All Things Trinity

Guides

2010-02-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

I attended the Guides Association meeting at Indian Creek Lodge. I offered to help with their future website.

a productive day

2010-01-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

-Copied a bunch of photos over to the 'Volunteers' section of the Weaverville Fire Dept website. I think seeing the faces of individual firefighters really brings home what it means to serve one's community in that vital way.
-I change Trinity County Chamber's main photo every week. Today i added capability to cycle thru earlier pictures. Also i uploaded a whole bunch of photos to the Visit! Gallery.

2k9

2010-01-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

sent year-in-review to long list of folks i knew.

new Visit! site

2009-12-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

Added Hazelwood House to 'Visit!'.

sometimes it rains

2009-12-20T13:18:00.000-08:00

I discovered that Trinity Journal had rearranged their website, moving the Recreation Guide, thereby invalidating what i'd done to make it easy to view. So i fixed that and made some other repairs as well.
I've been making daily improvements and updates to Weaverville Fire Dept's site, and Trinity County Chamber of Commerce, and helping Trinity County Arts Council towards a new look.

Douglas City Fire Belles Bazaar

2009-12-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

maint

2009-12-06T16:08:00.000-08:00

Added a bunch of news & photos to Weaverville Fire Dept site. Changed the photo and ads on the Trinity Chamber site.

Last nite i showed someone Weaverville FD's online photo gallery on her computer: the main pictures are tiny, postage-stamp size! Come to find out she's still using Internet Explorer 6. OK, i already a special version of the HTML code for IE7 & 8, in addition to the standard version for everything-else; now i need a version for IE6 too?

and another saturday nite

2009-12-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

The Art Cruise...

...followed by live music at an undisclosed location...

a festive place

2009-12-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

LaGrange Restaurant...

The Bandstand...

Rec Guide

2009-11-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

The Trinity Journal publishes the Trinity County Recreation Guide, but their online version isn't very usable. So i made an improved version.
Also, i noticed when i got my new computer [which still doesn't have a working Verizon wireless modem, after 4 long contacts with their Techs - computers are so complicated that the Techs can't possibly know everything either, they're reduced to dumbly following thru diagnostic trees on their own computer screens, same as us ignorant folks] that the main photo on Gallery pages (example: Weaverville Fire Dept) didn't display right in Internet Explorer. (It was fine in Firefox.) Checking, i found that when i'd originally done the code, i couldn't get IE and Firefox to both display the main photo the same way, so i wrote 2 versions of the code, 1 for IE, 1 for everything else. I hate that! That was for IE version 7. But my new computer has IE 8: apparently Microsoft fixed the problem in version 8, but my code treats the IE browser as if it's still broke! OK, so take out the exception, right?. But version 7 is still out there! So now i have to consider not only the browser, but the version of the browser. Arghhh!

just another friday eve

2009-11-27T20:32:00.000-08:00

at the LaGrange cafe'...

windows7

2009-11-23T17:20:00.000-08:00

I hate new operating systems, cuz they change the look and function of so many things. To do the simplest thing, i must re-discover the means to do it. Today i complete transfer of all the files from the old computer. I add many beautiful photos by Carol Fall to the Visit! Gallery (which, you may recall, doesn't yet work with the Internet Explorer browser). And i find that under Windows7: 1) the menu bar folds around on itself (easily fixed on mine by making the page a little wider, but how does it look to others?), 2) the main photo on www.wfdca.org 'Gallery' pages no longer shows.

Old Modem, New 'Puter

2009-11-22T17:33:00.000-08:00

Struggled all day trying to get the Verizon Wireless modem working on the new computer, no success.

Visit! Gallery

2009-11-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

Started a photo 'Gallery' for 'Visit!'. So far: works well on Firefox browser, but some issues with Internet Explorer. Working on it. So far: the photos are just some i took today. Eventually: i want the Gallery to be a place anyone can upload their own to.

New computer

2009-11-20T19:01:00.000-08:00

My present computer, new in 2005, is physically falling apart. Reluctantly i got a new one, knowing it would be a nitemare transferring everything over and making it actually work in a new operating system (Windows7). Sure enough, my Verizon wireless modem (which i depend on for internet access everywhere beyond coffee shops and WFD) doesnt work. I spend hours on it, including long time on phone with a Verizon tech, who in desperation finally tries to blame it on Dell. Regardless, i'm the one screwed.

TEDC website

2009-11-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

Talked to the Trinity Economic Development Corp board about re-doing their website. Seems they need a plan first. We'll talk again next month.

My 2nd Place

2009-11-15T10:09:00.002-08:00

I go back & forth between Covington Mill (see the blog, 'Cumftably Numb') and this place in Weaverville. It's less of a struggle that way, especially come winter.

The view:

Saturday

2009-11-15T08:53:00.000-08:00

A history talk at Trinity Center. Lyn Scott, life-long resident, showed excellent-quality photos from 1955 of what Trinity Center, Stringtown, and the productive ranch- and forest-lands of the Trinity River valley were like, before (in hind-sight) stupidity transformed it to the present vast tragic mud-flat.

i love the photos i took this day (and this place)...

Evening, more fine music at that undisclosed location.

Real Estate

2009-11-13T16:03:00.000-08:00

Added Real Estate to 'Visit!', per TEDC request.
Likewise added Textile Traditions, which somehow i hadn't noticed before.

