Changing it up yet again — The SCV Talk Archive

It's good to be a blogger covering the Santa Clarita Valley right now. There's so much source material just about everywhere you look, whether it's the social media sites, sites that make it easy to crunch numbers and get data about our community and of course, other blogs & news sites that cover the SCV.

I say that because looking back over the last nearly 8 years of SCVTalk's history, I can't remember a time when I've had so much material to think about and write blogs on. It used to be thta I could organize all these separate 'streams' of SCV content into an RSS reader, but that doesn't quite capture all the "talk" going on about the SCV.

So after talking with Mike D. and thinking about it over the weekend, we've decided to shake things up a bit here on SCVTalk. Here's what we're thinking:

Daily Brief on a bit of a hiatus: I regret that I haven't been giving the Daily Brief the time it deserves as of late; it used to be that I could pen a 1500 word Brief in 90 minutes or so pre-dawn. But I've discovered an important and seemingly universal law affecting all parents, everywhere: the amount of free time you have is inversely proportional to the growth of your child. When the boy was 1 month old, he didn't take much of my time. Now that he's 13 months old, not only is he taking more of my time, but I'm giving it freely to him, as much as I possibly can, and still wanting more. He's a great kid; you'd like him. Unfortunately the Daily Brief suffers
Quality vs quantity: Instead of burning the limited amount of free time I have on sub-par Daily Briefs, I'm going to spend the time writing much better, more thoughtful, perhaps even riotously funny posts for SCVTalk. Mike will be doing the same (Witness his great piece on SCV accents posted yesterday)

So to the Daily Brief fans out there, there will be plenty of reason to stick around SCVTalk. We're heading into the City Council election season which promises to be very interesting, and not just because Dennis Conn is back in the race. I'm hoping we'll do some interviews with candidates, along with the usual thoughtful analysis & handicapping of their chances.

I'm looking forward to the change-up for another reason: my whole perspective of the SCV has changed quite a bit over the last 12 months, and not just because I've had a son, but also because I moved from my swank, happenin' condo in the SoLy district to a quiet, car-dependent 'burb of the suburbs deep in in the heart of Calgrove, protected by the impenetrable Calgrove Gate.

What happens when an idealistic bike commuting childless man gets a garage of his own, doesn't live close enough to anything worth walking to, develops a Hey You Kids Get off My Lawn mentality and is protected by a Gate, not that dissimilar to the Wall in Game of Thrones??

Stick around and you'll find out.

Comments (2)

James FarleyMonday, January 13th, 2014 at 2:35 pm
Jeff, Having followed (and contributing a little to) your post almost from the beginning it is great to see you will continue although change it up a bit. You are very good at what you do. As to what will happen now living in a gated community with your lovely wife, bringing up a son, etc. I see the seeds of a Conservative in the making. Hey, it happened to David Horrowitz and Charles Krauthammer. One never knows... :) Good luck in your continued venture and all else!
JackHererMonday, January 13th, 2014 at 6:40 pm
Here's a topic for you. Did you know that while everyone was complaining about the ACA computer system, our states unemployment insurance systen has been broken and some people haven't seen a check since July? November in my case. We are broke and life as we know it is ruined, yet all the attention is elsewhere. So how about a little attention on the poor and homeless in the SCV? Nobody seems to care. Especially our Republican representative Buck!