Here is the agenda for the May 6 Carmel Valley Recreation Council Meeting (7:00 PM at the Carmel Valley Rec Center): (more…)

The League of Women Voters is holding a Meet the Candidates Mixer on Thursday, May 1, 2008 from 5:30 to 8:00 PM in the Silver Room of the San Diego Concourse at City Hall (202 C Street, San Diego). The brochure says: Join City, Labor & Independent Financial Experts for an Eye-Opening Reality Check and Meet the Candidates Mixer. Mingle with Candidates for Mayor, City Council, City Attorney and Board of Education. There will be hearty appetizers served, and a Cash bar. Cost is $20 at the door.

I just received info that the City is proposing cutting pool hours. If you’d like to protest this change, there is a City Council meeting TONIGHT, April 30, at 6:00 PM (sorry for the short notice.) Here is what I was sent: The latest version of the San Diego City budget, released 4/14/08, includes even more budget cuts for the city pools than last year. This means that not only will most of the pools be closed again for 14 weeks during the winter, but most of the employees will be cut to 30 hours a week. This will severely impact the programs they can offer, from swim lessons, to swim team, to water polo and senior water fitness classes. If you would like to speak up in support of the Carmel Valley Pool, please attend the City Council Meeting Wednesday April 30th at 6:00 p.m. in the City Administration Building, 12th floor (Council Chambers), 202 “C” Street. In past years, the pools that had the largest representation from their communities at the budget hearing remained open year round. Show up in support of the Carmel Valley Pool!

Conner’s Cause is an organization that helps families of children with life threatening diseases. Started by a Carmel Valley family, Conner’s Cause has done a great job over the years. They just got some good press for their annual Golf Fundraiser at La Costa (see the Channel 10 Story and the Channel 10 Video). They also have an annual Gala (at the Scripps Aquarium this year) in October. See the Conner’s Cause web site for details.

This Saturday (May 3) is registration for the CV Rec Center Summer Camps (see the Summer Camp Brochure). Because of this, the CV Rec Center Gym will not be open for basketball until 11:00 AM.

The May Gym Schedule for the Carmel Valley Recreation Center is now available, and the online version has been updated on this site. See the CV Recreation Center page or the CV Rec Center Gym Schedule page for online schedule information, or obtain a printed copy at the CV Rec Center.

If you receive HD Television via an antenna, you’ve probably noticed that KGTV Channel 10 has been offline since Sunday Night. I emailed the station, and they say they should be back online today (Tuesday, April 29):

On Sunday night, we experienced a failure of a part on our digital transmitter. A replacement part arrived today and we will hopefully be back up and running by this afternoon. I apologize for the inconvenience. The standard analog signal is available. (From Patrick Givans, Director of Technology, KGTV-10 & KZSD-41)

The National Weather Service has a nice write-up of the Average Monthly Weather for San Diego. For May, it says:

May is normally characterized by persistent overcast skies during the night and morning hours and by less sunshine than any other month except June… Our long dry season usually begins in May…

Read on for the full description… (more…)

Our Congressman, Brian Bilbray, calls nuclear energy “one of the cleanest energy sources known to mankind”, possibly forgetting about the concentrated, toxic waste that is produced. See Bilbray’s Web Site for details. Yes, we need to solve pollution problems and end our reliance on imported oil, but it seems to me that long transmission lines (SDG&E) and nuclear plants (Bilbray) are solutions from the 1960s. I’d prefer to look forward to technologies like distributed generation, solar and wind (and who knows what is yet to come!) The US needs to step up and be the leader, not a follower. Come on Brian, let’s see some visionary thinking!

I’ve heard that there is a fire burning, possibly south of Torrey Hills. If you have any information, please post in the comments! Update: Thanks for all the information from everyone in the comments! It looks like the fire has burned about 100 acres and is 90 percent contained. See Channel 10 News Web Site and Fox 6 News Web Site for more details. Link to a Flickr photo set in the comments.

Solana Beach is holding Paws in the Park on Saturday, April 26 from 11:00 to 3:00 PM at La Colonia Park, 715 Valley Avenue. It’s said to be a “Tail Waggin’ Day” for pets and their people. See the Paws in the Park Brochure (PDF).

Some good art festivals coming up this spring. This weekend (April 26 and 27, noon to 6:00 PM) is Artwalk in Little Italy (see the Artwalk Web Site), featuring art, music, dance and fun. Also, the Carlsbad Village Fair is the first Sunday in May (May 4, see the Carlsbad Village Fair Web Site.)

Gas at the Shell station on Del Mar Heights Road (near I-5) is now up to $4.19 for the cheap stuff, but you’ll pay closer to $4.50 for the high octane brew. Yes, this is the most expensive station in the area, but, wow! I hope that summer doesn’t have us all reminiscing about how nice it was when gas was “only” $4 per gallon…

I’ve been waiting for Time Warner Cable to add more HD channels, with no luck. So, I switched to DirecTV. Why? I wanted HD versions of USA and SciFi, and the ability to record two HD channels. Time Warner just doesn’t have the channels. AT&T doesn’t have the channels and only allows one HD channel at a time (no HD in the kitchen if you’re watching HD in the office.) DirecTV has the best mix for my needs, 90 HD channels and working to add more. Note: my cost is about the same as cable, and DirecTV didn’t pay me to say this. Anyone else have experiences to share?

May’s free family music program sponsored by The Friends of the Carmel Valley Library will be presented on Wed., May 14th at 7:00 p.m. in the library’s community room. It will feature classical mandolin virtuoso Chris Acquavella and guitarist Alexander Meyers in a program tracing the history of the mandolin from the baroque and classical periods up to today. It will include compositions by Domenico Scarlatti, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Raffaele Calace, Astor Piazzolla, and Stephen Funk Pearson. The program will last 45 minutes. (more…)