That eve, world class music at an undisclosed location.

News

2009-11-12T14:54:00.000-08:00

Updated the Weaverville Fire Dept news with photo of today's emergency response...

Places

2009-11-11T17:08:00.000-08:00

The present 'Visit!' site is all individual-business-oriented. I realized it needs to tell more about Trinity in general. Hence: Worked all day on a 'Places' concept, work in progress...

1 Less

2009-11-10T16:38:00.000-08:00

Fixed the text-color bug. Fiddled with misc.

Getting Here

2009-11-09T23:00:00.000-08:00

Spent all day working on Google maps to show folks the various approaches into Trinity County, see...

Added a zoom-control to the 'Virtual Tour' map, this because there are so many business sites concentrated together that it's hard to view them separately unless you zoom way in. In that process, discovered a bug that makes text yellow on the pop-ups if there are multiple paragraphs in the descriptions; still working on it.

The other day i discovered something i've been hearing about: Google's 'Street-Level View'. Incredible! Check this for Weaverville... Using your arrow keys, you can actually 'fly' down the street, looking freely left, right, behind, and it's not just the main highways but many Trinity side streets as well. (I described this free techno-miracle to some local folks; they were merely bored, and criticized that Google addresses are often wrong. I don't think people appreciate how incredibly difficult actually DOing anything is.) My plan is to add this feature to a mapping of the 'Towns of Trinity' (a 'town', i've decided, being any place with a Post Office, ie: Weaverville, Douglas City, Lewiston, Trinity Center, Junction City, Big Bar, Burnt Ranch, Salyer, Hayfork, Wildwood (which is accepted by USPS, even tho technically the place is considered Platina, of Shasta County), Hyampom, Mad River, Ruth, and finally Zenia (even tho Zenia is now ONLY a post office, plus the vacant old store)).

Also discovered Panoramio.com, which allows folks to upload/download photos by latitude/longitude, so my plan is to add links from the Towns of Trinity to Panoramio. For example: photos of Weaverville. (Its only fault is that those folks uploading aren't always very exact in specifying the photo location. Hence at Big Bar, we see folks driving thru a hollow giant redwood.)

Talked to Geoffrey Beebe again re his plan for a 'Virtual Tour' of Weaverville which includes entering each store and looking around. He wants me to do it. Well, i can, as long as it's a series of separate photos, but he's imagining it as the Google Street Level View taken INSIDE, and i don't know how to do THAT.

Weaverville Saturday Nite

2009-11-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

The Art Cruise, first saturday of every month:
Folks at the Chamber of Commerce...

Main Street Gallery...

Highland Art Center...

4 of the '5 Windows'...

A new venue, Hawk Photography...

And fine live music at an undisclosed location...

It's a great town! I am so lucky.

Worked all day today fiddling with the Trinity Chamber website.

A Lovely Site for TCAC

2009-11-07T14:47:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week I spent two volunteer half-days with Jill Richards, Trinity County Arts Council Admin Asst, writing specs for their new website; [this ironic, as i'd submitted a proposal to do the site for them, including content, for free last December(!), but was turned down! (Embarrassing or what?)] Then another half day on my own finalizing the document and sending it off to Matthew Brady of Sage Website Designs, a talented web designer who likewise will be doing the work gratis; his proposal, and a revised homepage header.

Spent last half of the day re-doing the location map and contact info for TrinityCounty.com/Visit. The map's especially cool: i figured out how to draw the county boundary on a Google Map.

Compost Toilets

2009-11-05T14:47:00.000-08:00

I was introduced to a dedicated fellow who does international development work in Uganda; he was very interested in the compost toilets i did in Fiji; so i put a bunch of photos and narrative online to maybe help him (& others?) out.

Halloween Graveyard

2009-10-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

Bridget Carson, costumed, led us on a history tour of the Catholic Church cemetery.

Autumn's Awesome

2009-10-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

Weaverville, looking south...

Swift Creek, Trinity Center...

Ycatapom Inn, Trinity Center...

Highway 3 near Hayward Flat...

Mill Street, Weaverville...

Crushed. i wasn't chosen to develop the Historic Weaverville website. On the other hand, i will be doing updates to FirePreventionOfficers.org... gratis.

Another Big Autumn Weekend

2009-10-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Trinity can be a Happnin' Place. Live music at an undisclosed location...

And the One Maple Winery Crush Party...

Payday

2009-10-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

Attended TEDC's meeting. They paid me for the 'Visit!' work, and seemed pleased. Thank goodness! (I will of course continue working to improve the site.)

Per discussion at that meeting, and later at the Trinity County Chamber meeting, i should add a way for folks-out-there to get on a mailing list, so they may periodically receive info about Trinity County events and happenings. Also, there should be a 'Gallery' where folks can submit their Trinity County photos.

My little brother Scott's a Fire Prevention Officer in the Bay Area; the California Fire Prevention Officer's Association needs someone to maintain their site. I sent him my information.

Weaverville History

2009-10-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

Submitted proposal for new Weaverville History website. Will hear back next week.

site map, fixing 'search', and so on

2009-10-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

To 'Visit!': Added a user-accessible site map, plus worked on a special site map for Google Search. (Unknown if i did any good, it takes a while for it to take effect.)

