Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Real World Wednesday

Work rant deleted after the sage advice of a wise and reasonable friend...and after a re-read with a clearer head than when I wrote it!

Onto the subject at hand.

Real World Wednesday

I am not quite sure where to start this week. The primaries? Nah, others are covering this, well, better than I can. I'll wait till I actually vote and see if my opinion changes.

Oh, Britney. How much do I want to type out my opinions on the Britney Spears situation? I'll save those for a conversation with a co-worker who I've recently discovered is far more obsessed with celebrity gossip than I will ever and offers rather clever commentary.

I could say oh so much about Glowing Pigs.

Instead, I will stick with the tried and true, the steadiest of all conversation topics. The weather.

Out here in California, we call it weather when the temperature drops below 50 and we are faced with 80-150 mph winds. Yep, that seems like weather to me. It rained most of this past weekend. Over 1.2 million people lost power at some point, and there was debris all over the roadways.

I had candles at home and a few snacks to get me through the night, if need be, but I certainly am not prepared for a major emergency (I keep hoping I'll move to a place with more storage soon enough to stock up).

The American Red Cross has an excellent list of items to include in a kit (I sense people running out to Target as I type...).

The feds have put together another handy-dandy list.

Say what you may about FEMA, but they offer a nice resource for thinking about how to prepare yourself (and your family, friends, pets, neighbors, that cute guy across the hall, etc.) for an emergency.

Finally, something that these lists may not touch on is phone numbers. Granted, phones might go out, but in the event that it's merely power you've list, keep phone numbers handy (I'm now seeing myself writing down all the numbers and posting them with a magnet to my fridge). When the power was out, I realized, after several frustrating round-about phone calls to PG&E that I couldn't get any information since I pay my electric pill through my property management company. I'm in the process of getting the correct emergency contact number now.

If you're prepared already, how about making an effort to help others in your life or your community get prepapred. Put together a few kits and donate them to your local homeless shelter, food bank, church or school. Check out Volunteer Match for help locating places where you can make a donation.

Be safe, folks, 'cause I don't want you falling down a well or something and not being able to post on your spectacularly entertaining blogs.

4 comments:

brandy said...

Ahhh Real World Wednesdays are my favourite. I'm with you on the Britney thing, there's so much to say but all of it... well, it's just too sad to even talk about sometimes I feel. And (more importantly) your advice and lists you give in regards to weather emergencies is fantastic. It reminded me that I need to get a kit for my car. If I ever got stranded, I would be so screwed. I would have 6 different lip glosses, but no blanket, candle, map, flares... oy.

Anonymous said...

sarah I mean this in the best way possible, but I just want to say I hope that you are careful about what you say about your coworkers on the internet, because you *just don't know* who might be reading...

Sarah said...

You know, Hayley, you are completely right...after a re-read, I realize that this one is a lot more specific and whiney than some of my other posts about work...

Mrs. said...

It is comforting to see that my daughter has wise friends! And, Hayley, I have a pot you are welcome to use for your brew-making project; I won't even want any beer! =}