Innocent Bystander

Off the books...

With Borders finally sighing its last gasp of 80-90% off book-selling frenzy, downtown San Diego is left with the harsh reality that it no longer has a bookstore.

When I first started visiting San Diego in 1992, downtown was full of bookstores. There was a whole gathering of them up near and off Broadway, including Wahrenbrock's Book House, the used bookstore that held out the longest. The side streets near its Broadway location where dotted with smaller stores and there was even--for a couple of years, at least--a comic book store in the same general vicinity. All of them are gone now.

Horton Plaza had two major bookstores (three, if you count Le Travel Store, which had a large travel book selection, and was also in HP back then; it currently exists on Fourth Ave, and still has a nice section of books), a Doubleday (which is also sadly gone from New York City...one of my favorite Fifth Ave. bookstores there) and a B. Dalton. After a while, I believe the Doubleday turned into a Waldens, which went away when Borders (the corporate parent of Waldens) opened downtown in 2004 or so, in a building they built at the corner of G Street and Sixth Avenue. That building--which I drive past every day on my way to the freeway that takes me to work--is now sadly--forlornly--empty. A narrow Borders sign hangs from its G Street side, marking a kind of bookstore ghost town, or ghost building at least. It's a shame, both from the standpoint of no bookstores downtown, but also because it's a beautiful building.

B. Dalton closed in Horton Plaza a year or two ago, to be replaced by a Crown Books. Someone evidently bought the Crown name, which was a chain of bookstores here in California (and possibly elsewhere, for all I know) when I first moved out here back in 1998. There were at least three I frequented, because they had huge discounts at that point in time. The new incarnation of Crown can also be categorized as a discount bookstore, but it unfortunately only features remaindered editions (if you need a copy of Frommer's Unofficial Guide to Disney World, 2005, they have you covered) and books that probably should not have been published in the first place. (Seriously...one of the 2011 calendars they had on display pre-Christmas was titled "Rats." I'm assuming it wasn't a best seller, but I was shocked enough to grab a photo of it, since I figured no one would believe me. Maybe it's big with research scientists. Or cats.) 

There is one small bookstore in the touristy enclave of Seaport Village, down behind the waterfront hotels and the Convention Center. It's called Upstart Crow, and while it has a small but nice selection of books, it also has a large amount of tourist claptrap. The nearest big bookstores to downtown is the still-existing (but don't blink) Borders in Mission Valley, the Booksmart in Point Loma, and a few remaining used bookstores in Hillcrest, along Fifth Avenue, between University and Pennsylvania. There's also a Barnes & Noble in Hazard Center in Mission Valley.

And that's all folks. The world of books in downtown San Diego has dwindled away to nothing. Some may call it poetic justice (pun intended) that the chains have fallen apart. I call it just plain sad.

Still not glowing, despite San Diego TV news' worst intentions...

There is absolutely nothing funny about the situation in Japan, despite what aged and aggravating "comic" Gilbert Gottfried might have tried to tell you a week or so ago. (His unfunny Twitter "jokes" caused him to be fired from the plum job of being the voice of the Aflac goose, where he got to yell "AFLAC!" in his one-word script. Hey...it WAS a living.)

What is funny is the attempt by local San Diego TV news stations to turn a local non-event into an event, pretty much what they do every time it rains here. The latter part of last week, all the stations pushed the story of potassium iodide tablets--which prevent the effects of radiation reaching your thyroid gland--being sold out all over San Diego, or how ever many drug stores they actually visited (I'm guessing one or two). When that failed, we were subject to a breathless round of live reports about the cloud of radiation that was heading to Southern California. Numerous experts were interviewed--some even with geiger counters testing gallons of milk, because you know that radiation gets to them cows (even the happy California ones) and into their milk--and all agreed: Nothing is going to happen to us right now radiation-wise.

I'm fast coming to the conclusion that the best thing to do these days is to NOT watch any local news coverage of ANYTHING. While the local stations did shine both times we've experienced huge wildfires in the San Diego area, they're lousy at covering pretty much anything else, with the exception of a murder here and there. And whether they know it or not--and I think it's NOT--the WAY they cover a story just makes it scary and inciteful. Not insightful, mind you...inciteful in the way of "OHMIGOD...I have to go get radiation pills and one of them geiger counters RIGHT NOW. And throw out my milk!"