Also, with much frustration, i managed to limit the vertical size of the 'boxes' each site gets listed in. Before, if there was a long description, there was a long box. Now all boxes are uniform height; if you want to read the whole long description, just click on it. This somehow also magically fixed a bug: before, IF there were multiple paragraphs in a description, the last line of the first paragraph had a greater space above it than other lines; unknown why!

Voice

2009-10-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

What should be the 'rules' for the description on each business's 'Visit!' page? So far, i've either just made up a short line or 2, often based on their sign out front, eg for an RV Park, something like: "Full hookups. Tent sites. Pool. Store. Propane." I like it because it's short and hits the highlights. For more details, folks can go to the actual business's website, the link is right there, or they can call the place, etc.

In a few cases, instead of he very brief description, i more-or-less copied paragraphs out of their website homepage. Later, as I thought more about this, i came to the conclusion that the 'voice' of the 'Visit!' site should be different from that of the typical business site: The style of the Chamber's 'Visit!' should be 3rd person, impartial, informative, like how one would write a 'review'; whereas the 'person' of the typical biz site is 1st person, the tone: often gushy. That hypothetical RV Park cited above might want their page to say: "Everything for every visitor to beautiful Trinity County. With 40 years of experience at this location, we stand ready to attend to your every need. Camping, hiking, bird-watching, wildlife, swimming, rafting, and the Trinity Alps Wilderness lie within a short lovely walk. Just let us know what we can do to make your vacation here one that you and your family will remember for a lifetime." Now i'm not saying there's anything wrong with that statement or its sentiment, and it's surely fine on the enterprise's own site; i just wonder if it's appropriate on TrinityCounty.com.

On the other hand: i had the idea a while ago that i would set this all up so that businesses could write their own descriptions, and in fact CHANGE the info as often as they cared to (for example, changing business hours, prices, the weekly dinner special, whatever). But if i let them do that, am I to review every change for tone and proper '3rd person' voice? Yuk, that's more than i can realistically handle! And i'd be arguing with folks constantly - creating hard feelings. It's a real dilemma.

Moving on, small changes to:
Aven Estate
Trinity River B&B
Six Rivers Lodge

Attended the Dutch Oven Cook-Off at the Jake Jackson Museum...

...and the Salmon Festival...

And added Google Search to 'Visit!'. Thought briefly about programming a Search feature myself, but there's too much to do, and i knew Google's reliable. Purchased ($100) and installed now, isn't working as expected. Dang.

another post

2009-10-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

Lately, regularly updating Weaverville Fire's site with news & new photos.

Chamber-'Visit!'-site-wise, added Aven Estate.

i'm making it up as go along. Today I realize that the info at the 'Trinity: Visit!' site is almost of solely individual businesses; it says VERY little about Trinity attractions In GENERAL, eg little about Trinity River fishing or Weaverville history. But Trinity's GENERAL ENVIRONMENT is truly a critical element that will attract folks here. Must do more on that.

More uploads

2009-10-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

Added/changed sites re: uploads, for example: Trinity Treasures & Treats, Butter Creek Ranch.

Misc Minor

2009-10-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

Misc minor additions & changes to TrinityCounty.com/Visit. Then added a big link to it at the Chamber homepage. I'll change that picture occasionally, for variety.

Plenty to do in Weaverville

2009-10-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

A Disaster Drill, very colorful!...

Quilts!...

Visited Weaverville Antiques, lovely!...

and Highland Arts Center Meadow...

Art Cruise...

And evening live music at an undisclosed location...

1 Dissatisfied Customer

2009-10-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

I'm told that 1 merchant complained (to another) that i didn't spend enough time talking with him re: what should be on his site. Let me repeat what i told each merchant, orally and in writing:

1. This is free.
2. Look at your page after 10/1/09. If there's anything you want changed - name, description, photo, contact info - tell me, and i'll change it to whatever you want.

It really bothers me that folks complain about a deal like that.

(Coincidentally, this very day, i get back an evaluation form on work we did in my other job with the Weaverville Fire District's Hazard Reduction Program. The anonymous reviewer clearly is angry about the amount on the 'bill' i sent. But every bill states: "You are not expected to pay the full value of the service. Truly, you may remit whatever you feel is appropriate, given the work done and your own financial circumstances... The critical thing is reducing fire hazard. Improving Defensible Space should not be limited by a person’s ability to pay." In this particular case, they got work done, and they chose to pay nothing. How can they then complain?)

Post:

2009-10-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

Me, on the web, i click recklessly at everything. A friend tries out the site, SHE, timid, as if 'fraid something'll break. Good came from this. I eliminate the 'picnic', 'hike', and 'XC-ski' categories; not that these aren't important to tourists, but rather because i have so little there. (My focus has been on Trinity County businesses, but these critical tourist attractors are all USFS/BLM.) And I add tooltips (the little box that pops up briefly when the cursor 'hovers' on something) to invite the user to 'click for more'.

Oh, and today i update Weaverville Fire Dept & Trinity Chamber of Commerce home pages with new happenings.

Complete (tho' never done)

2009-09-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

Finished adding data. Removed the 'Under Construction' labels. The site is live, tho' of course it's always been, but now it's official.

I should feel so relieved. I deeply feel i did it right, that it's a good thing. But my thoughts are only of what else should be done. Here's what i wrote to TEDC:

What i did:
- Distributed publicity re what we were about to do.
- Established the website under the Chamber website TrinitCounty.com.
- Developed the database structure, website design, and programming.
- Visited every tourism-oriented business i could find, from Kettenpom to Eagle Creek, Wildwood to Mad River, Hyampom, Salyer, over 200 locations; told 'em about what we're doing (all but unanimously, folks were very supportive); took pictures, collected data.
- Entered all the data into the database.

