In my opinion, the best time of the year is upon us. The sunshine of summer and the temperatures of autumn make this an ideal time for a drive in the country in our part of Maine. Apple picking, fall foliage viewing or just walking are activities special to this time of year.
Another thing common at this time of year is change. Young people are leaving home for college; vacationers are returning to their “regular” life and snowbirds are planning their departures. Here at the newspaper, there is another change.
The office of the Lakes Region Suburban Weekly has moved to Westbrook and after 20 years of “going to work” at a newspaper office in Windham, I will be working at home. The publishers have been kind enough to loan me a computer newer than the one I have, and theoretically, things will continue without a hitch. Except for this week.
Part of my responsibility is editing obituaries for the eight weekly newspapers owned by Current Publishing, and (what I call) posting them to the Web site. Switching computers and systems is a little more involved than I had thought, and so this week I was unable to do that. By next week, however, I expect to be fully “hooked up” as we used to say.
It’s amazing what changes have taken place in the last 20 years in the local newspaper world. Twenty years ago, I was editor of the Courier Free Press which had an office where Blockbuster Video is, then moved several times before I left to edit the Suburban News. Even the News had at least three different locations. Several years after I retired, the Suburban News was purchased by Current Publishing and offices were moved again.
Now it is possible, with the technology available, to do everything – or nearly everything – from your desk, wherever it is! At my age, and given my dislike for driving, working from home is just an ideal situation. I remind all my senior friends that if they want to contribute newsy items for the Lakes Region Suburban Weekly Senior page, they can send it to me at kso48@aol.com, or give me a call (between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.) at 892-5381.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
