I never knew this kind of "group" existed. I mean I guess I would have had I ever thought about it, but never really got the "vibe" to NEED to think about "survival". I mean really, I sleep in a nice warm bed, eat food when I want it.. I turn on the faucet and out comes "fresh" water....(sigh)

I grew up down south - my daddy made sure I knew how to change a tire, shoot a gun (and made me go to hunter safety courses) and the whole gambit. I could hold my own and can honestly say that back in the day I was much more prepared for a number of things vs. now when I've gone all soft (and a little more pugdgier)

I was in the air 911, and it was an experience that I never wanted to find myself in again - the, "oh crap, what to do" feeling is debilitating at 32000 feet, much less on the ground - and I like being prepared - having a plan... I'm a IT program manager by trade, work in lots of different industries - and this aspect makes me good at my job. I plan, prepare and execute on a daily basis.

Still I never took the "need" personally to be prepared for myself... that is.. until I had my daughter. Talk about instinctual, primal even.... I now know how a momma bear feels when the cubs are threatened. At warp speed over the last year (I'm a new momma), I have escalated the "need" to "feel" to be "prepared".

I randomly talk to people about this, specially due to the area I live (way close to DC) - friends, family, the random stranger on a plane.. about "preparedness". I was appalled at how many (men and women alike) said.. "oh don't worry", "nothing will happen again", or "your husband will take care of you". Uh... ok.

Well gawd love my hubby, he's chock full of common sense which isn't all that common and he's a good man. But when push comes to shove, I am the planner, thinker, initiator, pit bulldog of the house. It's my nature to remain calm and think and I have absolutely no problems with this and he has no problems with this (Believe me when I say we both have our strengths and weaknesses). When I broached this subject with him, his response was "Why worry"? This only confirmed my "need".

Enter google - and a whole new world has opened up to me - and how I found EST. My gawd I had no idea how truly unprepared my family was if in fact something happened (a checklist just isn't enough)(whatever it is - power outage to an alien attack) (not to mention the overall naivity) of people in general. Maybe I always knew this and just chose to ignore it.. but I figure it's better late than never....

I've been lurking and just soaking up ideas and basically having more 'ah-ha' moments than I care to admit to. So - I wanted to say hello, apologize for any silly questions now (although this won't keep me from asking them), and to thank you all already for the willingness to share. I hope that I will eventually be able to give something back.

Sas

Welcome, Sasser! It's great that your awareness has been triggered. You have now completed Step 1 (The Awakening) on the road to preparedness.

Your hubby will come around when your preparedness touches him in a personal way. It might be something small but it will inspire a "I get it" moment.

Sasser,,

We've always got an extra log by the fire so have a seat, and jump on into the conversation. Everybody has something to learn and everybody has something to offer.

Welcome to the campfire!!

Hi and welcome... that's kinda how we all got here. Its mostly about prep -- and especially smart prep or what can we learn or do to tilt the odds in our favor.

Teacher

welcome to the fire NEWGIRL!

Welcome Newgal!!

Welcome, Sas! And don't worry, Doug has probably had to buy bigger hard drives just to store all of my long-winded posts, too, so don't worry about writing too much.

Welcome Newguy!!!

Welcome to the campfire Sasser.

Pull up a log (just not one of the burning ones).

Looking forward to your input.

Welcome to the fire Sasser. If ya don't know, ASK. There is an excellent chance that someone here can help with about any preparedness issue.

Welcome! This is a good group because we have both urban and wilderness experts on making it thru difficult times. I'm often in your neck of the woods and that influences my preparedness paradigms. That is, can I survive being stuck on the beltway in a snowstorm? (actually in DC a stiff breeze blowing some leaves around can cause massive backups)

Remember that the only dumb question is the one you don't ask!

Welcome newgal!!!

I'm glad you decided to come up to the fire and sit a spell

Onwards and upwards, together...

Welcome Sasser, looking forward to your posts,glad you decided to join. Nice first post.

Hey, Sasser, welcome aboard.

There's no better feeling than having a "Plan B" ready to roll.

Welcome Sasser,

This is a fun place where you can learn lots (I sure do).

Mike

welcome Sasser,

come to the fire and try to stay out of the smoke. It sure is nice to hear that the ladies think us guys are civil enough to join with us.

