Ready Blog

Quote from a un-typical surbabanite on how she thinks about current events. “I now think of storing extra food, water, medicine and gasoline in the same way I think of buying health insurance and putting money in my 401k,” she said. “It just makes sense.”

The NY Times writes this week about how the new trend in lifestyle may be preparedness in the wake of economic uncertainty and maybe even a touch of Peak Oil worry. A depression, either real or self-prophecy, has many middle-class americans learning new(old) skills of gardening, wine making and living more energy efficient to sustain their way of life if the world around them changes.

How, in the digital age do we simplify? Janet Luhrs wrote a book years ago… LOTS of years ago and I have my copy that I still tote out once a year. It is called, The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs. Hmmm. Easy read? It really is, except for the fact it challenges most of the messages we receive from society and even our loving family on a daily basis.

Each time I read it, which is typically at least once a year from cover to cover, I have to ask myself to value the choices I make in my house, at the grocery store, in vacations and more. I am in no means advocating the giving up of travel, family, and those things that make life so enjoyable. But, you are challenged to value the cost of a, say… new shiny pasta maker for example. Pasta maker, that you probably use once every few months if you stretch it. I remember this example from the book, but please insert your favourite, had to have it so I rationalized it, gadget that was going to save you time and make dinner with you family more enjoyable. Don’t smirk at me… you know we all have something equivalent.

You paid somewhere around $50 for the “pasta maker”, how long did you have to work? and the time to research and go pick one out, have it shipped or go to the store and purchase said new shiny kitchen coolness machine. Great! It is a blast and the family loves it. Now you have to clean it, find cabinet space to store it with the other cool machines. How many hours do you have to work to pay for that larger kitchen? and store all the devices in that larger kitchen and clean them so you will see them and use them more often? See where this is heading. The initial cash outlay compounds terribly over the years as you hump the pasta machine to each new kitchen, work longer hours to pay for the larger kitchen, work longer hours for someone else to clean the newer bigger kitchen full of stuff, so now you have no time to use the kitchen devices and just go out to dinner with family or worse, go out for work and networking events to keep you on the right track to keep paying for the cool device. WHoof.. I don’t know about you, but I am sucking it up and putting that baby on Freecycle.

This is just one example of how we often get caught up in shiny gadgets and their external and variable costs compile to make our lives more complicated. Less stuff, more valuable stuff, then we become happier. Value might be that one really well made item that IS worth it. Maybe a really good cutting board and set of really nice knives would have served better than above gadget. You can still make pasta the old fashioned way on a flour dusted board and the family can still help. The value of the knives can make the entire process a culinary event. Love it!

The book includes sections on Travel, Lifestyle, Food, Home, Gardening, Finances and Career and a great chapter on Health and caring for family. Stories of real people are interspersed just enough to make me see the reality of living in a more “rich and valuable” manner. Unclutter your house, your office, and your brain. Simple living leaves you room to be more productive.

After talking to my “dahling and brilliant” colleague today, Happy Katie, I pulled my book out of my shelf for a new look see. My household is on a continued mission to simplify and build relationships with friends and family we care about. Time to dust off the cover!

This probably goes under the cateogry of “I’m Just Sayin.” Most of us are pretty comfortable for food. We want something, we go to the store, offer a debit card and walk out of the store with usually more than we went in to purchase. Easy.

Most of us are aware that the economy is experiencing a bit of heartburn from the housing mortgage crisis, subsequent lending and financial institutional bailouts, and maybe you are even aware that the value of the US Dollar is making the United States the newest travel destination for Europeans. The price of oil and changes in the ethanol and formulations are also having some unsuspsecting effects on both food delivery costs and stockpiles of grain storage. In fact, investors at MSN Money are suggesting food related stocks are a growth oriented area.

Does this really have an impact on any of us? Hmmm. Probably more than we want to realize. Bread, dairy, eggs, the wheat and grains needed to feed both people and protein machines like cattle are all related. If some people have started to notice the price of their grocery cart going up, their right. Both inflation of the basic food costs and the decline of purchasing power of the dollar are starting to change from pennies to dollars. Shortages, either real or perceived, are also inflating costs as outlined in the article above from MSN.

