LIGHTS FANTASTIC
Printer-friendly version December 20, 2009 (San Diego’s East County) –Looking for some spectacular holiday lighting displays? We found the home in these photos on Kildare Lane in Santee (1 block west of Fanita). Yes, these elaborate displays are all on a single house! (Glad we’re not paying this electric bill–but the display is definitely dazzling.) To find more neighborhoods that light up with elaborate holiday illuminations, visit http://sandiego.about.com/od/thingstodo/a/holiday_lights.htm. Know of some noteworthy holiday displays not listed here? Post links or directions in the comments section below. We are especially interesting in finding local holiday lighting displays feature low-energy LED holiday lights. (If you find one, please send us a photo at editor@eastcountymagazine.org!) Printer-friendly version
WILD HOLIDAYS AT THE SAN DIEGO ZOO’S WILD ANIMAL PARK
Printer-friendly version December 20,2009 (Escondido) – Want to create a gift for a lion, elephant, vulture or meerkat? The San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park is hosting enrichment days for guests to view animals playing with hand-painted boxes, popcorn-stuffed bags, insect-filled tubes and more. You can even create your own meerkat maze, paint a lion toy, or prepare a taco for an elephant with hay and food pellets. The San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park will stay open until 7 p.m. during Wild Holidays December 20 and 26-31. In addition, enrichment activities will continue on January 1 and 2, when the park will be open until 6 p.m. Among the activities planned is a black light puppet show in the Benbough Amphitheater at 5:30 and 6:30 each night. On Friday, the meerkat enclosure was a frenzy of excitement as pint-sized entertainers discovered bags full of treats hand-painted by Wild Animal Park visitors. One dived into a bag with “I HEART meerkats” written on the front. Other meerkats pounced on holiday decorated bags filled with popcorn, sunflower seeds and pomegranate seeds. This is the first year that regularly scheduled enrichment hours are offered for guests to view animals savoring gifts made by guests. Cost to create gifts for the animals is free with paid admission. 2008 was the last year of the Park’s Festival of Lights. For more information, see http://www.wildanimalpark.org/. Printer-friendly version
NUDE DRIVER KILLS SELF IN EL CAJON
Printer-friendly version December 20, 2009 (El Cajon) – A naked man shot and killed himself while driving in El Cajon shortly after 6 p.m. last night, El Cajon public affairs officer Monica Zech confirmed. After committing suicide, the driver struck a telephone pole and sheared it off. The accident occurred at West Main and El Monte. El Cajon Police, California Highway Patrol and fire authorities responded. The suicide victim, a white male adult, has not been identified pending notification of kin. Printer-friendly version
AT&T UPGRADES HISTORIC LA MESA BUILDING
Printer-friendly version December 20, 2009 (La Mesa) – La Mesa Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting earlier this month to celebrate AT&T’s aesthetic enhancements to its building at the corner of La Mesa Boulevard and Spring Street. Those enhancements included addition to the building’s exterior of tiled mosaics depicting scenes from the company’s history. “AT&T strives to be a good neighbor and these historic photos help our building fit in with The Village in La Mesa,” said Brian Gray, director of AT&T External Affairs. “I’d like to thank the La Mesa Council for their leadership and helping us identify a way for this building to connect with pedestrians and La Mesa.” AT&T has been in business for 130 year, with an original mission to “connect any person to any other person – anywhere in the world,” Gray recalled. “Guess what? Today our mission is the same – to connect people so they can communicate. Now, as you can see from these photos, the trucks and equipment have changed a bit. The people look a little different. The way people communicate has changed, but AT&T is still providing the connections.” Printer-friendly version
WILL POWER REPORT: DOCTORS CHARGE “FACILITY FEE”
Printer-friendly version Nothing but the truth! By Will Power December 21, 2009 — If you are like me and get incomprehensible MD billing statements prepared in India by Urdu-speaking clerks who can’t read English, get ready for the newest medical fee to come down the pike. It’s called a "Facility Fee" and is not covered by insurance, but by the patient (http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-myturn21-2009dec21,0,4628991.story). The minute you walk through the MD’s office door you get nicked, for anywhere from $75 to $250. The Facility Fee is to charge for "wear and tear" you inflict on the office furniture. Stand in the corner on a newspaper and pay anyway! This fee is over and above any other fees, like the fee for an "office visit". The "Facility Fee" helps pay for the office rent and the seventeen insurance clerks whose job it is to make sure your next bill is late and loaded with junk fees. I don’t know what consumers can do to halt the bloating cost of health care administration. I’m beginning to think I might start driving to Tijuana to see a doctor. Outsourcing medical care to foreign MD’s is about our only option. Perhaps foreign doctors could do consultations with webcams. My MD can’t bill me on time for anything. I think they deliberately hold back billing to ensure the deductable isn’t paid, thereby ensuring the patient pays more out-of-pocket. It’s gotten so slow I am thinking of changing doctors. But I won’t see a doctor who charges a "Facility Fee". It’s another unconscionable abuse of the rights of patients to see a doctor. In fact, if i could avoid doctors, I would avoid them at all costs. They damage your mental, financial ,and physical heath. And they do it to make payments on their yachts. If you have questions about your bill, you will get some clerk in Bangalore who went to 15-minute English phrase school. Good luck with that! Printer-friendly version