The result can be seen at TrinityCounty.com/Visit.

It's not perfect. Here's what i'll be doing in the next weeks:
- the 'banner' at the top of every page really needs a dramatic image or images on it.
- Improve the appearance of the individual 'site'-level display (adjust font sizes and such).
- I need to obtain a couple more illustrative photos, and I should write some better category descriptions.
- Some of the sites have very long descriptions. In the intermediate displays (as one 'drills down' thru categories to reach individual site displays), these need to cut off uniformly.
- Add 'Search'.
- Get the site registered with Google Search.
- Seeing it as it turned out, I realize that there needs to be more geographic grouping in the display listings.
- And on the 'Virtual Tour' map, it should be possible for the user to select/limit the display to certain categories only (to reduce the clutter of 'pins').
- There is already a good way for businesses to add their info to the site initially, but there should also be an efficient way to edit that info. (I'll add an 'edit' button to each site, which will go to an editable display of the existing info, for submission.)
- Bug: if there is no actual site in some category, then the category should not show at all.
- Bug: Since a business may fit several categories (e.g. Lewiston Hotel: Hotel, Bar, Restaurant, Historical), there are several different ways to get there. The 'Path' line that is displayed for it should reflect how the user got there, but presently it may reflect instead some other (unexpected) way of getting there.
- Also, i will send email to every business on the site that has an email address, re-alerting them to their presence on the website, and asking for corrections or improvements.
- And i'll add a big link on the TCCOC homepage over to the tourism sub-site.

Here's what else should be done over the longer term, as funding becomes available:
- Re-do the entire 'old' Trinity Chamber website, to improve appearance & update info.
- Re-do the Trinity Chamber Business Directory, into the same style as the new tourism site, so that each business has a picture, description, and contact info.
- Something similar to the Tourism site could be done under TrinityCounty.com for other topics of special interest, such as Real Estate, local organizations, etc.
- Improve the TCCOC calendar, and get every group in the county participating to keep it updated.
- Add non-business sites to TrinityCounty.com/Visit (mainly USFS campgrounds, picnic sites, trailheads).
- Revamp the TEDC website.

I'm anxious to hear everyone's comments and ideas. Tell me what else I can do.

Data, Data

2009-09-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

Added data to the database, on&on.

Weaverville 2

2009-09-28T16:57:00.002-07:00

Wandered downtown Weaverville. Again, most folks are very nice, others busy, stressed. I feel so sorry to annoy anyone. It's interesting that in the entire county, Weaverville's the only place anyone's that busy with customers.

Meredith's Family Vineyards (closed)
Bottle of Ink
Gold Rush Jewelers
Johnny's Pizza
New York Saloon
Main Street Shoes
Kudos
Lil Kustom Shop (closed)
Selah
Weaverville Hotel & Emporium
Weaverville Antiques (closed)
Angela's Beads
Trinity Treasures & Treats
Main Street Gallery
MammaLlama
Mountain Marketplace
Olson Stoneware
LaGrange Restaurant
The Diggins (bartender wouldn't give me any info!)
Garden Cafe'
La Casita
Trinity Theatre (closed)
Red Dragon Chinese Restaurant
Old Town Station
Highland Art Center
Trinity Congregational Church
Whitmore Inn
Nugget Restaurant
Brady House (closed)
Jake Jackson Museum

Weaverville

2009-09-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

Canvassed Weaverville businesses:

Marino's Pizza & Italian Restaurant
Lighthouse Restaurant
Bodega Cafe'
Trinity Alps Performing Arts Center (the new facade looks really good!)
Tops Mini-Mart
49er Gold Country Inn
Weaverville Gas
Trinity River Fuel
Susie's Bakery
Motel Trinity
Plotzke Ace Hardware
Mountain Outpost
Trinity Alps Golf Course
Round Table Pizza
Sawmill Grill
Weaverville Victorian Inn
La Mexicana Taqueria
Tops Super Foods
Wild Bird Gifts
Dragonfly Outfitters
Subway
CVS
Burger King
Corner Mart
Miller's Drive-in
TriniDeli
The Red House
Sidney Gulch RV Park
Red Hill Motel/Cabins
Budman's Book Mine
Granny's House

Despite being sunday, Weaverville businesses (compared to every other part of the county i've visited) are busy (some, very). And i'm not done yet; there's still the whole town center.

Lewiston, Google Maps Are Wrong, and Host Troubles

2009-09-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

Ran thru Lewiston again, visiting businesses:

Trinity River Resort
Old Lewiston Bridge RV Resort
Old Lewiston Inn B&B
String n Beans
The Country Peddler
Maxwell's Hometown Market
Old Bridge Cabin
Old Lewiston Schoolhouse Library & Museum
Old Lewiston Mercantile & Variety Store
First Congregational Church
Lewiston Valley Motel & RV Park
Lewiston Mini-Mart
Plug & Jug
Trinity Dam Good Pizza
Lewiston Community Park
Trinity Fly Shop
Indian Creek Lodge
Indian Creek Trailer Park
Red Barn
Dave's Taxidermy

I was so privileged to talk with Herb Burton of the Fly Shop, he's worked many years on the politics of the Trinity River. We are so lucky to have so many dedicated people.

