Take a guess where in Simi Valley I took this picture.

You can submit your own pictures by emailing me.

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(Odd sign to be outside The Ronald Reagan Library!)

The Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley has been dramatically remodeled including a massive new Cold War Exhibit. If you haven't been to the Reagan Library it is worth it regardless of your political ideology. If you have been I strongly suggest going to experience the new Cold War Exhibit.

I have been to two Presidential libraries. Before this recent remodel I thought the Carter Library was much better. Now both libraries are great ways of passing on the stories and challenges of previous generations.

I have mixed feelings on the Reagan Presidency. He wasn't as bad as his critics would like us to believe and I don't idolize him like some of his supporters who act like they joined a cult either.

Enjoy an afternoon at the Reagan Library. Bring some young people with you.

Have you been to the Reagan Library? What did you think? You can post a comment here or share your photos on the Facebook Page for my blog. You don't have to register to comment, but keep it classy.

This Advent season I am going to be calling on my readers to share their favorite Ventura County Christmas traditions.

Christmas is among my favorite holidays now that I am a father. In Simi Valley a long tradition has been the Becker Christmas House on Sycamore Avenue. I have written about it here and here in the past.

A young fan of theirs created a Facebook page to thank them for the joy they have brought to generations of young people. Our goal is to get 5,000 fans for their page by Christmas.

If you would like to write a guest blog entry on your favorite Ventura County Christmas traditions let me know. You can also post a comment on this entry. Merry Christmas!

http://thebeckers.homeip.net/index.htm

I have been running a contest for my readers to submit Where in Ventura County pictures that include pictures of their signs in an interesting location. Here are the winners:

Most on message photograph:

Honorable Mention:

Best essence of Ventura County:

Honorable Mention:

Fan Favorite (Determined by unscientific online poll results):

Click on continue reading for the other pictures.

I am running a contest for my readers to guess where signs for different campaigns are posted. The goal is for a campaign to send in a picture that is hard, but not impossible, to guess where it was taken.

Click on continue reading for the other entries.

This sign must have really upset someone. As a reminder to overzealous activists cameras are really inexpensive and besides being a crime to damage private property it would really embarrass the candidates you support if you got caught.

Patty Lerner is running to keep a seat on the PVSD Board. With state control over funding and the education code local school boards don't have nearly as much control as people often assume. These aren't people running because of the immense power of the position. I respect the candidates for local office that put their names on a line to be judged by their friends and neighbors.

The Ventura County Star recently profiled the candidates in a news story for more background information.

The contest rules are simple: Send in a picture of a campaign sign that challenges my readers to figure out the location.

There will be winners announced for campaigns and for readers posting their answers. You don't need to register to comment but keep it classy.

So far Alan Barkwill of Simi Valley is best at figuring out these photographs.

The Harbor Commission isn't a high profile position and candidates running for this position have to work hard to get their message out. That's a good reason for candidates to utilize blogs and social networks. Timur Taluy understands this dynamic. I interviewed him recently and how he has an entry in my Where in Ventura County Photography contest.

The contest rules are simple: Send in a picture of a campaign sign that challenges my readers to figure out the location.

There will be winners announced for campaigns and for readers posting their answers. You don't need to register to comment but keep it classy.

So far Alan Barkwill of Simi Valley is best at figuring out these photographs.

I have a photography contest that calls for campaigns to send in pictures of their signs that my readers can post comments guessing where the sign is located.

The goal is to make it hard, but not impossible, for readers to correctly identify the location. Before election day I will recognize the winners in a few categories. The categories include most creative and best essence of a location.

Keep sending in your photographs or upload them to my Facebook Blog page.

Bob Rust is running for a seat on the Pleasant Valley School Board. His website lists his endorsements and biography but this picture above was submitted by his campaign for my where in Ventura County contest.

The goal is for a picture to be difficult, but not impossible, to figure out where it was taken.

You don't need to register to comment but keep it classy.

Where do you think this picture was taken? Be as specific as you can.

Click on continue reading for past entries or go to my blog Facebook page to upload your own entries.

I am running a contest for campaigns to send in pictures of their signs from across Ventura County. The goal is to make it difficult, but not impossible, for my readers to guess where the picture was taken. Click here for a more detailed explanation.

This picture was sent in by Mary Anne Rooney. She is running for harbor commissioner and knows that it takes effort to attract attention to a campaign for a position most people don't pay much attention to, if any attention at all. You can read my interview with her or go to her website for more information.

Click on continue reading to post a comment with your answer. You don't need to register to comment but keep it classy.

I have a new contest where candidates send in pictures for readers to guess where in Ventura County they were taken. This picture is in Simi Valley but a much more specific answer is needed to win. I'm not looking for an address but instead an approximate location including which way the camera is directed in.

You don't need to register to comment, but keep it classy.

School Board candidate Arleigh Kidd is a personal friend of mine. Because of his background in education, including teaching at Valley View Middle School in Simi Valley, I know he will make a strong addition to the School Board. He is the parent of one student that graduated from Royal High School and another student currently at there. Anyone that knows him knows he is a very passionate defender of public education. If you ask him a question on education he gives very specific answers. I haven't always agreed with him but I have come to deeply respect his dedication.

He has been endorsed by the Simi Educators Association and 4/5 of the current school board members including Jeanne Davis, Janice DiFatta, Debbie Sandland, and Rob Collins.

I am going to be interviewing him a week from this Thursday night on my blog. Read over his website and then send or post some suggestions for questions.

For the June Primary I asked campaigns to send in pictures of their candidate with a dog. Steven Hintz and Heather Lacayo won the contest and went on to win their elections. Is there a strong connection? Probably not.

For this election I am asking candidates to take pictures of their signs as they campaign across Ventura County. I will post every entry with the winners being announced the night before the election. The goal is to make it difficult, but not impossible, for readers to determine where the picture was taken. I want readers to look at the picture for clues and then post a comment with their guesses. The more specific the guess the better.

Like all of my blog entries you don't need to register to post a comment. But please keep it classy. The reader that accurately answers the most challenges will also be recognized.

There will be several awards campaigns can win. So, campaigns can send in multiple entries. I am thinking about categories like most memorable location, most obscure, funniest, best representation of a city, and a few others. Feel free to post suggestions with new categories. I will be asking The Star to cover this contest in the print edition and with online ads. They did support the cutest dog contest with a link on the front page and I expect they will do the same this time. So start taking pictures. To submit a picture send it to me at my email address posted on the right side of this page or upload it to my Facebook page for my blog.

For this first entry let's see who can most accurately determine where Treasurer / Tax Collector candidate Steven Hintz was when it was taken. Thanks to Steven Hintz for getting this contest started.

This contest was inspired by blogger Andrew Sullivan's View from your window blog posts that have now been made into a book.