Not sure what to do this weekend? Let The Weekend Map help you out! This one is going into the sidebar.

And let’s not forget this week’s episode of Getting REAL (Estate) in Vegas! This week, Scott helpfully titled the episode “The Lazy Man’s Guide to Searching for Property Online”! What a great description! But if you’re too lazy to sit through 17 minutes, the even lazier short version is to just tell your REALTOR what you want and let her worry about searching.

Well the answer is easy in Las Vegas: participate in the 9th annual Christmas tree recycling program at the Springs Preserve! From now until January 15, you can drop off your tree at any of over 20 locations around the valley for free (search for the nearest one here). If that doesn’t work out for you, call 1-800-Got-Junk, and they will pick it up for a mere $30 — they’ll even vacuum up all those fallen pine needles!

Personally, I don’t get the live tree thing. If a salesman showed up at your door and offered you the opportunity to buy a messy, highly flammable allergen, most people would laugh at him! But to each his or her own.

Let’s have some good news please: violent crime is down in Vegas and Nevada has gained a 4th seat in the House of Representatives.

Also, if you didn’t get a chance to see last week’s Getting REAL, here it is! We’re talking about the South side of town and tips for getting your home sold!

This coming Friday I will be talking with Vic Ruybalid, Property Manager and Corporate Broker of Management ONE Group. Be sure to send in your questions whether you rent property, own investment property, or are thinking of buying a rental property.  On the 29th, we will have HOA Manager Tracy Wozniak of Mesa Management, so send your HOA questions too.

Many economists believe that a significant number of workers will have to move before the employment picture substantially improves.

But workers have proved unwilling — or unable — to relocate. The biggest factor seems to be the large number of unemployed homeowners who have little or no home equity.

This graph should put things in perspective: just about anybody who bought in the last 10 years is underwater, and things may get worse — which some economists think will put us back in a recession (if you in fact believe we really ever got out of one). This is another argument in favor of allowing bankruptcy judges to “cramdown” mortgages.

But here’s a fellow who sees potential good in our underwater home trap:

Out of nothing more than self-preservation, those people will come up with something—maybe the next Zappos or something equally huge?—to get us out of this jam. More important, though, is the part that will come: recovery. And, yes, there will be one someday.

Finding a way out of this mess, he argues, is likely to form a greater sense of community.

Be sure to come back tomorrow afternoon for Friday Figures!

• Those who fail to sterilize a cat or dog will be fined $225 for the first offense, $350 for a second offense and $500 for subsequent offenses. If the owners come into compliance, the fines will be reduced to $25. Money from the fines will go into a special fund to aid in the sterilization of pets.
• Owners have three days to retrieve a pet from a shelter and must show proof of ownership through veterinary records or photographs. If they lack proof, they have 24 hours to obtain it before the animal is pegged again for euthanization. The animal also must be sterilized and a microchip implanted before it is released.
• Breeders are limited to eight purebred cats and dogs and must get a special permit, with a yearly fee of $50.
• A pet fancier permit, which costs $50 a year, is required for anyone to own more than three dogs or cats. The limit is six dogs and 10 cats.
• Pets must be kept in areas that are no colder than 50 degrees or no hotter than 85 degrees.
• Animals cannot be tethered for more than 14 hours, and the line must be at least 12 feet long.
• A motorist who accidentally hits a domestic animal is no longer required to stay with the injured creature until help arrives.
• Owners are not allowed to buy, sell, breed or keep animals for fighting. Watching animal fights also is forbidden.

If you are a pet owner in Las Vegas — or anywhere else!  — please be responsible: unless you are a breeder, spay or neuter; microchip pets in case they get lost; make sure they are properly cared for.

First, a “cash for appliances” program begins this coming Saturday. Let the state pay you up to $200 to upgrade your refrigerator, freezer, clothes washer, or dishwasher with a brand new energy efficient one! I’ve seen programs like this do very well in other parts of the country. Considering that we do live in a desert, it’s particularly important that we try to encourage the use of more efficient washers and dishwashers.

Here’s a list we wish we weren’t on: Forbes’s list of metropolitan areas where housing prices are “in free fall.” But regular readers of Friday Figures know that prices may be down year over year, but they are stable now. Stable prices are the first step in any recovery.

And one last item: our own CityCenter made Food and Wine Magazine’s “Go List” of 100 new food experiences. Unfortunately, it’s not available online yet. This year’s Best of Las Vegas came out just a couple of weeks ago, so it’s a good bet that some of these places will make the cut for 2011.