Category: Money

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 19, 20267:28 pm

Apple Store Turns 25

Twenty-five years ago today, the first Apple Store opened at Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Va. I was there, covering the event for CNET News. Four days earlier, then CEO Steve Jobs briefed journalists and a handful of bloggers (an oddity back then) across the way at upper-scale Tysons Galleria. Skepticism hung heavy in the air, with respect to Jobs’ ambitions. Recession gripped the country and rival Gateway was in process of shuttering more than 400 retail shops. Everyone knew: Jobs was either genius or crazy.

But companies that take big risks during economic downturns are most likely to reap rewards later. Retail would be Apple’s third walk across the tightrope during 2001. The others: iTunes (January); OS X (March); iPod (October). I’ve said before that these four are foundation for all the company’s successes that followed, including iPhone.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 3, 20269:23 pm

Pumps for Trump

Something’s not right when your local, normally reasonably-priced filling station sells gasoline above the statewide average. According to AAA, as of today, the national average gas price per gallon is $4.446. We pay more than any other state, $6.101, which as you can see from the Featured Image is about 10 cents higher. The station is located at El Cajon and Texas on the North Park side of the street. The Arco on the University Heights side of Texas is a dime less per gallon.

As the conflict, let’s call it war, with Iran continues, the long-term consequences are all guesswork, and plenty of pundits try to do just that. I suspect the immediate impact will be diminished in the United States because of domestic energy production and what the Trump administration can siphon off from Venezuela.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 22, 20269:33 pm

Circles of Confusion

I am the long-time critic of the roundabouts (e.g. traffic circles) that San Diego is placing at intersections across the city. The euphemism for them is “traffic calming”, by official parlance. I call them danger zones—directly when you go through them and indirectly how they negatively change driving behavior.

The Featured Image and companion are evidence of the first. Two SUVs collided in what looks like one driver failing to yield to another already in the circle. This kind of confusion happens frequently.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 19, 20269:26 pm

‘No Library Cuts!’

A few days ago, Amazon sent email with book recommendations, and one actually piqued my interest: Washington by Ron Chernow. Hey, it’s a Pulitzer Prize Winner, and with the nation’s 250th anniversary upcoming it’s a timely biography to read.

Cough, cough. I choked on the price. The Kindle version sells for $16.99, discounted from $24. Seventeen bucks for a DRM-wrapped ebook? Ah, n-o-o-o. Hardcover: $23.76, discounted from the list of $41. Still, I wanted a copy of the bio. I looked at the calendar and remembered the third Saturday of the month was ahead, and that meant book sale weekend at the University Heights branch of San Diego Public Library.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 4, 20269:31 pm

San Diego City Attorney Says Sex Shop

The questions: Why now? Who benefits?

For as long as I can remember, a massage parlor has quietly beckoned customers from the corner of Adams and Georgia here in the otherwise quaint village of University Heights. My wife and I have occasionally discussed its odd presence, with the presumption being the place peddles sex as much as massage.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 15, 20269:20 pm

This is What Inflation Looks Like

A common misconception about inflation is that prices go up, when in reality the value of money (e.g. spending power) goes down. The Economist explains the classic case: In late-1923 Germany, when, because of hyperinflation, “a loaf of bread cost 140 billion marks. Workers were paid twice a day, and given half-hour breaks to rush to the shops with their satchels, suitcases, or wheelbarrow, to buy something, anything, before their paper money halved in value yet again”.

I got a taste, quite literally, of what this phenomenon is like, and I present it as a demonstrative model for your education. Pizza Hut gives so-called “Hut Rewards” points for redeeming menu items. I had accumulated just more than 600. Large pizzas with any toppings are 300 points, so I had gained enough for two free pies.

Photo by Joe WilcoxNov 9, 202511:54 am

Makeshift Food Bank

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history means millions of people are not receiving federal funds for basics—you know, things like food. People employed by Uncle Sam are either furloughed or working without pay (and delayed only, hopefully). Don’t get me going about families who count on SNAP benefits and won’t receive them for November.

