It'll be a long process -- expected to take about a year -- and your help is still needed. That's where a new blog, After the Cummings Fire, comes in.

The blog's first entry explains:

We created this blog as a central place to come to see what the Cummings family really needs. They will have the ability to update this list as they receive items, so we can really zero in on what will be most helpful to them.

An entry from the family itself follows: "We will miss ... Walteria. ... Our family is in awe with your generosity, kindness and support."

I found bento.

Here's a lovely description from one site I found:

'O-bento' is what the Japanese call a packed meal, usually lunch. Bento boxes have internal dividers, and sometimes several stacked layers, so different kinds of food sit in their own little compartments... and the goal is to make the whole package as attractive as possible - from considering the colour combinations of the food and presenting and garnishing it as neatly and artfully as you can...

The most informative and down-to-earth site I found for the novice bento-er was Lunch in a Box. Blogger Biggie, who won a 2007 Food Blog Award for Best Kids/Family Blog, focuses primarily on speed and nutrition in packing lunches for her preschooler. She also lived in Japan for nine years and speaks Japanese, so some of her tips and recipes are culled from Japanese cookbooks for you purists.

Her site is where you'll find a tips page that covers everything from the science of choosing the right size bento box and how to care for bento gear to smart packing strategies to keep a meal looking like you designed it to look.

If her site inspires you as much as it did me, you need to start shopping for some bento gear before school starts. Fortunately, the South Bay has quite a few Japanese markets that stock cheap and cute bento stuff. In Torrance, you can find things like cutters that turn a simple hot dog into a tulip to an egg shaper that turns a hard-boiled egg into a car. Find the goods with Biggie's Bento Store Locator.

Find more info on bento at:
Cooking Cute's links and resources
Adventures in Bento Making
Dallas Morning News' tips for bentoesque school lunches

I liked the idea that with a bento box, you can avoid disposable food containers like plastic sandwich bags. The bento supply aisles are full of cute little re-usable containers in fun shapes and colors that kids will love using. You can also avoid plastics and go with stainless steel containers if you're worried about the plastic factor.

Tips for packing a no-waste lunch box

I also liked that bento is supposed to be creative. I'll likely include comic strips and photos clipped from the Breeze, or some of my husband's doodles. Here are some more ideas I found that I might incorporate in my daughter's boxes:
Clever strategies for packing fun lunches
Lunch box love letter ideas from Tiffintin.net
Dumb jokes to include in the notes

You can also find out more at this Caltech site, which includes links to statistics on recent earthquakes, maps, movies and community comments about ground shaking to which you, too, can contribute.

And here's an old post about a project for tracking quakes: Scientists link
laptops to detect earthquakes

Google's service, dubbed "knol," has been widely viewed as the company's answer to Wikipedia, which has emerged as one of the Web's leading reference tools by drawing upon the knowledge of anonymous contributors.

But it's Wikipedia's credibility and anonymity issues that pose problems.

Anyone with a Google login name will be able to submit an article. The service, dubbed "knol" in reference to a unit of knowledge, had been limited to an invitation-only audience of contributors and readers for the past seven months.

Knol currently has several hundred articles, including an overview of constipation by a University of San Francisco associate professor of gastroenterology and backpacking advice from one of Google's own software engineers.

2) South Coast Botanic Garden: 87 acres of land with a collection of plants from all over the world, classes, tours, walks and special shows.
Hours: Garden open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, $2.50 for children 5-12, and free for those under 5.
26300 Crenshaw Blvd., Palos Verdes Peninsula. 310-544-6815.

3) Madrona Marsh Preserve and Nature Center: Learn about the animal and plant species that benefit from the marsh at the Nature Center, then explore the marsh itself and see them in their natural habitat. Call for special nature walks and other events.
3201 Plaza del Amo, Torrance. 310-782-3989.

4) Point Vicente Interpretive Center: The 10,000-square-foot center features exhibits about the natural and cultural history of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, with an emphasis on the Pacific gray whale.
Hours: Daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Park grounds close at dusk.
No admission fee, but donations are appreciated.
31501 Palos Verdes Drive West, Rancho Palos Verdes. 310-377-5370.

