No doubt you will have noticed that The Tribune has started broadcasting live streaming video of the county supervisors race forums. Last week, we hosted the 3rd district debate here at the Tribune office and today we went to the Paso Robles Inn for the District One debate.I won't bore you with the details of the technical wizardry that was required to stream the video, because that's really not a very interesting story. Let's just say that we managed to get everything working with only minor hiccups and I'm pretty happy with the results.

There was, however one fairly major hiccup that occurred right after the Paso Robles broadcast. You see, there's a reasonable amount of equipment involved in the process; we have to bring microphones, a camera, a computer, tripods, etc. Not to mention all the wiring that has to be done to get everything connected. It's a fairly lengthy process that requires someone of obviously genius-level intelligence to facilitate.

It's such a shame that it was left to me then, since I am clearly an idiot.

It’s an exciting day for blogging on SanLuisObispo.com, for today we have implemented phase one of an awesome new plan to improve our staff blogs. Starting this afternoon, the existing Features blog, SLOGoings, is no more. Instead features writers Pat Pemberton and Sarah Linn are dividing their resources up and will be authoring two separate blogs. Pat will be working on the music and surfing themed Sidetracked, while Sarah will concentrate on movies and pop culture in her new blog, She Likes to Watch.

I stay up pretty late, and get to work pretty early. That’s a combination that requires a hefty dose of caffeine in the morning; otherwise I get grumpy (although Sally would say that it doesn’t really make a difference). I’m not a fan of coffee, so I tend to get my caffeine through either tea or various soft drinks.

The other morning, I got to work, nice and early, and reached into my box of tea bags to discover that I’d already used up the last one. You’d think I’d have noticed that on the previous day, but I’m not the most observant guy in the world and sometimes things like that escape me.

It’s been a while since I posted last, but I have an excuse, I’ve been really busy working on new stuff for you guys.

First, we have all new winery, dining and hotel listings which we’ve added to our community calendar software. These are a vast improvement over the old system as now in addition to finding basic information about the location, you can also read and write reviews, find directions, and list similar locations nearby.

This morning, I arrived at work to hear rumours that the Cuesta Grade was closed, the reason given was that there was “something to do with elephant seals”. What the seals were supposed to be doing, I have no idea. Frolicking perhaps.

Since Elephant seals really have no business on the Grade, this made for an interesting story, but when Larissa looked into it, she found that the CHP had arrived to check out the report only to find that there were no signs of elephant seals, frolicking or otherwise. The whole thing seems to have been an April Fool’s prank played by local radio station KZOZ. Well done guys.

You could sense the excitement yesterday morning when an email went out from our fearless leader, Chip, informing us that Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator himself, would be visiting The Tribune for a meeting with our editorial board.

The email went out around an hour and a half before Arnie was scheduled to arrive. No time to run home to get my copy of T2 – Judgment Day to have him sign it, and certainly not enough time to “set up live streaming video” as my boss, Sergio suggested. And it’s just as well I didn’t set it up – read on.

For a while now, our reporting staff have been producing videos to accompany stories when appropriate, but until last week, they’ve always had to do so with either woefully substandard or mind-bogglingly technical equipment. That’s all changed now, because Sally managed to get them a shiny new digital camcorder.

After a couple of false starts, in which Larissa’s computer kept crashing, we managed to produce the first video using this camera, and so far it seems to be successful. If things work out the way we hope they will, then our reporters should be able to produce videos to accompany their stories more often.

You may find the news about Eliot Spitzer intriguing, but not after the seventh time you've been told about it. Or even the second. I’d never even heard of him until yesterday, but that may be due to my own personal lack of interest in current events. Alternatively, it could be because I am foreign, so politics in this country frighten and confuse me.

Unfortunately, a problem with our publishing system caused our breaking-news alert about Spitzer’s resignation to be sent out 6 more times than was intended. It may even have been more times than that — I lost count. It was definitely more than the one time that it should have been sent.

I returned from my “baby vacation” yesterday to find a suspicious yellow envelope on my desk. I say “suspicious” because typically, no one sends me mail that’s not of the "e" variety, so I consider any envelope left on my desk, yellow or otherwise, to be suspicious. Upon inspection, the envelope appeared to have been sent by the International Webmasters Association, which helped to abate my suspicions somewhat as I am familiar with that organization. The Tribune has in fact recently signed me up as a member to gain access to some training courses.

I opened the envelope to see what goodies lay awaiting me inside, and found a green cardboard folder containing this:

For the next two weeks, I’ll be on “vacation”. You’ll notice there the use of quotation marks, which are cunningly being used to suggest that I will actually be working far harder during my vacation than I do at the Tribune.

My wonderful wife just gave birth to our 3rd child – a beautiful little girl we’ve decided to call Layla. She was born via C-section at 8:06 this morning, and weighed in at a hefty 8lb 11oz.

Her two older brothers came to visit her this afternoon, and if the way that went is any indication of things to come, we’re going to have a very loud and interesting few years ahead of us. Our oldest son, Elliot is promising to be a big help though and is already doting on his little sister, which is really great to see.