31 July 2008

rocking and rolling my way to creating the perfect escape bag

I'm usually a dedicated blogger in that I never delete blogs and start again. However, times have changed and so have I. This is not my first blog, and it might not be my last blog, but it is my blog and I will write as I want to.

Moving right along

For those of you living in the Los Angeles area we recently had what I would like to call a mild to very moderate earthquake. If you're from California you're pretty well accustomed to the earth rocking and rolling. Personally I've lived through every major quake in the LA area since 1982. My last major earthquake was the Northridge quake of 1994. I was not quite 12 and I vividly remember it. I was asleep, everyone was, until the earth started shaking and shaking more. Things started falling on my head and all I could hear were things breaking, crashing, and rattling-not quite knowing what the breaking, rattling, and crashing were. I remember pulling my comforter over my head to protect myself. The thing about earthquakes is that you never know how long they will last. At first the ground will start shaking, maybe rattling and then it gets harder and shakier. It might die down a bit but still continue to lightly rattle into an even bigger shake. It's all unpredictable. Was this newest earthquake just a small quake or a foreshock to something bigger. I don't know! Know one does, not even those fancy seismology folks. It's a crazy concept. At any given moment there could be a massive earthquake and no one will know it's coming. Leave it to Los Angeles to be located near major fault lines. Los Angeles is a hot mess of a city. When it rains it's like some catastrophic event on the freeways. Los Angeles can't quite handle nature especially earthquakes. Since I have no faith in the city of LA to save me in the event of a natural disaster I decided that I need to take things into my own hands. I decided to create an earthquake kit/escape bag. As a child I always had some sort of bag or box under or around my bed that I had filled with various items like band aids, candy, tissues, you know whatever a child could throw together to make an earthquake kit-nothing that would really be a live saver if I needed one. I'm now older and wiser so I decided to research kits and then custom make my own. Feel free to steal my list or add to it according to your tastes and/or preferences

  1. water
  2. snacks- granola bars, nuts, canned foods, peanut butter, hard candies, non perishables etc.
  3. a change of underwear and socks
  4. flashlight with extra batteries
  5. emergency contact info
  6. blanket- you know those cool emergency ones that are in the foil shit
  7. utensils, including a non electric hand can opener
  8. a wide array of bandages, adhesive and non
  9. antiseptic wipes and other ointments
  10. aspirin and antacids
  11. latex gloves and heavy duty plastic garbage bags
  12. battery powered radio
  13. duct tape
  14. brass knuckles
  15. hand sanitizer
  16. tools- scissors, rope, pocket tool, whistle
  17. mini alcohol bottles, choose accordingly
  18. a good post apocalyptic read, deck of cards, and hot dice
suggested items:
cigarettes, a special toy, family photos, taser gun and/or other weaponry

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