Category: Living

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 2, 20229:25 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Wilbur

We celebrate the first Caturday of the month by starting a double-header: Wilbur today and his housemate Leo tomorrow. My wife and I encountered the pair on Jan. 31, 2022. I have seen the tabby in the Featured Image and three companion shots on several occasions since. Wilbur’s ginger buddy blessed us with his presence once only.

Wilbur came up to visit, and Annie read his tag. But Leo stayed distant, and I have searched since hoping to see him and get his name. That information presented unexpectedly last night. Nearly a month ago, I grudgingly returned to Nextdoor; economic uncertainty is reason enough to band together with neighbors, with whom bartering or buying may benefit us all soon. While exploring the social network’s Pets section, I identified Leo and confirmed Wilbur; both beasties share the same owner.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 1, 20228:43 pm

For Their Grandma

While walking across the Vermont Street Bridge, which separates University Heights from Hillcrest, I came upon three women—two of which posed for the other. I gladly waited. When I passed, one of the ladies asked me to take a photo of all three. Of course. She handed me an iPhone, and the trio huddled together.

We then talked for as much as 10 minutes (I really should shut up), and they told me about their reminiscing adventure. Sixty years ago—a number/timeframe repeated several times—they would visit their grandmother, who lived on Johnson Street, which is on the UH side of the bridge. The then-girls were from Northern California, and their mom would “ship” them down to San Diego whenever another “was born”.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 31, 20229:23 pm

Weather-worn is Wear Enough

On average, about 28 cm (11 inches) of rain falls in San Diego annually. The mild Mediterranean climate means three summer seasons, and the warmest of them is in process of gradually heating up. Sunny days, punctuated by breezes coming off the Pacific Ocean, allow citizens to maximize their living space by extending it outdoors. Businesses do likewise; consider Costco, which customer eatery is outside the warehouse rather than the more common inside location.

The fine climate leads to oddities like the alley art gallery, little house collections, Satanic shrine (well, maybe), or sidewalk lending libraries. The Featured Image is another example. This necklace has hung on this fence for at least six months. My wife spotted it along Monroe Avenue in University Heights on Dec. 11, 2021. She stopped for a photo, because beads and jewelry are her designer passion; I decided to do likewise—using iPhone 13 Pro. Vitals: f/1.8, ISO 64, 1/121 sec, 26mm; 10:43 a.m. PST.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 30, 20229:26 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Creamy

The series‘ four-hundred-seventieth profile takes us back inside. This sweet sleeper is the eighty-seventh feline found behind door or window. I used iPhone 13 Pro to capture the Featured Image on Jan. 17, 2022. Vitals: f/2.8, ISO 32, 1/2016 sec, 77mm; 12:53 p.m. PST.

For fur color and texture, this slumber-puss earns nickname Creamy.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 29, 20229:35 pm

Thunderbird and Chair

The Featured Image is example of a failed photo. I used Leica Q2 to capture the moment on Oct. 15, 2021 and held back sharing because the composition doesn’t work, whether cropped or as shot. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/8, ISO 100, 1/80 sec, 28mm; 4:32 p.m. PDT.

When stopping to look at the crusty chair, abandoned in a University Heights alley, I thought it would nicely juxtapose with the classic car—both being vintage. My mistake.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 28, 202210:19 pm

Ten Years with Neko

On this day in 2012, my wife and I brought home the ginger that the County of San Diego Animal Services called Dermott. We renamed him Neko, which is Japanese for cat. The shelter took him in on February 15. We would have first seen him on either the 18th or 25th; I don’t recall which but am confident a Saturday. Because he was so handsome, we were surprised to see him on subsequent visits.

Our Maine Coon mix, Kuma, disappeared on January 15. After city workers recovered his collar in a nearby canyon, we had to assume that a coyote took him. But being ever hopeful not, I checked the shelter website most evenings and we walked through the facility every few days looking. All the while, Dermott remained unclaimed, and we soon learned why.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 25, 20229:15 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Regal

To clear out the backlog of unpublished kitties, we’re bunching them up (third this week). I have held back several with collars and tags hoping to get their real names. But a time comes, when there has been no close encounter, to choose a moniker and add the beastie to the series.

This handsome tabby is one of several seen mulling about the same cottage complex along Louisiana. Those profiled so far, and there are more: Cuddles, Honcho, Saunter, and Squeaky.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 24, 20229:50 pm

It’s a Cultural Cold War

The United States continues to seek new punishments against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24, 2022. Americans rally to the cause with good intentions that may not mean much and that may do more harm than good. For example, pouring out Vodka and evoking spirit (no pun intended) of the Boston Tea Party accomplishes what?

As Dan Kois writes for Slate: “Stop Boycotting Random Russian Things. You are not stopping the war in Ukraine”. Nutgraph: “It is dumb to boycott things that have no actual connection to Vladimir Putin or even, in some cases, to Russia. But it’s also foolish to demonize every vestige of Russian culture, and ordinary Russian citizens, and Russians abroad, as a result of a catastrophic war launched by a despot”.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 23, 202210:19 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Chicken

When the Wilcoxes moved to this neighborhood in mid-October 2007, we encountered two obvious demographics: Older couples (and some singles)—many of whom lived in the same house for decades; gay couples—women more than men (who were more commonly seen in adjacent community Hillcrest). But as the real estate market bottomed out in 2011-12, a slow change blossomed into a flash flood of families with kids of age to attend Alice Birney Elementary.

But during the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns, when many people started working from home and therefore no longer needed to live close to their jobs, University Heights began a rapid demographic flip. Ultra-high rents and landlords selling homes along with a massive influx of Googler-types has flushed out families and many of the oldsters. The professional Millennial makeover sweeps in and sweeps others out. Among those leaving: Owners of the kitty in the Featured Image.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 22, 20229:17 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Noire

Along the same apartment complex knoll where appears Bleu, I sometime see another feline—either alone or nearby. Since the nickname for one is translated from English to French, let’s do the same with the other; Noire, which is the feminine, for black.

I assume, and possibly wrongly, that Noire is not only female but mother to the Kittens discovered in the connecting property. Resemblance is unmistakable, which doesn’t make my presumption right.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 21, 202210:48 pm

What is Inflation?

Everywhere you look, there are reports about rising inflation, which is presented as increases in prices of goods. As a longtime journalist with a reputation for making complex concepts simple and straightforward to understand, I must correct the glaring mistake made by the majority of news reports: Inflation and rising prices are not the same, although there is an undeniable relationship between the two.

Inflation isn’t prices going up but the value of money going down. Spending power decreases. The classic case is 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” (source: “Loads of Money“, Economist).

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 20, 20227:50 pm

Killer Branding

For the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, I had planned to go with a nature theme. But plans changed after shopping at Grocery Outlet and seeing the wicked instant brew that my wife discovered during another visit. The company and its coffee are about a decade old but they’re new to me (obviously). The instant variety debuted in 2018.

The connotations of Death Wish, “world’s strongest coffee”, and skull-and-crossbones logo are loaded in all the right ways. It’s killer branding. K-pods are called “death cups”.