September 28st, 2017
“Pyeri iiđeed” That is a “good morning” that you might hear in the municipality of Inari in Finland.
Happy National NATIONAL Drink Beer Day!!! If you are like me, NOT a beer guy, today is the day to have your yearly beer. If you timed it right, you can have a beer that you built yourself otherwise I think they sell beer just about everywhere (excepts parts of the middle east).
This week on Friday, I celebrate the accidental good deed of USAF Col. Harry Shoup on what would have been his 98th birthday. On December 24, 1955, three years before NORAD was formed, Shoup was the Commander of a SAC crew in Colorado Springs, CO when Sears had a misprint in an advertisement that gave out the phone number to the SAC offices. Legend has it that Harry took the call from the child and reported that Santa had just left the North Pole. He then ordered the crew to provide updates when ever the phone rang. That is the Legend. There are other versions that are not as kind to Harry. But I like the legend so I celebrate Harry’s birthday with a hearty, “Well Done, Harry!”, a nice scotch and a good cigar.
Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and fires all come at us at various speeds. Your smarts, good looks, wealth, social standing and good intentions will not help much when one of these bad boys decides to enter your life. There is one and only one thing that you can do that MAY mitigate the impact of one of these events on you. YOU MUST PREPARE. We may not be able to control how mother nature decides to throw us around but we can take some simple steps to ensure that when she does (yes, I said when), we can survive to recover, rebuild and thrive. Check out the information and links I have put into the Kitchen Drawer for you all. Appoint a family captain to take on the leadership of putting your Ready Kit(s) and maintaining it(them). Your choices are stark. You can do this or you can hope some one can get to you in time with what you need after one of these events. I can tell you from all of the horror stories about people dying of dehydration or lack of meds that could have been avoided had someone built a kit for their family ahead of time. Talk about it over dinner tonight with the family. Appoint your Family Evacuation Kit Captain. Start building and maintaining your kits(s) today. PS. The LA County Survival Guide is amazingly comprehensive, well organized and much of the information is applicable to any location.
I found a Seniors Sneaker class. It does remind me a little of a Richard Simons retrospective but I think I am going to start attending the class they have once a week.
I spent much of the time since the last update talking, chatting or being on hold with either or both ATT and COX. It was less than gratifying to know that after or all the brouhaha of deregulation if Ma Bell, the “phone company” mentality is alive and well. I spoke to over 14 department.
This week I learned some stuff:
• I continued to watch Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s, “Viet Nam” on PBS. I cannot sit through an entire episode without crying. Humans can be so horrible to each other. In any case, I recommend watching this PBS Special Series.
• I am learning so much doing this family disaster plan. I have decided that when I get it all done and ready to test. I am going to remove all of the personal and specific location related details and install edit flags so that anyone downloading the documents can quickly customize it for their family and location.
Website Update:
• I added a new page to our Kitchen Drawer called, Corrected Mistakes, Caught Lies and Other Booboos.
• I added a new reciepe for a fine “Asiany” sweet and a little spicy salad for the summer.
• Second week for the New Vocabulary Quiz!!!
• This week I also added the lyrics for “Stand Up Guy” from Mark Knopfler and “I and Love and You” from the Avett Bothers for your sing-a-long pleasure. Enjoy!
Writing and Painting Update:
• I started classes again this week. I will be working Pastels on Monday, Writers Workshop on Wednesday, Watercolors and Ceramics on Friday. Whoohoo!
• I wrote another chapter in Artifacts this week.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
• How do you deal with frustration? This week’s cha cha with ATT and COX really got to me. I didn’t kick the dog or beat my wife but I was not in a good frame of mind after my sessions with disinterested “help” desk folks and even more disinterested automated phone systems that defend the “help” desk folks from their customers. Compared to the misery those impacted by storms, fires or earthquake my issues amount to whining, I confess. But … I was thinking impure thoughts! By the way … we still cannot get incoming calls since 9/19/2017!
Music Update:
Click here for week’s UJT Radio program:
• Otis Redding — (Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay — I discovered Otis after he had already gone. We lost this soulful singer song writer to an airplane crash when he was just a young man but before he left he gave us some great music.
• Three Dog Night — Try Some Tenderness(Live) — Three Dog Night was a very commercially successful cover band from 1967 to 1976 with 3 big hits. They covered this Otis Redding song really well.
• Credence Clearwater Revival — Born on the Bayou — This my favorite CCR tune. These boys had a huge following and a lot of success. John Fogerty wrote this authentic sounding anthem to the deep south, without actually ever living or even visiting there very much.
• Howie Day — Collide — The very first time I heard this song was live in William and Mary with my friends, Randy and Lori. I was just so blown away by this guy. It was such a great show and eventing.
• Tim Flannery — Somethings Never Get Old — This one is from an old friend that I have never met. My friend Joe and his great family, got me to go to this backyard concert and introduced me to this retired second baseman’s music.
• Mark Knopfler – Stand Up Guy— This one comes to us from an album released in 2005, 2 years after Mark’s nearly fatal motorcycle accident. Critic panned the record as limp but his playing and songwriting are just fine. Thank you very much!
• The Avett Brothers — I and Love and You — These boys do some really nice songwriting here.
• The Chambers Brothers — Love, Peace and Happiness — Hippy Marching Music from 1969:) We would march around in our seats when singing this one live with the Band. It always made me smile. This is the radio version, on the album and live it was the 16 minute version:) It seems to me that marching around singing “Love, Peace and Happiness” makes a lot more sense than threatening nuclear war via tweets! Just saying….
That’s it… Do the best you can; Laugh every chance you get; And always remember … The best is yet to come!
As always, thank you for being my friend!
James
Under the Jacaranda Tree URL: http://www.jfmccann.com