The Sacramento Bee

Yesterday afternoon I got the opportunity to tour the production operation at our local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee.


We were shown the whole process from the bulk paper and ink coming in on one side of the building, the content being written in another part of the building, this content magically being transferred to the drums of the printing presses and then thousands and thousands of folded newspapers coming out at the other side.

The printing presses are huge complicated machines - lots of heavy moving parts moving in a very coordinated and precise fashion. The adjustment of the alignment of the paper in the press is measured in thousands of an inch - that's a pretty amazing tolerance for such a heavy piece of machinery. I was surprised to find out that the most modern printing press at the Bee was actually manufactured in England, in the Midlands, not far from my home.



The Bee is a strange name for a newspaper, I know, but it is supposed to reflect both the industriousness of the bee and the sting in the bee’s tail. You will probably not be too surprised to learn that The Sacramento Bee is actually the largest circulation newspaper named after an insect – how about that for a claim to fame.

The Infostat Christmas Lunch

Today was the Infostat Christmas Lunch. Yet again we went down to Il Fornio's in downtown - its becoming a tradition.


For this momentous occasion, it was certainly a terrible morning in the office. Just one of those days when lots of support calls came in and we didn't seem to be making any headway. This too shall pass. Happy Christmas everyone.

Pre-Christmas Dinner

Things have been quiet for a while. Not much to report - a trip to the UK over Thanksgiving but nothing memorable to report.

But it's now that time of year when dinners and parties abound. Last night we all got together for a Christmas dinner at Lucca's here in Sacramento. Ostensibly to wish bon voyage and Happy Christmas to Anna, who's going to England, and Jeff and Nancy, who are going to Texas.

Here we all are ....

Oklahoma City....

I just returned from a trip to Oklahoma City. Not one of my favorite places, but when it’s the headquarters of our largest customer, then you have to do what you have to do – besides the people are nice there.

I often wonder what it would be like to live in a place like Oklahoma City – I am sure there are things of interest there but other than the art museum and the memorial to the OKC Bombing I haven’t found them. So my evening’s entertainment was to go to Border’s Books and browse the shelves. I did find a book on the places you should avoid when traveling this world (titled - Don’t Go There). I was intrigued to see if there were any reasons I shouldn't visit Oklahoma City - and yes there were two. One because it is one of the most likely cities to be hit by a tornado, and two because it is a place where the inhabitants have an unhealthy diet (apparently it always features high on the list places where fast food is the staple of the diet). Well we didn't have a tornado, but I did eat at Quizno's.

So anyway after a reasonably successful trip, I escaped back to California. I got to fly first class this time, and, I must admit, I much prefer that mode of transportation. They still feed you, and the wine and drinks just keep flowing the entire time. It’s not that we at Infostat travel first class for business, it’s just that upgrading is the best thing to do with air miles these days – I never seem to be able to cash them in for a free trip, but I have been lucky with using them for upgrades to first class.

Here's a picture of Denver airport - which I always think looks interesting with all those tent like stuctures, and in the late afternoon sun the other day it looked particularly beautiful.

Finally, it's over....

At long last, the deed has been done, and I cast my ballot this morning for Mr. Obama. I am optimistic about the results and I believe this will truly be a significant day for us here in the US.


I was at my polling station by 6:45 this morning and there was already a long line, which all bodes well, I think. However, I couldn't believe after all this fuss about scrutinizing the voting process, at 7:05 they were slowing up the line because they didn't have enough pens. Really wouln't you think that the standard kit would be a box of pens just in case they needed extras? .....Apparently not!

David Sedaris

Last night David Sedaris, the writer and humorist, gave a reading in Sacramento.

I have been a fan of his since the Santaland Diary days on NPR, but had not heard him live before. I must admit I didn't have very high expectations of the event - its just a guy on stage reading from a book for heaven's sake - how interesting can that be? However, he is seriously funny and he had the audience rolling in the aisles. I love his deadpan style of delivery and his almost whimpy nasally voice and he certainly is the master of his craft of a humor writer.

He gave some readings from his own works, most of which, I think, were works in progress, all of which I had not heard before. You could see him penciling in notes as he was reading - I guess he fine tunes his work by reading it over and over again to audiences and then goes back and edits it each night until it is ready for publication.

He also read from a book by another author George Saunders' The Braindead Megaphone. To give a reading of your works and then to branch out for 10 minutes to read someone else's work was unexpected and probably a little unusual. Nevertheless, he had high praise for the author and the book and it too sounded well written and funny.

This was the third performance event of the week - Eliza Gilkyson on Sunday, Laurie Anderson on Wednesday, and David Sedaris on Thursday. Just like London buses, they all come together, now there will be nothing happening until next year.

Eliza Gilkyson et al

Another nice show at The Palms last night - Eliza Gilkyson performed with an opening act by Hayes Carll. Eliza played to a packed house and was very ably assisted by the very excellent Nina Gerber (one of my favorite guitarists). The opener, Hayes Carll, a Houstonian would you believe, was talented and amusing and just all round enjoyable - I would recommend him to anyone.

Google and the Queen

Her face may be on the currency and on the stamps but surely nothing could be cooler for Her Majesty than getting her image embedded in the Google logo.

Thanks to Janet for pointing this out today.

Bees Make Honey

I finally finished harvesting all the honey from my bees the other night. It has been a good year - at least compared to my miserable returns with them last year (I didn't harvest any honey at all).

This year I retrieved just over 60lbs of honey - 24 from my first and oldest hive, 38 from the second hive, and none (or at least nothing worth disrupting the hive for) from the third one. The variance in the production of the hives is surprising, they are all adjacent to each other in the back yard, they all look reasonably healthy in my eyes. The best producer and the worst were even acquired from the same shipment to the bee store and were installed on the same day. I wonder why they are so different.

Anyway, this is all well and good but now I have to get rid of the stuff. I have been driving around with honey in the car for the last few weeks giving anyone I know a jar or two. I still have over 30 lbs to go, so anyone who needs honey please get in touch.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

This last weekend there was a free concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park – Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. The primary theme was bluegrass (perhaps not my all time favorite music genre), but as the name of the event suggests it was not limited to that and the list of performers was across the board (MC Hammer appeared on Friday afternoon – hardly strictly bluegrass at all).

Emmylou Harris

I went down primarily to see Elvis Costello on the Sunday afternoon, but, due to my late start, the horrible traffic in the city and the dearth of parking near the event, I missed Elvis completely. Nevertheless, I did eventually find a parking spot to squeeze into and thankfully I had my bike with me to speed my way over to the park in time to see The Waybacks, Loudon Wainwright, Iris Dement, and Emmylou Harris. I was well satisfied. Actually The Waybacks were the most enjoyable in that open-air environment. I had heard bits of them before but they really did a great set and when they launched into the Grateful Dead’s Saint Stephen it was like the 60’s all over again except with old people (there was even lots of fragrant smoke wafting around and lots of people selling brownies and cookies).

I guess I had never been aware of this concert series before, but this was its 8th year. It is put on by the billionaire financier Warren Hellman (a kind of San Francisco Warren Buffet) who loves music and who has the means to put on a really good concert - for free. He also happens to be a banjo picker too (he played along with Emmylou Harris on one song.

Iris Dement at the Piano