5) Roundhouse Lab, Aquarium: Native and non-native marine life, including sharks, moray eels, lobsters and octopi, on display in tanks; educational programs for kindergarten through 12th-grade classes; outreach programs and birthday parties.
Hours: 3 p.m. to dusk Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to dusk Saturdays and Sundays.
Free admission but donations are welcome.
End of Manhattan Beach Pier. 310-379-8117.

6) Western Museum of Flight: Focuses on the history of the aerospace industry in Southern California, with planes from all eras on display.
Hours: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays through Sundays.
General admission is $5, students $3.
3315 Airport Drive, Red Baron Hangar No. 3, Torrance. 310-326-9544.

7) Charles H. Wilson Park: Free Little Train Rides on the first Sunday of the month (except in July). The park also has a treehouse. The train rides are closest to the park's eastern Washington St. entrance.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
2200 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance.

8) Sea Aire Golf Course: Sea-Aire is a very short nine-hole, 27 par, pitch and putt golf course nestled in the Seaside Ranchos neighborhood of SouthTorrance. It's a low-stress, relatively low-cost place to learn the game. Club and ball rental available.
Hours: Mondays 3 p.m. until dusk, Tuesdays through Sundays 9 a.m. until dusk.
22780 Lupine Drive, Torrance. 310-543-4653.

9) Banning Residence Museum: Built in 1864, the restored, 23-room Greek revival mansion is the former home of Phineas Banning, who founded Wilmington in 1858. Call for information on guided tours and special events.
General admission is $5, $1 for children under 12.
401 E. M St., Wilmington. 310-548-7777.

10) L.A. Maritime Museum: Exhibits include vessels, models, paintings and memorabilia of maritime life. Hands-on exhibits include knot board and amateur radio room.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays, closed Mondays
General admission $3 general, seniors and youths ages 7-18 $1, children 6 and under free.
Berth 84, foot of Sixth St., San Pedro. 310-548-7618.

RELATED LINK:
L.A. Farm Girl on where to get the best produce in the South Bay
Find a Farmer's Market every day in the South Bay
Get bigger savings from your newspaper coupons
10 ways to live beneath your means
Database of South Bay eateries where kids eat free

But for those of us with overflowing in-boxes, lost personal messages and computer viruses, the time he'll serve might not make up for the pain and time he has cost.

We can't help you there. But we can help prevent future spam from wasting your time and in-box space.

If you're a consumer, the Federal Trade Commission site can explain what anti-spam rules mean for you. If you're a business owner, the site has information about how they affect commercial e-mails.

The site also includes links to resources that can help you reduce the amount of spam on your electronic plate.

And if you want in on some anti-spamming vigilante action, you can fill out a form to report suspected spammers.

ForYourArt has set up a Web site to expose the rich culture of the L.A. Art scene. The blog updates weekly on all the creative goings-on in the neighborhood, from Orange County to Valencia. This week, do something different. Attend a benefit show or an exhibit opening. ForYourArt offers a very cool and very handy 16-page print-out map and guide to the county's little-known galleries, bookstores and other fun little nooks to explore.

RELATED LINKS:
Got to get a Getty guide
Read up on Gehry before his move to El Segundo

Photographer Kem McNair sure did at New Smyrna beach, taking an amazing picture of a 6-foot spinner shark leaping behind a surfer that is currently wading its way through the U.K. and Australian news outlets and into CNN's online coverage across the shark-infested pond. Debate lingers as to whether the fish was a spinner or a black tip, and while shark attacks are down this year at the notorious surf spot on central Florida's east coast, we can't help but think that sharks plus surfers is a dangerous combination with which many South Bay surfers can identify.

Caught the shark bug?

Long Beach's Aquarium of the Pacific tonight shows the original monster-from-the-deep movie "Jaws" as part of its annual Shark Week. Bring a picnic and watch your favorite predator on a massive outdoor screen at 8 p.m. At 100 Aquarium Way. You can also watch a free preview of a new episode of Discovery Channel's Shark Week and, for $10, tour the aquarium's amazing sea life displays, which include Shark Lagoon's sand tiger, sandbar, nurse and whitetip sharks.

From great white to green

Tired of sharks yet? You will be if you stayed up into the wee hours to catch the last round of the British Open, where veteran Australian golfer Greg Norman - or the Great White Shark as he's known -- leads the field by two shots going into the final 18 holes.

