The count is 400 square miles as of Tuesday morning and 1000 homes destroyed. I've been following the fire of '07 by way of San Diego police scanner (http://scansandiego.net:7000/scanner3.ogg). Also, telephone, television, radio, and Channel …
October 1 seems like a long time ago. Two and one half weeks is one way of calculating. Or, you could say it's a previous season using baseball time. Or, maybe it's no time at …
In 1991 Orange County opened the 1500-acre Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, which sprawls across the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains just east of the communities of Lake Forest and El Toro. One surprise can …
Ramen Mmmmm. Poverty food. Tonight's dinner will be Ramen, that freeze-dried Eastern delicacy, flavor "Oriental." I will transport myself into the mystical realm of the ancient Orient, enjoying the delights of potassium carbonate, tocopherols and/or …
Why I don't leave When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curious sensation of terror came over me. I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose …
Sherrie Ross, a real estate agent, was looking for ways to persuade kids to stay away from San Diego gangs. So she was happy two years ago to meet Travis Stocking at a community-organizing event. …
Coyotes howl, water splashes down a willow-lined creek, and hummingbirds flit about in search of nectar. All of this takes place barely a mile from the grid of suburban streets on the fringe of Los …
The Junky's Wife Explained When I was in my late teens and early 20s, I was a spectacular train wreck. I used coke, a lot, sometimes for days on end. I cut myself. I hated …
A Spoon He called and asked me to bring him a pair of shorts, his sketch pad, a soda, and something to eat. He made a big deal about how I shouldn't look in the …
I Hate Second Avenue I went back to driving a cab after a hiatus of six months. When I showed up at the garage for my first shift, my buddy Sam updated me on the …
The Five-Nine The 59th Street Bridge was a wreck. I knew because I called a few of my taxi buddies one night while they were driving their cabs. I was on an "extended hiatus" and …
On April 11 of this year, Copley Press, parent of the Union-Tribune, sold nine newspapers in Illinois and Ohio for $382.5 million. Now we know: those papers were losing money. The buyer was GateHouse Media …
Flashbulb anticipation The Jonestown massacre was responsible for my growing up bereft of popular culture. Not because I was orphaned by Kool Aid--drinking parents or because I belonged to a cult, but because my mother …
My Body is my paintbrush Everyone asks the question: "How much money do you make as a professional belly dancer?" The "baby" belly dancers want to know because they've got dilated dollar signs in their …
If you follow the National Hockey League, you'll remember where you were on April 18, 1999, the day Wayne Gretzky scored his 2857th and last point. If you like college basketball, you'll remember that day …