I live in Houston, a pretty large metropolitan area with selection and variety the name of the game when I go shopping. Other parts of the country are rumoured to be posting signs with sale type limitations on quantities purchased. You know, limit 4 per customer or household? These are typically associated with sales to entice customers in to stores. Now, the cost of stocking goods is hurting some stores and resellers and they are limiting goods below the demand.

What does this mean? Two things. Food costs will continue to rise, and availability may become an issue depending on the part of the country you live in. To protect the value of your wage earned dollars, buy in bulk at today’s prices. The cost of rice has increased 13% over the last twelve months with most of that in recent surges. Eggs are soaring at over 25% inflation. We have started using a mixture of Powdered Eggs and fresh eggs to extend the cost. I am not ready to give up eggs, or the flavour of real eggs, but extending our egg omelette’s and such with partially pantry eggs is great.

If you shop at a local Costco or Sam’s or bulk food provider, watch for good deals on things that will keep in the pantry for a long period of time. Buy things your family will use and pay for it in today’s dollars. Tomorrow’s dollars may not stretch as far. Canned goods, pastas, rice, and grains are great to have on hand. It’s nice to look in my pantry and think I am saving both by buying in bulk, and buying now instead of later.

I am at SXSWi or South By SouthWest in Austin, TX this weekend. An annual geek fanboy/girl conference with panels on technology, community building, design and all things related to online interactivity. The latest focus spins alot of information on building communities. Both offline and online. How do the two interact? If you meet first in one venue, how do you transfer the relationship to the other. Nice questions and I am learning rapidly.

Two other technology things of interest right away. Technology solves problems, only when it is available. And used. I have been playing with FAST or http://www.firstalerttext.com/ this past couple of weeks. It worked great last week when I quickly received a notice about a weather alert in my area. My interest of course is if it will stand during a major technology onslaught during a disaster. The premise is there, now it needs more implementation by multiple groups. Check it out, especially if you are a parent and want alerts from your children’s school.

The second is redundancy hit me again. Need back up batteries and more than one major source of power for digital devices. I am constantly dragging around adapters, cords and looking for recharge stations as I work off my laptop, cell and others throughout the day. I am always open to suggestions on ways to slim down my backpack and still have the necessities for work and safety. Ooof… my shoulder hurts already!

InSTEDD is the brainchild of Google.org’s executive director, epidemiologist Dr. Larry Brilliant, who conceived of it nearly two years ago when he won the TED prize, a grant-making wish foundation that helps raise funds for humanitarian projects. They are now the main benefactor in the “Predict and Prevent” category of Google’s foundation which uses technology to address changes in global situations.

At the time, Brilliant said: “My dream for InSTEDD (a name that plays off the TED conference) is to fulfill the much-needed role of an independent agent bringing the technological, medical, and organizational skills necessary to help the humanitarian aid community accomplish (early detection of public health threats and disasters), and ultimately help them to make the world a safer place.”

InSTEDD is receiving funds from a Google.org charitable foundation donation. One of several grants from the foundation to help fund research on communication and health disaster management and disease surveillance. Identifying early threats and sharing information to help manage “hot spots.”

Part of the research includes building a communication based tool on a Twitter-bot framework to send SMS messages from remote areas or in an overloaded network. Social media that we use everyday, making changes in communication. Awesome.

Original article at http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9852369-7.html

Every culture has valued salt for preparing and preserving food. We too often hear about how salt is bad for your diet. Let’s consider some of the reasons the Roman soldiers were partially paid in salt. For them, it had a very measurable and real value. Not to be worth one’s salt was also an insult not easily overcome. Salt was one of the primary movers of economy and development. Salt allowed civilizations to preserve food beyond typical growing and hunting seasons.

Today, salt is readily available and often hounded as a detriment to our near sedentary society. Lower your salt intake is a standard line from medical and diet specialists. In many ways it is true, we have too much salt in our overprocessed diets. If it has been processed, it may have much more salt than a healthy diet requires. So, I am trying to figure out is salt still valuable, especially in the city where getting paid with salt seems unlikely?

Out in the country, it is used for more than just a salt shaker. If you hunt or have livestock, white salt blocks are a regular item at the feed store. Yes, I stuck my tongue on one, I couldn’t resist! It’s salty. Water softener for well water and even in the city for RO systems are big 50 pound bags of rock salt. Don’t want to fall and bust something if you are in a northern climate? Sprinkle on the salt. I guess there are quite a few modern uses, but would we still preserve with it? Do we still need it in our body?