Welcome to the club. Don't worry about zombie attacks

Find your local Ham radio ARES/RACES or CERT team too - a LOT to learn there, and you'll find local folks who worry about what is near you.

Maryland, eh? What part? My wife has a bunch of family in the Frederick/Jefferson area

Welcome to the fire, friend. Grab a stump, perk up your ears, and don't be afraid to ask questions or tell of your experiences.

-Blast, offical ETS Lady's Man and Minister of Ducks

Welcome, Sasser!

Blast-I've never been called a "lady's man," but I've been called a "girly man" before. That's pretty much the same thing, right?

Jeff

Welcome aboard, Sasser.

Same here, Welcome.

Lee

Welcome Sas. *rolls a new stump over the fire*
*looks at it*

*comes back with bear cub sized stump to put next to it* For the little one.

You'll find a lot of us aren't so worried about ourselves, but we are preparing for the people we care about. Feel free to ask silly questions- I've been here for... YEARS, and I still ask silly questions.


BTW, Blast- does your lovely and beautiful DW know you are the ETS ladies man? I'll take that banner off your hands so you don't get in trouble.

I love my wife. She is a wonderful person and I'd never do anything to hurt her. Everything about her is great and I even enjoy the way she is biting my ear as she reads this over my shoulder. Everyone should be as lucky as me.

-Blast

Welcome Sasser.

Just in case some of the ETS acronyms trip you up, here is a fairly complete list.

Jim

Welcome Newguy!!!

Welcome to the party Sasser. As everyone has said: "Grab a log to plant yourself on and enjoy the fire." You'll a lot of fun here. These folks really have a ton of stuff to share and great stories to tell. Like the one about the "Great Cat Bathing Incident" in Texas....

Blast - Oh Great and Scarred Cat Bather, regal your humble vassals with the triumphant tale of your great victory, again. HARDY HAR HAR!!! (couldn't resist it)

Good disclaimer posting there Blast.

Ben - Who also loves his wonderful wife dearly, whether being bitten or not, and learned his lesson long ago.

Got bit hard, eh?

Welcome, Sasser! It's always nice to get a few more X chromosomes around here. The Ys here are really great, but sometimes they tend to get carried away just a teensy bit with the bulletproof, zombieproof Hummer with the gun turrets (aka 'gear'), when we women know that we can scrounge up something just as good from the junk in the garage in five minutes .

But a better bunch of guys you won't find anywhere, and that's a promise! They're from all walks of life and all kinds of experience and knowledge, and if there's something you need to know about ANYTHING (not just on-topic), there's going to be at least half a dozen guys that know all about it, and probably more.

So don't be afraid to ask and don't be afraid to offer.

You can do a Search on zombies, if you want, but when someone here tells you to Beware of the Zombies, just replace 'zombies' with 'politicians', and you'll probably be just fine.

Sue

I count for two Y's as, judging from my offspring, I have no X chromosomes.

On the other hand I still don't have the guts to put my life on the line like Blast does. Wives tend to get "historical" which is a lot like hysterical: "AND THEN THERE WAS THAT TIME YOU FLIRTED WITH THAT WOMAN ON ETS TEN YEARS AGO!!! "

Let's not bring up the whole Zombie Hunter Outfit fiasco...

Um, women. Plural.

-Blast

Ok. that's it. I give up.

I can no longer be held responsible for your spiritual welfare or continued respiration.

I gotta get me one of them t-shirts!

But you see, stirring up other women's interests in me only shows DW that she posses something of high value. Let's say a fellow ETS lady sends me pictures of herself in a Milla Jovovich-Resident Evil inspired zombie-fighting outfit. When DW sees these pictures it only confirms that I was worth catching. Why would she settle for someone no one else wants? More importantly, her view of herself improves because she knows I chose her among a field of many.


-Blast

E komo mai, Sasser. Welcome

Hmmmmmm... Perhaps my problem is that my wife is already convinced that she has secured as a husband an impeccable male specimen of the species (issue of having two Y chromosomes instead of XY aside), and naturally expects attacks from every wicked city woman in a thousand mile radius without any need of further evidence.

P.S. Reminds me, her birthday is coming up - I think I'll get her one of those zombie fighting outfits.

Just for the record, I have never received any pictures of anyone in a Milla Jovovich-Resident Evil inspired zombie-fighting outfit. However, if any females want to send them out...

-Brian, whose death wish might be fulfilled if his DW reads this post.