Jeff and Joan Buckingham’s family of four is living off the grid at their Los Osos Valley ranch with a new photovoltaic system from Pacific Energy Company. The system provides 39 KWH per day in winter – enough to run the home of this high-tech businessman and his family … Economist Bill Watkins will share his Economic Forecast for Atascadero, 7:30 – 11 a.m., June 4 at the Lake Pavilion. Tickets available online from the Atascadero Chamber … Maggie Cox will be a featured speaker at the Paso Robles Economic Forecast event headlined by economist Bill Watkins June 10 at the Paso Robles Inn … Turning renters into buyers. Midland Pacific Homes has new single-family houses for sale in San Miguel for under $250,000. With just $500 down, buyers can purchase a place of their own for $1,530 a month on a 30-year fixed loan. Say “bye-bye” to the landlord … The Central Coast Shakespeare Festival is back. They’ve started rehearsals for the summer season and will open July 10 with “Treasure Island” at their new venue, River Oaks in Paso … Pull the plug on boring PowerPoints. Attend the June 22 SLO Society of Technical Communication workshop, “The Art, Science and Story of PowerPoint Presentation Design.” The free presentation, 6 p.m. at the KCBX.com computer training room, is by Adele Sommers. Drawings for PowerPoint software … Quick bites from Good Morning SLO, the SLO Chamber’s popular monthly breakfast program: Important surveys headed our way. Online opinion measuring by SLO County Airport asking us to weigh in on desired air service, and one by the Human Resources Association of the Central Coast (coming soon by e-mail) compiling wage, salary and benefits information. Take a minute to help them and we’ll help ourselves. Mark Shaffer, transportation guru and idea guy for RideOn announced “FunRide,” a novel car sharing service with clean fuel vehicles coming soon to SLO County. Cal Poly is deep in planning a groundbreaking conference on obesity prevention, slated for this fall. Supervisor Adam Hill filled in attendees on the County’s plans to energize its Economic Development program with a lot of help from business. And two stirring solos from PCPA Theaterfest’s “Les Miserables” stole the show.
