February 8th, 2025
“ Dobroho ranku”, or “Good Morning!” in Ukrainian, is 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 1,096 days since Russia invaded Ukraine.
This week, I learned some stuff:
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- All over America (with but a few exceptions) corporations are quietly eliminating all vestiges of celebrated equality. Now that all the checks and balances have been removed by a stroke of the pen, we have to self police who we support. The names of companies who are closing down heir EEO initiatives – Target, Walmart, and others who supported employee and customer celebrations of Pride, Black History Month, etc. are making these changes. Costco did not adopt this new strategy. If treating people equally matters to you, do your homework and support those companies who live by the principles you believe in and to avoid those who don’t.
- If you try to push your culinary envelope regularly, you are bound to discover that brilliant recipe idea was a much better idea than a dish. My Sausage Cheese Balls were flat and the oven-fried wedges of potatoes tasted and looked like sticks… and so it goes…
- If you fell for the marketing, your Costco Visa is sending out its kick back checks in the next few weeks. Like many cards today, a percentage of purchases is awarded. Costco’s Visa does it once a year and you have to cash the check at Costco. You don’t have to spend it there but many if not most do. It truly is a brilliant strategy. Every year I look forward to the treats. This year I might go to the Costco Business store as I heard they have less choices but grater value for what they do sell. We will see.
- The fires are out but the root causes remain. It is looking like the Palisades fire originated from some New Years fireworks. The investigation continues while we all hold our breath and cross our fingers for more (measured) rain and less wind.
- You can find out all about today’s history here.
This week’s Website Update:
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- No new recipes this week. I have one i am working on.
- The Home Page this week is from May West, “Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere.”.
- I have begun making some of the improvements on the website I spoke of last week. The UJT Archive page has been updated to include dates for 2025. All the 2025UJT’s have been stored. More changes are coming.
Bonsai Tree and Stained Glass, Update:
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- I work on my stained glass projects outside. This seems prudent given my skill and breaking glass. This week it was too cold for me to work on it. So I focused on doing the taxes.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
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- My pen pal, Chloe, spent a bit of time in her last letter chatting bout her preference for studying in coffee shops. once of the features of her new method is that when she is taking a break she enjoys observing those around her. In particular she has observed that this elderly couple comes in every day around 2pm to read together for awhile. She finds their habit interesting and distinctive in that its seems few of us fin partners we enjoy doing nothing with everyday. I was so impressed by Chloe’s story that I forgot to tell her my “People Day” stories. I have a few to share. My first People Day was in 1970 when I met this other sailor from my ship. His name was Bruce Shepard,(AKA Spiffy) He was smart, irreverent and a natural teacher. I was new to my job and living on a ship. Bruce taught me how to be a good BT and how to enjoy living on tThe Vogie. Another thing that Spiffy taught me about was “People Day”/ About once each month, usually on a Saturday, Spiffy would go to the airport, or bus station or big shopping center to just watch people. He taught me that if you take the time and watch, people are the most interesting creatures. He would try to find a story in their behaviors. We really did have a lot of fun on our People Days together. Later in my life, we were living in Frankfurt, Germany. My wife and I developed our own version of People Day. Every Sunday, we would visit the flughafen, walk around a bit then settle down in the AA Admirals Club and read english language newspapers. :Like Chloes older couple . Tippy and I would sit in companionable semi-silence reading the papers together for an hour or two each Sunday I was at home.Do you have a “People Day” story?
Music Update:
This week, I am finishing the “L” playlist. Yes, I know that this is random and arbitrary but also fun. At least I hope so. There are a lot of great players on that list so they will b enraptured for a couple of weeks.
This week’s UJT Radio Program:
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- Leo Kottke — Arms of Mary (Live)— Leo Kottke kind of snuck into my life in the 1970s and never left. I could listen to his guitar for ever but he also has a very interesting vocal style. This one is from his 1980 release, “Leo Live”.
- Laurence Juber — Little Wing – Every since I first heard this song, I have loved it. Lawrence takes it acoustic beautifully. This os from his, “Laurence Juber: The Collection” released in 2000.
- Lee Ritenour’s 6 String Theory —Freeway Jam (feat. Lee Ritenour, Mike Stern & Tomoyasu Hotei) — The first time ,u formed George tired me on to Lee, was blown away. This one is from his “Six String Theory” album released in 2010.
- Little River Band —Reminiscing — Many if not most of my friends that this song and band were just too “commercial” nut I loved the production and harmonies. This is from their 1978 release, “Sleeper Catcher”.
- Lucius — My Heart Got Caught on Your Sleeve — This is just great girl band heroines!!! This one came out in 2016 on their “Good Gref” album.
- The Lumineers —Flowers in Your Hair — These folks’ debut self-entitled album just blew us away. They had a couple of huge hits. This is a deeper cut off that historic 2012 release.
- Lynyrd Skynyrd — Gimme Three Steps — we finish out the Ls wtha real butt shaker. These boys were always special. This one hooked me pretty good when I first heard it. Tjis from their debut album, “Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd” that was released in 1973.
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!