Category: People

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 15, 202510:17 pm

The Rally That Wasn’t Much

The majority of political email automatically goes to the junk folder. I never designated the status, choosing instead to let Gmail haul the messages away by default. But one from Amy Reichert of Restore San Diego plopped into my inbox this morning. “Stand with us as we call on Governor Newsom to reject AB 495”, she wrote. A rally was scheduled for 10 a.m. PDT at San Diego Unified School District offices about 10 minutes’ walk (thanks to traffic lights) from my apartment. I had to go.

Depending on who you speak to, AB 495 either protects immigrant kids threatened by ICE raids or puts them at risk because the law would let seemingly anyone intercede and grab your children. The thinking there is that California is about to enable anyone to legally snatch kids—ah, for their protection. They could belong to non-immigrant families and be taken using other justifications.

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 WilcoxAug 21, 20254:24 pm

What’s He Looking At?

The third Weekend of any (normal) month is the book sale room at the San Diego Public Library in University Heights—9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Prices are generous: Books and DVDs are generally a buck. Paperbacks are twenty-five cents each or five for a dollar. What’s not to like about that? Greedy shoppers!

Recurrent pattern: The earliest people in the doors grab, grab, grab. Someone might ransack sci-fi paperbacks, for example, piling them in a box and setting it aside with sign Taken for later sorting. They then move onto the shelves searching for more treasures.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 30, 20257:29 pm

A Better Place to Be

This afternoon, I took the NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR lens out for a field test, attached to Nikon Zf. I trucked over to Old Trolley Barn Park, where I expected to find people who could be photographed discreetly from a distance. That’s my purpose for the zoom: Candid captures that don’t demand closer proximity—something Leica Q2 required all the time, thanks to its (fabulous) fixed 28mm f/1.7 lens.

On such a pleasant day, I expected to see more people hanging out on the grass. My timing was off; choices were few. The Featured Image and companion are close crops of single shots; I gave myself one opportunity for each.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 19, 20257:02 pm

The Problem with Pride

For reasons that I don’t understand, San Diego holds its annual Pride parade (today, as a matter of fact) in July rather than June, which is the official month for celebrating the Alphabet coalition. Someone reading will have a conniption for my vernacular. Don’t be offended. This post should still be live in 10 years, and who knows how many more letters will be tacked on by then. Alphabet covers them all.

The main parade route and celebratory location is the main gay enclave of Hillcrest, which is adjacent to my community of University Heights. Hillcrest is grungy. Sidewalks are filthy and reek of urine. Homeless scatter about sleeping in nooks or out in the open. Some of the more industrious push about carts upon which hang bags of clanging cans and bottles, which are recyclable redeemable.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJun 27, 20257:23 pm

Being Beachy without Waves

While walking to Smart & Final in North Park on April 19, 2025, my wife suggested going along one of the alleys we rarely traverse. At the end—I believe at Lincoln Street—she stopped, transfixed by a bright yellow cottage. The color, compactness, and surfboards screamed San Diego, despite being about 13 km (8 miles) from the waves off of Ocean Beach.

Annie pulled out her Samsung Galaxy S25 for some quick snaps. I did likewise with Nikon Zf and attached NIKKOR Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR lens. Vitals for the Featured Image: f/11, ISO 200, 1/200 sec, 60mm; 12:55 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 16, 20256:57 pm

Another University Heights Fire

Sometime after 11:30 a.m. PDT today, my wife spotted black, billowing smoke rising in the near distance; I suspected perhaps along El Cajon Blvd or among the houses between cross-streets Florida and Mississippi. A fire truck turning that way on Florida seemed to confirm my suspicion. But I was mistaken.

Smoke had dissipated by the time I crossed the Boulevard on foot in pursuit. As I approached Polk, smokey smell tickled my nostrils—yuck, from up the very steep hill to Georgia. After confirming with a bicyclist walking down the incline that the fire really was above, I grudgingly trudged away. Sure enough, with burning legs the cost, I had come to the right street.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 26, 20259:47 pm

Well, it’s Not Dairy Queen

Two weeks ago, my wife and I shopped at the Grocery Outlet on Waring Road, which is sandwiched between San Diego neighborhoods Grantville and Del Cerro. I tend to blitz through the grocery store. Annie is more deliberate, thoughtful, and so she tends to take longer.

So, I had some free time to mill about the strip mall, where is the ever-so non-descript TC’s Rockets comic bookstore. On another Saturday, I ventured into the cavernous space, where—beyond the racks and stacks of goodies for sale—guys (mostly) spread out on long tables and engaged in various role-playing games. Oh, the joy, of seeing real board gaming and imagination, rather than dudes planted in front of the TV, controller in hand.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 10, 20259:59 pm

Preparing to Bike

Among the benefits and features that influenced my decision to buy Nikon Zf: Easily accessible switch to toggle to black and white. Color is preserved in RAW, while the JPEGs are monochrome. The switch is thumb accessible, nearby the capture button and beneath the shutter speed dial.

The Featured Image is an example of the output, and one that I doctored in post-production to obscure a fundamental boo-boo. The photo isn’t sharp, so I took advantage of monochrome to create more analog ambiance by adding considerable amount of grain, which would more typically be removed.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 8, 20259:49 pm

You’re Waiting for WHAT?

This morning, my wife and I walked over to Trader Joe’s, after failing to find what we wanted from Smart & Final. Approaching, we observed a long line wrapped down the side of the store around to the back employee/loading entrance.

Is this about eggs? I wondered, thinking that perhaps people were being let in a few customers at a time to avoid crowding and violating fire codes. But, when we arrived at the doors, other folks flowed in and out unimpaired. The line stayed still in place. WTH?

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 4, 202510:07 pm

Fountain at Balboa Park

Yesterday, my wife and I walked over to Balboa Park, while we waited for the queue to shorten outside San Diego Zoo’s membership pavilion. We passed through the Spanish Art Village and entered the main thoroughfare within rock-throwing distance of the Bea Evenson Fountain.

Before buying Nikon Zf in December, I used fixed-lens Leica Q2 for five years (2019-2024) after moving from predecessor Q, which I owned for about 30 months. The Zf promises many similar ergonomic and stylistic benefits, while offering option of interchangeable lenses.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 3, 202510:07 pm

Return to the Zoo

This afternoon, my wife and I stood in line to collect new San Diego Zoo passes; I restarted our resident annual membership, yesterday. Nearly five years have passed since our list visit—July 2020. We stopped because of price increases.

We paid $112 for our annual passes during 2018—for two people. For 2025: $111.60 each, so essentially double the cost seven years ago, with the same basic benefits—such as no blackout dates. However, we benefitted by receiving discounts for being 65 or older and being returning members. Otherwise, the annual pass would have been $134 each.