But the utter devastation in Japan also brought out the usual "Can it happen here?" stories. The thing about TV news is they always ask that question, and of course the answer is always "YES!" They keep comparing the nuclear facility at San Onofre, about 50 miles up the road with the ones in Japan. How similar they are in design, how they're both by the ocean, how San Onofre has a 35-foot sea wall, and Japan's had a 25-foot one, etc., etc., ad infinitum.

Yes, it can happen here, and it probably will some day. Despite mankind's best--and often, worst--intentions, Mother Nature always wins. And when it does happen here, it will happen the same way, without warning, with great surprise, and with utter devastation. That's one thing you can count on, as opposed to local TV news coverage.

If it's Tuesday, this must be Mardi Gras...

Yes, it's Mardi Gras, another chance for the broke city of San Diego to close off streets in the heart of the Gaslamp and piss off us longtime residents. And while the official website says "Bead Me!," the city doesn't allow cameras--video or still--into the fenced in bacchanal area. Where's the fun in that?

I don't get the whole party with 10,000 strangers thing, especially when you're stepping over vomit and spilled beer, but hey...this is where I live. Luckily my street is on the fringes of this 6pm-midnight party, so I'll avoid most of it, except for the noise. But if you manage to make it downtown and you hear a far-off, voice shouting "Hey you kids, get off of my lawn!," it'll probably be me.

And--lucky, Lucky, LUCKY!--we're just one week away from St. Patrick's Day and green vomit and beer!

My local Borders is closing: Sad :(

I don't normally resort to emoticons, but this time it's the best way to sum things up. Yesterday I drove past my local Borders, here in downtown San Diego--one of the many stores that are closing--and noticed the signs were already in the window. "Store closing! Nothing held back! Everything on sale!" they yell.

So out of curiosity, I roamed in on a rainy Friday and here's what I found: the Seattle's Best coffee bar already closed and surrounded by "do not cross" police-style tape. All the big cushy chairs pushed into that area or the enclosed outside seating area of the cafe. Workers were on ladders putting up even more obnoxious, blaring signs, but nothing was on sale yet, just the usual 20-30% off stickers on books. I heard an employee tell a customer that they would know more over the weekend about the sales situation (I received an e-mail Friday night announcing that the sale started today and merchandise was 20-40% off), and that no timeline had been announced as to when the store would close. And also that Borders put a moratorium on transfers for employees to other stores a while back, so no one can move on to a still-open store, and take someone else's job if they have more seniority with the company, evidently.

The store was marked with signs that even the fixtures were for sale, but most of the shelves and such were marked with smaller "Fixture not for sale" signs. I think I only saw one table that was actually for sale. If you want to buy the fixtures, you have to talk to the fixtures manager. That's a job title I've never heard before...and probably never will again.

I'm curious as to how the sale will go. These things usually start at 20 or 30% off and then descend into the pure hell of 70% or so--hell because by that point, the only stuff left is garbage that shouldn't have been published in the first place. And I wonder if there will actually be anything decent left by the time the sale starts. The store seemed fully stocked today--even with current magazines--but sometimes they clean out the returnable book stock and all that's left is crappy.

And that word sums up how I feel about this...pretty crappy.

ADDED: I visited the store today (Saturday) and it was packed. You would think they were giving away books and not just offering 20% off. The line for the registers snaked throughout the entire downstairs. As of this point the signs say 20-40% off, but all I saw was 20% off most books in the downstairs area (40% off magazines, which evidently stopped arriving in the store over a week ago), which would include their literary section, science fiction, romance, mystery, and graphic novels. To be honest, 20% off isn't as good as their normal 33% off coupons...so I'll probably wait until they jack up the discount more. At which point, the above-mentioned crap will be all that's left. C'est la vie, right?

I remember that sound...

My friends back east--who are either shoveling snow or chipping ice while shivering right now--will alternately laugh or curse at me for this, but it's cold here, too. Cold for San Diego that is. Last night it went down to near freezing even near the coast and downtown, where I live.

