|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Here I sit on a Wednesday staring down the clock with no firm column topic in mind for the week.
That’s not to say I have no ideas. I actually have several in the queue, but there just wasn’t the time to report them out during this tight production week post-holiday.
And really, that right there has been the theme for weeks now, at home and at work (which, of course, are pretty much the same place these days).
I’m caught in one of those relentless busy loops, looking anxiously for a way off the hamster wheel but to no avail.
I’ve come to expect, even embrace, the up-and-down cycle of the journalism world – and I’ll never complain about having too much news to cover, because the reverse is much more concerning. The pace personally, raising a toddler among the many family priorities, is also swift … and that’s OK. But, as many of you experience too, these periods where the two surge and snowball simultaneously are daunting and draining.
We’ve been at breakneck speed as a news organization for months now, particularly with the behind-the-scenes steps needed to transition into a nonprofit journalism foundation at the turn of the year and more recently, with the rollout of our new website design and underlying content management system.
There continue to be growing pains with the latter, which is not unusual at the outset with technological changes. I very much appreciate all of the feedback our readers and other stakeholders have provided about our refreshed look online. Plus, your patience and understanding.
I cannot say enough positive things about the job our Tri-Valley editor and reporters have done adapting to our new system. Same goes for our IT department staff working through bugs and problems with our new outside vendor – and really, kudos to the entirety of our Embarcadero Media Foundation team.
Though we’ve experienced some bumps in the road with the online unveiling, I’m excited about the prospect of the situation smoothing out very soon. And more importantly, I’m proud that the quality of our journalism has remained paramount at the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
What a time we’re in with local news, by the way. Pleasanton and Dublin teachers unions at impasse with their districts! Taste Tri-Valley Restaurant Week!! Sunol school board recall petition signatures filed with the county!!! Zone 7 Water Agency suing the city of Pleasanton!!!!
Oh yeah, and gearing up for a little thing we call the primary election. (How is that already less than two weeks away?!)
The news gods remain very kind to us, but I’ll admit that makes it a bit difficult for our small but mighty staff to make inroads on carryover and deep-dive stories. For myself, I haven’t been able to make much headway toward catching up on coverage topics in a holding pattern since last year.
Let’s not even talk about my long list around the house, largely untouched in 2024 so far too.
Heck, between the happenings at home and the wet weather, I didn’t even have a chance to take down the Christmas lights until last Friday. Although I cleaned the gutters at the same time, I failed to adequately check all downspouts – which had me on the ladder in the rain to clear a clog Tuesday afternoon.
We also had a bout of RSV run through our family a few weeks back, which we’ve all recovered from … except for the little guy’s sleeping. I can probably count on one hand the number of times he’s made it through the whole night in 2024 (and by that I mean until the 5 o’clock hour, often regardless of overnight disruptions, because our son is an early bird).
Rest and relaxation have been hard to come by for me and my wife. We barely had time to exchange cards at the end of the night on Valentine’s Day. Our only date this year was a work event.
It took us a week to get through “Dances With Wolves” in early January on our now-years-long quest to watch every Oscar-winning Best Picture in order. Funnily, we subsequently knocked out “The Silence of the Lambs” (a favorite) and “Unforgiven” (didn’t hold up) on back-to-back nights, but the “Schindler’s List” and “Forrest Gump” DVDs from the library have sat on our mantel untouched for weeks.
Hey, at least we’ve finally made it to movies released during our lifetimes.
I ramble through all of that to just offer a peek behind the curtain, but not to make any passable excuses for no newsy column topic this week. Back to regularly scheduled programming next Friday, I promise.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.