Disaster Planning: Animal Response Team, Jan 12th, free.  People are still talking about last month's floods, and the heaps of animal carcasses left behind.  At this meeting, learn how to help farm animals and pets in times of emergency, with training at the February meeting.

Information Security: 2008 Seattle Tech-Security Conference, Jan 15th, click here for free ticket ($50 value, includes lunch).  People are real unforgiving of security intrusions, especially when its their information that is involved.  One breach, and your business can be tanked.  Since information is often a business's most vital asset, learn how to secure that asset.  Get a big brain dump on information security, learn how to actually implement security measures in training sessions, and leave smarter with an actionable to-do list.

Women's Interest: Girl Power Hour, Jan 17th, $10, networking for savvy gals.  Connect with entrepreneurial and like-minded women in varying industries and social circles.  Rebecca Agiewich, author of Breakup Babe, is the featured guest.  At these events, network, have a cocktail, and socialize with new friends.

Opera: Ever seen that dopey picture of the crying clown?  Well, that's what Seattle Opera's next production is, Pagliacci, Jan 12-26, $25+.  This is one of the classics, not produced in Seattle since '83, of (what else?) a fatal love triangle.  If tenors are your thing, this is the big one of the year.

Restaurants: Tulalip Bay Restaurant , these upper-end casino restaurants are always a bit under the radar screen.  They don't come to top-of-mind unless you're headed to the casino, yet the quality is on par with the top end of the region, since they want to offer the luxury to lure big spenders.  Tulalip Bay is a prime example, a restaurant that's worth the drive up from Seattle.  It's top-end food with top-end cooking talent.

Activity: Paint Dancing , Jan 11th, $10.  You paint, you dance, and then you paint and dance - get it?  Actually, we're not sure we get it, either.  Let your inner first-grader come out for a night, as you paint your own little masterpieces for the 'fridge door.  When done, go hit the dance floor, or better yet, dance while painting.

Paranormal: Psychic Fair at the Seattle location of the Church of Divine Man , Jan 13th, free.  Get your aura healed and your future read.  Come to think of it, a fair question to ask any psychic is, "What is a fair test of your abilities, to demonstrate the source is indeed psychic, instead of just cold readings or intuitively based?"

Senior Activity: Brain Fitness Class, Jan 7th, free.  That old saw, "Use it or lose it" applies to brain matter as well as muscles.  Participants go through computer exercises to improve brain function and memory.  Never forget where youleft your car keys again.

Family: Taiko and Tea Time, Jan 13th, free.  This is for the tots.  Performers provide a drumming demonstration, and then the kids get to join in too.  The goal is to help kids with foreign language skills, when their little brains seem to be at the best age to pick up a second language.

Music: Simply Sinatra, Jan 13th, $39, of music from the dean of cool.  Go hear songs from the master of the Rat Pack as they should be sung, with the flavor of cigars and whiskey.

Art: Edmonds Art Walk, Jan 17th, free, about 30 galleries band together to swoon you in this little community.  This is a good way to get a little stroll in with a nice view and a restaurant meal.

Organization: Pangea , a group trying to make the world a better place in some of the worst parts.  Working with a three-pronged approach, they carry out their mission through grants, travel, and education.  There's the old line, "Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day; give a man a pole, and he eats for the rest of his life."  Well, this group is trying to provide that pole

Unreliable
Skip these guides when planning your next dinner out.

Zagat's Guide: A recent blog poked fun at Zagat's view on Seattle 's restaurants.  Extracting the experience of the crowd doesn't translate into group wisdom, but into mob rules.  The result is a Yelp quality guide, where the goofy is equally intermixed with the useful.

Seattle CitySearch:   They've got problems.  First, old reviews hang on influencing rank.  Restaurants have about a 14-month half-life, where people, quality, and menus quickly change.  Yet, that old review from 2003 is still there.  Second, the reviews are tainted.  A pissed off ex-employee writes a scathing review.  Then, the restaurant manager cajoles the wait staff into posting counter-positive comments.  In the end, you can't tell what's real.

AOL CityGuide.  They've been slacking off on their Seattle presence, so their information will eventually become stale and irrelevant, à la Seattle Insider .  You can coast on momentum for only so long.

On the flipside, our list of favorite foodie news and reviews:

• Voracious, at Seattle Weekly
• Bethany Jean Clement, the best reviewer of the lot over at The Stranger.
• Seattle Dining, a good resource more people should be using.
• Cornichon, insightful, sometime pretentious.
• Seattle Bon Vivant, by Miss Bubbly.
• Hogwash, food and life mixed together.
• The Wine Offensive, for people around food all of the time.
• Eating Seattle, too bad the author is taking off to Seattle Mag.
• Roots and Grubs, a delight.
• Orangette, stories involving food.
• Gluten-Free Girl, mostly good, occasionally boring.
• Accidental Hedonist, on the serious side.
• Tasting Menu, from an eater and chef.
• Frantic Foodie, the Seattle food scene.
• Whining and Dining, from the PI.
• AnticiPlate, by a Pacific Northwest Ballet dancer.

Cool Video: Bill O'Reilly bitch-slaps the Seattle PI.

If you're having problems seeing the video, click here