If you are going to the Del Mar Fair that starts this weekend, please check out the Photography exhibit. It's my favorite and I am happy this year that they have have accepted one of my photographs for the show. It's called "Desert" and was taken near Las Vegas, Nevada last year.

Free and green. Those are the goals of a pilot program launched today by the U.S. Postal Service that allows customers to recycle small electronics and inkjet cartridges by mailing them free of charge.

The “Mail Back” program helps consumers make more environmentally friendly choices, making it easier for customers to discard used or obsolete small electronics in an environmentally responsible way. Customers use free envelopes found in 1,500 Post Offices to mail back inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players – without having to pay for postage.

Postage is paid for by Clover Technologies Group, a nationally recognized company that recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics. If the electronic item or cartridges cannot be refurbished and resold, its component parts are reused to refurbish other items, or the parts are broken down further and the materials are recycled. Clover Technologies Group has a “zero waste to landfill” policy: it does everything it can to avoid contributing any materials to the nation’s landfills.

It was this philosophy that won Clover the contract with the Postal Service, besting 19 other companies, said Anita Bizzotto, chief marketing officer and executive vice president for the Postal Service.

“As one of the nation’s leading corporate citizens, the Postal Service is committed to environmental stewardship,” Bizzotto said. “This program is one more way the Postal Service is empowering consumers to go green.”

The free, postage-paid Mail Back envelopes can be found on displays in Post Office lobbies. There is no limit to the number of envelopes customers may take.

The pilot is set for 10 areas across the country, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego, but could become a national program this fall if the pilot program proves successful.

The Postal Service recycles 1 million tons of paper, plastic and other materials annually. Last year, USPS generated more than $7.5 million in savings through recycling and waste prevention programs. The nation’s environmental watchdog, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Postal Service eight WasteWise Partner of the Year awards, the agency’s top honor.

The Mail Back program is another example of the Postal Service’s commitment to sustainability. USPS is the only shipping or mailing company in the nation to receive Cradle to CradleSM Certification from MBDC (McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry) for human and environmental health. More than half a billion packages and envelopes provided by the Postal Service annually are nearly 100 percent recyclable and are produced with the least harmful materials. Based on the recycled content of these envelopes and packages, more than 15,000 metric tons of carbon equivalent emissions (climate change gases) now are prevented annually.

“We know our customers are interested in real solutions for proper disposal of personal electronics,” Bizzotto said. “Everyone from consumers to businesses to non-profit organizations use the mail, and the Postal Service works to manage resources wisely to minimize environmental impact.”

Sony and Waste Management have announced a one-day recycling event on Saturday, March 8, Qualcomm Stadium, from 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.  Both residents and businesses are encouraged to drop off outdated electronic equipment to be properly recycled at no charge courtesy of sponsors.  All brands of equipment will be accepted.  Items accepted include TVs, computer monitors, computer systems, VCRs, DVDs, cameras, phones, stereo equipment, videogame consoles, keyboards, cables, scanners, printers, fax machines, ink jet and printer cartridges, phones (including cellular), computer mice and rechargeable batteries. 

Items that cannot be accepted are:  microwaves, humidifiers, thermometers, air conditioners, smoke/fire alarms, and large household appliances such as dishwashers, refrigerators and washer/dryers. 

Sony and Waste Management and its Recycle America locations, hope these types of events will build awareness for the importance of proper e-waste recycling and come closer to a goal set by Sony to recycle one pound of old consumer electronics for every pound of new product sold.

Check out this 2008 calendar of sunsets all taken in and around the San Diego, Ca area.

Makes a great holiday gift! All photo's by David McCarter. Click here to purchase.

