Seventy-eight months and change. That's how long I've lived here, in this apartment. Apartment #235. There won't be a seventy-ninth month. **** I came to San Diego a broken man. That was in February of 2002. I came because my …

Aria looked up. "They're gone," she said. "All of them." Then she cried, "We can't pass." * There are five steel I-beams at Iris Trolley Station. They are at the far end of the station, where cement meets endless dirt …

Where to begin? There's so much apathy, right-wing nutjobbery, and outright corruption here that a list of a hundred resolutions this city should take wouldn't cover it. I'll try to keep it simple and straightforward and brief. I'll try. New …

Do you remember those inane Mervyn's ads from a decade ago? (Note: I don't watch TV, and haven't in about a decade. So I'm going on memory here. Who knows? Maybe those inane ads are still running. I wouldn't doubt …

Worthy businesses are few and far between. Which is why, when I come across one, I toot its horn at every available opportunity. The decades-old culture of corporate nonaccountability, greed, wastefulness, and me-firstism has suffused just about everything one sees …

Reading James Boyce this morning on the Huffington Post got me to thinking about an exchange I had with a real estate bloviator at a local coffee shop a few years ago. I remember his gleeful smirk most of all. …

Five or so years ago, my computer died. I mean, it just blinked once, then was gone. I was crushed and in a full panic: I was too broke to get one of these high-priced online techies to help; and …

Customer service. In today's age, with today's economic climate (thanks, Bush!), it isn't an option--it's essential. Two local stories for you regarding customer service in Imperial Beach. The first: The Blockbuster worker yesterday informed me that my account had a …

Thursday the water went off for no apparent reason whatsoever. It happens a lot at this particular apartment building, where the pipes and plumbing are 60s-style and disintigrating, and the owner, a hateful, greedy little Filipino woman, refuses to give …

The new, wider sidewalks from Third Street along Palm to the beach are looking pretty good. So too the new palm trees. The work at the parking lot between Ye Olde Plank and the real estate office is still well …

A very pleasant 2-mile walk from my apartment to the Pier today. Lots of mist. Later, at the Pier itself, the fog rolled in. Imperial Beach is quite pleasant Mondays and Tuesdays, when the kids and the tourists and the …

Every time I open the Imperial Beach Eagle and Times, I have to remind myself that there is in fact a comic page in it: it's the weekly editorial of JF Kelly, Jr. Mr. Kelly doesn't brook dissent; and so …

According to SignOnSanDiego, the U-T's addy little site, the Imperial Beach Pier this next August will be getting a $1.2 million facelift to replace "bumpy" planks, missing struts, and the sewer line running beneath it, one that apparently leaks right …

The best pretzel in San Diego County is made in Imperial Beach, at Pretzels & More, right next to the Pier. They make this whole wheat banana pretzel (that's right: a pretzel baked right inside); then, whilst it's still piping …

The Palm Avenue trolley stop is a nightmare, and has been for at least a year now. On three consecutive nights this week, I witnessed a drug bust (8 cop cars), a gang fight break-up (or what looked like one--4 …

No helicopters buzzing about today. Joy! Lots of sea sparrows twittering, though. And breezes buffeting my living room window. And a distant dog's occasional barks. The sound of the elementary school's lunch bell. A quiet, somnolent day in IB.

Thai food last night on Seacoast. Excellent. I can't remember the name of the small eatery that serves it, but it isn't hard to find. Had cashew peanuts with chicken. Yum and yum. Tonight it was Jalisco's on Palm near …

Santa Ana winds: hot, dry, gusting. From my apartment window the white haze over the ocean and the swaying pine and palm trees is quite pleasant. No fires are burning down San Diego this year--as far as I know. Good. …

The Silver Strand Half Marathon and 5K is on for tomorrow. Seacoast Drive will be closed during the morning hours. More info: http://www.kozenterprises.com/Running/halfdf84.htm Beautiful surf here today. Cool, still air. Hopefully tomorrow the conditions will be amenable to all the …