Scavenger Hunt

HOLIDAY HEAP: If you've got shopping to do and the recipients on your "nice" list are notoriously hard to buy for, you'll be at St. John's United Methodist Church, 2640 St. Paul St., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This DIY craft bazaar features handmade wares from more than 50 vendors. Admission is free. Go to charmcitycraftmafia.com/Holiday_Heap_2009. THIS IS NOT A SHOW: See R.E.M. at Ottobar, 2549 Howard St.! OK, this is not a live show by the band, but a free screening of the band's documentary at 7 p.m. This is the only place in Baltimore you'll be able to see the hourlong film shot over five nights of working rehearsals in Dublin, Ireland.

Alt-rock concert Cozy up on a couch and hear edgy singer/songwriter Orna Ment perform at College Perk Coffeehouse tomorrow night. The local alternative rock artist has performed throughout the Mid-Atlantic and the Los Angeles area. Last month, she released her first full-length solo CD, ORNAmuseMENT: Chasing the Muse. The artist describes her style as similar to "PJ Harvey meets Sarah McLachlan or Tori Amos meets KT Tunstall." The show starts at 8 p.m. College Perk is at 9078 Baltimore Ave.

With attractions that include a world champion water skier, a speedboat that can make it from Baltimore to Annapolis in just over 14 minutes and photo opportunities with Capt. Jack Sparrow, you don't have to be in the market for a boat to enjoy this weekend's Baltimore Boat Show , organizers say. You don't even have to be a big fan of the water, says show coordinator Tara Davis. "It's cool just to see over 200 boats jammed into a convention center," she said Wednesday from the show floor, as workers prepared for the opening.

Less than 12 hours after Amanda Charles and Matt Michalowicz met, they jumped out of an airplane together. In the spring of 2000, Amanda went to Pensacola, Fla., to visit her brother Ben during a college break. The morning after she arrived, Ben took her sky diving along with his roommate Matt, a fellow Navy flight school trainee. "Once you sky-dive with someone, you feel you have this bond with them," says Amanda of Matt. "I really liked him. He was cute." A few months later, Amanda received her bachelor's degree in education at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (she had previously earned a bachelor's in psychology from the University of Delaware)

What They're saying Today's Sun Columnists Grads as role models Three graduates from Polytechnic Institute, who ended up in the same graduating class at Howard University Medical School, returned as the three commencement speakers. Maryland baltimoresun.com/kane A wise choice for Orioles When the Orioles make their selection in the amateur draft tomorrow, they should consider picking one of agent Scott Boras' clients. The move could pay benefits down the line. Sports baltimoresun.

Christmas preparations have been under way for weeks in Maryland's famous houses and historic sites. And now, dressed in their holiday best, they stand ready and waiting to welcome visitors to seasonal celebrations.Events with a Colonial flavor will lure visitors to mansions like the William Paca and Hammond-Harwood houses in Annapolis, Mount Clare in Baltimore, the Teakle Mansion in Princess Anne and Hampton Mansion in Towson. But there's much more to Christmas in Maryland than elegant mansions and lavish decorations.

Tom Vidnovic remembers it sounding pretty silly on a cold January day about three years ago, when a friend suggested they go traipsing through the woods to look for a plastic container someone had hidden. He probably thought it was even sillier when his friend insisted on bringing along a hand-held Global Positioning System navigational device to help in the search. Vidnovic ended up finding the container before his friend did - "beginner's luck," he insists - and hasn't stopped looking for similar containers since; so far, he's found a little more than 3,100 of them.

With her school locked down by the sniper shootings, one Prince George's County principal organized a diversion for her increasingly restless pupils: Popsicles and hopscotch. The 712 children at Barnaby Manor Elementary School, near the District of Columbia line, needed more relief than inside recess, so Principal Laura Barbee scheduled afternoon parties this week. The "Shutdown Socials," as Barbee calls the 20 minutes of playfulness, are among a host of activities that principals across the region have instituted as the school lockdowns enter their third week.

Every May, Pimlico hosts one of Baltimore's most striking juxtapositions: Thousands of infield revelers guzzle beer and soak in live music while a stone's throw away, the prim and proper set sip Black-Eyed Susans and don fancy hats. It's hard to imagine a more polarized scene. That's Preakness for you. This year, all eyes are on the infield. After the Maryland Jockey Club banned the long-standing BYOB policy last year, infield attendance plummeted. Now, the club is trying to lure back partyers with a bottomless-mug special, a younger-skewing live-music lineup and a controversial ad campaign.

Four adults and one juvenile have been charged with the theft and malicious destruction of hundreds of political campaign signs, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said yesterday. Police said those charged stole nearly 300 signs posted on roadways throughout the county last month as part of a scavenger hunt and then threw them into a community pond off Route 543. Most of the signs were destroyed. Charged were Matthew Overton Kent, 18, of Abingdon, and Gregory Mitchell Coudon, 18, Adam Joseph Devine, 19, and Andrew William Smith, 18, all of Bel Air. The juvenile was not identified.