If a disaster hits San Diego again, like the recent wild fires, here is a list of some important resources:

24-hour Community, Health and Disaster Information
Dial 2-1-1

County General Information Line
858-694-3900

San Diego County Emergency Homepage
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dmpr/emer/index.html

County Office of Emergency Services fire updates
www.sdcountyemergency.com

City of San Diego Emergency Fire Information
http://www.sandiego.gov/newsflash/firealert.shtml

San Diego Transit - Public Transit Information
http://transit.511sd.com/

California Highway Patrol - Traffic and Road Closures
www.cad.chp.ca.gov

County of San Diego Road Closures
http://www.sdcdpw.org/

County Animal Services - Emergency Information
619-767-2675

San Diego Humane Society Animal Evacuations
http://www.sdhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter__HarrisWitchcreekFire

San Diego County Office of Education
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/

TV News 8 -- Road closures, evac centers, fire maps, and a tool to look up specific home addresses for info on whether the home has been lost.

http://www.cbs8.com/

San Diego Union-Tribune / SignOnSanDiego coverage
http://www.signonsandiego.com/

San Diego Red Cross
http://www.sdarc.org/site/pp.asp?c=erKQL4NQE&b=127361

FEMA - "Helping Children Cope with Disaster"
http://www.fema.gov/rebuild/recover/cope_child.shtm

San Diego Gas & Electric
www.sdge.com

The reason is that I work about 4 miles from where I live in the Del Mar area. My 10 - 15 minute commute home every evening is now taking 30 - 60+ minutes! As soon as the fair is done then racing season starts... we don't get a break all summer! Fridays are really bad during racing season because of the late start and concerts.

I don't think the owners/ promoters of these events give any thought to the many thousands of people that are put out for 3 months and we get nothing out of it.

Okay, I'm not... but I am tired of hearing about this! So I decided to do something about it. Check out my new web site:

http:\\ImAnnaNicolesBabysFather.com

You too can register as the "real" father of the baby and see a map of the world to see where her donor tour went (coming soon). Wonder what country will win? You can get your very own I'm Anna Nicole's Baby's Father swag and let the world know that you are the true father!

Today I almost got hit a few times from a woman doing her makeup in her car!!! I am so tired of people doing things in their car besides driving... talking on cellphone, makeup, eating, not paying attention etc. So I found this great site, www.roadrage.com, that has these AWESOME flip card that allow you to express your feelings. Below are one of my favorites.

The American Association of Blood Banks just awarded me a 3 Gallon Donor certificate! I started giving blood a long time ago because a friend of mine got a very rare kind of cancer at the age of 16. So I donate to the American Cancer Society... my way of doing something. While her mother was taking care of her, she came down with cancer and died shortly after that. Pretty sad.

Anyway, I encourage everyone to donate to your local blood bank every eight weeks! If you live in San Diego, visit the San Diego Blood Bank.

Picture a concert with today's greatest musical talents...a carnival...a celebration of culture...this is STREET SCENE 2006. Headliners Tool and Kanye West top the list of the more than 45 internationally acclaimed performers who are confirmed for this year’s two-day event. The 22nd annual STREET SCENE is set for Friday, August 4 and Saturday, August 5 and will take place in a massive 2.5 million square foot area outside Qualcomm Stadium adjacent to downtown San Diego.

Performing on the six stages, this year’s line-up is a mix of Alternative and Indie to Hip Hop and Reggae artists: Tool, Kanye West, AFI, Social Distortion, Snoop Dogg, Modest Mouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Queens of the Stone Age, Wu Tang Clan, My Chemical Romance, Sean Paul, Bloc Party, Bad Religion, Yellowcard, Tricky, She Wants Revenge, Steel Pulse, G Love & Special Sauce, Slightly Stoopid, The Subways, The Editors, The Futureheads, Donavon Frankenreiter, Rock Kills Kid, Matchbook Romance, Bedouin Soundclash, Tapes 'n Tapes, West Indian Girl, Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited, Cheb I Sabbah & The 1002 Nights, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, Dirty On Purpose, The Colour, The Shys, Mutaytor, Particle, Yard Dogs, Drag Show, Lydia, Lupe Fiasco, Ska Cubano and others TBA.

Doors open at 3:00 PM, with music getting underway at 4:00 PM and continuing until 12 midnight on both days. The multi-stage event will feature top-of-the line sound and lighting to ensure an incredible music experience for all.

