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i On San Diego

GAS PAINS: The New York Times is laughing at us again. This time, it’s about our gas prices. Of course, a few weeks later these prices were looking relatively good, but when the Times ran a photo of the marquee at La Jolla’s Union 76 station last month, showing “High Performance” self-serve at $4.69 a gallon, it must have shocked our East Coast friends. But wait; the Times missed the bigger story. In the photo, regular unleaded was posted at $4.29 a gallon — unless, of course, you opted to ante up for “full service” at what we used to call “service stations.” That was posted at $5.49 a gallon — a buck-twenty per gallon higher than self-serve. So, let’s do the math. Say your car has a 20-gallon tank — that’s 20 times $1.20, or $24. Now, figure it takes an attendant five minutes to fill a gas tank and squeegee your windows. At $24 per five minutes, that’s $288 an hour — for a gas jockey. Shall we all quit our day jobs?

MEANWHILE: Steve Gaffen, who moved 13 years ago from San Diego to Kansas City (where gas will always be cheaper), observes: With gas prices so high all across the country, brides this season are starting to register at ARCO stations . . . Which leads to Jerry St. James’ observation: “The other day, I went to fill my gas tank, and the attendant offered to dab a tiny bit on my wrist so I could sniff it.” . . . Which leads, ineluctably, to my own observation: Under the circumstances, don’t you think it might be time for a name change at Thrifty gas stations?

THE LIMELIGHT: John Brice, who likes to see how others view us, did a Factiva search on “San Diego” a few weeks back. He found 68 hits for the day. Alas, two-thirds of them were stories about the big drug bust at San Diego State University — in media as varied as the Orlando Sentinel, the Newcastle Evening Chronicle (England), mX (Australia), The Wall Street Journal, The Canadian Press, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Agence France-Presse and CNN (where the college bust led the news — followed by the cyclone that killed tens of thousands in Myanmar).

SAN DIEGO SHUFFLE: Former Old Globe artistic director Jack O’Brien is going Broadway again. The triple Tony-winning director is aiming to open a new musical, based on the life of magician Harry Houdini, in spring of 2010 . . . Dan Nigro, who took over as New York City fire chief on September 17, 2001, in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, comes into San Diego September 26 to keynote the Red Cross’s 2008 Real Heroes Breakfast . . . The TV pilot Mythological X that shot in Ocean Beach last April has been picked up by CBS-TV for its fall line-up. Now called The Ex List, the series will continue to film in San Diego . . . The San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, celebrating its fifth birthday in November, has already earned honors from ForbesTraveler.com as one of the best U.S. food and wine events. Forbes calls our festival an “elegant affair . . . at the top of every foodie’s must-list.”

OLD HABITS: Convicted scam artist Giuliana Bosco, whose misadventures were chronicled in this magazine two years ago this month (“Hook, Line and Sucker” by Tom Basinski), is back in the slammer, courtesy of state parole agents. Bosco, who was released from prison after serving her time, was allegedly scouting for new victims. Agents were tipped off by a potential victim and alert reader, who recalled the San Diego Magazine story. At last report, Bosco was cooling her heels as a guest of the state while the lengthy parole-revocation process unfolds.

OKAY, WHICH IS IT? First, it was Forbes magazine, ranking us among America’s Most Sinful Cities. (We came up short on lust, jealousy, greed, wrath and sloth, but we scored high on gluttony and pride.) So then we have Best Life magazine with a conflicting report. In its annual ranking of the “100 Best Places to Raise a Family,” the editors ranked San Diego up at fifth . . . Ah, but then it’s winner take all, right? Now comes Men’s Journal with its ranking of the “50 Best Places to Live.” San Diego? “Best Big City.” Says MJ: “Never too warm or cold. An achingly beautiful stretch of coast. The best fish tacos this side of the border. This is the stuff of dreams.”

THE LAST WORD: Tom Gable forwards “The Irish Take on Our Elections,” posted just before Hillary Clinton “suspended” her campaign for the presidency: “We, in Ireland, can’t figure out why you are even bothering to hold an election in the United States. On the one side, you have a witch who is a lawyer, married to a lawyer, running against a lawyer who is married to a witch who is a lawyer. On the other side, you have a war hero married to a good-looking rich woman who owns a beer distributorship. What are you lads thinking over there?”

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