Edible salt is a necessary balance to control electrolytes. Curing salt enables the production of items like prosciutto, salt cod, pepperoni, lox and other delicacies. Vegetables are also cured and include some pickels, olives, and tofu. I have no idea how to start curing meat or vegetables with salt, but it is something I would like to learn. This winter, I am totally enjoying the slices of a special holiday Jamon Serrano or Spanish Ham that was a family gift. It is air cured and dryed and salt seriously made it into the process somewhere.

I can see where salt makes bland meals enjoyable and I have also recently discovered the flavours of sea salt over normal table salt. Cautious with my intake, but I am totally enjoying the benefits of salt. Knowing that we keep a few items at home for basic cooking and preparedness without electricity or common amenities, I will be making sure salt and seasonings are added to the list. The current cost is minimal and could make a huge difference in comfort and food preparation. I am looking for new ways to rediscover this valuable mineral.

A few month’s ago, we traveled out of town to volunteer for a charity event. During the 3 days, I loaned my travel first aid kit to a colleague and we lost track of it during the closing ceremonies. He promised to find it and send via mail. While looking for it, he commented it came in handy several times to help during the physical endurance event we were crewing. Yes, there were volunteer medical teams, but sometimes they were not immediately available. The bandages, gauze, sterile wipes and even butterfly closures and steri-strips helped a few skinned knees and blisters get to the medical tents.

In tracking down the lost and found kit, we found it traveled to a different volunteer’s house back in Houston. During Thanksgiving, he accidentally sliced his hand pretty seriously while sharpening the knife in preparation for carving a turkey. Hmm.. wonder if they still ate Turkey? He owned several first aid kits at his house and for his own travels, but needed a few extra items out of mine as well. Again, the kit came in handy. Mr. Turkey Carver has since had surgery on his hand to repair some of the damage to his cut (giving you an idea of the severity). We quickly compared notes on what worked and what was missing in our kits.

Gauze patches with a slick-no stick cover slide and are a pretty useless. They slide when wet from sweat, moisture, or especially with an unusual amount of blood. Ick! (stuff that visual back down in my brain) Cloth tape works almost better than duct tape. It sticks to just about anything. Steri-strips and butterfly closures need a clean surface, but will then stick and hold. The other item that might have been helpful would be one of the new emergency coagulants such as Celox. Does all this sound like overkill? Maybe, but ask the people who received relief during an endurance event, and the home emergency that we think will never happen to us. Or even more likely, most of us know we need a first aid kit, may even have one, but plan on getting around to adding to it and organizing it better “some day” maybe.

Sure, calling 911 or going to the Dr. is the ultimate answer. But, what we do in the interim can make a difference on how quickly someone recovers, how much damage and just plain basic comfort. Do you have an emergency first aid kit in your house beyond a few band-aids and Hydrogen Peroxide? Is there one in your car? at work? do you travel with your own kit? How about a power outage during a storm when you or your neighbor is injured and the emergency medical personnel are slow to respond due to emergencies all over the city. What would you need?

The basic lost and now found (on it’s way back to me when Mr. Turkey Carver recovers) kit measured only about 4 x 6 in a pouch, but included basic things like antibiotic creams, burn creams, extra pairs of gloves to deal with blood, various tape, bandages, and strips for wound closure and management, scissors to easily cut tape. It packs lightly and any medications such as advil or antihistamines were kept up to date. I have a larger home kit, but they even seem unwieldy in most cases. Adventure Medical makes some of the most comprehensive kits for their size I have seen. If you want to get started making your own check out Adventure Medical or Chinook Medical for a strong basic kit, then add items you might need for your particular activities.

Let me know what is in your kit. What have you found worked or didn’t? I knew the scissors in my kit would be helpful, but never thought that a person trying to help themselves with a hand injury would need them so seriously. Think about trying to tear your own gauze or tape with one hand and teeth? It could be done, but having the correct tools made the job easier.

Most of all stay safe and learn basic first aid before you need it!

The questions keep getting harder to answer. What is better for the long term good of both Mother Earth and people? An article in Time and CNN indicate that a Food Crisis may well follow on the heels of our current oil crisis. If 1 and 6 people in this world are hungry today, then is switching crops to biofuels seems rather limiting. But, renewable fuels must be considered. Read more here:

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1684910,00.html