But as previous STREET SCENE attendees know--it’s about more than just the music here. Aside from the longtime partnership with “Southwest Airlines Taste of San Diego” featuring some of the best food from San Diego’s top restaurants, this year’s STREET SCENE is also shaping up to be a virtual feast for the ears and eyes. Concertgoers will also enjoy Mutaytor: a phenomenal, cutting-edge circus act with fire dancers, tribal drums, aerial acrobatics, stunning visual and audio effects; The Yard Dogs Road Show, a critically acclaimed vaudeville/burlesque act; The Dragon House Drag Show; a drum circle; carnival rides; interactive art installations; and arts and craft vendor booths from throughout southern California.

While a special pre-sale of two-day tickets has already sold out (via an email outreach to longtime festival supporters), fans can purchase two day passes beginning Monday, May 22 at noon via the website (www.street-scene.com) or by phone at 877-840-0457. A limited number of weekend passes will be available for $115; once the initial allotment of weekend passes has sold out, the price will increase to $125 and finally $135. Single day tickets will go on sale in July. Onsite parking passes will also be available for $15 per day.

Additionally, “Street Scene VIP Ultra Lounge” packages are available for $700. The two-person (21 and over), two-day package includes: two weekend tickets; a hosted beer & wine bar plus exclusive VIP cocktail specials; delicious catered dinner; VIP parking; a private, nohassle entrance; seating with live video feeds on plasmas from all key stages; private VIP restrooms; and various other surprises.

STREET SCENE was launched in 1984 with two versions of the event (one in May, the other in August). Originally set in a one block area of downtown San Diego (on 5th Avenue between J & K Streets), the event’s first-year performers included Los Lobos and The Blasters in May, and X, Robert Cray, and the Neville Brothers in August. By 1987, Street Scene had become a once-a-year occurrence. The Gaslamp location was utilized for 19 years. In 2004, while celebrating its 20th Anniversary, the annual event moved to a venue adjacent to Petco Park. This enabled festival organizers to allow people to move more freely between the festival’s performance areas while remaining in an easily accessible central San Diego location. The move to the Qualcomm Stadium location in 2005 allowed for an even more expanded area. Throughout the festival’s 20-year history, fans have come to expect a mix of some of the top names in music.

For up-to-the-minute updates, hotel information, transportation, parking and other facts, please visit www.street-scene.com.

In June Heart comes to the Del Mar Fair with their Love Rules Tour. They are awesome live so when tickets went on sale today I went to purchase tickets and was shocked to find out that tickets for floor seats were a whopping $153 each! You have got to be kidding me? That’s too much money to see a band at the fair? I have never heard of this before. The last time they were in San Diego tickets cost around $60. I sure would like to know what caused the jump in ticket cost to see them. I seriously many people will pay the $153, $90 or $50 ticket cost for decent seats. Sorry Heart, I will not see you for that cost.

Last Friday the Tio Leo's bar in Del Mar got robbed by the 'Restaurant Robber'. One of my friends was in the bar while the robbery was going on. She called 911 on her cell phone (I'm not sure if she did this before of after he took her purse). It took about five minutes for a 911 operator to answer the phone! That is just too long.

Just think if her call was answered right away and there was a police car in the area. This guy could have been stopped and not been able to continue his string of robberies!

How much time is wasted where you work because people come in late, go home early, call in sick, inept at their job etc? Well the current place I am contracting I have never seen a bunch of employees abuse the system so badly. I won't say where it is, but let’s just say it's related to the government. No, I'm not saying people should come into work when they are sick... PLEASE DON'T! But when it seems they take sick time every week it gets kind of suspicious.

To make this more visible here, they usually email when people won't be around. For the last two weeks, I have kept track of this and here are the results:

9/26
Sam out today.
Jayne will be out the rest of today.

9/27
Nancy will be in late.
Steven out sick.
Tom G working from home.

9/28
Tom G will be in late.

9/29
Jayne will be working from home the rest of today.

9/30
Tom G will be working from home this morning.

10/4
Fred out sick.

10/5
Fred out sick.

10/6
Martin will be in late.
Annie out sick.
Alice will be in late.
Martin went home sick.

This is just what was publicly announced. It does not include people that just came in and out without notice. Plus we have less than 20 people in our department!

If you can believe it, as I was writing this today, here is what happened:

Tom G will be in late.
Fred is out sick (he was out the next day too).
Annie will be in late.
Martin went home sick.

How can a department function with these work ethics going on? Well, it gets worse here. Let me tell you about some of the biggest abusers.

