I hate drama when it comes to emergency prep and services. I especially hate "Emergency Theater" and the drama and glurge that goes with it.
99% of the world lives every day in our "SHTF" scenarios and while not a nice as our standard of living, they do OK. Not a life I want to live, but it's not apocalyptic.

We all need to learn to CTFD a bit when it comes to emergency prep and stop assuming that the whole world will end if the power goes out for 5 days or if the government shuts down or if some jury delivers some verdict. Ratings-driven ad-supported media has a vested interest in keeping us afraid, angry and believing that the whole of society is one moment away from mad-max anarchy at a national scale. It's not. The supposition of impending anarchy is not just suported by the abundance of evidence to the contrary. The Katrina "anarchy" was largely manufactured by fear. After every storm, every flood, every massive fire, every man-made disaster - the way people and communities, urban, rural and suburban, pull together to help consistently tells us that the fear-mongering is wrong. Follow the money and you'll see why. So given the opportunity to be flat and factual and to have a simple stance that admits I can't - and won't - be ready for everything and that I can and will rely on others for more help - I'll use the same media that manipulates us with fear and loathing to sell more hemorrhoid cream and prescription hair tonic to try to get the word out that you don't have to believe in TEOTWAWKI as imminent to be well equipped.

A temporary reduction in your standard of living hardly qualifies as an "emergency" in my book. Being in a burning, flooding community and having everything wiped out and needing to manage locally with what you have - that qualifies. My stance on emergency preparedness is keep yourself equipped to get on with your own life, wherever you are, so you can be able to help the people who really can't help themselves at the moment.

Leave the drama on Netflix.



Red Cross had a successful deployment at local school during Sandy, and wanted to interview a family that used the shelter. Red Cross contacted school. School Superintendent knows me and family, contacted me.



Yes. They are generally media-adverse. I'm not.




For very short periods of time, yes, as in when I fell off my roof.


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