START YOUR OVENS: Oxnard’s annual California Strawberry...

START YOUR OVENS: Oxnard’s annual California Strawberry Festival is four months off . . . but gourmets who want to enter the festival’s cook-off have a mere two months to create a confection featuring--what else--strawberries. . . . Past contests drew hundreds of entries from around the country--and even a few overseas chefs competed for the $500 prize. The categories are hor d’oeuvres; soups and salads; main dishes and vegetables; breads, pancakes and crepes; desserts; and “other.”. . . Send entries by March 3 to: Berry-Off ‘95, Berry Bin 95, 3600 S. Harbor Blvd., Oxnard, 93035.

SCHOOL SAVIORS: Be true to your school. . . . In Santa Paula, where many of the town’s leading lights graduated from historic Santa Paula High School, residents have taken that advice to heart. Thanks to a bond measure that the city’s voters passed five years ago, the school is sporting $8 million in improvements. (B1)

JAZZ LIVES: Ventura County jazz lovers should find no shortage of places for listening to their favorite music. . . . Three spots--ranging from downtown Ventura to just outside rustic Ojai--have emerged as prime places to hear jazz. (Ventura County Life, Page 8). Club owners’ refrain: Those who seek good jazz can find it. But, says Lanny Kaufer, who books jazz acts at Wheeler Hot Springs: “It’s still a challenge to get the word out to those few people who really value the kind of music we appreciate here.”

SURFING FOR JOBS: Despite the state’s economic malaise, the notion of living in Southern California is still seductive. . . . At least that’s the thinking behind a new service being offered by Job Search, a Thousand Oaks-based company. Computer users surfing the Internet can find out about hundreds of prospective local employers--and even call up video images of California. To some out-of-state residents, the idea of life in California “is always intriguing,” said company President Peter Wolf. The e-mail address: jobsearch@adnetsol.com.