COMPUTER COMMUTER: Talk about long-distance relationships. ....

COMPUTER COMMUTER: Talk about long-distance relationships. . . . Chris Cedergren, executive vice president of AutoPacific Group Inc., spends about 40% of his work time at his Thousand Oaks home although his office is in Detroit. (Valley Business, Page 9). . . . Using a word-processor, a modem and a telephone, he keeps in touch with auto executives nationwide. . . . “Besides the electronic commuting, I log 75,000 to 100,000 miles a year on planes, traveling to Detroit and other cities,” Cedergren says. “It’s worth all the effort to be able to spend a lot of my time in Thousand Oaks. I’ve lived here since I was 9 and I love it.”

HOT STREAK: Buyers continue to snap up homes in Oak Park, reflecting a surge in home sales throughout Ventura County (B1). . . . Leaders in the community say newcomers continue to flock to the area because of its good schools and other attributes. . . . “Oak Park was really developed by the people who live here,” said Ron Stark, a member of the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council. “The residents really built this community; that is why it’s such a great place to live.”

BARBED BARD: Poet, author, journalist and commentator on KCET’s “Life and Times,” Ruben Martinez has scheduled a Ventura poetry reading Wednesday. . . . Martinez, 29, will discuss his Salvadoran and Mexican heritage and his book--”The Other Side: Notes From the New L.A., Mexico City and Beyond.” . . . “We’re primarily interested in books as items of culture, not bricks that go over the counter for 12 bucks apiece,” Ventura Bookstore co-owner Ed Elrod said.