Diary of a Network Geek

I’m of two minds on these.

When I was in Boy Scouts I earned Wildernes Survival Merit Badge. One of my Merit Badge Councellors at the time mocked survival kits saying that it seemed to him when he most needed such a thing, it would be no where to be found. So, mostly, I learned to make do with what I carried in my pockets. I think that was about when I developed the habit of always carrying a pocket knife and a lighter, come to think of it.

In any case, with hurricane season growing ever longer, and all sorts of terrible disasters looming on the horizon, according to the television press, I suppose it’s not a bad idea to have something a little more substantial around. Cetainly, I’m not the first blogger to talk about survival kits, nor will I be the last. And, I have to admit, I have other reasons for thinking about this. Not only am I a bit of a survival nut from way back, but I’ve been reading a book called The World Without Us that’s set me to thinking about this sort of thing.
Earlier this year, Wired Magazine reviewed several emergency survival kits, and after a lot of searching, I managed to find a link to it. (Scroll down, past the speaker reviews to the survival kits.) More recently, however, Wired ran an article on making your own kit from scratch and building the “smarter emergency kit“. That article makes a great supplement to the suggestions made at the Department of Homeland Security sponsored site, Ready.gov. They’ve got a whole list of emergency preparedness documents, in PDF format, including a list of suggested emergency supplies. Incidentally, that was what Wired Magazine rated as the best emergency survival kit, the one you made yourself following the Ready.gov guidelines. Keep in mind, though, the advice my Merit Badge Councellor gave in his smarmy way… Make the kit portable and keep it near you in case of emergency. (If you want to include food in your kit, you could do worse than using stuff from Mountain House. But, make sure to rotate it out every couple of years!)
Also, for you fellow dog owners, you might make a kit for your best friend, too. Again, from the Wired blogs, there are pre-made dog emergency kits. But, mainly, I just keep extra dog food on hand and allow additional drinking water.
Another idea for readers who are, like me, very digital in nature, having a spare laptop in an emergency “bug out” laptop kit isn’t a bad idea at all. In fact, now that I’ve got a spare laptop, and a bit of time, I may just make that myself!

(Don’t forget to check out the pictures in the last post and vote!)

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"They don't hold meetings about rainbows."

Yeah, so I’ve been thinking…
Again, this is often a problem area for many reasons, but I just can’t seem to get through the day without it, so I keep on doing it. In this case, I’ve been thinking about Hurricane Rita. Or, actually, I’ve been thinking about what I would have liked to have had on hand when Rita hit, that I either didn’t have, or didn’t think of until afterward.
Here’s most of what I ordered from REI.com:
Candle Latern
Candles for Candle Lantern
A NICE battery-powered lantern
Folding Water Carriers
Portable Water Purifier (Because I’m just not going to worry about this again!)
Sun Shower (Because a little disaster shouldn’t mean that I stink.)
Percolator Coffee Pot (Because a nice cup of coffee is a giant leap toward feeling civilized again!)
And, I’m still debating on which first-aid kit to order. It’s important to have a nice one that includes a good emergency first-aid manual, if you’re not well versed in emergency care already. I have First Aid Merit Badge, so I’m reasonably confident that I’ll be able to muddle through.

From RealGoods, I’ve ordered:
FreePlay EyeMax Radio (It runs on dynamo or solar power and has a built-in flashlight.)
Sidewinder Cell Phone Charger (You can laugh about this one, but that cell phone may be the only communication I have and it won’t work without power.)

Still to get:
A good shotgun and shells, for both emergency hunting and looters (Meat is meat!)
Gas cans! Even if you don’t have a generator, it’s nice to have gas.
MREs They have a shelf-life of years and, with a little clean water, you can have an instant hot meal. The might not be really super tasty, but they’re not bad and they are food. (Again, meat is meat!)
Extra dog food! I need to get that BEFORE the streets get crazy.
Oil lamps and oil. Safer than even the candle lamps, generally, and in the non-hurricane season, they can be decorative.
And, for the long-term, either a generator or solar backup solution. If I can find a way to protect the panels eaisily from wind damage, I think that’s best. In 6-8 hours after the storm hits, we’ll probably have sun again, so I can start charging batteries, but gas may be a long time coming!

I’m sure there are more things, too, but, for now, that’s a good start. Of course, I may move away before that, but, still, the latent survivalist in me would love to have all this on hand, just in case. I mean, if the Rapture comes and I’m left behind, I may just have to “civilize” the heathens! (Hmm, maybe I should add a Bible to that list…)