January 12th, 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 in the end of hostilities. It has been 313 days since Russia attacked Ukraine.
This week I learned some stuff:
• This week my son, Sean, came to visit. It is so good seeing him. The moral support is appreciated and he has helped us do some things we had been putting off.
• The Prostate Adventure continues. I had what they call a CT/Simulation. It kind of reminded me of back in the day when I was working for EDS at the GM Truck & Bus plant in Ft Wayne, In. To implement truck painting functions on the assembly line, we had to ‘teach” the robots at each painting station where to spray and how long to spray to cover their area of the truck body without defect. That is kind of what we did today. They load up all of the imaging on me and using a CT saner map out the geography for my beam radiation treatment. Once they have it, they tattooed 2 reference spots on my body. My radiation treatment begins on the 24th. Whoopee!!!
• This week, on the 13th be precise, my mom would have been 93 years old. My old friend Jack shared the same birthday but would have been 71 this week. I miss them both very much. We are celebrating at Jack’s favorite eatery in San Diego (and maybe everywhere else), Applebees.
• January 12th is the 12th day of 2023! Just 355 days till Christmas! Today in 1932, Hattie Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate; Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation today in 1967; On this day in 1969, the New York Jets of the American Football League defeat the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League to win Super Bowl III in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history; Also today in 1997, Space Shuttle program: Atlantis launches from the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-81 to the Russian space station Mir, carrying astronaut Jerry M. Linenger for a four-month stay on board the station, replacing astronaut John E. Blaha; The world’s largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage today in 2004; An earthquake in Haiti occurs, killing between 220,000 and 300,000 people and destroying much of the capital Port-au-Prince today in 2010; John Singer Sargent, American painter and academic was born today in 1856; JJack London, American novelist and journalist was born today in 1876; Hermann Göring, German commander, pilot, and politician, Minister President of Prussia was born today in 1893; Also born today but in 1899, Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate; Mississippi Fred McDowell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist was born today in 1904: Ira Hayes, American marine who raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima was born today in 1923; Today in 1946, Kreskin, American mentalist was born today in1935; Joe Frazier, American boxer was born today in 1944: Born today in 1951; Kirstie Alley, American actress and producer; Jeff Bezos, American computer scientist and businessman, founded amazon.com was born today in 1964; Died today in 1899, Hiram Walker, American businessman, founded Canadian Club; Agatha Christie, English crime novelist, short story writer, and playwright passed away today in 1976; Charles Brenton Huggins, Canadian-American physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate died today in 1997; Today, William Redington Hewlett, American engineer and businessman, co-founded Hewlett-Packard passed away in 2001; Cyrus Vance, American lawyer and politician, 57th U.S. Secretary of State n died today 2002; Maurice Gibb, Manx-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer died today in 2003; Ronnie Spector, American singer passed away today in 2022.
Website Update:
This week:
• Last week for the Vocabulary Quiz
• A New Musical Trivia Quiz!!! Yeah!!!
• This week I didn’t add any new recipes.
• The Home Page quote this week is from Thomas A. Edison, “The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary.”.
Writing, Ceramics, Bonsai Trees, Stained Glass and Painting Update:
• I didn’t work on the stained glass project and no painting got done this week. Focused on visiting with Sean.
• I am continuing my streak of slacking off on the paper edits of Grandpa Stories. I just haven’t carved out any time for more chapters.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
I started of the new year changing my passwords. I changed the sign on for my Mac. After a year spent entering and reentering my password, I was happy for the change. I could never seem to memorize the damn thing! Until now. Now, I type my old password automatically then erase it and replace it with my new one. And so it goes.
Music Update:
This week I am celebrating my good fortune with some remarkable music that I hope you will enjoy.
This week’s UJT Radio Program:
• John Mayer — Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, January 1967 — Right out of the shoot, John impressed me with his guitar, vocals and songwriting skills. This quirky little story is one of my favorite songs by John. I love how hopeful and inspirational it is for me. This is a deep cut from John’s 5th studio album “Born and Raised”, released in 2012.
• Steppenwolf — Born to be Wild — There really is only one way to play this song… volume maxed out! I first heard this one riding home from the record store (google if you are too young) with my brand new 8 Track blasting in my buddy’s beautiful golden GTO in 1967.
• Steve Winwood — Higher Love — This is a great cut off his iconic “Back in the High Life Again” album released in 1986. Steve is one of those special songwriters who write timeless music.
• John Denver — Season Suite: Late Winter, Early Spring (When Everybody Goes to Mexico) — Released in 1986, “Rocky Mountain High” was an amazing album beyond his beautiful mega hit title cut. This one is a deep cut instrumental that showcase’s John’s skills as a guitarist.
• Marc Cohn – Walking In Memphis — From the first time I heard this song it just locked into my head and stuck. I really need to listen to other stuff by this guy sometime but I never have gotten past this one. Maybe I am afraid hearing more will ruin it for me:)
• James Taylor and Mark Knopfler — Sailing to Philadelphia — This one is written by Mark and recorded on James’s “October Road” album released in 2008. Just two of my favorite players making beautiful music for us.
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!