Category: Living

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 14, 20238:27 pm

Alpha Rises

The best camera is the one with you—and that proved true tonight with Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. As I walked down Monroe Ave. in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights, something odd caught my attention in the sky.

I spent too much time trying to make sense of the oddity and as such missed the best shot—of continuous cloud trail. I mistakenly thought that the setting sun illuminated the exhaust of an airplane. Then the notion clicked, examining the trailing bloom, that I watched a rocket launch in the far distance.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 13, 202310:39 pm

For Her President

On Sept. 10, 2023, as I pulled up to the pump at my local filling station, a looming, white pickup truck came in behind me. The other driver was quicker getting out of her vehicle (because I lumbered gathering together cash).

I stepped inside to pay and found her jabbering away with the clerk; she had a friendly mile-a-minute mouth. She spoke about how bad is the economy when the last person to fill up could only afford $3.75 of gas. Context: Price at the pump paid in cash or by debit card was $5.50. So that customer got less than one gallon’s worth.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 12, 202310:46 pm

Housing’s New Selling High is a Low Blow for San Diego

In July 2017, when we were home shopping, I started to monitor—and occasionally write about—the local housing market. The next month, countywide, median price for a single-family residence reached $610,000, according to San Diego Association of Realtors. Fast-forward six years and $1,025,000 is median, according to SDAR, which released the data yesterday.

By my quick math, that’s a 68-percent increase, which makes homeownership an outstanding investment for anyone owning before SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020 or increased interest rates this year and last. For anyone else not fairly wealthy, the choices are rent, move, or live on the streets—something of an increasingly common lifestyle.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 11, 202310:34 pm

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

I promise: No more photos of the iconic sign on El Cajon Blvd in San Diego neighborhood University Heights. But tonight, returning home with a gallon of organic whole milk (whoa, November 22 sell-by date), from Sprouts market, I came upon the structure from the other side of the street. Surprise! You can get closer to the thing from there. I never would have guessed.

The Featured Image is one of two captured using Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. This one is straight from the smartphone: Composed as shot and no alterations. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 1250, 1/40 sec, 70mm (film equivalent); 8:54 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 9, 20239:48 pm

Drives Me Crazy

I can’t complain about the weather, because inland San Diego County scorched today. Here in University Heights, which is closer to the coast, temperature reached toasty 30.5 degrees Celsius (87 Fahrenheit). As I write, it’s cooler 25 C (77 F) and best reason for the evening walk recently completed.

For days, I meant to document gasoline prices on the rise, after something of a decline that nevertheless was ghastly high compared to other states. According to AAA, the national average, as of this very day, is $3.83 per gallon. What a break. My local station at El Cajon Blvd and Texas Street is only $1.77 higher. Average for all California is $5.41 per gallon, which, by the way, is highest price for any state—even Alaska and Hawaii.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 8, 20239:02 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Meek

Perhaps you remember Proudfoot, who joined the series in early August 2021? Nearly two years to the day, Aug. 9, 2023, my wife and I passed him (or her) on nearly the same sidewalk spot. But wait! In an adjacent cottages courtyard, I saw another shorthair similarly colored. Surely they are littermates!

I used Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra to capture the Featured Image and companion. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/125 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 9:27 a.m. PDT. The other: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/490 sec, 70mm (film equivalent); 9:28 a.m.

Living by Joe WilcoxSep 5, 202310:08 pm

Scene of the Crime

Last night, while walking to Sprouts market for organic whole milk (yum), I came upon the strangest sight that took some seconds to comprehend. A chalked-like (paint, more likely) outline stretched out from the Stop sign at Florida and Meade into the street.

The graffiti mimics a crime scene, where the cops mark out where the body lays. Here, someone chose the long shadow cast by the traffic sign. I have to wonder if there is intent, meaning, and, ah, metaphor here.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 4, 202310:23 pm

Ah, Shucks, Sharky

Today, I sadly learned that Sharky passed away on Aug. 31, 2023. He will be sorely missed. The Featured Image is the last photo I happened to take of him, on July 6. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/420 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 12:30 p.m. PDT; Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Sharky joined my “Cats of University Heights” series in May of last year. I learned that he was ailing about a month ago. Someone saw the proud purball, confused in the street and sounded alarm. Trip to the cat clinic determined that he had gone suddenly blind; the vet diagnosed brain tumor and gave grim prognosis.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 2, 20239:04 pm

Heartfelt

The owner of Bruce, one of the “Cats of University Heights“, occasionally receives reports about presumed sightings. The most recent puts him across Texas Street inside North Park. A gent is certain (aren’t they all) that he saw the missing feline, which turned back when his name was called. But a car scared him off. The beloved neighborhood mascot disappeared over Memorial Day weekend.

This afternoon, I hoofed up the hill to the area where Bruce might be. Along the way, I passed a flag seen a few days earlier mistakenly identified as the Japanese rising sun. Whoops. I got that wrong. That instance, I walked down the hill on the other side of the street. From the uphill vantage, the flying heart—and all the others—visually clicked.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 1, 20239:18 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Cheshire

While walking with my wife along the alley separating Alabama and Florida, today, I spotted a black and white romping down the cross-street ahead of us. Minutes later, I caught up to the shorthair, which posed long enough for me to shoot the Featured Image.

Lucky me: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra autodetected the cat and made it the point of focus, rather than the foreground pink flowers. Whew. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/1000 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 9:30 a.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 31, 20239:05 pm

Tennis This Time

San Diego’s three-season summer weather creates all kinds of outdoor activities that would be uncommon elsewhere. Consider public schools: Many are indoor/outdoor, meaning classrooms are enclosed but kids go out to move among them. Costco eateries are on the outside of the warehouses rather than within. The examples abound.

As such, I shouldn’t be so amused, but am, about the older gent watching sports programs out of doors. On Aug. 9, I passed him riveted to a baseball game—all by his lonesome. Tonight, it’s tennis—and he has a friend. “Say, could you pass a can of Modelo Especial?” (Because Bud Light is boycotted, the Mexican beer is now top-seller.)

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 30, 20238:57 pm

I’ve Heard of Christmas in July, But August?

Earlier in the month, I was surely surprised to see Christmas decor and paraphernalia for sale at my local Costco. The warehouse bustled with shoppers—so many that no photo opportunity presented. But the place was quite desolate when I returned tonight.

We aren’t even to Labor Day yet, and gingerbread houses, Grinches, lighted fake trees, nutcrackers, and wrapping paper and ribbon adorn aisles near the front of the store? What about Halloween? Back to school? Sure something’s there, but wouldn’t there be more timely goods if not for Santa’s shop.