"A new way to buy someone a drink online!" I love that a site named BuyYourFriendADrink.com adds an explanatory tagline. Buy a "drink certificate" (only good at participating bars) and the recipient gets a text message and e-mail with a gift code. So it's like buying a drink but more expensive and involves making a barkeep check codes. If I lived near one of these bars, I'd wait until the bartenders got tired of checking codes and just use fake ones. But then I'd have to pretend I'm friends with someone dumb enough to use this site.

Let's say you're a recent college grad, looking to join one of Silicon Valley's most buzzed-about companies. Facebook, with its drumbeat of hints pointing to an IPO, seems like a potentially profitable choice. And, since they offer a $600 stipend if you live within a mile of the office, you decide to live in Palo Alto, even though you might prefer San Francisco. Think there's nothing going on in Palo Alto? Wrong. Even if you burn the midnight oil, there are spots to refuel — or wind down. Here's your guide to the nightlife offerings within stumbling distance of Facebook HQ.

"Hennessy SIGHTING! Below is a great sighting from the Imagen Awards this past weekend. Let me know if you need any additional details!

At Fortune's iMeme conference, Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz repeats a tired old quote about how he likes to drink wine from a bottle while his predecessor, Scott McNealy, drinks wine out of a box. Quips a News.com reporter: "Maybe they should hire someone who likes to drink wine out of a glass and see where that takes them." [News.com]

Having ultimately decided that inviting Generalissimo Hugo's Bolivian Marching Powder™ to sponsor alleged wardrobe-pirate Lindsay Lohan's 21st birthday bash [Ed.note—They grow up so fast after multiple, suspicious dehydration episodes, don't they?] in Vegas might draw unwanted attention from federal drug enforcement agencies, her event planners have decided to go with the second-most logical patron for a recent rehab graduate and noted AA groupie's coming-of-legal-drinking-age party: a mid-range vodka company. Reports today's Gatecrasher column:

NICK DOUGLAS — Another year and the bubble hasn't popped! Sysadmins and C-level execs alike, you deserve something special, like a drink named after you or your latest achievement. And Yahoos deserve a drink all to themselves. So after the first champagne, order these official cocktails for techies in 2007!

• Celebrate the close of a hectic week by participating in the Bubble-Free Bar Crawl tonight. It starts at 5pm at the Web 2.2 conference and hits Momo's, Nova, Bacar, and Thirsty Bear before stumbling to the House of Shields at 9pm. Send an IM to heyvalleywag for to find out where the party's at right now.

I'm actually excited about tonight's launch of MingleNow. The site's model sounds refreshingly: Link your profile to that of your favorite bars or restaurants and meet other regulars.

• Discover why you should care about social bookmarking. SF Tech Sessions holds a meeting tonight from 7-9pm at CNet in San Francisco. Ma.gnolia founder Larry Halff, David Galbraith from Wists, and Kaboodle CEO Manish Chandra are slated to speak. $5 at the door gets you all the pizza and bottled water you can carry. [SF Tech Sessions]

• Tuesday: Tonight's edition of Net Tuesday discusses how non-profits can use the virtual world Second Life. Thankfully, Valley residents don't actually have to drive up to San Fran, since the talk is being simulcast in Second Life.

Grease up your analog hole for a PR orgy next week. A naughty invitee forwarded the deets for a party from 463 Communications, the DC tech policy firm.

Valleywag's conference correspondent, the ConFonz, is slowly turning his column here into Fear and Loathing in San Jose. Enjoy.

BusinessWeek's hype-killing article on Google's product line has everyone buzzing about the company's product cycle. Guest writer Garry Bibb explains the process — it all starts with a Battlestar Galactica marathon and some Mike's Hard Lemonade.

Valleywag's first SloshCon at the House of Shields was so successful that my hangover's having baby hangovers. Remember the live-audience interviews and speeches on the game plan? Scrapped. We didn't want to ruin the vibe (half the crowd had arrived in the first 20 minutes), so we all kept on drinking and bullshitting one-on-one. (Top photo by Jeremiah Owyang)

Overheard at last night's Valleywag SloshCon:

Good morning waggers! Valleywag didn't abandon you, he just forgot to pre-post before getting drunk on the corporate dime last night.

No joke, we're holding a Web Infinity Plus One Conference at the House of Shields a week from today! The top room's reserved and the sponsors are ponying up for the bar tab. The deets:

Great weekend ahead, and I'm not just saying that 'cause Valleywag takes a half-day tomorrow. Here — meet someone important by Memorial Day and pump 'em for info.

Pick your poison in this booze-soaked week of geek gatherings. As usual, links go to each event's Upcoming.org page.