Category: Living

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 15, 20171:20 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Sebastian

This morning, my wife and I jaunted down Maryland Ave., on our way to The Hub for groceries. Nearly to the Washington Street bridge, in a yard with “Wildlife Habitat” sign, and lush foliage, Anne spotted a furball belly up. I shot several back-to portraits, using the Fujifilm X100F. When we returned, the feline had flipped around my way.

The Featured Image is Annie’s preferred crop. The other, below the fold is mine. Vitals on the first: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/450 sec, 23mm. The other: f/8, ISO 200, 1/280 sec, 23mm. Time on both: 10:38 a.m. PDT, using Velvia film simulation.

Living by Joe WilcoxMar 11, 201711:35 am

My Comic-Con Luck Runs Out

I dreaded this day but mentally prepared—or so it seemed. San Diego Comic-Con 2017 Early Registration commenced this morning. Passes sold out in about an hour, and I got none for any of the four days or Preview Night. I attended continuously, starting in 2009—the first six years as registered press. For reasons unknown to me, SDCC did not “verify” my media status for 2015 or 2016, but I was able to register and pay for the entire event.

Open Registration is still to come, and the convention changed the press submission schedule for the July 19 (Preview Night) – 23 event. Past years: December. Now it’s end of April. Before the new week starts, I will resubmit legitimate materials that, if my luck isn’t exhausted, might lead to press certification and attendance.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 11, 20176:17 am

The Cats of University Heights: Henry

The Fujifilm X100F and I are still getting acquainted, bringing big digital lifestyle change: always-carry. The compact camera is lightweight and unobtrusive attached to ONA Lima strap, such that I sling it and bring it with ease and capture the moment where iPhone 7 Plus would miss. I only lugged larger Fuji X-T1 when planning to use it, thus making the Apple smartphone my primary street camera. That all changed February 28. The new digicam, with its 24.3-megapixel APS-C sensor and fixed f/2 lens, is classic—for style and shooting. I previously owned the original and preceding T model.

Rushing out for a twilight walk on March 9, I spotted, not for the first time, a tiger-striped cat in the yard at Campus and Monroe. Our eyes met yet again, around the same time of day; he lurked where he had several weeks before, cast in the shadows. I shot Featured Image at 6:09 p.m. PST—about 20 minutes after sunset. Except for straightening, the JPEG is unaltered from the X100F. Vitals: f/2, ISO 3200, 1/26 sec, 23mm. Despite its f/1.8 aperture, based on past efforts, iPhone 7 Plus would have botched the shot—or using flash to set focus, scared off the feline.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 10, 201712:20 pm

Scooter Booter

Did you know that mopeds typically are bigger air-polluters than cars or trucks? Kind of diminishes their mystique, don’t you think? Yeah. Yeah. But I would still consider riding (and owning) one. Some newer models’ emissions are cleaner (and, yes, that’s a justification).

I shot this scooter nearby the bridge that crosses Washington Street to The Hub shopping plaza, on March 2, 2017, at 11:41 a.m. PST, using Fujifilm X100F, which settings were changed to those used by photographer Kevin Mullins, with Classic Chrome film simulation. Vitals: f/4, ISO 400, 1/950 sec, 23mm.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 9, 20178:43 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Pepe

San Diego’s unusually wet Winter is finally giving way to sunny days, with the high temp reaching 26 degrees Celsius this afternoon, when my wife and I walked down Cleveland Ave., where we made new friends—tuxedo […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 5, 20179:10 pm

Lemonade Stand

The Fujifilm X100F is now my nearly-always outdoor companion—a role iPhone 7 Plus had filled. The camera is compact and light and comfortably slings over the shoulder attached to the ONA Lima strap. Earlier today, my wife and I walked down Maryland Ave. toward The Hub plaza in Hillcrest. Along the way, we passed a lemonade stand, with some kids fundraising for the local elementary school, Alice Birney. They had already raised $60 when I snapped the pic, at 1:15 p.m. PST. Somebody paid more than the requested 25 cents a cup. Hehe.

The Featured Image is a crop of the original, which is visible below the fold. Both versions are unaltered, except for horizontal cropping to the first and straightening of both. The visual cue is different in each, though. The first is aligned vertically with the lemonade stand and the original against the house in the background.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 2, 20178:01 pm

How Did It Come to This?

Surely somewhere in the collapse of retailer American Apparel there is a metaphor appropriate for the policy platform put forth by Donald Trump. The President talks about bringing jobs back to the United States and renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement. Ironically, with AA, we see the demise of an iconic, hip “Made in the USA” brand, with its remaining assets being sold to Canadian-based Gildan. What’s up with that? Eh?