We are subject to Santa Ana winds right now, which isn't unusual this time of year. What is unusual is that they're COLD winds, not the usual dry, warm--even hot--ones that seem to be the very definition of Santa Ana conditions. I'm sorry...I'm not a meterologist, nor do I play one on TV. And in this neck of the woods, even the "real" ones are  just playing the role on TV. None of them know what the f*ck they're talking about, even the really cute ones with short skirts on Fox 5. 

But I digress... yesterday I walked into my apartment to a hauntingly familiar sound and it took me a moment or two to realize what it was. It was the wind howling through my windows. My apartment faces due east, so wind is not often a factor. But as I sit here and type this I can feel it coming through the windows 7 or 8 feet away. It's died down now, so the howling has stopped, but the whole thing took me back to cold winter nights in Pittsburgh, snuggly wrapped in blankets in my cold second-floor apartment, listening to the wind whizzing through my old windows. I had 2 cats packed on either side of me and while part of me hopes it was out of true affection on their part, I know they just wanted my body heat, the little pirates. I don't miss the weather--and I sympathize with all my friends and family back east--but I do miss the cats and that feeling of never wanting to leave that bed. No bed has every felt more welcoming--or been more welcomed--to me.

I'm in love with my grocery store...

I have friends who are foodies (like this one here), but I am categorically not. I like to eat, and I like what I like, but sometimes food is just because I have to, not because I want to.

So imagine my surprise when I fell in love with the new remodeled Ralphs around the corner from me, here in downtown San Diego. Normally my shop-oriented love involves bookstores and comic book shops and the occasional kitschy souvenir place. But grocery stores? No, thank you very much, not for me.

I don't know who redesigned my local Ralphs, a store that has been here at least as long as I have (even longer than my 12 years, I think). Since it was already in the neighborhood, it became my de facto grocery store, and I chose to go with the Ralphs card and make a commitment to shop only there. I hate carrying all these stupid store cards, and Ralphs, quite frankly, seemed to have the best deals. It was a simple ceremony...I pledged my allegiance and then we were hitched.

A few months back they started tearing the place apart, section by section. They stayed open through most of it, closing at nights for a week or two (it's normally open for 24 hours). During the remodel they sent us this nice set of weekly coupons, $10 off $25 worth of groceries, good at this location only. As I'm sure you know, spending $25 in one trip to the store isn't very difficult, so it was a good bargain, $40 off of $100 of stuff. And then right before they had their grand opening, they sent out the same deal once again and nd included a free canvas bag!

Is this a great country or what?

The new store is beautiful, with a much better layout. It's actually a pleasure to shop there, and I find myself going over more often. The salad bar is much improved, and they have an upgraded hot foods section that now includes tri-tip (although their prepared chicken filet sandwiches are just plain nasty). There's a great big cheese bar, too. Everything seems new and clean and the selection seems bigger somehow, even though the store is the same size (not too big, not too small), just better arranged.

So, yes...I'm going public and declaring my love for this store, and how it pretty much rejuvenated both my grocery shopping and the neighborhood.

 

But you should have seen the sunset YESTERDAY...

I have been remiss in blogging the last day or so, tied up and beaten up with way too much work to do, so that life at home involves more work, some food, a little television watching, and maybe an occasional movie. But yesterday had a literal ray of sunshine.

We don't get very many spectacular sunsets here in San Diego, but yesterday's was one of the most amazing I've seen in my 12 years of living here. I'm very sorry to say I didn't get a chance to snap a photo or three of it, since I was driving and by the time I made it downtown, it was pretty much gone. (If there's any San Diego readers out there who DID grab a shot of it, please send it my way and I'll be happy to post it.) It was pink and orange and had the most incredible collection of thick, puffy clouds which reflected that light and made it look like cotton candy. And the whole sun setting gave it the feeling of taking the sky with it, pulling the clouds and the color out across the Pacific.

It was one of those moments that made me realize I love living here, no matter what else is going on in my life.