A constant complaint i hear, and see, is that Google Maps Are Wrong (re: road names)! Dang! I've added it to my list of things to do: find out how to complain & get it fixed. Likewise re Directions: over&over i hear that Google (or MapQuest, said to be worse) sends people on an extremely round-about route, often on marginally-passable USFS roads.

Back home, i find the online-database-modification feature provided by TrinityCounty.com's web-host is inaccessible, dang! Today's saturday, i must have this project done in 5 days, and there are no office hours at Velocity til tuesday. I send an email, leave a phone message.

Meanwhile i can continue to add businesses to the site, but the problem is that if i make a mistake, there's no simple way to correct it (other than programming a complete PHP page to address the specific problem). And 1 inadvertent mistake (something as innocuous as an extra ENTER carriage return) can completely kill the Virtual Tour feature.

A couple hours later: it's gotten worse, now even anyone attempting to access TrinityCounty.com/Visit get a database failure message.

Luckily, Travis (of Velocity) happens into the office (1 hardworking man) & fixes it. Seems may be this new database-based site is just demanding more memory of his server than it usually deals with; he increases the limit.

Rolling Along

2009-09-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Added more places to Visit!, for example: Redwoods & Rivers.

Pix, & finally adding sites to the site (woo-hoo!)

2009-09-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

I've increased the photo size on the individual 'Site' page. But previously i've only been using 160x120-pixel images (for small-file-size/fast-download); blow these up bigger, and they're blurry. Unacceptable. So i did a test, decided 448x336 is a good size, large-enough dimensions but still only ~33k filesize (vs ~7k for a thumbnail-size image). (I may eventually go to BOTH sizes, using the small one generally and the large one just for 'Site' pages, but that's more work than i can deal with right now, deadline 7 days away.)

Evening, i perfected my data-upload code, and added several DownRiver attractions to the website, for example Bigfoot Rafting. (I'm not happy with the look of the individual site page, will get to that later.)

Calendar, Spaghetti

2009-09-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

Updated the TCCOC website with a notice re the Spaghetti Feed for Mill Workers. And added an entry to the TCCOC online calendar re same.

Evening, added a Google map to the individual 'site'-level display, example: Almay Ranch Resort. It's still not what the final actual display will be, but i'm a step closer.

Corresponded with Butter Creek Ranch of Hyampom re: where exactly are they located? (I couldn't find 'em on my trip thru Hyampom.)

Also, worked on what *i* will use to upload new data from all the many sites into the database. When the public does this, their data goes to a file, which i then read, which i then allow to go into the DB. But if it's just me, i don't need that middle step. Also, if it's just me, i can upload the photo directly into the destination directory, instead of an intermediate location.

Line Breaks

2009-09-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

Fixed the line-break problem from saturday, i feel so much better. Just a few more details to go, then i'll be ready for massive uploading of all the data i've collected from all around the county.

Lewiston

2009-09-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

Early morning, photographed downtown Weaverville businesses, before parked cars would spoil the view.

For the Lewiston excursion, Jill Richards of Trinity County Arts Council came along, but she works late-nites so we couldn't get started til 10, then there was coffee, and she actually wanted to enjoy the sights and people-contact along the way, good for her!, so everything took long; i completed only maybe 1/2 of the town. Will return another day. Visited:

Trinity Alps Marina, Fairview Boat Ramp
Trinity Dam
Pine Cove Marina
Lakeview Terrace Resort
Lewiston Dam
Lewiston Fish Hatchery
River Oaks Resort
Lewiston Hotel
Mountain Valley Grill (good lunch!)
and finally One Maple Winery, very nice!

Database Entry, & The Fix Broke Something Else

2009-09-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

Spent all day & eve on the program to upload uploaded data into the database. Progress, but much more to do.

My Joss Hose site 'fix' (regarding quote marks) did fix it one place but broke it somewhere else (because one place the text from the database is used in HTML, but elsewhere goes into javascript, and the two handle quotes differently). So i just took the offending phrase out, too complicated to deal with now. Also a problem with the first test automated database entry; it adds a carriage return to the end of every string, i don't know why, and that again screws up when using the data in javascript.

I know these kind of entries are really boring to anyone reading it, but such is the working life of a programmer.

Map Mistakes, & Under Attack

2009-09-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

The 'Virtual Tour' map was still in my Firefox browser, but had disappeared from Internet Explorer. (I think THE greatest frustration in web development is that different brands of browsers, and different versions of same, display pages differently. What works in one may not in another.) I found that when i'd added a link to the Joss House Association to the description of the Joss House, the quotes enclosing the link so baffled IE that it couldn't interpret the map's javascript. So i fixed it (all it took was a '\' in front of each quote). Also discovered i'd forgotten to transfer over several support files when i moved from AllThingsTrinity.us to TrinityCounty.com. Now the map looks & acts much better.

Couldn't get into the database editor; Travis at Velocity (who hopped right on it, he's a good man) reset it; he reports that an automated process had been trying to break into the FTP service. (Once inside, it could mess with the files, adding, changing, deleting.)

Why would anyone mess with TrinityCounty.com?

oh, and i improved the individual 'Site' display, e.g. Almay Ranch Resort.

