Where to find what to do

Not long ago, I was driving around San Francisco when my husband pointed to a large billboard advertising a show THAT NIGHT of The Pogues. Back in my misspent youth, I was a huge fan of the band. I couldn't believe they were still together, much less playing The Fillmore. But of course by the time we saw the billboard, it was too late to change our plans and go to the show. And here's where event planning sites like Zvents, Upcoming, and Eventful can really come in handy. I'd heard of Upcoming, but something about the name just never stuck with me. (And it looks like they were acquired at some point by Yahoo, which feels a little sad somehow.)

I'm not the type to bookmark, so as soon as I forgot the name, I stopped using it. But Zvents has a certain ring to it, don't you agree? A friend of mine at the gym told me about it--her husband works there--and I was pleasantly surprised by its interface. What's even cooler is that you can search events not just by type, but also by city. It has the entire Bay Area broken down. This week in Mountain View, for example, you can take a class in "Snowshoeing basics," and in Sausalito, they're showing a double feature of "The Birds" and the original "Willie Wonka." Hang around Sausalito long enough, and you can catch the Marin County Secondary School Science Fair on February 11. There, you'll see the Silicon Valley geniuses of the future in action.