You Will Be Amazed By How Much Google Knows About You on the Google "My Activity" Page

If you use an Android phone, YouTube, Google Search, Google Maps and other Google products, chances are Google has more data on you than you could imagine on "Google My Activity."

Google knows what searches you've done, websites you're visited, YouTube videos you've watched, what you've voice searched for and where you've been (if you use an Android phone).

Let's take a closer look at myactivity.google.com. 

Today I was at the local vernal pond at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa with my son to look at the tadpoles and frogs. My son found saw a group of tadpoles acting out The Walking Dead by apparently feasting on a dead tadpole. At his urging, I pulled out my phone and tapped the Google Voice Search icon and said "do tadpoles eat other tadpoles." And sure enough, My Activity showed that I did search for it and provided a recording of my query.

Now if you forget where you were some day and are looking for a reminder, My Activity can help you with that too. Simply click Other Google Activity then under Location History click Visit Timeline. I clicked this and "today" and saw a map of everywhere I went today while carrying my phone. Kind of creepy actually. But also potentially useful...where was I on Christmas Day 2015? Searching My Activity turned up the fact that we were actually in the Florida Keys.

Searching Location History under Other google Activity reminded me that I was in the Florida Keys on Christmas Day 2015. Google My Activity is a great memory jogger!

I took a look at activity prior to January 1, 2015 to see what Google had on me and it showed all my YouTube activity, including searches and videos watched.

Some folks may get a grin out of reviewing their activity. I apparently was helping my kid with geometry homework on April 13, 2016:

So the good news is that if you don't want Google stockpiling all of this data you can do something about it. Click "Activity controls" where you can manage the tracking of your web and app activity, location history, device information, voice and audio activity and YouTube search history You can also go to "Delete activity by" and remove any or all of what has been recorded. 

Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Fans Chime In On Favorite Staycation Options

In a recent drawing on the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Page, folks were asked to comment on some of their favorite local area "staycation" alternatives this summer.  Here's a compilation of their responses.

LOCAL AREA HIKING AND TRAILS

LOCAL AREA CAMPING

LOCAL AREA BEACHES

Beach Options

• Surfrider Beach in Malibu
• Kanan to Malibu, lunch at Malibu Seafood, then El Matador Beach
• Avila Beach
• Leo Carrillo Beach
• Silverstrand Beach
• Pismo Beach

Hiking

• Carpinteria Bluffs - watch for sea lions
• Hiking down Sycamore Canyon to the beach and back
• Wildwood Park hike
• Hiking in Ojai and a visit to Lake Casitas
• Hike to the waterfall in the Boney Mountain Wilderness

Day Trips and Short Overnight Trips

• Emerald Iguana Inn in Ojai
• Solvang and Chumash Casino
• Visit Malibu, Ventura or Santa Barbara, take a walk and eat seafood by the shore
• Disneyland
• Santa Monica Pier / Pacific Park
• Las Vegas
• San Diego
• Laguna Woods
• Bike riding at Venice boardwalk
• Universal Studios
• Palm Springs / Rancho Mirage
• Santa Barbara Pier - Stearns Wharf
• Wine tasting in Los Olivos
• Catalina Island

LOCAL AREA BIKE PATHS

COMMUNITY SWIMMING POOLS

Other Outdoor Activities

• Lunch at Ventura Harbor along with boat cruise, kayaking and a walk on the beach
• Santa Barbara Zoo
• Take a drive on PCH, grab dinner and watch the sunset
• Picnics at local parks
• Bike along the coastline in Ventura
• Paddleboarding in Oxnard
• Picnicing at Oxnard Beach Park
• Local area camping
• Libbey Park in Ojai
• Channel Islands whale watching trip
• Camping at Leo Carrillo
• Camping at Faria Beach
• Camping at Thornhill Broome Beach

Other

• Stay home but eat dinner out with friends
• Local area beer and wine tasting
• Catch a concert at the Canyon Club
• Drive through Hidden Valley and lunch in Westlake Village
• The spa at Four Seasons Westlake Village
• Movie marathon at home
• Dodger game
• Westlake Village Inn
• Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park
• Reagan Library
• Los Angeles Zoo with the kids

Views in 1957 Looking East From Lynn and Gainsborough Roads in Thousand Oaks

Steve Dibblee provided this shot taken by his father, Walt Dibblee, from the mountain ridge at the northwest corner of what is now Lynn Road and Gainsborough Road in Thousand Oaks sometime in the year 1957, seven years before the city was incorporated. This ridge is just southwest of nearby Tarantula Hill and the shot is facing east. So how about comparing it to a few recent shots looking east from Tarantula Hill.

