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'As we know it and I feel …" well, I wouldn't say "fine", but I'm certainly ready for it.
These final weeks of 2023 have been quite the push, professionally and personally.
Our organization is completing the last steps to transition from a for-profit news publishing company to a journalism nonprofit foundation effective Jan. 1. That plus a few other major internal changes, including a couple you'll learn about very soon, have made for quite the eventful fourth quarter at work.
The Tri-Valley news world has stayed very active as well, which is great for our editorial team and has kept me busy. Oh, and once again I took the lead on our Year in Review package — and while it looks awesome, I'm adult enough to admit I bit off way more than I could chew for this special edition of our newspaper. (If only you knew what time it was when I started writing this column…)
Ah well, just put on my headphones, crank up the '80s college rock playlist I've had on repeat this week and power through. That explains the R.E.M. lyrics on the brain.
Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong generation, musically. My listening trends tend to gravitate toward stuff from the '70s and '80s — although I do have a few '90s and '00s collections cycling through too, the modern sounds from when I was growing up. I would probably be wise to expose myself to more music from this century, especially with a child to help mold.
Wait, what am I doing? Focus, reset, after all no time to fret.
Not always easy to stay on track with so much going on.
At home, our little guy is turning 2 this Saturday. (Happy Birthday, Francis!) We had his party at a park last weekend, lucking out with a beautiful fall day just before the rain arrived.
That prep was quite the whirlwind — maybe too much, as all three of us find ourselves a bit under the weather midweek. But we're hopefully moving in the right direction ahead of the holiday week, which promises to be another busy spell with family gatherings, play dates and outings with friends.
Who knows? Maybe even a round of golf, a couple of Warriors' games on the couch, a full night of sleep here or there, and working in a movie or two to regain some progress on our long journey of watching the Best Picture winners in order. (We've been stuck on "Rain Man" for a few weeks now, but hey, with it we've finally made it into the subcategory of "Best Picture winners from my lifetime".)
Of course, it won't be a proper vacation week ahead for me. While I'll take a day or two off, more so because daycare is closed than for my own R&R, there will be plenty of work to be done too.
Even though we're not publishing a newspaper next Friday (Dec. 29), our Jan. 5 print edition is not all that far away — and the stories will continue to flow online next week.
There is a lot you can look forward to reading on PleasantonWeekly.com soon, including our team's coverage of Tuesday night's Pleasanton City Council meeting, some interesting school board developments and several A&E features in the queue, to name a few.
Politicized drama is also in the offing, as campaign season is here.
We're looking into the possible ethics inquiry of local U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell for reportedly reserving the space on Capitol Hill that Hunter Biden used for his press conference pushing to give public testimony while ultimately defying a congressional subpoena demanding his deposition in closed-session.
Closer to home, Jennifer Esteen — the lone challenger against Alameda County District 4 Supervisor Nate Miley — is crying foul this week for not being reappointed to her seat on the Alameda Health System Board of Trustees, implying electoral motivations by her opponent and citing her recent public statement calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
A lot for our team to unpack with those stories, not to mention still trying to wrap our reporting heads around the supposed shenanigans (or some might say gamesmanship) involved with the candidate filings for the State Senate district that includes Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore.
Feeling pretty psyched.
Editor's note: Jeremy Walsh is the editorial director for the Embarcadero Media East Bay Division. His "What a Week" column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly.
