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Doctors and Penmanship.

 
Seems that people are always in a rush these days, even here in laid back Santa Cruz, California. We have evolved to text messaging, short cryptic code words and symbols to shorten our communication. When we are in a hurry, aren’t we always, we tend to write poorly. Penmanship classes are a thing of the past neat writing is to be commended. A doctor with great penmanship is rarer than a great president.

It always seemed one of the worst offenders were doctors. Yes those hard working men and women in charge of our health often are sloppy writers. You have not doubt been queried by the pharmacist at least once as to the drugs that were prescribed. Even then we both can’t always figure it out, then, a call to the doctors’…

Sea Breeze Tavern,Rio Del Mar

The venerable of Sea Breeze Tavern is back in action in Rio Del Mar, Aptos Ca. This old landmark, albeit unattractive, has been put back into service. Having a long history from probably the early 20’s as a sales office for the Rio Del Mar development, it has been a bar or restaurant for probably most of its life.

I knew it as a biker dive bar in the 80’s and it was run by the owner Georgia Derber. The place had grown rough and was reportedly shut down because too many bar fights.

The place has recently been opened after being shuttered since the late 80’s.I remember looking at it, thinking that some time I’d buy the ugly green building and repaint it. I think Pat, the owner of the Café Rio at that time, had a big…

Researchers at UC Santa Cruz  are working on a multi-layer thin film deposition material for solar panels. The creation of this new material is being built one nano layer at a time, with different layers having different properties. The material is a custom composition that does not exist in nature.

While solar is the natural application that is hot at the moment, this process has the potential of a 3 times increase of efficiency. While this potentially has a great green effect on housing, there are other applications that show promise as well in the formation of hydrogen wherever there is sunlight.

As the real estate in Santa Cruz and other high cost areas is unlikely to significantly change, this could potentially open up for real estate development…

Santa Cruz, California welcomes the minimum wage increase.

Living is Santa Cruz, California is easy and difficult. The lifestyle is easy, but the cost of living makes it difficult for the entry level worker. The California state law went into effect today  to raise the minimum wage from $7.50 per hour to $ 8.00. While this seems like a big increase, and nearly 1.5 million Californians will benefit from this, it is not enough to live on in most parts of California.

Wait people often get income above this due to good service whereby they receive tips, but still need this to make ends meet. Many other states have a tip credit programs that businesses use to offset this labor cost. Oftentimes the biggest expense of a business is labor cost. As you can…

The winter season is upon us, which means the best surfing is yet to come. There are great waves, some of them epic, which has the surfers ready in 24 hours notice for the great contest at Mavericks. This surf contest is located up the coast from Santa Cruz, California in the Half Moon Bay area. There are many past and current champions from Santa Cruz. It is a great thick wave that has recently been brought to the publics attention. and the surf contest has recently gone mainstream.The waves are huge, i.e. 30+ feet in height. These guys who ride them have to be qualified and have real cajones to ride them. They also have in common the liklihood that they may get surfers ear. Others will likely suffer from surfers ear if they don't use hoods and ear plugs.…

Santa Cruz County recycling of Christmas stuff

Christmas can be a delightful time for all, even for the environment. Granted we drive around a lot which isn’t, but at least we have fun wrapping and unwrapping gifts and being responsible.

The deluge of boxes and paper can be recycled with some forethought. The wrapping paper is not good for woodstoves with catalytic converters, but is good for wrapping other smaller gifts. Unwrap carefully and you can re-use the paper and the bows or ribbons. The less of this stuff that ends up in the land fill means the county won’t have to buy more real estate to expand the land fill and it lasts longer. For the old stuff that needs to go because you got a new computer or blender, there is Grey Bears which…

The Santa Cruz area has had an increase in it’s population this past year of 1.16%. While this is not a huge amount, it is some what surprising as we have had increasing prices. Right now the values are a bit softer and we may see a net decrease as we had in California in the early 90’s. To check prices locally, you can go to www.cacoastalhome.com . Back then the national economy was the problem. The national recession had hit and California was delayed in being affected. So after the boom of the late 80’s we fell on hard times here in the 90’s That was in part due to several things which lead to a mass migration from California.

The national recession was the start of the base closures, which affected us immensely. The military, which was dramatically…

This is the time of year we all seem stressed. It is the holidays and we are all supposed to feel ebullient and kind to all. One of the ways you can have more peace in your life it to take more control. To that end in a small way you can do a lot in that arena by controlling who calls you and sends you stuff.

Many companies rely on this time of you for their profits and have the highest sales volumes in the last quarter of the year. If you are bombarded with sales people calling you, and you want to make a complaint, go to the Federal Trade commission. Talk with your parents or other seniors and find out if they are bothered by these calls. Most won’t know of the way to stop them. For a more comprehensive list of things you can do to get off these…