Annie is constantly coming in late, leaving early, calling in sick, taking long lunches and more. Most of here lateness, sick and early departures are due to her kids being sick, taking them to school etc. For the longest time I figured her husband worked long hours and was not around much. But then I found out he is an artist and works at home! So what's up with him helping out!?!?! One day she had the nerve to bring in one of her sick, coughing and hacking kids and let him run around the office so he could infect the rest of us. I left early that day! When she actually is at work, she can spend an hour or more on the phone chatting with her friends. She disappears for hours during lunch. She also volunteers (a lot) to help out with company activities during work time so she can get out of working and there is more. She is a database administrator and made a huge mistake recently and cost the company 40K+! As the norm around here, nothing happened to her.

Zack is a programmer in our department. I don't know first hand how good he is, but he has been working on the same project for two years and has not completed the first phase. I was told by another programmer that his project should have taken six months at the most. So why has it been taking him so long? Well maybe because for the last two years he has been working on his real estate license at work. He got his license and now I'm told he devotes around 80% or more of his day running his real estate business from his cube!?!?!

Stephen is another programmer that has been working two years on a project that should have taken him three months. I don't know what his story is... yet.

Rob is a programmer that skills could be in question. About a year or so ago a hacker broke into the company and stole thousands of teacher and employees personal information. This made the news. Because of his sloppy programming, he stored this sensitive information in normal text files that anyone could open and read! As usual in this department, nothing happened to Rob after the break-in which has cost the company an untold amount of money.

I can keep going, but in summary, this is a typical government facility if not worse. What I mean by that is once you work here about two years it takes an act of god to fire you. So many people just shut down and wait for retirement (I'm told they have great benefits here). I usually estimate 90% of the people here are in this mode. The other 10% actually do the work, but it's very difficult because the other 90% are always trying to stop anything you are trying to do... because it might actually cause them some work.

I just never understood this mostly male pastime. I just started working at a new place last week and I would say there are at least 100 males or more on my floor (and only 2 toilets). Just about every time I go in, there is someone in the big stall… reading. The other day people were coming in, needed to use a stall, and he just sat there quietly waiting for them to leave before he turned the page.

I never liked bathrooms, especially sticky, hot, dirty ones like where I work. I get in and out of a bathroom, including mine at home, as soon as I can. I never linger reading or thinking. So why do so many men do? Do they need to read to “complete the task at hand”? Is this the only place they can find peace and quiet so they can think?

Now, I could figure out why they might want to linger if they have a Playboy or Hustler with them, but here at work I see guys taking in the San Diego Reader? Go figure.

Here is a letter that I just sent to the GoodGuys store telling them of a recent "bad" experience... I wonder if I will hear anything back from them?

"I writing to let GoodGuys know how unhappy I am with a recent experience when getting my car stereo repaired at your La Jolla, Ca store. They removed it from my car and the manager told me it should take about two weeks to repair and they will give me a call when it arrives back in the store. About 3 ½ weeks later, I finally called the repair center and they told me it was sent back to the store over 20 days earlier! It is totally unacceptable no one from the store called me to let me know it was there!

That next weekend I arrived at the store just as it opened. I got my car stereo and then informed the manager that my unit has been there over 20 days and no one called me. He seemed perplexed and the told me that there was a system in place to call the customer when the unit arrived and then continue to call them afterwards. Obviously, this system is not working.

When the installation person (has been at the store only three weeks) started putting in my unit, he told me that two clips that were needed for mounting and the trim ring were missing. I don’t recall if the person that took out my unit gave me those items or not. This installation person told me it’s common for the repair facility not to send these items back?!?! Again, this is totally unacceptable… no matter who screwed up this part of the process.

So after showing the manager what happened and then waiting about 30 more minutes, the manager said he was going to order a new trim ring and it should be here within a week. So the installation person installed my unit, minus the ring. Later that day I discovered that the radio did not work. It can’t find any stations, so I assume the installation person did not hook up my antenna when he installed my unit. Again, totally unacceptable!

About a month later my trim ring was finally arrived, installed and the installation person fixed the radio stations issue (he plugged in the antenna). About a month after that the unit broke again.

