I'm still seeing people wearing flip-flops, and most days we're basking in warm sunshine. But if you're ready for some winter-appropriate action, you'll find it right in town--at the seasonal outdoor ice rinks.

• The Union Square Holiday Ice Rink is open daily through Jan. 18. Admission is $4.50-9.50, and renting skates costs $4.
• The Embarcadero Center Holiday Ice Rink is in Justin Herman Plaza. It's open daily through Jan. 3, except when booked for private parties. Admission is $5.50-9.50; skate rental is $3.50.

Also in Union Square, Macy's towering fir tree will be officially lit up on Friday, Nov. 27, at 6:00 pm. The 85-footer is from Mt. Shasta.

November is a farce full of political incorrectness.

In our city of liberal political correctness, the David Mamet play at American Conservatory Theater has been enough of a hit to score an extended run. It's timely (big hint: the title), and it's set right before Thanksgiving, when the president traditionally pardons the national turkey that's facing the death penalty.

Mamet's president, Charles Smith, seems a lot like George W. Bush: ready to invade far-off lands, ranking low in the polls and willing to dispatch problem people on secret flights to Bulgaria.

But the gleefully corrupt, lame duck Smith, who sees potential to squeeze campaign donations out of everyone and everything, is meant to represent the presidential office and money-driven politics more than the Republican Party or right-wing presidents. An ACT article in the play program cites a Village Voice essay by Mamet (entitled "Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'") in which the playwright says he discovered that Bush's faults "whom I, a good liberal, considered a monster--were little different from those of a president whom I revered," i.e., JFK.

So the play spins off to skewer folks of all types and persuasions, believers in sacred cows, taboo pigs and national turkeys included. Presidential speech writer Clarice Bernstein, a lefty lesbian trying to turn her wedding into a televised media event, picks up her boss' wheeling-dealing skills. None of the characters is particularly noble.

The president's jaded chief of staff has one of the best lines--he reminds Smith that his approval rating is lower than Gandhi's cholesterol. The humor's not gut-busting, but Mamet's play has some easy laughs without deep intellect. Catch November before it ends on the 22nd.

* For tickets or more information, check ACT's website.

* Probe Mamet's brain further in his Village Voice essay.

Yes, home prices here are high, but we could be worse off. We could be La Jolla.

Coldwell Banker's national survey of 2,200-square foot homes finds that La Jolla is the most expensive place in the US: A four-bedroom pad there costs an average of $2.12 million. San Francisco's four-bedrooms are practically cheap by comparison, at (only) $1.36 million.

SF is (only) the 6th most expensive place in the country. Neighbor Palo Alto is 4th, and San Mateo 10th.

Our state, in fact, is quite a stand-out. Of the 10 costliest markets in the country, only two (Greenwich, CT, ranked 3rd, and Boston, 7th) are outside California. The Golden State also boasts the biggest price gap, a nearly $1.96 million difference between La Jolla's four-bedrooms and Lancaster's (a steal at $165,205).

An even bigger steal is Grayling, MI, which Coldwell Banker calls "the most affordable market in America"--you can swoop up the same sized house for a mere $112,675.

Where does NYC fit? The study excludes Manhattan because of its lack of sprawling single-family homes.

Many out-of-towners I've talked to can't believe that multiple offers and cash bids above the asking price are still common in SF. The headlines about incredible housing deals just don't apply to us, unfortunately. Last month, 536 homes were sold in the city, with a median price of $650,000--only a tad less than the median of $675,000 in September 2008, according to real estate reporting service MDA DataQuick.

For the Bay Area as a whole, the median price paid in September was $365,000, about 9 percent lower than the price a year earlier, MDA DataQuick says. State-wide, the median price was $251,000, down 11.3 percent from September 2008.

Rent continues to decline. San Francisco rent--which averages $2,270 a month--has dropped 5.6 percent during the past year, says the SF Chronicle, citing a real estate report.

That's of little solace to tenants, though, who've faced a 26.4 percent surge in rent over the last four years.