I'm in SoCal as well (live in IE, work in OC). My Isaac is working fine up to the extruder...you can see details at:
[
www.californiaguy.com]
Every day holds another lesson :-)
I'll be switching back to nichrome tonight and expect to be extruding then, at least onto the bench. I've learned that you want your extruder operation to be rock-solid before you try printing.
I'd love to hear from any other SoCal Reprappers...