I love it! That's what I call a response - coherent with reason (the entire fact that there is a "filteration reason" to use a UV had completely slipped my mind - I guess because it's become such a "clear protective filter" that I rarely think of it as a "filter to filter out UV". I have used skylights, because of their very slight "pink' coloration, to warm up shots at times (under a green, leafy canope(sp) when a warming filter would be a little too much).
Yes, in your situation when at one minute you could be shooting a "grip-and-grin" and the next shooting a Klan rally, your best bet IS to keep some sort of protection on the front of your lens - too much time taken to place and remove a lens cap all the time.
I have a bad habbit of lumping all photographers into doing the type of photography I do - nature/wildlife with a lot of macro stuff - most of the time I have the luxury of time to compose, focus, and wait for the moment. Your last line is excellent and merrits repeating - "The bottom line is that understanding your situation using the proper tools for what you need is really what's important" - excellent!