Three of the Ways You Can Donate to United Way

 

United Way
Image: unitedway.org

Paul Katsus has worked as a service consultant for a major energy distribution company. Outside his professional life, Paul Katsus supports United Way.

United Way helps people all over the world in multiple ways, championing health, education, and income stability. As a worldwide charity with many causes, there are also many ways you can donate to the organization, including the following.

1. Popmoney. Popmoney is an online service and app that offers simple and secure money transfers from one user to another with low fees. One of the quickest and easiest ways to donate, Popmoney works with over 2,400 financial institutions, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, and Ally Bank.

2. Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a popular cryptocurrency that is not regulated by any government or banking entity. Bitcoin donations specifically go to helping United Way Worldwide’s Innovation Fund, which aims to drive the organization’s technology development and strategy, further broadening its impact.

3. Stock. With United Way’s stock donation process, you can donate appreciated securities that you have owned for over a year. The simple process requires you to contact your local United Way, which will provide you with instructions to pass on to your broker. Your broker will then initiate a broker-to-broker transfer, sending the securities to United Way.

Morgan Plus 8

Paul Katsus is an Electric Service Consultant for a large electrically utility company. Paul Katsus loves sports cars and sometimes loves to share information on little known car manufacturers and rare car models. One of these is the British car manufacturer; Morgan Car Company which has been building cars for one hundred years. The Morgan Plus 8 model is a sports car built in Malvern, Worcestershire, England by the specialty car maker beginning in 1968. The Morgan Plus 8 gained an instant following and its enduring popularity has been credited with saving the company and keeping the company famous. There Morgan Plus 8 doesn’t look like any other sports car being built today. It is a carryover of the long lost era of basic, road legal race cars. Its appeal lays in the fact it is unique and very British in character.

In its present form, it is powered by a BMW sourced V-8 with 362 horsepower and 370 ft. lb. of torque. With its advertised curb weight of 1,876 lb., it is easy to see why the Morgan Plus 8 is one of the fastest British sports cars. It has an advertised 0-62 mph of 4.2 secs and an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph. On top of all that performance, the Morgan Plus 8 can still return a 32.2 mpg rating on the highway.

Determined US Morgan fans were not deterred by US Emission standards roadblocks to buying their beloved Morgan’s. As a result, from 1974 to 1992 cars were converted to run on propane as a way to pass the strict US emissions standards. In 1993 when Rover Group had re-certified their V-8 engine for use in the Range Rover SUV sold in the U.S. Morgan decided to use this engine in the same tune and with the same anti-emission devices. But, as US safety regulations continue to change, Morgan was again challenged in 2006 to meet stricter structural requirements which were announced by the NHTSA in 2000.  The final nail in the coffin came when the law on airbags would not be exempted for Morgan and their appeal was denied and the importation of traditional (classic) Morgan’s ceased.

Bluegills -Easy to Catch & Tasty

Paul Katsus has worked for twenty five years for a major utility company in the Houston, Texas area as a Service Consultant. Paul Katsus enjoys fishing for a variety of fish species in his spare time. Paul Katsus had begun catching Bluegills, as his first species of fish, as have many young fishermen. Bluegill and other sunfish, are sometimes called bream, and are often referred to as perch. But the Bluegill is not a Perch. Perch are very different and actually belong to a separate family of fish not related to bluegill or other sunfish. The most common species from the perch family include walleye, sauger, yellow perch and darters. Bluegills are an important species when it comes to fisheries management Bluegill provide an excellent forage species for bass due to their ability to reproduce at a rapid rate. During one summer, a female bluegill can spawn up to three times releasing 2,300 to 81,100 eggs per spawn. This rapid rate of reproduction helps to provide the necessary numbers of bass forage to help maintain a balanced bluegill/largemouth bass fishery. The Bluegill has a thin saucer-shaped body with a smallmouth and a black or navy gill flap. It is mostly olive green with an orange to yellowish belly. Bluegills are usually 4-6 inches but it is not uncommon for them to grow to 12 -14 inches. They have been recorded to weigh up to four pounds.