Wine bars and enotecas are in abundance throughout the South Bay, especially in the beach cities. They're perfect places to sample reds and whites by the glass and to buy bottles to tuck into your cooler. For starters, try Friends of the Vine in Redondo Beach; Coco Noche in Manhattan Beach, which also happens to sell a mouth-watering selection of gourmet chocolate; Cafe Pierre, also in Manhattan Beach; and WineStyles in Torrance.

But if you've never dared to quaff beyond cocktails and beer, beware: the wine world is a daunting place to navigate. Luckily, there's Cork'd, a wine review site where anyone can put in their two cents. Whether you've seen it at the supermarket, at the Olive Garden or at an exclusive Beverly Hills wine bar, it'll probably be on Cork'd -- and if not, there's nothing keeping you from adding your own review.

Go to the Bowl's 2008 season calendar to get an overview of this summer's concerts. Just remember that alcohol is permitted only to shows produced by the L.A. Philharmonic, and the venue has a size limit on carry-in coolers and baskets. Call 323-850-2000 for more information regarding the Hollywood Bowl's policies.

Shuttertalk and Photojojo are great resources for propelling you deeper into the craft of photography. Both Web sites are dedicated to serving camera fiends with the best in tips and tricks, do-it-yourself gear and projects and Photoshop guides. The two sites cover everything from road trip and vacation photography to pointers on how to shoot for your eBay auctions.

Once you've got a memory card full of personal art, maybe you'll want to alter your photos a little bit - lay on some text, resize them, add a sepia tone. Nothing too crazy. But say you don't have Photoshop, or iPhoto, or even Microsoft Paint at your fingertips. Picnick is a free online-based photo application that offers most of the basics without clogging up your hard drive space. You can also save and share your photos directly to Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket or MySpace.

But if snail mail is more your style and you'd like to send and receive postcards from around the world, log on to Postcrossing. Sign up for a user account, request an address and you'll be e-mailed information from another user. Send your postcards and you're on your way. Your own address will end up in the database for another person to retrieve. Before you know it, your mailbox will be full of cards from Finland, Malaysia, Australia or any of the other 184 participating countries. It's an addicting and cheap way to make some use of your downtime. Even your little ones can get some mail; several users have signed up accounts for their children.

John McCain? Barack Obama? Well, why not President You?

See what happens when you grasp the reins of power in Nationstates, a free nation simulator game.

More than 73,000 countries exist on the virtual Nationstates planet. The objective is quite simple: there really isn't one. The game does not allow for interactive warfare, and each user is charged with handling his or her own affairs.

Users pick a flag and give their country a name and a formal title. The countries are then presented with a series of laws they must enact. Once enough laws have been passed, the government is classified into a category, such as "Democratic Socialists," "Corrupt Dictatorship" or even "Corporate Bordello." It is then further broken down into how countries are regarded for their civic, economic and political freedoms.

Some members can elect to join a United Nations-like body, the World Assembly, where countries can vote on laws that would be binding throughout the Nationstates world.

Each day, countries are ranked against one another in a survey where the quirky category changes daily.

It's all the fun of a benevolent dictatorship without the mess.

That's part of the philosophy behind Matthew Emmerzian and Kelly Bozza's "Every Monday Matters: 52 Ways to Make a Difference" new book and Web site.

Every Monday Matters takes 52 creative but doable activities that can make a difference on a local level, and, collectively, on a much larger scale.

For example, Monday number 17's theme is "Register to Donate Your Organs," which in California is handled through the DMV and can be done via the Web at www.donatelifecalifornia.org/. Your organ donation could save the lives of eight people, and your tissue donation enhance the lives of another 50 people. Saving a life by donating a heart, lung, or kidney or allowing someone to see again through your cornea may be the most significant gift you ever give...and you may not even be aware you are giving it.

And another Monday assignment was to "thank a firefighter." If you missed it, and want to start now, here are the email addresses for our local firehouses that list them:
Torrance Fire Department
Redondo Beach Fire Department
El Segundo Fire Department
L.A. County Fire Department

And postal addresses for the ones that don't:

Hermosa Beach Fire Department
540 Pier Ave
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

Manhattan Beach Fire Department
400 15th Street
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Add the authors' 50 other simple, effective ideas such as this to your Monday schedule -- or substitute your own -- and the power of the Every Monday Matters philosophy starts to become apparent. And maybe your Mondays won't seem so awful after all.