Here's another happy ending for a pet-with-microchip story, courtesy the San Francisco Chronicle. Last week a black cat, almost completely blind, was spotted by animal control officers wandering along 110th Street. They took it to the shelter, and after scanning its microchip, found the registered owner: the San Francisco SPCA! more ›

Wall Street trader Greg Calvino wrote out a $100,000 check to his girlfriend as a testament to his commitment to not straying, saying she could cash it if she ever found out he was partying with strippers. Well, one thing led to another while he was out with co-workers one night in 2005, and girlfriend Elisa Kwon cashed his check after he admitted to partying with strippers and doing cocaine, although the latter was against his will. Kwon saved a transcript of their IM conversation in which she reminded him that he had failed a $25 urinalysis test from Rite-Aid. more ›

A couple blocks from the Grand Avenue L station, Lock Inn is recognizable for not being an auto body shop or construction company- that and the oversized wrought iron key on the door. Inside, the keys are all over the place, hanging on the exposed brick wall, most notably near the chastity belt above the menu. The bar is comfortable and the tables built into the walls have Scrabble and chess boards encouraging people to linger, and when we visited there was a small child and a dog at the tables in addition to construction workers and students. In the back there is a good jukebox and a pool table, opposite pretty memorable bathrooms lined with crossword puzzles and lit by refurbished Jack Daniels bottles. Under the AC a heavy door leads to a large garden with tables, grape vines and, weather permitting, barbeque, a welcome addition to the bar snacks of barbeque potato chips, orange cheese doodles and microwave popcorn. Weekdays from 4-8, the happy hour gives patrons $2 house "just beer" (read: Bud Lite), $1 off every other beer making the most expensive choice $4. The bar has the usual suspects and other choices like Blackthorne cider in line with owner Lisa Buono's Anglophile aesthetic (in the U.K. the bar's name is a term for an after-hours location). Converted from a scooter shop, it is surprisingly easy to get comfortable at the bar and settle in. more ›