Get up a Go bag

An article came past my desk at work a few weeks ago, and it was so interesting that I thought I’d share it here.

We all know that we should have an emergency kit, or actually several, and most of us don’t. We don’t have a evacuation plan, we don’t have multiple routes thought out, and we don’t really want to put the time aside to do it, either, thank you very much.


Harrisburg, PA, flooding 2008

This article was in Disaster Recovery Journal, a business continuity magazine we receive. It is about making a Go Bag. A Go Bag is the bag you put aside for when you have 5 minutes to get your sh!t and get out. Each member of the family should have a Go Bag, know where it is and how to pack it, and this includes small children. If you have pets that will be coming with you, make them a Go Bag, too. Babies should have a Go Bag as well.

The suggestion is to get a backpack and have as much as you can already packed so you can just grab it and go. Also, add a list of things you need to pack at the last minute, like prescription medications, wallet, camera, cell, etc. Take the time to go through your house and add one thing from each room to the list that you would hate yourself forever if you left it behind. Family pictures, jewelry, etc. Within reason, of course, you don’t want to have to lug around Great Grandma’s solid maple dining room set.

Also add photocopies of any important documents: drivers license, insurance and home ownership paperwork. Phone numbers, too. Another good tip is to make sure that your family and friends know where you will be going if you have to evacuate. Don’t let uncle Bob think you are headed his way when you are actually going to cousin Sue’s house, because uncle Bob will be worrying his head off when you don’t show, and if the phones are down….well.

I have not done this yet, but I have the backpack. I did make a work Go Bag list, though, and I have it in my desk. These are all things I can take from my desk and throw in my tote quickly and easily and get out the door. I’ll share it with you here:

Keys, wallet, work ID badge, Kleenex, meds (I keep a pill bottle with a few of my prescription meds as well as Tylenol and advil), flashlight, candy/food, knife/fork/spoon, toothbrush, deodorant, pens/paper, mirror, tweezers, needles/pins, nail clippers, railroad spike (ok, I have this on my desk as a paperweight, but it can easily double as a hammer, prybar, or even a weapon), utility knives, eyedrops (saline), sweater, mug, antibacterial hand gel, scissors.

Some of these may seem obvious (wallet? keys?), but if all hell were breaking loose you need a list of the obvious because quite frankly, your mind is not thinking about the obvious at that time. Upon looking at the list, I think I’ll bring in an empty bottle so I can fill it with water, if necessary. I should probably steal a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom, too. Hmmm.

A good Go Bag list for general home preparedness can be found here. Some of this list seems more like something I’d put in a larger emergency kit, but you get the idea. Another list can be found here. Now, for the quiz: who can tell me why that website is called ’72 hours?’

In a few future posts, I’ll talk about a larger home Shelter-In-Place emergency kit for longer-term emergencies, and I’ll also talk about an emergency kit for your car, which is very important for those of us that live in snowy and icy climates.

This Weight in History

I'm down a total of 15lb now. (must add celebratory funny picture that has nothing to do with topic at hand...)

This Weight in History

The last time I was at this weight was when I was a senior in college, 1998.

Things that should be on Tshirts

I'm starting a new thing here. This is inspired by Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs. I'm also changing a couple previous posts by adding the tag 'thsirts' just in case you want to go take a look.

Things That Should Be on Tshirts

As heard on Cops last night. Matt likes to watch Cops, I like to read a book whilst Matt watches Cops. Anyway, here it is:

"Ain't nobody else in this trailer park got this uniform on!"

Ponderings and musings of the last couple weeks

Some of you know that I’ve been working on trying to loose weight for almost a year now. I’m about 13 lb down from my start weight, and while it is a slow process I’ve decided slow is the best way to go. I’m not trying to break any records here, and the more I get used to changing my eating habits the more I’m likely to make them a permanent thing. (I want large amounts of french fries and chocolate chip cookies. Large Amounts).

