Hey -- we're not doing our usual light-hearted romp through the Swells society column this weekend, because we've got sad news. The doyenne of Swells, Catherine Bigelow, announced in this week's column that she's been asked to take the Chron's "voluntary buyout package," so this is it for your mathematically-inclined socialite review. Best of luck to you, C.Big, and we know you'll end up on your feet, tripping the light fantastic, and we hope you'll......

--No parking for your bulldozer? Just leave it on the beach. (Thanks to reader Joe, who sent this absolutely gorgeous postcard picture to us. GREETINGS FROM THE BULLDOZER!) --Another reader, Erin, was accosted by Recall Jake McGoldrick people, did some research, and found out the consultant group doing their outreach is based out of the Mission. --This link's for you, commenter Tin Man! (You know Swells By The Numbers always kicks off Sunday mornings!)......

It's the annual Best Of post, the one post in the year where I get to use the first person singular! Hooray! From the Starbucks (not really a) bomber in January to the opening of the Daiso in December, it was certainly one heck of a year, wasn't it? There was BUSH TER DOWN; the Chron's series about police brutality getting upstaged by their misidentification of the cop in question; Kimberly Guilfoyle's new boyfriend,......

It's the last weekend before.... the District 6 election! This week's episode: Everybody Hates The Final Push. --Bar crawl with Chris Daly and the League of Pissed Off Voters tonight, on a party bus. Show up at 9 p.m. outside Daly HQ on 16th and Mission to decorate the bus (!!!), and the group leaves around 9:30 for a tour of the best drinking holes in District 6. There'll be some leaflet distribution, a fair......

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 61. Number of people pictured whose names we recognize: 8 (including 2 mayors (Gavin twice) and Manolo Blahnik). Minority count: 6 (approx. 10%). Hats, capes, tiaras: 2, 0, 0. Getty v. Traina: 3-0 (all Newsoms). Gavin -- gelled vs. non-gelled: 1-1 (plus a non-gelled picture in Matier and Ross). Number of mohawks: 1. Number of trumpets: 1. Number of Wilkes Bashford stores in the......

It's our column about the District 6 election! This week's episode: Everybody Hates The Numbers. The Chron's finally paying attention to the Board of Supes races -- choosing to kick off its "we profile the candidates" series with the "South American country" that we call District 6. (they call the district South American because of the great disparity between poor and rich, and not just because of the tasty Peruvian restaurants on Mission Street.) As......