The Featured Image, and the pic following below the fold, tells a different story: Recent remembrance of another American Apparel, which allure popped pop culture’s cherry, for coolness and sex-appeal. On May 8, 2010, the retailer’s San Diego store held a rummage sale that drew long lines that wrapped around the block such that the end overlapped the beginning. I captured the moment with the Sigma DP2s. What a change in 7 years—and not just for the one clothier. Last year, local company Sports Chalet went out of business, around the same time as national chain Sports Authority. The Limited is shuttering all its stores, and Macy’s nearly 70. Should we blame China or, hehe, Amazon?

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 18, 20176:41 pm

After the Rain

In nearly 10 years living in San Diego, I have not seen such lush, inviting foliage as visible this Winter—or what I call late Summer (the other two seasons are early Summer and mid Summer). Typical yearly rainfall is 25 cm (9.9 inches). Through yesterday’s massive storm, totals exceeded that amount, or more than 150 percent the annual average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Eh, so much for the Southern California drought.

Forgive my botanical ignorance, regarding the Featured Image, the leaves are from the tree adjacent to the stairs leading down from our apartment. I couldn’t resist a quick shot as my wife and I headed out for an afternoon walk, using Fujifilm X-T1 with Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR lens. Vitals: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/80 sec, 35mm. I had set the camera for street shooting beforehand.

Critters by Joe WilcoxFeb 9, 20173:53 pm

Katris Cali

Somewhere, several months ago, I came across Katris Blocks by Papercut Lab. We discussed their risked-impracticality for price paid—after all, cats are notoriously finicky, and truest folklore meme is their playing more with the box the toy came in. Finally, discussion led to purchase; on Feb. 6, 2017, I ordered from the seller, through Amazon, the colorful City SF set, which was discounted 20 percent from the price seen before Christmas. Less than 48 hours later, yesterday, UPS delivered the 30-kilo box (67 pounds) much sooner than ever expected; free shipping.

My wife and I made a production of the unpacking, by taking out some blocks but leaving others to support cardboard compartment play areas inside the sturdy shipping box, which we later moved to another room for continued overnight feline fun. We set up the modular blocks in the living room for nighttime cat shenanigans. This morning, I dragged the big box down to the garage and cleared the blocks from the living room sun zone, where the kitty’s frolic and tussle over territory, to the bedroom.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 9, 20176:18 am

The Cats of University Heights: Kit

On, Jan. 30, 2017, as my wife and I walked down the alley behind Campus Ave. approaching Madison, we spotted a frisky young kitty in a window. No way could we resist stopping to say hello to this cutie, whom I nickname Kit. I shot a half-dozen quickies using iPhone 7 Plus. I little-bit blame the bright, blinding sun for obscuring my vision and obliterating the screen for the Featured Image‘s weak composition.

The second photo gives better perspective of the window. Vitals for the closeup: f/1.8, ISO 20, 1/833 sec, 3.99mm. The other is same except for shutter: 1/791 sec.

Apple by Joe WilcoxFeb 1, 20177:00 pm

Apple Fiscal Q1 2017

The measure of Apple fiscal first quarter 2017 isn’t record revenues ($78.35 billion) but comparison to major competitors: More than three times Google ($26.06 billion) or Microsoft ($24.1 billion). Amazon announces tomorrow, Groundhog Day. Will the retailer’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, see his shadow? The 3x multiplier nearly applies to net income: $17.89 billion, versus $6.64 billion and $5.2 billion, respectively, for the two rivals. Looked at differently, compared to Apple’s same quarter in fiscal 2010, seven years later, profits exceed total revenues ($15.68 billion). That’s an astounding comparison.

The results defy pundits’ prognostications, including my own, about gravity pulling the company back to Earth. iPhone, as major source of revenue, can only stay up for so long, before slowing smartphone sales wreck havoc. That said, credit where it’s due: CEO Tim Cook is, as I’ve asserted before, a logistics and manufacturing genius. He is a strategist, but not an innovation leader like predecessor Steve Jobs. Cook masterfully manages his inheritance, but he, nor Apple observers, should get lost in the quarter’s glow: iPhone remains boon and bane.

Society by Joe WilcoxJan 29, 20179:49 pm

Amazon Books San Diego

My wife and I drove to Westfield UTC to walk around on this bright sunny day, and to reminisce. Soon after we moved to San Diego in late 2007, my daughter started skating at Ice Town (since renamed UTC Ice), which is inside the mall’s food court. There, Firefighters gave her a Santa’s hat on Christmas Eve, 2008. We hadn’t visited the La Jolla retail complex for at least six months, and I suspect much longer. Hehe, we missed out. In September 2016, the second Amazon Books store opened there. The first is in Seattle, and there is another in Portland, Oregon.

Eleven months ago, when Wall Street Journal broke Amazon’s plan to open the shops, I offered some good reasons why the strategy makes sense, even if it might seem nonsensical when bookstores are shutting around the nation— the online retailer’s Kindle ebook business being a major reason. I had no idea then, or until today, that San Diego was among the locations. UTC is a good choice. Amazon Books is diagonally across from Apple Store, in a mall that is very outdoor shopping/walking friendly and courts a clientele that would shop for titles they can hold and read; no device or screen required.