BRUCE K. HUFF / Union-Tribune Bank-owned properties on the market in neighborhoods with numerous foreclosures signal dreams gone bust. They also pull down values in the area for other homeowners, who must compete with the distressed properties if they hope to sell.

Sharply falling housing prices have become an unavoidable fact of life this year, but nowhere in San Diego County has the battered real estate market had more of a striking impact than in a number of central and south county neighborhoods where subprime lending was rampant.

SACRAMENTO – Mike Pennavaria had never sipped lemonade at Nepenthe while soaking in the ocean view. Nor had he walked barefoot along Pfeiffer Beach or sought spiritual growth at Esalen.

The collection agencies call at least 20 times a day. For a little quiet, Diane McLeod stashes her phone in the dishwasher. But right up until she hit the wall financially, McLeod was a dream customer for lenders. She juggled not one but two mortgages, both with interest rates that rose over time, and a car loan and high-cost credit card debt.

On the mainstream-entertainment radar, the CW network's “Supernatural” is just a blip, a scrappy little TV show that is routinely clobbered in the Thursday-night ratings by “Grey's Anatomy” and “CSI.” But at Comic-Con International, which takes over the San Diego Convention Center this week, the ghost-hunting drama and other cult TV favorites will be big news.

2008 VOTE: PRESIDENT

For all the lengths Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain have gone to in keeping their hunt for a vice-presidential running mate under wraps, their deliberations are in some ways being conducted in plain sight.