Weaverville Fire

2009-09-17T22:29:00.000-07:00

Spent all day and eve re-programming (improving) the Weaverville Fire Dept site, especially the Photo Gallery.

Down South Day 2

2009-09-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

Got a flat tire descending Pelletreau Ridge to Hyampom. Finally there, visited:
-Merlo Winery
-Hyampom General Store
-Old Garrett Ranch
-Old Hyampom School
-Hyampom Bar & Grill

I think i thoroughly traversed the roads, and i even met up with life-long-resident Van Garrett (i knew him ~30 years ago when i was a [shudder!] county planner), who directed me. But the above is all i could find, tourism-wise. Even the Meredith Family Vineyards, well-known of Hyampom, had no public facility, that i could find.

Waited an hour for the Hyampom Road re-construction to let me thru, then back to Hayfork, good lunch at Casa de Castellanos, where the nice lady assured me the garish exterior coloration will fade with time.

Then to Wildwood, visiting:
-Wildwood Store & Cafe'
-Wildwood Bar

At the bar, the guys inside gave me a seriously hard time about the "Obama Bucks" which must be funding what i'm doing. It was the ONLY impolite or negative response i've had anywhere in the county. (And TEDC told me later the WIRED funding for this effort actually came out of the BUSH administration!)

On to Douglas City, visited:
-Douglas City Store / Trinity River Outfitters
-Timber Lodge Motel

That late-afternoon, i presented what i've done so far to the TEDC Board. They believe that Real Estate is a tourist attraction, so i'll endeavor to add that to the site.

Down South

2009-09-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

The weekend gone to firefighting, i'm taking days off from the day-job to complete the Hayfork/SouthernTrinity/Hyampom/Wildwood tour. Today, visited:

Casa de Castellanos Restaurant
Northern Delights (lovely!)
The Social Place
North Valley Bank
Mountain Actors Workshop Inc
Zion Natural Foods Market
Hayfork Drug Store
Hayfork Family Dairy Store
BBQ
Ruth Dam
Ruth Lake Marina
Journey's End
Ruth Recreation Campground
Hobart Creek Campground
Ruth Store & Bar, + Blue Moon Cafe'
Zenia Store
Kettenpom Store
Six Rivers Lodge
Mad River RV Park
Mad River Burger Bar

Wonders of tech, this came to you broadcast from top of South Fork Mountain, between MadRiver & Hyampom, where i'm camped out! (cold up here.)

Hayfork Interrupted

2009-09-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

This was my big Hayfork/Hyampom/Wildwood/SouthernTrinity weekend, two days surveying every tourist-related business in the south two-thirds of the county. I visited:

Big Creek Lodge Motel
Ropin' Rhonda's Saloon
Hayfork Discount
Bert's Kone & Java Barn
Frontier Fuel
Tommy Knows Pizza
Wiley's Market
Head Change Arts
Hayfork Hotel
Farmer's Market
Ernie's Department Store
Irene's Cafe
Ewing Reservoir

Was making good progress, then duty called me to the Weaverville Sawmill Fire.

Map, Calendar, Joss House

2009-09-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

Almay Ranch successfully used the find-your-place upload feature; they got it right on.

I connected 'What's Hap-nin' to the Trinity Chamber events calendar.

And I added an appeal for help for the Weaverville Joss House from the Trinity Chamber homepage.

Handling Uploads

2009-09-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

Remember that anyone can upload information about sites of tourist interest. Two folks so far have tried the feature:

Hodge Management: Today i emailed 'em, suggested they do a separate upload for each campground they manage, so that each one appears on the Virtual Tour.
Almay Ranch Resort: Looks like a lovely place; i never knew it existed. It's in the Trinity Center area, but i don't know exactly where. They did their upload before i added the Google Map allowing folks to exactly locate the latitude/longitude of their site; so I asked 'em to try the map-locate feature.

Other than that, I worked on the PHP code to automatically interpret the uploaded info (to allow review/edit, then entry of the info into the DB).

Map

2009-09-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Only 22 days left; stressed. Last nite dreamed over & over about sub-folders.

Today: i adapted the Google Map 'Virtual Tour' to the new TCCOC database, and made further refinements to the data upload page, both still in progress.

Weaverville History

2009-09-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

Carol Fall (see Trinity Roots) suggests 'Visit Trinity!' should include nodes for all the historic sites in Weaverille, coordinated with a Walking Tour. Good idea. The database structure and PHP programming can already handle that. It's just a matter of generating & uploading all the data. (The hardest part of any website is generating the 'content'.)

Away

2009-09-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

4 days south, celebrating my parents' 60th Anniversary.

TCAC

2009-09-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

After the day job, worked (volunteer) til 9pm for Trinity County Arts Council. Their site hadn't been updated in a year, and included some sour grapes left there by the previous volunteer webguy. I was finally able to obtain the password, and deleted or amended a whole lot of inaccurate info and now-bad links. Here's it now, still certainly a very poor site, but, trust me, much better than it was.

The 'Upload' Form

2009-08-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

Worked 12 hrs tuning & combining previous work on the 4-part info upload form (which involves general info, a photo, selection of type(s) of business from the various categories, and finally finding the business location on a Google satellite map. (And it still needs more.)

Sick

2009-08-30T21:01:00.000-07:00

Slept most of the day, beaten temporarily by (i think) gastroenteritis ("stomach flu").