I believe that an important part of any business like yours is after the sale service. About 10 years ago or so Circuit City gave me a few bad service experiences and I have never been in their store since. When I stopped going to Circuit City, I started buying most of my “big ticket” items (big screen TV, VCR, DVD players etc) at GoodGuys. After this experience I will not be bringing in my broken car stereo to GoodGuys or buying a new one from you."

I think I will check out BestBuy this weekend to replace my car stereo. I hope my experience there goes better.

Driving in San Diego is getting worse and worse. Not only because traffic is getting noticeably worse by the month, but I swear drivers are getting more stupid by the month too! Last night, like many nights, almost every driver I passed on the freeway that was driving like an idiot (driving too slow for the lane they were in, constantly pressing their breaks for no apparent reason, swerving, making lane changes that made no sense etc.) had a cell phone glued to their ear!

You can not tell me that cell phone users do not cause more traffic accidents and/or cause more traffic problems! About a month or so ago, a woman drove off a bridge here in San Diego (and I think died) because she was on her cell phone. I am a big believer that cell phones should be totally banned in cars or at least force drivers to use headsets so both hands are on the wheel.

While I'm on my soapbox I would like to explain what on an off ramps for the freeway are for since many drivers don't seem to know.

On ramps: Yes, these are to get on the freeway, but "most" are designed for you to get up to freeway speeds before you enter into the freeway! They are not to just drive like you are on a lazy Sunday drive and enter the freeway going 40 and then speed up! Come on people! Any you wonder why the freeways are so messed up!

Off ramps: These are to slow down and exit the freeway. You are not supposed to slow down on the freeway first!

Drivers licenses should be much harder to get in this country!

Just a few years ago on the weekends, people started showing up on the median strip at busy intersections in San Diego selling the weekend edition of the Union-Tribune newspaper. Walking up and down a strip of cement just a few inches wide in the hot sun while cars go speeding past you does not seem like a very safe way to make a living to me. All it takes is one slip or miss-step and that person could easily be run over!

Why the Union-Tribune condones this activity is beyond me. I’m sure it does not take much for them to convince these seeming homeless/ low-income people to put their lives on the line for their newspaper.

I urge you to join me in boycotting any newspaper that does this until they stop this practice!

Every year the morning show (Dave, Shelly and Chainsaw or commonly referred to as the DSC) on KGB 101.5 in San Diego puts together a “best of” CD and sells it during the Thanksgiving/ Christmas holiday season. They take the proceeds and give out $1,000 at a time to people in need. Usually people really down on their luck and need to pay their rent, car payment, bills etc.

Well, this past Christmas (2004), along with the CD they also produced a full-length movie, a comedy of course, called the JK Conspiracy. They did the usual 12 days of Christmas and gave out $1,000 to needy people before they went on Christmas vacation. But this CD/DVD combo sold so well, it brought in almost $250,000! After production costs of around $40,000 they have a lot of money left over.

So what are they doing with it? Well, they are giving it back to the community. Starting in March, every day that they are live on the air until the end of the year they are giving away $1,000 so someone in need. How cool is that! The other morning a mother wrote in and told a story about her daughter’s cars engine blowing up and having to be replaced. Of course her daughter could not pay for this so the she had the engine replaced. Then on the heals of that, the daughter’s car insurance became due and the mother just could not afford to help out. This is where the DSC stepped in and helped out.

The DSC has always been the best morning show I have ever heard, no matter what city I am in and I have been listening to them just about since they started. I have always been impressed with what they do with the money with their “best of” CD’s, but this latest “stunt” just really blows me away. Thanks DSC. How are you going to top this in 2005?

If you have kids in San Diego, then you need to check out this web site brought to you because of Megan's law: http://www.sandiego.gov/police/newsflash/sexoffender.shtml

...you take a walk around it and you see shopping carts littering the sidewalks. I live in the Carmel Valley area of San Diego, which is pretty affluent. Why this started happening here about three or four years ago is beyond me. The funny thing is the carts are never far from the actual store?? Don't these people have a car? If not, are they really pushing home that much that they need a cart? Come on people!!

