I owned several different Apple AirPort wireless hubs over the years. Time Capsule was the last, and I dispatched it soon after the company disbanded the division responsible for the category, in 2016. The Featured […]
Where Will Apple Store Go Next?
I should write a long missive about Apple Store’s 20th anniversary. But my essay from five years ago today serves up the core information. Please read that one for my reflection on the grand opening and what then CEO Steve Jobs meant the retail operation to be and what it actually became.
More significant than being a singular event, Apple Store’s opening represented one of four risks taken in 2001 by the fruit-logo company during a devastating recession. While competitors massively pulled back, such as Gateway shuttering stores, Apple made investments that culminated in release of the first iPhone six years later. Besides retail: iTunes (January); Mac OS X (March); iPod (October). From them evolved the logistics and manufacturing infrastructure, research and development, sales, services, and software that culminated in the smartphone that transformed Apple from a struggling PC company into a tech titan.
Be Ready for Face Mask Discrimination
Before the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns, my wife and I were devout Trader Joe’s shoppers. But we lost faith during the months when long lines of people waited to be blessed entrance into the small stores. Our attention turned to humbler grocery cathedrals Food4Less, Grocery Outlet, and Smart & Final, which welcomed our presence and provided as good (and often better) sustenance for considerably lower cost. But with California slowly reopening, we occasionally return to Trader Joe’s—more to reminisce while grabbing a couple bananas.
We also go there for rolls of quarters, as I did this morning. The previous two trips, when getting cash back and casually telling the cashier about my plans, I was told: “We no longer give out quarters”. But when I traipsed over to the service desk, the gracious employees willingly exchanged a Twenty for two rolls. Last time, the gentleman even opened their new cash storage safe—installed sometime during last year’s coin shortage and after the nearby Wells Fargo branch closed, and never reopened, because of the pandemic.
Something changed today.
Welcome to the San Diego Housing Boom (I Mean Bubble)
Gulp. San Diego home prices are skyrocketing far worse than my recent essays report. For some unexplainable algorithmic reason, a short news clip from the local Fox affiliate popped up in my YouTube feed, reporting rapid rise in the median home price. One year ago: $671,000. One month ago: $800,000. Currently: $825,000. The clip doesn’t cite a source and my quick online news search didn’t find one. By my math, the annual increase is 22.9 percent. Yikes.
Let’s look at one property on North Avenue in my neighborhood of University Heights. On Dec. 29, 2019, I captured the Featured Image, which because of uncharacteristic underexposure by Leica Q required extensive post-production correction and refinement. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 10:21 a.m. PST.
Bezos Before
Now here is a candid shot that I surely recall taking but not why it was never posted here. The Featured Image, captured using Sigma DP1, catches Amazon head-honcho Jeff Bezos—when he looked more like […]
Pandemic Pollution
What a difference a year makes. In April 2020, when SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2), which causes COVID-19, seemed so dire and face masks were so difficult to find, I wrote about the perils of not wearing one—illustrated with a rare, discarded protective covering. Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear masks, or social distance, in most situations—meaning: “except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance”.
Long before the unexpected change to pandemic public policy, just two days ago, face masks could be found littered all about the County. San Diego Union-Tribune spotlighted the debris along beaches in July 2020; early last month, ABC News reported that “discarded masks litter beaches worldwide, threaten sea life“; the local CBS affiliate, reporting about the April 24, 2021 “19th-annual ‘Creek to Bay Clean-up'”, explained that there has been a surge in ‘single-use plastics”— and the “biggest offender? PPE [Personal Protective Equipment], especially masks”.
The Cats of University Heights: Joy
While walking with my wife along Mission Ave. between Alabama and Mississippi, on May 12, 2021, I spotted a black bird-watching from the semi-seclusion of a home’s attached planter. I shot several portraits using iPhone XS and Leica Q2, and the Featured Image comes from the camera. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/500 sec, 12:51 p.m. PDT.
Call me befuddled trying to come up with yet another nickname appropriate for a Halloween Cat. Let’s go with Joy, because the shorthair seemed so content where it relaxed and observed.
This Thing Creeps Me Out
Months ago, while walking along Alabama Street in my San Diego neighborhood, I came upon a lawn fixture from behind. The shape, which you don’t see in the Featured Image or companion, reminded me of a fetus—dare I say aborted—or not fully-formed infant. Then I moved past and saw the adult-child face, which gave me even more willies than the disturbing impression on approach.
Perhaps this thing doesn’t bother you, but it sure upends me. Zoom in and look at the two fangs for teeth exposed by the septic smile. This evening, I passed the creature while looking for kitty Annie‘s tiger-tabby housemate; she often is briefly let out after dawn or around dusk and I want to make a portrait for my “Cats of University Heights” series.
Tragedy Beneath the Golden Arches
Overnight, an assailant shot and killed a 59 year-old man in the parking lot outside the McDonald’s at El Cajon Blvd and Texas Street in University Heights. Shootings are rare, if ever, in my San Diego neighborhood, so the incident is shocking. As I write, little is publicly known—other than police seeking a white man in his 40’s driving a SUV. Given the number of traffic cams—at the least of surveillance—the vehicle’s license plate could be identified.
I know the McDonald’s well. When still alive, my father-in-law liked to eat lunch there—especially Fillet Fish Fridays, when sandwiches were discounted. My wife or I might drive him there two or three days a week. Before renovations that started around the time of his death in January 2017, I would see many regular customers, such as the three older gents gathered to gab—often for hours—or another man who religiously read his Bible. They vanished with the remodeling, which did away with the cozy booths and replaced them with trendy tables that encourage eating and leaving rather than hanging around.
Tipped Moon
How odd. I posted the Featured Image to my Flickr nearly 11 years ago but never here. The street shot harkens back to my first Leica, the X1—a fixed-lens digital compact that I could (barely) afford at the time. Vitals: f/5, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 24mm; 7:05 p.m. PDT.
I purchased Leica X1 as a self-birthday present, and the camera arrived after on July 13, 2010. I captured the photo three days later. Manual controls and high IQ (image quality) beat my expectations. But with the economy in crisis, we had money troubles as Christmas approached—compelling me to sell the X1 and luckily for only a few hundred dollars less than I paid for it.
The Sedan of Many Colors
I see this car along streets all over University Heights—Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Monroe (East and West sides of Park Blvd.), among others. Finding parking spaces where you live can be challenging, and whoever drives this vehicle is willing to walk a fair number of blocks to secure a spot.
Surely other residents are compelled to park far and away, but I wouldn’t know since so many autos look alike. The Hummer first sighted in February 2021 (and many times in various places, since) is an example. Then we have this multi-colored sedan, which most distinctive hue (pink hood and trunk) my Featured Image only hints at. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/2, ISO 100, 1/6400 sec, 28mm; 2:23 p.m. PDT; Leica Q2.
Five Years Later
Eldest daughter. Second born. Older twin. There are many more appropriate ways to describe my sister Annette but none more than loss. She unexpectedly passed away five years ago today. Left behind: Three children. All adults and parents of their own. Must be mentioned being Mother’s Day.
I used Leica Q2 Monochrom to capture the Featured Image, made from a print. The copy can’t be better than the original, which isn’t sharp. Maybe soft focus was the photographer’s intention; he or she is unknown. The re-creation is edited with a fair amount of noise reduction applied (due to ambient overhead lighting ISO is 16000).