UPDATE: Never underestimate the power of the blog! Here's a beautiful photo of the above-mentioned sunset, taken at the La Jolla cove by Mike Schacht, our very first guest photographer. Thanks Mike!

 

The night before the night before...

It has finally stopped raining here in San Diego, a classic case of be careful what you wish for...or complain about. I was just lamenting the other day that the local weathercasters (and in this TV market, casting is what they do...throwing out a line and seeing what they can hook, forecast-wise) were predicting Noah and the Ark rain for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It finally arrived on Sunday about 5:00pm and stayed and stayed and stayed until around 3:00pm on Wednesday. Today was cloudy and cool, the San Diego equivalent of "winter." We had over 4.3" of precipitation downtown, which is unheard of. Areas were flooded all around the county, including the roads around a major mall, all but shutting it down. The Holiday Bowl is on right now, after a Herculean effort by workers overnight to drain the flooded Qualcomm stadium of over 3' of standing water. They were successful.

I finished my Christmas shopping yesterday and am in the middle of a 2-week break from work, one which has had me working every day so far, at least for a few hours. I have a ton of stuff to do for January, and working a bit each day at least gives me the feeling that I'm not starting the New Year swamped. It's okay, because I'm home on the couch. Today I bought some last-minute gifts for the VIP in my life--ME--including the Christmas classic movies National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Die Hard. Yes. They're the "New Classics" as TNT used to say. Plus they were on sale on Blu-Ray.

So, I'm done. I'm winding down for the holidays, like the rest of the world, and I hope that means you, too. Go ahead, you deserve it. Take off your shoes, put your feet up and have a hot toddy (it's a drink!). President Obama is on a beach in Hawaii. We should all be with him.

Rain, rain go...well, when you get here, go away.

It is finally starting to rain here in San Diego, after a week-long barrage by the local weather wonks, warning us of rain of almost biblical proportions. First it was arriving on Friday, followed by an all-day event on Saturday, heaviest on Sunday and continuing into Monday through Wednesday. And while I can't tell you what the next few days will bring, it just now started raining here in downtown San Diego at about 5:00pm on Sunday night.

I don't understand San Diego weather, but clearly neither do any of the people who are paid to predict and report it here. I totally realize that living near the world's largest body of water has a major influence on our weather each and every day. And I've seen those heavy clouds roll in off the bay, lowering the temperature 10 degrees at a clip and turning a sunny day into an overcast dusk, whether they were predicted or not.

But it's all part of the media culture we live in these days to hype everything to it's absolute Nth degree, whether it be the cult of WikiLeaks or the rare rainy week in San Diego. Like the rest of the country, we are approaching winter here in California and that means cooler temps and rainy conditions, so it shouldn't be a shock to anyone that it might rain in December. In fact--for me at least--the rain is a nice change, and a little inclimate weather around this time of year just reminds me that it is, indeed, "this time of year"--the holidays. So bring it on, Mother Nature...I got no place to go. Let it rain. But just be honest about it.

Burn down the bomb house!

There's a fascinating story going on here in the outskirts of San Diego--Escondido, to be exact, one that has a working title that sounds like an Alistair MacLean or Clive Cussler novel.

Back in November a gardener working in a yard in that town north of the city stepped on something that exploded, injuring him bad enough to send him to the hospital. When authorities investigated, they found an entire home filled with explosives, the powdery kind terrorists use to make those underwear bombs. The house itself--rented by a Serbian guy who is also accused of robbing a few banks around the area--is so cluttered and filled with explosives and bomb-making material that experts have determined that the only way to clean up the whole things is to burn the house down.

Let me repeat that: BURN. THE. HOUSE. DOWN. It's in the middle of a crowded neighborhood, to boot. And today is the day to do it.

Authorities erected a large fence around the house and will cut holes in the roof to let the fire burn faster--and, hopefully hotter--and all the explosives will be consumed in the heat of the flames and dissipate into the atmosphere.

At this point, it's now scheduled for 10:00am and you can probably watch it live on either CBS8.com or at Fox 5 News. (My apologies to anyone on a Mac trying to view these sites...they suck.)

Me? I'm going to East County and not even remotely anywhere near North County and Escondido today. Just to be safe.