September 14th, 2023
“ Dobroho ranku”, or “Good Morning!” in Ukrainian, an Eastern Slavic language spoken mainly in Ukraine. I have decided that the UJT will remain focused on Ukraine until we can all rejoice at the end of hostilities. It has been 560 days since Russia invaded Ukraine.
This week I learned some stuff:
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- For a guy who never won an award or made it to the Hall of Fame for his profession, Jimmy sure did elicit an outpouring of grief and solidarity. I guess not unlike the Grateful Dead, Jimmy was the stealth bomber of superstars. He had a great run and brought us all along with him. I have been a Parrothead for more years than I can recall and enjoyed every minute.
- I started my new old guy class. This time is its Fall Prevention. So far it’s pretty slow but I will keep it up for a bit longer.
- YorTube University has enabled me to start some new projects – Reseeding the front lawn. Some idiot (me) tried to fertilize his newly installed beautiful sod grass lawn and totally hosed it leaving big burned spots and inspiring unprecedented weed growth. I didn’t have the sense, or maybe I felt like taking on this new project is some sort of penance for my acute case of dumbass or it might turn out to be ANOTHER case of dumbass. We shall see. Anyway, it’s a bunch of healthy work outside in San Diego!
- 21 years. That’s how long it takes to start having plumbing issues. This week I replaced the innards on 2 toilets and think I have solved the hot-cold water mystery. I think it mentioned that several months ago, we started to notice that our “cold” water wasn’t and the normal lead time to let the hot water run before washing dishes or taking a shower had disappeared. I got plumbers in to look at it. They weren’t too sure what caused it but were willing to earn a couple grand finding out. I figured out that the only way it could happen in our house is for one of the single faucet valves to allow hot water to pass through the mixing valve even when the shower or sink was not turned on. We have 3 such valves in our house. I replaced the cartridge in the upstairs bathroom earlier this year or late last year. We recently changed out our kitchen sink and faucet so that only leaves the valve in the master bathroom shower. Our gas bill has been creeping up too. So I started to work on my shower valve undergraduate work at YouTube U and after a week or so, finally found my particular 20+ year old model. It is not trivial! There is very little in the plumbing world that appears to be standardized. This is another flaw in the capitalist model. The every man-for-himself approach enables wildly differing ways to solve the same problems which makes maintenance and repairs complicated and expensive. And so it goes. So keep tuned it for updates. Hopefully, they will not be soggy.
- September 14 is the 257th day of 2023. Just 91 days till Christmas. On this day in 1814, the poem Defence of Fort McHenry was written by Francis Scott Key. The poem is later used as the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner; Today in 1901, U.S. President William McKinley dies after being mortally wounded on September 6 by anarchist Leon Czolgosz and is succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt; Today in 1984, Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to fly a gas balloon alone across the Atlantic Ocean; Historic National Prayer Service held at Washington National Cathedral for victims of the September 11 attacks. A similar service is held in Canada on Parliament Hill, the largest vigil ever held in the nation’s capital today in 2011; Today in 2022, Elizabeth II’s coffin is taken from Buckingham Palace, placed on a gun carriage of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and moved in a procession to Westminster Hall for her lying in state over the next four days with The Queue stretching for miles along the River Thames; John Olof Dahlgren, Swedish-American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient was born today in 1872; Clayton Moore, (AKA The Lone Ranger)American actor was born today in 1914; Walter Koenig, (AKA The original Mr. Checkov on Star Trek) American actor, producer, and screenwriter was born today in 1936; Sam Neill, Northern Irish-New Zealand actor (AKA Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park) and director was born today 1947; Steve Gaines, American singer-songwriter and guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd was born today in 1949; Amy Winehouse, English singer-songwriter was born today in 1983; William McKinley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 25th President of the United States passed away today in 1901; Grace Kelly, American-Monegasque actress; Princess of Monaco died today in 1982; Today in 2009, we lost Laughin’ Henry Gibson, American Actor, Jody Powell, Diplomat, advisor & White House Press Secretary and Patrick Swayze, American actor, Singer and dancer; Bibi Besch, Austrian-American actress passed away in 1996;Finally, we lost Fred DeLuca, American businessman, co-founded Subway today in 2015.
This week’s Website Update:
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- Last week again for our Vocabulary Quiz
- I messed up and forgot to update our Musical Trivia Quiz last week
- I am working on a couple of new recipes but they are not ready for primetime yet.
- The Home Page quote for this week is from John Steinbeck, “All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal. ”
Writing, Ceramics, Bonsai Trees, Stained Glass, and Painting Update:
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- I still haven’t gotten to the Juniper that BJ got me for my Birthday.
- I am actually getting busy with the stained glass project this week! I set up a workstation in the garage and am working on a new design.
- I did manage to get some more of the paper editing done on Grandpa Stories”. My goal is 3-5 chapters each week till it is done.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
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- In the late 1990s, I surprised myself by becoming addicted to a show about Navy Lawyers called JAG. It was well written and acted by mostly actors I didn’t know but it was the subject matter that fascinated me. When I was in the Navy I dealt with the JAG office one time and was very impressed with their professionalism. I am pretty sure most of them could be making 2 and 3 times their Navy salaries in civilian life but they choose to serve their country and their service. Paramount recently added JAG to his repertoire and it is like meeting with old friends again.
Music Update:
I hope everyone enjoyed UJT Radio’s tribute to the Captain. Here is a new batch of music for you to try out.: This week’s UJT Radio Program:
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- George Gomez — The Key — When the mail arrived this week, I had a package. My friend George just finished a new album! Released in 2022 on his “Dragon Feathers” album are some of his old songs reimagined with Carl Verheyen producing. I think George keeps getting better and better. His phrasing is more subtle and polished than earlier versions of this song. STOPPED HERE
- Genesis – Taking It All Too Hard — This song is one of the songs that I CRANK IT UP for singing to the steering wheel; I just love Phil’s voice! “ Oh no not this confused again… Oh no not the same mistakes again … You’re taking it all to heart… You are taking it all too hard”. This one helped me through some tough times. This one is from their “Genesis” album released in 1983
- Lynyrd Skynyrd — Sweet Home Alabama — This album came out and blew us all away. This was from their 1976 release, “One More for the Road”.
- Quarterflash —Harden My Heart — This came up this week. I had forgotten all about this song and how much I loved it … the sax and guitar work are immaculate and the vocals are outstanding. This is from their 1981 release, “Quarterflash”.
- Little Feat – Rad Gumbo – From the Vinyl!!! This is another great song from their 1989 release, “Representing the Mambo”. Like every Little Feat release, this record is filled to the brim with well-crafted and very very tight music.
- James Gang — Mystery — This is one of my favorites from “Bang” released in 1973. This was the first album after Joe Walsh left the band and was replaced by Tommy Bowlin.
That’s it… Do the best you can; Laugh every chance you get; Always remember… The best is yet to come! As always, thank you for being my friend!