Over the past week or so I’ve been thinking about food and weight issues and how they related to other parts of my health, like mood and attitude. I’m going to throw some things out there and you can feel free to comment if you’d like.

Sugar. We all know that we eat way WAY too much sugar and that it has an poor effect on our energy levels, etc. I find when I eat a lot of sugar and/or simple carbohydrates I get very sluggish and sleepy, and I crave more sugar. I’ve also been noticing it increasingly affects my mood, namely I get cranky, irritable, moody and more depressed and angry I eat more sugar. I’ve been trying to cut down, but it is difficult because it is like an addiction and it is EVERYWHERE. I’m not saying I’m going on an Atkin’s diet-type thing, but I’m going to start to cut my sugars and go more towards whole-grain and complex carbs to see how it affects my mood. Stay tuned.

Fat Storage. This is not what you might think. I’m not talking about how my body stores fat, I’m talking about what my fat may be storing. Let me explain.

When I was in college, one of my best friends was a returning adult student in her mid-30s. She was also a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who had turned her life around. She had been doing drugs since she was a teenager and her drug of choice was anything psychedelic: mushrooms, LSD, acid, etc. She had been clean for 10 years and sober for 5 when I met her.

A few years into our relationship, she began to loose weight. Something very interesting happened: she started to have acid trips again. She wasn’t taking any, but apparently the chemicals had stored in her fat and stayed there for years, and when she started to burn the fat away the chemicals came out and she started tripping. She was terrified and contacted a doctor and yes, this is not uncommon.

I started wondering lately if that was possible with everything. Do we store asprin, ibuprofen, whatever in our fat layers? What about chemicals our bodies produce? If I was putting out bad depression-related chemicals and hormones as a teen, in college, and in the years since (when I was gaining weight) is it possible they’ve been stored all these years? Could they be coming out now and messing with my mood? I wonder.

I have not done any research on this yet, but if I do I’ll let you all know what I find.

Save the Words!!

Stollen from author Kristine Smith's website.

Many words are lost from the English language every year.

Your job: Save them.

Go to the link and pick a word to adopt. You need to try to use this word as much as possible. It is a lot of fun to look through them and the sentences for each is hilarious.

My word:
Frutescent. adj.
Having or approaching the habit or appearance of a shrub.

"She gave her hair a frutescent makeover to
prepare for her appearance as a tree in the school play."

My word pick for Tim, based on the usage in a sentence:
Modernicide. n.
The killing of modern people.

"It's a shame that modernicide is illegal as
Celine Dion would be at the top of my list."

My word pick for Angie, because she always asks for water, no ice:
Aquabib. n.
Water drinker.

"'An aquabib by day, alcoholic by night' -that's
your grandfather."

Max's Vet Appointment

Max's appointment with the Doggie Opthamologist went well. There are no changes, he still has no vision in his left eye. His right eye shows no sign of loosening of the lens, which is really good. The Doc bumped us back on the medications he's getting, so that's good, too.

I hate the drive down the Gaithersburg, but it wasn't that bad, really. No accidents, no bad drivers.

In other Max news, we got a call from his regular vet today with the results of the blood tests. She said to give her a call, which is always a sign that something's up. So, when Matt got home, he called.

The Vet said that all but one of his tests were normal. His calcium levels were high.

Well, this is our fault. You see, we give Max Tums before bed. He loves them, especially the fruit flavored ones. I had asked the vet if it was OK and she said yes, it was fine. Well, we must have been overdoing it a bit. So, we can't give him Tums anymore.

Max and the Moon

Max has a 6-month checkup with the Doggy Opthamologist next Tuesday, so in hopes of a happy trip and good news I'm posting these two REALLY CUTE pictures of Max.


"Oh boy! Oh boy! Waitin' for Matthew! Where's Matthew! Oh Boy!"






Max sometimes will climb up to the highest step and look down on us like a vulture.







This isn't a picture of Max, but there was this beautiful crescent moon the other morning and I got a nice picture of it between our neighbor's two huge pine trees.