Jeopardy! for the Ages...the Senior Ages!

Barb and I take our birthday cards to each other quite seriously. They are always delivered first thing the morning of the day, and always to the same spot in the house. I leave my card for Barb on the kitchen island next to her beloved iPad, and I know exactly three weeks later I... Read more »
By lesraff,
Wednesday at 7:30 am • 

Man-People Take This Music Sh*t Seriously!

So I am a member of a few groups on Facebook. Groups about my old neighborhood, my new neighborhood, my schools, my occupation. And a handful about my love of music. In one of the groups, people tend to ask questions like “name your favorite bass guitarist,” or “name a song with the letter Q... Read more »
By lesraff,
Monday at 1:40 pm • 

My Year Of Magical Running

Relics of running 2002. Exactly twenty years ago. We were still reeling from 9/11. Our soldiers were fighting in Afghanistan, but not yet in Iraq. The world was changing. And a switch flipped inside of me. I became The Running Man. Running was not totally new to me. Either alone or with a couple of... Read more »
By lesraff,
January 11, 2022 at 9:14 am • 
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I Get To Do This--Thoughts From A Veteran Teacher

Photo Courtesy of Pixabay I rarely have guest bloggers, but an experienced teacher I know sent me this, and in the face of all the hostility between the Chicago Public School System and the Chicago Teacher’s Union I thought I would post it. Full Disclosure for total transparency: The teacher, Laury Wolf, is a veteran... Read more »
By lesraff,
January 8, 2022 at 1:27 pm • 

A Song, A Memory, A Sad Discovery

“I wonder what happened to Mark.” Barb and I were eating dinner, Pandora music playing on our kitchen speakers. “One For My Baby” began to play. It’s been one of Barb’s favorite songs ever since Bette Midler sang it to Johny Carson on his penultimate night as host of The Tonight Show. But what we... Read more »
By lesraff,
January 6, 2022 at 7:01 am • 

The Entertainment Book. Fun in the '80s.

There was a time before the Internet. Before Grub-Hub and Amazon, before Facebook and Tik-Tok. And it was before Groupon, the 2008 Chicago innovation that has had its ups and downs as it pioneered online discount offers. Before all these, it was the time of The Book. I am not talking about the Holy Bible,... Read more »
By lesraff,
December 29, 2021 at 7:06 am • 
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Holmes is Where the Heart Is

Holmes old and new. After hearing that I had enjoyed watching Benedict Cumberbatch in The Year of the Dog my brother-in-law recommended that I watch Mr. Cumberbatch in the Sherlock TV series. I haven’t checked off that box yet, but the mention did set off memories of Sherlock Holmes, and of one heavyweight book that... Read more »
By lesraff,
December 23, 2021 at 9:42 am • 

Our Holiday Verse

A Holiday Greeting, It's meant for the masses, No matter how full, Or how empty your glass is. The year was a weird one With DC insurrection From Big Lie believers And in the end from Joe Manchin. With Covid we battled Through every Greek letter And vaccines J and J-- Moderna - Pfizer did... Read more »
By lesraff,
December 22, 2021 at 11:56 am • 

Have I Found My Missing 1%?

I have mentioned my devotion to Grammarly before. It is an app that lives on my desktop PC, monitoring my spelling and my grammar. It has saved me from dozens of there for their swaps, from hundreds of misplaced commas, and from tens of thousands of mispellings misspellings. Grammarly also uses its Artificial Intelligence brain... Read more »
By lesraff,
December 21, 2021 at 10:59 am • 
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Springsteen Sells It.

Bruce Springsteen: Image courtesy of Chicago Tribune Word is out on the street that Bruce Springsteen, the tough kid from New Jersey, America’s storyteller, Mr. Broadway, and of course, The Boss, has sold the rights to his music to Sony. The reported sale price, about $500,000,000 dollars. That is, half a billion bucks, or 1/10th... Read more »
By lesraff,
December 16, 2021 at 7:44 am •