Sounds like fellow geek! I broke the dew habbit a few years back (down here Dew isn't the same) with expresso... No sugar or anything to numb the taste, just pure liquid gold. I'd like to see someone try to take a double shot away from me first thing in the morning ;-)

Going for a walk.
Calling very good friends.
Leaving.
Reading a good book.
Checking the ETS forum.
Therapy.

Something as simple as accepting that I'm not a morning person has helped a lot. Now I prepare and lay out stuff the night before so when morning rolls around all I have to do is make coffee, grab stuff, and go.

A friend of mine was venting and saying that his #$#%^ wife made him mad. Another friend asked him why not leave her ?

He replied :
Because ... her twisted brain made life like hell, an the rest of her made my life like heaven.

You win some and lose some.
And that makes decision-making very hard.

Back to "sanity" kit
Seems to me that multitools are more versatile and helpful than knives in urban setups, and they do not carry with them any negative baggage.

I havent seen much use for electronic organizers like PDAs or Blackberry's. I seem to favor the pen and paper for listing stuff.

Updated contact lists are typed on the word processor and a hard copy thrown in every bag and every table drawer I have ( home, office ). It helps for the days when a bag is forgotten in the rush.

My kids.

No matter how crazy my day, or how many stupid people in positions of authority I've had to deal with, my kids always (inadvertantly) will do something that makes me laugh.

Additionally, wanting to be around to see them grow up and provide me with grandchildren (which, I understand, are a great source of stress relief to my parents) provides good motivation to take better care of myself.

Every so often I get in my cage, grab the tire and the samsonite, and go to town. People avoid me for a while, till I settle back down again, then I get out of the cage.

I find that when you are 6'5" and 265 lbs, people have much less tolerance of your outbursts than those who are not so imposing. Why is it the little 5'2" 90 lb woman seems hell-bent on taming the beast chair and whip style? Every time I go off I end up with some little female squealing at me to settle down and behave. It must be a King-Kong type of affliction.

Well, if it were Naomi Watts yelling at me, I might just be distracted enough to listen...

I thought that's what the condoms in the BoB's were for.

Getting out in the woods
avoiding people
watching mindless silyl movies

She's a certified therapy dog and brings out the best in everyone she meets. The dog people and their dogs have been the greatest catalyst for making this inner city neighborhood a community.

I don't like pets in my house.
OK, I have surrendered to my kids wishes a few times and now we have an aquarium with gold fish blah blah blah

Kidds and moms . Yet another source of .... stress, sometimes
When you try bribe kids out of something, moms step in and change the course of history. Grrrrrr


I believe that in a survival situation only the fittest strongest most capable people can survive it. Handicapped people, kids, pregnant women , elderly folks all add up another level of needed preparedness. Pets also require more prepadness. But the difference here is that I can do WITHOUT pets to lighten the load. Something you can't ( or shouldn't ) do with kids , handicapped, elderly folks ..etc.

In case I have to bug out in a minute , that goldfish will be lunch to one of Blast's cats. I am NOT going to carry a small aquarium full of water to spill in the car and kids looking for that "poor" goldfish. The only poor creature who deserves sympathy in that case would be me.

YMMV, but that is only me