmodo have come up with this list of when to buy different Apple products. Check it out before making a major purchase.

Crown Publishing, a division of Random House, has an online site called Read It Forward. Readers can request copies of any of three soon-to-be-published new books each month for free, read the book when it comes and then generate some buzz for the title by passing it on to a friend or chatting about it online.

For December choose from Breaking Out of Bedlam, Prima Donna, or True Confections. (There are excerpts posted online to help you decide.) To request your free preview copy you simply click on the book image and fill out a short form with your address and email. No purchase is necessary. Quantities are limited. Can’t be sure, but I think the offerings change every month so if you want any of the December titles, act fast.

Thanks to Mile High on the Cheap for this lead!

The Mutopia Project provides free downloads of sheet music—mostly classical music that is in the public domain, but there is also some modern music that the rights holders have chosen to make available. There are 1,628 pieces of music  available at The Mutopia Project, (and the list keeps growing).

Starting Jan. 1, 2010, four FREE self-guided vineyard tours will be made available the Sonoma County Vinters Association. Sonoma Vineyard Adventures will be offered at four wineries including Mantanzas Creek Winery (Bennett Valley), Paradise Ridge Winery (Russian River Valley) Balletto Vineyards (Russian River Valley) and Mauritson Winery (Dry Creek Valley). Vineyard tours are a great way to fully appreciate the wine making process–not to mention a great way to walk off some of the wine tasted or those yummy calories from the picnic lunch you brought.

Guests will receive a detailed guide of each vineyard with points of interest that are clearly marked along the route. Sonoma Vineyard Adventures are free and available to the public year-round, and each is less than a mile in length. No advance reservations are necessary. (Tasting fees may apply at participating wineries.) Additional vineyards may be added in the future.

Spin Magazine  takes “A Look Ahead. 2010″ naming those who they think will make “big noise in the year to come.” Download an album, for free, with a song from each of these up-and-comers.

The bands include: [Read more →]

If you are planning a new year’s resolution to get in shape (like me) you may want to prep by ordering a subscription to Health Magazine. Amazon is offering a special sale this week only on the publication which focuses on healthy living, lifestyle, fitness and food for just $5 for one-year. That’s an 87% savings 0ver the cover price. The deal expires Jan. 2, so act fast.

FYI — This link goes directly to Amazon’s ordering page using our affiliate link. Translation: SOTC gets credit for telling you about the deal. If you want to order on your own, just go to amazon.com.

Ring in the New Year with hands-on activities for kids all day on December 31, 2009 (11 am to 5 pm) at the Charles M. Schulz Museum.  There will also be a noon-time root beer toast and balloon drop. Free with admission ($8 for adults, $5 for kids 5 to 18, kids 4 and under free).

Dave Prescott’s Jazz Warriors are performing free on Dec. 31, 2009  from noon to 2 pm at Sonoma Hills, 405 West MacArthur, Sonoma.

If your pet is (or will be) a new Petsmart Banfield Vet Clinic patient (inside Petsmart stores) then you can get a FREE Vet exam voucher online.

Banfield Vet Clinic, inside PetSmart
575 Rohnert Park Expressway, Rohnert Park,  707-585-1327