Getting More From Les: Housekeeping 101

As my blog reaches its 9th anniversary it is time to do some necessary housekeeping.

I began writing Getting More From Les in the summer of 2015. Early posts detailed the good and bad of home-building as Barb and I built our empty-nester dream home. Subject matter slowly expanded, and so did my readership when the blog joined ChicagoNow, the digital arm of the Chicago Tribune.

In 2021, Alden Global Capital purchased the Tribune Company. The cost-cutters at Alden axed the Trib’s great salaried columnists and then dismissed us unpaid ChicagoNow contributors. That left the blog with a satisfied and satisfactory audience of loyal subscribers, social media followers, and list-serve readers.

But over the last few months, many subscribers have asked why I have stopped writing my blogs. I haven’t! But new rules, regulations, and ever-diligent mail servers (Outlook, Gmail, and others) block subscribers from receiving notifications from a subscriber list or emails with an embedded link. It all becomes spam.

My low-tech way of keeping the blog subscription readership alive began this weekend. First, I sent individual emails to each member of all my subscriber lists asking if they still wanted to hear about Getting More From Les. Rewardingly, many of you replied, “Yes, please continue to include me.” Beginning with this post, all those lovely people will receive an individually emailed copy of all posts. No links to click–the blog will just be there. A little extra work on my part, but well worth it if it gets the blog to my readers.

For my many social network readers, nothing has changed. I hope you will all continue to read and enjoy new blog posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.

And as always, I want to hear your comments and thoughts about the blog and anything else you want to tell me about. Any advice on the technical aspects of blog publishing would also be appreciated.

That ends the housework. Thanks for your patience. The good stuff (personal challenges and triumphs, politics, music, and more) will be coming up soon!

Everything Old is New Again

It’s time for a trial balloon. For the last 3 years, the Blog has been written and published as part of ChicagoNow, the digital media arm of the Chicago Tribune. And I am still an official contributor there. But like many of the other wonderful writers on the ChicagoNow site, the number of ads that are run, and their placement in the multiple spots in the blog, have been driving me just a little crazy. It is also frustrating that comments to the blog can only be added to registered Facebook users.

So I am giving WordPress another try. WordPress is where the blog started, back when it was a mirror and sounding board for our home building experience. As regular readers know, the blog has evolved from those early days, with anything being fair game. I just hope that every blog gives readers at least one “AHA” moment–that feeling that “this has happened, or at least it could happen, to me.”

It will take me a little while to get my feet wet here. The format for creating blogs is a little different, and some editing errors may creep in from time to time. But I hope the changes will be worthwhile. If not, I can always rejoin the ChicagoNow gang. As Barb knows I’ve never been one to slam a door when it can be left open just a little bit.

I promise that with my next post I will be back to my regularly scheduled content. Since comments should be easier to post, let me know what you think. And if you are a new reader, please take a moment to subscribe, using one of the various means the site provides. And thanks for taking the ride with me!

photo credit: Mr. Greenjeans via photopin (license)

Five Things We Get From Our Parents

Isn’t it ironic…

…don’t you think?

Alanis Morissette-1995

There is a bit of hoopla this year about the 20th anniversary of the release of “Jagged Little Pill,” the Alanis Morisssette album that, at least for awhile, turned the young singer-songwriter into a superstar. Laury was 9 at the time and wanted to buy the album, featuring the song “You Oughta Know”, but Barb and I objected. The lyrics were even more blatantly sexual than the usual pop music of the time. In a bit of irony, “You Oughta Know” reached our car CD player anyway, by means of the “1996 Grammy Award Nominees” CD. Alanis got her Grammys, and Laury got her song on her dad’s CD player. I hope Alanis has turned out OK, I know Laury has.

As parents we try to bring up our kids in a way that will make them safe and, we hope, reflect who and what we are. In some places and times this becomes impossible, and as Chicagoans and most of the country have read this week, the results can be tragic. But I am a little pensive this morning, thinking about just what got passed from generation to generation, l’dor v’ v’dor.

Physical appearance–I look in the mirror every morning and see Dad staring back at me. The physical resemblance is now striking. I am taller and a bit huskier, but as far as facial features and hair color, I have become the man my father was at this stage in his life. Michael is following our pathway too. A very dominant Y chromosome.
A sense of commitment–I know that Dad woke every morning at 4:10 to make the journey via CTA bus and the El to his white color job, arriving at by 7 a.m on the dot. No complaints, it is just what he did 6 and occasionally 7 days a week. I follow that almost obsessive pattern, but at least I have modified it to 5 days a week at 5:05. And no need to wait outside in the rain or snow at a bus stop. Dad never learned to drive, I sure as hell did!
Love for a good read–There are three reading habits I picked up from Dad. Time Magazine every week (something I still do), Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine every month (something I fear I have grown away from), and a good novel anytime (something I still love.) Right now I am in the middle of three novels–a Joseph Finder audio CD in the car, a Daniel Silva hardcopy on my nightstand, and “Day of Atonement” on my Kindle for a book club I am joining. Dad would be proud.
Love of baseball–The only sport that Dad enjoyed watching. A love he passed to me, a love I have passed to Michael. Dad never saw a championship, I got mine ten years ago, Michael’s may be right around the corner.
Our lifespan–OK, this one is not precise. But we know that genetics do play a role in how long we will be around. And here is the irony. Dad died from widely metastatic prostate cancer and, quite coincidentally, I am spending this part of my professional career diagnosing and aiding the treatment of men with the same disease. I get my annual PSA, I run and raise money for Prostate Cancer Awareness, I gave up red meat (right, yeah, how long did that one last?) Hopefully the good karma will help me combat any bad gene juju that may have gotten passed down the line.

Not much on the house…signed a few papers for the Homeowners Association and now they have officially blessed us. I suppose they used Holy Water from the pond next to the lot. May the Good Lord have us digging before the pond becomes an ice rink.

OK–we got somber and introspective today. Have a great weekend and I promise lots of laughs by Monday!

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