The oldest surviving brick mansion in Sonoma County has had its seismic stabilization work completed, and is ready for public visitors again.

The Hood mansion was built in 1858, by William Hood for his wife, Eliza. Below is a similar view of the home as it looks today, along with an interior photo of the dining room, which was "updated" with some colorful wallpaper for a fundraising event back in the 1970s.

The public is invited to join in celebrating the hood House’s 150^th birthday on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008. The party will include presentations from 10-11 am, and an open house with grounds tours from 11 am to 1 pm. Cake and lemonade will be served. The Hood House is located at 7501 Sonoma Highway.
There's a map to Hood House location here .

The North Bay is generally well connected when it comes to the Internet, but overall access speeds nationwide are falling behind other parts of the world.

Dane Jasper of Sonic.net

Click here to test the speed of your internet connection.

How do you improve the health of a whole county? That’s the challenge that Sonoma Health Action is tackling.

The number of uninsured in Sonoma County is estimated at over 42,000 and growing. Physicians continue to leave the community and specialists are in short supply. District hospitals are struggling financially as the competitive pressures of a rapidly changing health care marketplace continue to threaten and destabilize an already broken health care system.

Sonoma County is not alone in experiencing the impacts of the health care situation. Communities throughout the state have come together seeking solutions at the local level.  On August 14, 2007, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors authorized the Department of Health Services to convene a health action council to work on improving health and health care for all Sonoma County residents.

Visit their website here .

To take the Health Action Survey, click here .

There's  a schedule of upcoming public meetings hosted by Health Action here (pdf).

Co-working has come to Sonoma County.

To view the SoCo Depot website click here .

Click here for a slide show of the early development of the So Co Depot co-working space.

Anthony Tusler

The So Co Depot conference room (before the art went up).

Read what Mother Jones has written about the co-working phenomena.

To read about the creator of CoWorking, Brad Neuberg, click here .