In – and by ‘it’, I obviously mean the new year with its pounding guilt and pressure to overpromise. And for all of you trying hard to line up, and often document, all the goodness you are to do for yourself and hopefully for others in the incoming 2-0-1-2, I have some words of advice:

-do it all before the world ends. All the goodness is merely a sentimental notion after that.

-make it a learning and introspective exercise. There is no good without bad, it is all about eternal flow, about elevating spiral of inner knowledge, and clarity of  motives. Find it in you, recognize and study it – the bad. And good would be so much more… gooder.

I can see you rolling your eyes, thinking – another diet advice that no-one could ever follow. Not so! –  we have a simple and true recipe anyone can follow. And it works better as a team – bring you friends and family, if they are fun, along!

It starts with Bad Santa Pub Crawl this Friday, December 16, 2011 @ precisely 4:21 PM!!

Did that get your attention – read on! Find us on Facebook!

Lots of love and holiday joy,

Big Red.

I could spend days on reciting my concerns with how deeply guilt and fear of punishment is entrenched in our upbringing, when even a jolly, seemingly good-natured, gloriously aged, ready-to-share-a-coke-with-you stranger keeps a list of all of your wrong-doings. A list that he never cares, by the way, to share or discuss, or invites appeal. And we all know that there is a plenty of naughty done for a good cause – plenty, I tell you!.. So, I will not. Instead, I will charge you to stand up to the old man and prove to him that naughty is nice –

Join us for 6th Annual Bad Santa Pub Crawl!  It is sure to take place on December 16, 2011. Starting @ 4:21 PM and going on until, well, we’ll see. More details below!

Importantly, we will be offering Santa embellishments that you can own, with all proceeds heading straight to

Jacob’s Heart, Children’s Cancer Support Services.

“Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services mission is to improve the quality of life for children with cancer and support their families in the challenges they face.

Jacob’s Heart provides emotional, social and financial assistance to children with cancer and their families.

We are a local, one-of-kind grassroots organization. Our support services extend to families with children under 18 diagnosed with cancer within the counties of Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito and South Santa Clara.”

So uncork your cheer and forward this email to “The North Pole” along with 10 of your closest friends. It’s a guaranteed deal!

6th Annual Bad Santa Pub Crawl Official Route

December 16, 2011

4:21 PM – 83 Proof, 83 First Street (@ Mission)

6:14 PM – Otis Lounge, 25 Maiden Lane (@ Kearny)

7:31 PM – Union Square, Carols

7:47 PM – Gold Dust Lounge, 247 Powell Street (@ Geary)

9:03 PM – The Ambassador, 673 Geary (@ Leavenworth)

10:11 PM – Ace’s Bar, 998 Sutter (@ Hyde)

11:17 PM – R-Bar, 1176 Sutter (@ Polk)

Lotsa love!

Puff’n'sip Bad Santa Pub Crawl Committee

Pirates in Grass Skirts is coming due this Friday. You will definitely feel worse about yourself if you don’t go.

Go!!!

I have to start with re-assurances: contrary to anything you might have heard, thought, or thought to have figured out, Puff’n’sip is doing alright. Just the mere fact that it is doing, is quite alright. And the fact that is it Puff’n’sip makes it plenty perfect. Yes it’s seemingly undetectable, or enigmatic if you chose, but none the less it’s here. Like the mysterious Flying Dutchman, or Black Pearl for you Disney educated folk, Puff’n’sip pops out of nowhere – stately, fantastical, and hardly comprehensible – but, unlike the formerly mentioned dread, it’s always a good thing. It’s as if Santa Claus was a pirate but instead of pillaging your ship and other bad stuff, bestowed upon you a handsome pirate booty. But, wait, let’s not go their yet – let’s stick with pirates. And here is why –

 The Pirates in Grass Skirts (aka Tiki) Pub Crawl is coming at you tshi Friday, October 21, 2011

4:00 PM – 83 Proof, 83 First Street (@ Mission)

5:01 PM – John Colins, 138 Minna (@ New Mongomery)

6:45 PM – Murphy’s, 217 Kearny (@ Bush)  – L&L Hawaiian BBQ (optional food stop)

8:15 PM – EZ5, 682 Commercial (@ Kearny)

9:45  PM – Bamboo Hut, 479 Broadway (@ Kearny)

11:00 PM – Hawaii West, 729 Vallejo (@ Stockton)

..…loop back to EZ5 if you still have your wooden leg! 