I see a lot of oak trees and clouds in all of the photos but...just a wee bit more other things, like houses, roads, cars and such in the more recent pictures. :)

See more of Dibblee's photographs from the mid 1950s to the late 1960s at VenturaViews.com where you also have the option of acquiring high-resolution prints of these blasts to the past. Thanks to Steve Dibblee for sharing some of his late father's work with us here on Conejo Valley Guide and at www.facebook.com/ConejoValleyGuide.

Tadpoles on Display at Seasonal Pond at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in Newbury Park

The seasonal pond next to the parking lot at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in Newbury Park is still looking good after several months of solid rainstorms this winter. We discovered there are tadpoles galore in the pond and the kids were just mesmerized by them. In the latter part of this footage, the kids decided to "save the tadpoles" that were stuck in mud pit cut off from the main pond. We also discovered tiny frogs, the same size as the tadpoles. 

GREAT TRAILS AND HIKING IN AND AROUND VENTURA COUNTY

Four Seasons Westlake Village Teams Up With Kmart to Reinvigorate Space on Hampshire Road

This is breaking news in the Conejo Valley.

Four Seasons Westlake Village has announced a partnership with Kmart to redevelop the former Kmart store at 325 Hampshire Road in Westlake Village. 

Four Seasons Motel at the former Kmart building in Westlake Village.

Kmart, now part of Sears Holdings, occupied the 116,000 store until it vacated the premises in 2004. The space was subsequently leased by Home Depot through 2025, but plans to open up a Home Depot store fell through.

Now, however, Kmart has teamed up with Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village to create the new Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village.

The Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village will bring 820 cozy, 120 square foot rooms catered towards budget-minded travelers to the Conejo Valley.

Each room will be outfitted with wall to wall linoleum accented by an exclusive Kmart throw rug. The all season Coleman sleeping bag in each room will comfortably sleep up to 1 person, possibly two (depending on size; of the people, that is).

The former Kmart men's and women's restrooms will be brought back to life after 13 years of silence. WiFi will be available throughout the facility, featuring a quite fast (as of 2004) dial-up AOL Internet line.

Travelers will be allocated one special Bluelight Special item per stay, which may include an entire roll of bath tissue or two Twinkies.

Ima Pulin-Urleg of the Four Seasons said "We are thrilled to be partnering with Kmart in this unique extension of the Four Seasons brand. It will provide all visitors to the Conejo Valley an opportunity to experience something they've never experienced before."

The new Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village will offer guests outdoor physical fitness options like nowhere else in the Conejo Valley. In 2017, at no additional cost, guests can tone their upper bodies in the Parking Lot Area Youthfulness (or "PLAY") building program. "Where else can you experience the physical pleasure of repaving an asphalt parking lot?" exclaimed Kmart area manager Brent Musselhead.

Guests can test their physical strength outdoors at the Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village.

For more information, call 1-277-453-6657 or...

1-APR-ILF-OOLS

APRIL FOOLS'!

Happy April Fools' Day!

April Fools' fun in prior years

Turtles Enjoying a Fine Spring Day at The Commons at Calabasas

There must be hundreds of turtles hanging out at the pond area of The Commons at Calabasas, enjoying the spring weather, swimming, sunning and bantering with their koi friends. Quite amusing!

The only other place that comes to mind with this many turtles is Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens in Santa Barbara.

Let us hope the teenage turtles in this bunch do not become mutant and ninja-like in nature.

All this talk about turtles makes me think about tortoises too, including the 90+ year old Galapagos Tortoise, "Clarence," at America's Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College.