Last week I went to see "Meet the Fockers" at a movie theater in Mission Valley here in San Diego. I heard the movie was great, maybe even funnier than the first so I was excited to go check it out. My excitement severely dropped when I saw (and heard) at least four small infant babies being brought into the theater by their parents! So I prayed and hoped they would not cry… I was wrong. Not only did one or more of them cry during most of the movie but I swear that they all were crying at one time at one point! This pretty much ruined the movie for me.

I don't know about "most" parents, but when I had my kids, I did not step foot into a movie theater for many years unless we got a grandparent to watch our kids for us. It is totally beyond me why anyone would want to go take an infant or small child to a movie that is rated PG-13 or higher. Heck, kids should only be in G movies and babies should never be there!

Leave your baby at home and wait for the movie to come out on DVD or video! If you can't afford a babysitter, than this is cheaper anyway. I even said something to the parents down the row from me and they still did not take their baby out of the theater so it would stop bothering everyone around them. This is just another example of why I really don't like going out to the movies any more… I just can't take the ever increasing rudeness of the people that go. Don't get me started on cell phones and talking during the movie!!!

Quake Shakes San Diego . An earthquake hit San Diego Tuesday with enough force to make more than a few San Diegans nervous. Where I work, some people actually stood up and exclaimed "... what was that?". I wonder... if a tornado hit the building they would be asking the same question. Then a bunch of people ran to the window as to try to witness massive distruction. FUNNY!

Another grueling major voting period is finally over. The biggest relief is that all those misleading and negative television commercials are gone! Why do you choose to spend so much time tearing down the other candidates? Why can’t you talk about what you are going to do for us? Why can’t you talk about the issues? Why can’t you talk about the plans you have to fix what’s wrong with San Diego, California or America?

 

Instead you just focus on the negative. Are you being a good example (role model) to other Americans? I think not. If you think these types of tactics will deter me from voting… you are wrong! I will make sure I vote… just not for anyone who chooses to participate in this type of negative campaigning!!

 

So I hope you think about this next year. The numbers of people who think like me are growing! Any you wonder why most of us hate politicians.

Dr. Blackbourne (who bares a striking resemblance to Yoda) took the stand on the second day of the Westerfield trial. During his testimony, he seemed to not really give the answer we all have been waiting for… how Danielle Van Dam was murdered. If he were a little greener, I could imagine him saying in my head the following things…

• “Cloud your minds with doubt, I will.”
• “Weather charts? Meditate on that I will do.”
• “I know the time of death, but no real evidence I have.”
• “You must find your own answers, young jurors

Here is a list of people in cars you should avoid at all times while you are driving on the road! (I have seen all of these type of drivers)

1. All VW Bus's! They don't go very fast and screw up the stream of traffic!
2. All Mini-Vans! They are the new VW Bus's!
3. Any driver and rests their head in their hand. If they are too tired to keep their head up, then they must be too tired to pay much attention to the road!
4. All Teenagers!
5. Drivers that eat cereal out of a bowl propped up on the lower part of the steering wheel!
6. Woman driver doing her makeup! I never understood this one. Why can't you women take care of this at home or in the bathroom at the office instead of putting us all in danger or slowing the flow of traffic?
7. Woman driver doing her makeup while on her cell phone!
8. Anyone on a cell phone! Ever notice how they drive slower and act as if they don't know where the hell they are going. They are an accident waiting to happen! Using a cell phone in a car should be made illegal while it’s in motion. Pay attention to the road!!!
9. Anyone who stops two or three car lengths behind the car in front of them at a stoplight. Obviously, these people have a depth perception problem and should not be on the road in the first place!
10. Anyone who puts on their breaks every few seconds for no apparent reason. I can’t figure this one out. Either they have a problem remembering which pedal is for the breaks and which is for the gas? The other reason is that they are so afraid of everything around them that they might needs to slam on the breaks at any millisecond? Who knows.
11. Reading while driving! That's right, reading newspapers, books, memos... I've seen it all. The car is not a library people!
12. Fussing around with something in the passenger seat. No I don't mean a child, I am talking about purses, briefcases or what ever else some of you keep in the passenger seat that for some reason you think driving on the road is a good time to take care of it. Can't you do this before or after you get in the car?
13. Anyone flossing their teeth while driving!