BE THERE OR BE SQAU-ARRRRRGH!

Puff’n'sip Pub Crawl Committee

Some people find dealing with Future a difficult task. Grasping a talking stove that reads off your grandma’s recipe for a hardboiled egg precisely to a millisecond or a processor-loaded vacuum cleaner that walks your cat and waters your plants is not always easy. Some people are so disadvantaged by their cultural heritage that they just give up on the future. My problem, however, is dealing with here and now. How do we know?!.. How do we know that orange is orange? And your orange is just like my orange? And many a-mornings I wonder what if… What if the world really is flat? No, really. What if we all are quite short, let’s say, on our left leg and we keep walking in a circle, but our brain is wired so that to make us feel like we are walking the straight line. And if you ever watched COPS on TV, you know that our brains are way accommodating when it comes to straight lines. What if our circle is really a straight line, and straight line is really a… You pull on that one too strong — the whole world unwinds like your proverbial ball of yarn. And then it’s all smoke and mirrors and convenient beliefs. And you still have to catch the morning bus to the office… If you feel dizzy by now, I don’t blame you – I often do, but think of it as a helpful framework of shared concepts that keep us on track… Like knowing that

Today’s April 27, 2011 Puff’n’sip is on! It will start promptly @

5:12 PM @ Chaya Brasserie, 132 Embarcadero (@ Howard)

and might even travel @

7:01 PM to Cigar Bar & Grill, 850 Montgomery (@ Jackson)

Don;t you feel better? I do!

Lotsa love,

Big Red.

It’s been awhile. You might have not noticed it, but it’s been so long that I had to apply a search engine to arrive at an inspirational point. I have always suspected, but it became so very clear this time that life is but a journey through the fog, something with what all of you living in San Francisco should be quite familiar. A true hero follows its calling, quite oblivious of dangers and seemingly unshaken but the ambiguity of the path. We let our curiosity guide us, we get lost in our thoughts, we get lost in time. We take help, we take pity. We glorify obscure and fall in love with our imagination. And at the end of the day we relish simple comfort and proximity to our loved ones, yet we are trapped by an image we think we saw in the fog, once… It’s all there, I swear, nicely packeged. But wait –

Back to the path and our hero. We can discuss the above at length (I do recommend a puff or two first) at today’s Puff’n’sip! That’s right –

 Today’s,  April 20, 2011 Puff’n’sip will kick off promptly @

 5:03 PM @ Sens, Embarcadero 4

 And swing by @

 7:14 PM by Cigar Bar & Grill, 850 Montgomery (@ Jackson)

 Lotsa love,

Big Red.

Wishes. Hopes. Resolutions. Goals. Plans. Goals without plans, and plans to a no particular goal. So many opportunities!… New Year is a whole lot like a newborn baby. You want to love them, you feel the urge. Nature vs nurture is absolutely irrelevant here since it’s so overwhelmingly universal. You even lie to the parents that it’s the cutest one ever and raise your voice to an embarrassing on any other occasion pitch( thinking somehow that if you squeak the phase “oogly-googly” it would translate into ‘I am your best friend!’ – n-no…) But still, hold on to that feeling. Soak it in, preserve it. It only happens once a year – the rest are simply aftershocks… Happy New Year! We made it! And with that, today’s Puff’n’sip is on!

We’ll congregate @ precisely 5:07 PM @ Chaya Brasserie, 132 Embarcadero (@ Howard).

And we might continue on to a next stop. We’ll decide later.  We have a whole year ahead of us!

Lotsa love.

Big Red.

