Tag: San Diego

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 19, 20238:55 pm

Ho, Ho, Ho, Huh?

This is April, right? I ask because of the Featured Image, captured today using Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Seasonally, in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights, Christmas decorations are light compared to the crazed Halloween extravaganza. So it’s shocking to see something still hanging from December. Ghouls and pumpkins wouldn’t be a stretch, any time of year.

On the other hand, from the perspective of appearance and character, the Grinch is a lot more suited to the grim reaper’s holiday than the celebration of Christ’s birth. What does the Dr. Seuss character reveal about the person who hung the sign? You tell me.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 17, 202311:07 pm

The San Diego Housing Boom is Bust

About two weeks ago, Reventure Consulting posted a YouTube short spotlighting a house for sale in my neighborhood: “$1 Million Listing in San Diego that has no buyers“. I wanted to snag a photo and write something sooner, but our daughter’s medical crisis and recovery consumed my time.

At the time that Reventure Consulting CEO and Founder Nicholas Gerli released the 53-second clip, the University Heights home listed for $1,099,000, following several price reductions. Recent history: For sale at $1,222,000 on Dec. 15, 2022. Less than a month later, January 12, price dropped to $1,192,000 and to $1,162,000 thirteen days later. That led to a pending sale for the lower list price on February 21, which quickly collapsed, and the home returned for sale at $1,162,000 on February 24. Sellers dropped the price, again, on March 1 to $1,135,000 and to $1,099,000 on the 23rd.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 16, 202310:12 pm

Men @Work

During any typical weekday, between the hours of about 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., I am likely to see more men (and some women) wearing hard hats and yellow vests than I do encounter local residents. That’s a brash statement, considering constant movement of folks walking dogs.

Welcome to the whiles of living in a close-in San Diego neighborhood, where the mantra is more bike lanes, fewer parking spaces, and increase of population destiny (by way of replacing single-family homes, lush green spaces, or commercial properties with multi-unit residential buildings).

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 15, 20239:44 pm

She Waits

One of the benefits of our old apartment was the frequent nesting of hummingbirds. They typically made their appearance about this time of year, which is why I chose the Featured Image taken on April […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 14, 202310:04 pm

How San Diego will Kill People

The Featured Image and companions document the beginnings of a disaster. For weeks, San Diego contractors have been dropping compost containers outside residences. These are in addition to recycle and trash bins already in use by apartments, condominiums, and homes across the area. Their deployment is the worst kind of stupid public policy, which is designed to protect the environment and diminish the so-called effects of climate change. Humans aren’t important enough to matter in the public policy equation.

Shortlist of grief: Animals knocking over bins and spilling rotting food into the alleys and streets. Hungry homeless people digging into the containers, also spilling rotting food, becoming sick from eating it, and likely spreading one or more of any number of bacterial infections. Disease is the clincher. These compost bins surely will be breeding grounds that could, and likely will, lead to E. Coli and Salmonella outbreaks—to name but two. One is reason enough to worry.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 10, 202310:26 pm

Pretty in Pink

Who doesn’t get gleefully wry when seeing graffiti gracing one of the many (un)affordable housing projects that ruin an area’s character? This monster-block high-rise is located along Park Blvd between Meade and El Cajon, where once was a church. Someday soon, I will present pictures to prove it.

But for this evening, our topic is the pink dog, which looks across the street to the outfield of Alice Birney Elementary, where locals are permitted to run their mutts when school isn’t in session and there are no recreational or sports activities planned. So yeah, graffiti fido fits in nicely.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 9, 202310:27 pm

Canyon Zooming Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

While walking along the Vermont Street Bridge, which separates San Diego neighborhoods Hillcrest and University Heights, I caught a flash of blue in the canyon below. Someone, presumably homeless, trudged through the foliage—lush and tall from heavy rains—towards a more protected space. Through the trees, I could make out red color that could be from a tent.

I whipped out Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and captured the Featured Image using the smartphone’s amazing 10X optical zoom capability. The companion pic is 3X, which I chose after seeing that 1X, which is 23mm film equivalent, would barely show the subject. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/120 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 10:15 a.m. PDT, today. The other: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/522 sec, 70mm (film equivalent); 10:15 a.m.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 8, 202310:18 pm

Bob Dines Korean

I remember this meal. My father-in-law wanted to eat someplace different. We ended up at a Korean restaurant somewhere along Convoy Street in one of San Diego’s commercial Asian areas. But I don’t recall why we were thereabouts, being far from the places closer to his apartment and where he preferred to eat. Good guess: Tax preparation with his financial advisor, which office is located a short driving distance from where he ate.

The Featured Image—from Motorola-made, Google-branded Nexus 6—catches Bob as he looks up at some distraction. Seconds earlier, he was engrossed in the bowl’s contents. Vitals: f/2, ISO 310, 1/17 sec, 26.6mm (film equivalent); 2:54 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 6, 20239:47 pm

The (Honorary) Cats of University Heights: Oliver, Too

Today, while walking in the neighborhood of Hillcrest, along University Avenue, not far from Eli’s, I came upon a tabby wearing a GPS collar. He moved with assurance, not bothered by my following and unsuccessfully taking a good photo (I got plenty of his back). As he moseyed into a parking lot, someone called “Oliver” to him and said “That’s my cat” to me.

His owner had one of those meshy cat carriers that are often worn on the back. She is former military, from Portland, Ore., and lives here—having once been stationed in San Diego. The thirty-nine-year old was refreshingly friendly, particularly considering current American society’s stereotypes of animosity and division: Woman of color and aging white male are supposed to be enemies of gender and race.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 3, 20239:38 pm

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Near and Far

The immense amount of precipitation pummeling California this year makes for uncharacteristically lush landscape—as can be seen from the Cleveland Avenue overlook in San Diego neighborhood of University Heights. During our more than 15 years living here, I have never seen so much green growth.

Some Spring seasons, heavy rains mean crane flies cling to exterior walls of the apartment building outside the laundry room. Our cats, Cali and Neko, love to chase (and eat) them. I really should start looking evenings for the insects, which often are mistaken for mosquitos.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 28, 202310:22 pm

Ray of Light

Sigma DP1 returns for a palm shot to which I jacked up dehaze in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to produce the punchy Featured Image. Vitals: f/7.1, ISO 100, 1/100 sec, 28mm (film equivalent); 11:50 a.m. PDT, April 12, 2008. This one is composed as captured.

Looking at the date stamp, my question: Where did 15 years go? And another: Why do I barely recognize San Diego’s cultural and urban landscapes?

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 22, 202310:13 pm

Urban Husky

Depending on when I drive home from the hospital where is our daughter, choice is either I-5 or I-805. (Californians aren’t content with 5 or 805 but “the five” or “the eight-oh-five”, and I make a habit of avoiding adding “the”; just to be onery.) The latter highway exits at Adams but immediately becomes Madison. Because of construction at Texas, I turn at Hamilton, cutting over to Meade and using that street to go into our San Diego neighborhood.

For the past few passes along Hamilton, I marveled at a dog mural on the frontside of a multiunit residence that appears to be undergoing renovation. (Some locals refer to these as renovictions. Evict lower-paying tenants; make modifications; raise rents for new residents.) Tonight, setting sun filled the sky rather than rain pummeling down from it. I parked, go out, and walked over for a single shot taken with Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.