Bluegills can be found in lakes, ponds, reservoirs, streams, creeks, and rivers, in other words, just about any body of fresh water. While, most experienced anglers might say they prefer to catch  other fish such as trout, largemouth bass or crappie, they probably learned to fish while catching bluegills with their bobber baited with worms or liver. Almost any bait (live or dead)  or small spinners will catch Bluegills. Paul Katsus would recommend introducing newcomers; especially children to Bluegill fishing because they are relatively easy to catch and will readily take a huge variety of baits

Jensen Healy – British Sports Car Classic

 

Paul Katsus is an electrical utility professional employed by a large electrical utility in the Houston Texas area. Although not a professional car collector, Paul Katsus has enjoyed sharing his knowledge of sports and muscle cars. One such interesting sports car from the past, the Jensen Healey deserves not to be a footnote in automobile history. Produced in the 1970’s, the Jensen Healy was a British 2-seater convertible sports car produced by Jensen Motors in West Bromwich, England. The Jensen Healy was produced from 1972 thru 1976. There was a fastback version of the car, known as the Jensen GT which was produced from 1975 -1976. The first Jensen Healy model was the Mark 1 and was manufactured from March 1972 through May 1973, with a total of 3,347 Mark 1’s produced.  The second model followed was the Mark 2 Jensen Healy and was produced from August 1973 through August 1975, a total of 7142 Mark 2 were sold making it the highest sales volume Jensen of all time. A grand total of 10,503 (10 prototypes, 3,347 Mk.1 and 7,146 Mk.2) were produced by Jensen Motors. The last Jensen Healy was the Jensen GT Fastback mad from 1975 to 1976 which had a total output of 473 examples.

When it was launched in 1972 the Jensen Healy was a fast luxurious convertible sports car that was positioned in the automotive market between the Triumph TR6 (it was lighter and had 40 more horsepower than the TR6) and the Jaguar E-Type. With its 50/50 weight balance, the car was well received by the automotive industry for its exceptional handling. It was powered by a lightweight high output (for the time period) Lotus engine. The lightweight all alloy Lotus 907 engine not only attributed to the ideal weight balance but also provided more than ample acceleration. The engine that was produced by Lotus and suppled to Jensen was a two liter, dual overhead cam; sixteen valve all alloy power plants with a 7,000 RPM redline. The engine produced 144 horsepower and would had a zero to 60 mph sprint in 8.1 seconds and a top speed of 119 mph. The cars curb weight was at 2,408 pounds, with a wheel base of 92 inches. This Jensen engine produced by Lotus was the first mass produced multi-valve engine in the world.

The world-wide financial crises combined with the 1975 oil crises caused tremendous financial strain on Jensen Motors. The sales of the much larger and high end Chrysler V-8 powered Jensen Interceptor model crashed due to the dual financial crises. To compound Jensen Motors problems even further, in 1975 the Jensen Healy GT fastback model was rushed into the market. The expenses of bringing this new model market created a strain to the already cash strapped company. Jensen Motors could not recover from all of the financial setbacks and was forced to liquidate in 1975 and close forever in May 1976. Paul Katsus would remind readers that Jensen Motors not only created the Lotus powered Jensen Healy but also the Chrysler V-8 powered Jensen Interceptor. Paul Katsus would like to encourage readers to read up on other British cars such as MG’s, Jaguars, Triumphs, Aston Martins, Rolls Royce’s, and Bentleys, just to name a few.

Speckled Trout

Paul Katsus is a Service Consultant for a major electrical utility company. Although Paul Katsus has fished for fresh water trout most of his life, he has recently discovered the salt water speckled trout. The salt water speckled Trout is not actually a trout at all but a member of the drum family of fish. Speckled Trout can be identified by their elongated bodies with spots. On younger Trout the spots are more prominent and are more numerous on the back. Specks have two very easy to recognize identification features; 1) they have two large canine teeth and 2) the inside of their mouths are yellow. Specks can grow to a maximum size of about 16 pounds but the average size is around one pound.

Speckled Trout are popular salt water gamefish mainly because it is an aggressive feeder and will often school up in large numbers making for rapid fire fishing action when they are found congregating. The trout is also known for its tasty flaky meat and good flavor, making speckled trout very popular not only as a sport fish, but also as table fare. Paul Katsus can recommend Speckled Trout both for sport and excellent healthy eating.