…your stocking is stuffed, and the other one is missing altogether. Spilled milk and crushed cookies everywhere. Sweet-ish reek of cheap bourbon and cigarettes, reminiscent of someone else’s grandpa. Stubborn jingle that seems to contain only two lines and no meaning. And you feel… giddy! “Yes! – you say, – It’s here! Tis the season!” And you are right! –

The VI Annual Bad Santa Pub Crawl is here!!!

It will take place this Friday,  December 10, 2010 at approximately 4:27 PM @  83 Proof. See detailed itinerary below.

What you need

• Santa, elf, or reindeer apparel. Bunnies, pirates, and penguins do not live on the North Pole. Beluga whales are OK.
• Santa-fication gear (to make others into Santas!)
• Toys and gifts (naughty and nice)
• Comfortable shoes. Santa left his sleigh at the North Pole — you gotta walk.

 We will have some suits and hats that you will be able to purchase in support of a charitable cause, but do come early!

 Where you want to be

 4:27 to 5:36 – 83 Proof, 83 First Street (@ Mission Street)

 5:48 to 7:07 – Irish Bank, 10 Mark Lane (off Bush Street)

 7:16 to 7:44 – Union Square Christmas Tree (Yes, on Union Square)

 8:00 to 9:15 - Gold Dust Lounge, 247 Powell (@ Geary Street)

 9:29 to 11:01 – Ambassador, 673 Geary (@ Leavenworth Street)

 11:07 to Close – Aces, 998 Sutter (@ Hyde Street)

 Disclaimer

• Everyone is welcome. No way this is a sponsored event.
• We are not real Santas. We just wear the hat.
• We are professionals. When drinking, please KIT – “keep it together”

Lots love and holiday cheer!

Puff’n'sip Special Pub Crawl Committee

I could go on-n-on and wax prosaic with jingles, and bells, and ho-ho-ho’s, and pagan myths, and commercialization, and consumerism.. but I am sure that’s not what you want to hear. So here, I am to let you know that it’s all true, it will happen again, and the shiny pointy already dead tree in the Union Square is a sure sign that…

 The VI Annual Bad Santa Pub Crawl is headed for you!

It will commence on December 10, 2010 as early as 4:32 PM directly from 83 Proof (83 First Street).  So go ahead, shake wrinkles and bit off your red trousers and wash that Santa hat this weekend, and call up your friends, and be prepared, and we will see you there!

I know you are all excited and want to hear more. Hold it! The specially formed Puff’n’sip Pub Crawl Committee is working out all the details and will be back to you shortly.

We’ll have times, places, and charities mapped out for you. We will be offering get ups and disguises for a moderate price to benefit those who should be benefited.  We’ll be singing traditional songs with not-so traditional gusto. We will have great time! You just need to show up.

Lotsa love, 

Bad Santa Pub Crawl Committee.

Towards world domination, today’s Puff’n’sip will attempt to compress the time-space continuum into a tight little ball where the difference between East and West continental United States will become just a beverage of choice. We will proceed to further subdue reality by executing precise synchronous drinking between CLT and SFO. It might  feel strange at first – slightly dizzy and even a tingly in extremities – but once you let go of preconceived notions, it will feel like flying… Again. And yes, beer definitely helps.

Here is what you want to do to taste this awesome power – join us! Today’s, November 17, 2010 Puff’n’sip – and do pay close attention here, since you do not want to mix up the recipe and wake up in a wrong place – will kick off at precisely

5:12 PM EST @ Dandelion Market, 118 W 5th St. (@ N Church)

and proceed @

8:01 PM EST to Connolly’s on Fifth, 115 East 5th Street (@ S Tryon)

while synchronously attending @

5:01 PM PST to 83 Proof, 83 First St. (@ Mission)

and continuing with new found powers, and on your own choice @

9:34 PM EST/6:34 PM PST to Cutters, 100 West Trade Street (@ N. Church)

or Cigar Bar & Grill, 850 Montgomery (@ Jackson)

Lost? Confused? Answers here

Lots of love,

Big Red.