North Lake Tour

2009-08-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

I visited every tourist-oriented business i could find north of Rush Creek. The list:

Trinity Alps Resort...

Pinewood Cove
Trinity Lake Resorts at Cedar Stock...

Scott Museum
Jaktri Market
North Trinity Lake Community Hall
Sasquatch (closing ~permanently 9/26)
Mini-Kat
Trinity Lake KOA
Enright Gulch Cabins & Motels
Carrville Inn
Quicksilver Cabin
Sunflower Cabins
Eagle Creek Ranch...

Coffee Creek Country Store
Ripple Creek Cabins...

Coffee Creek Campground & RV Park
Bonanza King Resort
Coffee Creek Ranch
Creek Stone Vacation Rental
Alpen Cellars...

So many of the sites were so beautifully maintained, with flowers, green lawns.

(An interesting story at the Mini-Kat: The place originally was owned by the owner of the Ycatapom Inn. The Inn was a big thing; the ~drive-in was relatively small; hence the name, despite demise of the Y-cat.)

Business is not good; one major site told me it was 10%(!) of normal.

Some cited the problem of no restaurants (outside of the summer season, when there are 2: Cedar Stock, Trinity Alps Resort) in this entire portion of the county. B&Bs need restaurants.

Move Complete

2009-08-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

ok, the 'Visit Trinity' site (files & database) is now completely relocated to TrinityCounty.com/Visit. I made various small changes.

The 'About Trinity' page remains a draft. I think most locals would call it accurate, but perhaps not suitable for a site intended to encourage tourism. I welcome suggestions, or, better, a complete narrative.

Upon requests, I made minor additions to Trinity County Chamber & Weaverville Fire Dept sites.

Labor, Art, Code

2009-08-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

Worked hard in the field with the Haz-Reduction crew all morning; then volunteer-docent'd at Main Street Gallery for Trinity County Arts Council, what a contrast. Visitation was light, so spent most the time on my laptop moving the database from my development site over to Trinity County Chamber of Commerce's, making the structural changes to accommodate multiple biz-types for a single biz, and then rearranging the old data among the new tables. The database changes worked (after fiddling with user permissions), woo-hoo!, but turns out there seem to be other differences on the new (Velocity) host vs my development site host (HostMonster), relating to writing files and code interpretation. Dang, i hate this kind of thing. If it works on one, shouldn't it work on the other?! But fact is the underlying PHP interpreter is changing all the time, and also there are differences in configuration (very complicated). By 9pm, i have the much-duplicated/much-tweeked TCCOC site looking like the Original.

Folks tell me my article re: the project did appear in the Trinity Journal.

Velocity Progress

2009-08-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

Travis at Velocity (the Chamber's web-host) has the new interface set up on his end; it looks good! And he can expand the storage allocated for the Chamber.

Added Autumn in the Alps to the Chamber webpage.

Looked again at the new database structure, which i need to do so that any business can belong to more than a single category (e.g. a resort might be accommodation, boating, restaurant, more). And i need to migrate the old data into the new structure. And move it all over to Velocity. It requires some time and a lot of concentration; i don't want to mess it up.

triage

2009-08-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

On successfully closing-in my under-construction house at Covington Mill before snow flew, but out of money, I was unemployed from October08 to May09. During that time i worked to develop many different avenues of involvement. My 'worst fear' was that too many of these initiatives would come to fruition. My worst fears were realized.

So I'm working 14-hr days, not always efficiently, but working. I have a full-time good-job with Weaverville Fire District. And then there's this project, which i must complete by end of september, because i said i would. And volunteer commitments: Trinity Center Fire Dept; Weaverville Fire Dept; Trinity County Arts Council.

Incredibly, there are demands even beyond that! TAPAC is rebuilding the front of the theater; they're renting expensive lift-equipment, but there are so many labor-intensive details to the construction; it's taking a long time.

There is too much. Whatever's to one takes from all else; it's triage. I'm guilty, for every thing i do not do.

//

Travis (Velotech) says the database capability is in place. It was taking long so i'd put it out of mind. I'll need to try it out. Another concern is capacity; seems TCCOC has already consumed 3/4 of the 1GB capacity, and i haven't even begun moving files, photos, & database over there.

Down River

2009-08-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

Another typical 14-hr day, THIS one special because it's the first of 5 excursions to interact with the Businesses, the folks on Trinity's economic Front Lines.

After 1.5 hrs of frustrating computer insanity (printer & network), finally Pat Zugg rescued me & i was off, Down River...

Visited:
Oregon Summit Monitor
Junction City Park
Junction City Store
JC Cafe & Deli
BigFoot Campgound & RV Park
Trinity Canyon Lodge
Straw House
BigFoot Rafting
Steelhead Cottages
Trinity River Rafting
Wilderness Adventures
Trinity Adventure Park
Grover's Gulch
Del Loma RV Park
Redwoods & Rivers
Burnt Ranch Store
Hawkins Bar Mini-Mart
Simon Legree's
Paula's Corner Collectibles
Trinity River B&B and Chalets...

Lazy Double B
Salyer Store
SkyCrest Lodge

Talked to so many interesting folks, they expressed frustration: county government, Forest Service, fires, the recent suction-dredge ban (what, winter floods don't stir up the mercury?); indeed: with government in general. Impression: responsible independent individuals, giving it all, barely getting by.