To the Congress, I say this: Do your job! Pass a damn budget. Stop pissing away days whining over line items like expiring subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. Agree to punt! Fund the damn government for X number of days and fight among yourselves meantime about a final budget. Don’t punish people while you bicker like kids in the schoolyard or, worse, an angry soon-to-be-divorced couple gouging one another in spiteful rages over splitting assets (or assigning child custody).

Living by Joe WilcoxNov 6, 202510:23 pm

This Use to Be Grass

The homeless are increasingly pariahs, across San Diego County. The public policy is discourage and displace, rather than meaningfully address fundamental causes. The Featured Image and companion reveal one tactic: Piling jagged rocks where until recently there was grass, punctuated by shrub-like trees.

But the homeless would somewhat frequently hangout or campout on the grass. Honestly, the rocks are more unsightly than the homeless tents. Grass is great! We need more. The city destroys a lovely green space to deter the so-called unhoused? Solve the problem! Don’t create one as band-aid for another. The rocks look weird, and they are weapons. Lots of damage can be done with rocks like these.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 15, 202510:44 pm

Eighteen Years Ago Today…

On this date, in 2007, the Wilcox family arrived in San Diego. We had left the Washington, DC-metro area to be close to my aged father-in-law, who luckily found us an apartment one block from his place. Our presence meant that in January 2017 he could pass way at age 95 in his own bed, rather than in some sterile institution.

The city is hardly recognizable from the one we moved to. San Diego seemed sleepy, small town-like for the size. Communities were tight knit, even with the massive number of renters; congestion was a rare occurrence on the roadways; neighborhood streets were wide; housing architecture was surprisingly varied and charming; and homeowners kept attractive green spaces, among many other attractive attributes, with the three-summer season weather being among them.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 17, 20258:57 pm

You Can Say It’s Not Tariffs, But…

A few weeks ago, we restocked the bulk beef burger patties we typically buy from Costco Business Center. Near the end of August, the foodstuff was sold out (it never is), so I suspected that the warehouse store no longer carried the item. Today, the patties are back—and for shockingly higher sale price.

Backtracking, when we started buying the 10-pound burger pack during the last decade, Business Costco charged $29.99, which was a good deal compared to competing choices. Fat content was higher (78 percent lean), but savings mattered more to the Wilcoxes. During the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 mandates era, price rose to $31.99 and then to $33.99. During 2025, the price continuously crept up—reaching $39.99 a few weeks ago. Currently: $49.99! Ten bucks more than in August!

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 8, 202510:09 pm

The Rally at 1526 Meade Avenue

The city’s obsession with adding more housing shocks by the day. Cute, historic homes are leveled and replaced by multi-level residential buildings that are typically rentals (no condos for you, Bud) and explicitly turn out to be so-called micro-units (tiny space, big monthly payment). These new builds tower over single-family homes and/or two-story apartments/condos, dramatically obliterating local character and robbing existing homes of airflow and sunlight.

Justification: Housing shortage. That’s a lie. According to Zillow, there are currently 18,499 rentals available across San Diego County. For sale: 8,101 homes. That sure looks like plenty of inventory to me. According to Point2Homes, which business is helping people find places to rent, there are 6,142 “housing units” in my community of University Heights. Zillow says 279 of them are currently for rent; but not all list on the service, so the number should be higher.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 21, 20259:57 pm

Yet Another Bible Story

Yesterday, my wife and I drove to East County on an errand. Returning, she missed an exit, and we ended up in downtown La Mesa. What an opportunity! We took it. Annie parked in the neighborhood nearby the Christian bookstore where in January 2021 we bought a Bible for her and in November 2022 another for me.

We were shocked! The shop is gone. Another retailer fills the space. I searched online for some information about what happened and when but found nothing—not on Yelp or the former business’ social media sites, like Instagram. But given the new occupant, I presume the demise isn’t all that recent.