Well, I'd like to say that my dad being in the military had something to do with it, but he was a chief yeoman on nuclear submarines. Pretty danged specialized set of survival skills there, but he could blow and go from 100 feet and type well over 100 wpm on an IBM Selectric. So, I too can swim well and type fast.

Seriously, I've always been into camping, hiking, fishing, etc. I took the Sierra Club Basic Mountaineering Course, which is hard on about map and compass navigation, rock climbing, high altitude winter climbing, and how to avoid getting into a survival situation. That was one of the mottos, "If you're in a survival situation, you've already made a serious mistake."

Well, then living in SoCal for 20-some years you get bugged a lot about earthquake preparedness, especially when the whole house is shaking at 2am and all the car alarms are going off at the same time. Then there's fire season at the ranch in the high desert. You learn that the fire department is not going to come out and save you and your horses, so you'd better learn how to do it yourself.

Kevin B.