I'm flipping back and forth between the Boise/Nevada game on ESPN2 and San Diego State's self-immolation in Albuquerque, which, thankfully, is only available on radio. Still, it feels like an unnatural act of media consumption, …
November 30, 2006
United States
New Team On The Runway
Enjoy a panorama of mountains, blue ocean, and plenty of urban sprawl from Orange County's Robbers Peak.
The name Robbers Peak commemorates the notorious outlaws Joaquin Murietta, Three Finger Jack, and others of the late 1800s. Swooping down out of the hills, these bandits terrorized farmers below and preyed upon passengers traveling …
November 2, 2006
Playing Hard to Get, Chargers Prefer L.A.
In France, a common mini-scandal is the ménage à trois, a person with two lovers, sometimes under the same roof. The San Diego Chargers, secretly and lustfully eyeing the Los Angeles market, may outscandalize the …
November 2, 2006
It's the Opposite of a Caribbean Minute
Heymatt: This week our local paper had in its sports headline something about the Mets and a New York minute. What is a New York minute? Are there only 58 or 59 seconds in their …
October 26, 2006
Liebre Mountain swells to a mile-high altitude north of Los Angeles.
The cool, forested north slopes of Liebre Mountain rear up in stark contrast to the wide, brown Antelope Valley (westernmost Mojave Desert) at their feet. The San Andreas Fault, which lies along the mountain's north …
October 5, 2006
Mimi Smartypants in Chicago, Illinois
Me So Kooky First, the office is really big on this pupil-dilation thing. I know, preventive care blah blah, but it's just never convenient and I hate it, so I declined this time around. And …
September 28, 2006
Climb Beacon Hill in L.A.'s Griffith Park for a bird's eye view of valley and mountains.
Sharply terminated by the Los Angeles River and Interstate 5, Beacon Hill stands as the last eastward gasp of a 50-mile-long mountain range -- the Santa Monica Mountains. Back in the early 20th century, the …
September 21, 2006
Mimi Smartypants in Chicago, Illinois
Urban Encounters This morning I was walking up the subway stairs right behind one of those girls . You know, with the hair? And the fingernails? And the ass pants? Her ass was pretty much …
September 21, 2006
Heart-Stopping Architecture
Hey, Matt: In those Lipitor commercials with Dr. Jarvik, he is standing in front of and walking through a stunning piece of architecture. What and where is it? -- Michael Faught, Clairemont Get yourself a …
September 21, 2006
MIMI Smartypants in Chicago, Illinois
Box of Munchkins I went out drinking last night, and while it was fun and social and a nice change of pace from my evening routine of wholesome dinner, playing on the rug, and Elmo's …
September 14, 2006
Over a Pork Barrel
Ex-congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham was packed off to prison for accepting bribes from Defense Department lobbyists, but the scandal hasn't crimped the campaign fund-raising style of his onetime close GOP colleague Duncan Hunter, chairman of …
September 7, 2006
Mimi Smartypants in Chicago, Illinois
Parade of Weirdness The Set-up: Although I usually profess to hate humanity, the truth is that I am a dedicated observer of human quirks and oddities, particularly the collection of human quirks and oddities that …
September 7, 2006
Catch a panoramic view of south Orange County's coastline from Seaview Park in Laguna Niguel.
Starting from Seaview Park in the city of Laguna Niguel, a brief walk on a popular trail will take you past several interpretive panels annotating the common species of coastal vegetation found throughout coastal Southern …
August 17, 2006
Florida Overpays For San Diego's Cluster Outfits
Will San Diego's vaunted industrial clusters bomb out? Hardly. But one biotech center, Scripps Research Institute, is already setting up a branch in Florida, and another, Burnham Institute for Medical Research, is expected to announce …
August 10, 2006
How To Own A Thoroughbred
Turns out last week's screed on gambling (emphasis on legal gambling in California) was incomplete. I assure you staff will be disciplined, but in the meantime, let's shout out the good news about mule racing! …
July 27, 2006