My typical experience per site: I exit pickup with notebook, camera, GPS. The person there is in defensive-mode. I tell 'em i'm from the Chamber of Commerce, there's a vision of a website, free, you don't need to do anything. Their persona completely changes, immediately, so friendly, welcoming, indeed enthusiastic about the project. These folks put up with so much, a continual barrage, solicitations for useless advertising.

May it be different this time.

Details, Prep

2009-08-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

A myriad of minor changes, plus i finalized the Handout for tomorrow, which'll be my first series of biz contacts.

Trinity Journal Announcement

2009-08-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

Sent an alert of what's going on to the Trinity Journal.

WFD Live

2009-08-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

I activated the new look for the Weaverville Fire Department website. Here's the old site. And the new one.

Trinity Center

2009-08-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

Early for volunteer fire department training, i explore the town...

"The Mall"...

Historic IOOF Hall, moved from Old Trinity Center before inundation by the Lake...

'Yellow Jacket', closed, for sale...

The Boat Ramp, "Closed – Unsafe Access”...

Once productive ranch and timber land...

The Marina...

Historic Ycatapom Inn, empty and For Sale...

First Upload

2009-08-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hodge Management was the first to take advantage of the do-it-yourself upload feature. Thank you!

Formal Announcement

2009-08-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

I email a detailed description of the project to members of the Trinity County Board of Supervisors, cc'd to TEDC board members and Pat Zugg of the Chamber. And i ask Pat to forward the note on to all Chamber members, as well as to the other Chambers of Commerce and related organizations in the county.

Re-routing

2009-08-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

Made minor improvements to Trinity County Chamber of Commerce homepage, mostly just eliminating excess whitespace so one needn't scroll so much, but also added a link to the new-site-development info, and added the site's first new press release since 2006.

No word back yet from VelocityTech re database capability. I'd been waiting for that before transfering all my files over to TrinityCounty.com from AllThingsTrinity.us. But i can't wait any longer, i need to get the P.R. part of this project on the road. So i added code: anyone browsing to www.TrinityCounty.com/visit will automatically be re-routed to www.AllThingsTrinity.us/visit. I'll move the files some other day.

WFD more

2009-08-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

Worked 14 hrs on the new Weaverville Fire Dept site.

WFD

2009-08-12T16:32:00.001-07:00

Spent the day working on the Weaverville Fire Department website. Here's the old one. And the new one, i hope you'll agree, an improvement.

upload

2009-08-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

I did a first draft of a page businesses can use to UPLOAD their info. (For now, the response you'll get looks odd, but TRY IT OUT.) I'll then review the data received, then incorporate it into the website.

Cars

2009-08-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

I added 'ads' on the Trinity County Chamber website for:

Cars on the Green, coming up this friday-saturday at Trinity Alps Golf Course.
Allison&Victor at Trinity Alps Performing Arts Center this saturday.
Trinity County Fair.

Cyber-Progress

2009-08-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

Travis of Velocity Technology, Weaverville, returned my call. I now can FTP to TrinityCounty.com. Regarding his web-host database capability, it's a bit shy of standard at this moment, but, wow! he'll add it for me, right away! What a guy!

Database Revisited

2009-08-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

There are of course hundreds of attractions in Trinity County. The user will be able to navigate among them according to groupings. So, example, Accomodations -> Motels -> Lewiston Valley Motel.

The database I set up experimentally would only allow any individual biz to belong to one group. But what do you do with a place like Cedar Stock, which has a restaurant, bar, cabins, boat ramp, marina, etc? Or the Whitmore Inn, a B&B but also a historic building? Obviously they belong to multiple groups. So today i modified the database structure to accommodate that.

Locating Your Biz on a Google Map

2009-08-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

For (almost) every tourism-related biz in Trinity County, the Trinity-Visit! website i'm developing will display its name, a photo, a description, and contact info. Customers will also be able to use a Google Map to find the locations of businesses of selected types.

Although i will collect a lot of info myself as i travel around the county, business owners will also be able to upload their info to the website themselves. So today i programmed a Google Map that will allow business owners to indicate exactly where their biz is located. It's not fully functional (or pretty) yet, but feel free to play with it!

Where to put it?

2009-08-08T10:52:00.000-07:00

Consulting with TEDC directors, and with Pat Zugg, dedicated volunteer President of the Trinity County Chamber, we've decided to put the site under the Chamber's website, TrinityCounty.com. [Other candidates were my development site AllThingsTrinity.us and TrinityEDC.org.]

So i need to copy the website files over to TrinityCounty.com. But nothing is easy. That site is hosted by Velocity Technology of Weaverville (velotech.net). The username/password Pat gives me doesn't work. It's saturday; no one at Velocity answers the phone, or the email.

Ready Set Go!

2009-08-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

I spent most of last winter (unemployed) generating the base code for the website. So much of that is done. I started talking to TEDC and TCCOC about the idea last May. Unfortunately it took TEDC 2 months to secure a go-ahead on it; meanwhile i'd found a good job, with Weaverville Fire District. So now i'm way overloaded, and it has to be done by end of september.

But the design is database-driven; all I have to do is 'drop' a business's data (descriptive text, photo, contact info) into the DB, and the PHP code that i wrote will automatically pickup and display the new information to the site.

So most of the effort is i travelling about the county and talking to people. That, i know, will be fun and interesting, and it's that effort that will be documented here, in this blog.

This economy's been collapsing for too long. Lets do something about it.