Honor the past.

Live in the present.

Create the future.

Otherwise, the future will create you.

I was just reading the other day that the first nationwide test of the US Emergency Alert System will be taking place on November 9^th  at 2:00pm EST.

That’s great news.

So what, you say?  What’s the big deal? 

Besides the fact that every person in our country deserves the very best, most up to date alert system that America can create?  The big deal is what happens if it doesn’t work!

Does anyone remember the day that the Emergency Broadcast System went nuts and started sending out codes that caused it to take over radio and television stations across the country? 

The message?  This is not “just a test”. 

For nearly forty minutes on February 20^th, 1971, people who were unfortunate enough to be listening to the radio or watching cartoons that Saturday morning were convinced that America was under attack.  I know.  I was watching cartoons. That icy February day, my parents decided to leave me at home with Grandma while they went grocery shopping, so I could stay warm and spend the morning playing.   As little as I was, I still remember that high pitched moan of the old emergency broadcast system and the disembodied voice of the unseen announcer telling us that there was a national emergency, that they didn’t have any details yet and that we were to stay tuned for any updates. 

I ran to get Grandma, who didn’t take the news much better than I had. 

Here is a replay of one the actual broadcasts as it happened at radio station WOWO-AM in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Even though she eventually turned the set off, for the longest time we listened and wondered what could be happening.  There were no cell phones so we couldn’t reach my mom – who I wanted, badly!  We didn’t have an extra car, so we couldn’t go anywhere, and we didn’t have computers back then, so there was no internet to quickly grab the news going on beyond the Chicago metro area.  We had no idea what was happening, or the fate of anyone outside of the houses we could see on our block.

Finally, nearly an hour later, we found out what had happened.  The regularly scheduled Saturday morning emergency broadcast test was launched, but the people that send the code the stations used to authenticate it, mistakenly sent the “emergency code”, instead of the “all clear, just a test” code, throwing the world of broadcast into chaos.  Even when they realized their mistake, they tried sending the all clear code, only to send the wrong code again! 

Many of the stations didn’t believe there was a disaster and just ignored that original code, leaving viewers blissfully unaware.  A good thing I supposed, unless the threat had actually been real.  But in Chicago, Indiana and many, many other cities, scores of listeners will never forget what it feels like to actually experience a real emergency broadcast alert.  How would I describe it?  Kind of like the first half hour of 9/11, only without being able to actually see and hear what was happening in real time, the details left only to the imagination.  Just a blank screen with a scary looking logo and a frightened reporter repeating, over and over again, what he could not confirm.

Mom came home and we told her our story.  The new sort of glazed over it that evening, hoping the majority of Chicagoans simply didn’t notice. 

So an emergency alert system that is more foolproof and actually works when it’s supposed to, wherever you are and whatever media you happen to be watching at the moment?  We’re all for that!

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For more information on the EAS Test taking place in November, visit these links: http://www.tmcnet.com/topics/articles/228525-november-9-national-us-emergency-alert-system-eas.htm  or http://www.regionalinfo-alert.org/index.php/2011/08/18/nationwide-test-of-the-emergency-alert-system/ 

Want some How To tools?  Here are more ways to Get Your Stuff Together… 

How To Put an ICE Contact On Your iPhone

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Could you and your family be Ready In 10 minutes for an earthquake, tornado or other emergency?   If not, it’s an easy fix.  All it takes is one afternoon.  Get a copy of our book    “Ready In 10” today, from Amazon.com.   $19.95   

The basic plot was that Ryan and Walter (deftly played by Jonathan Togo and Omar Miller) were called to a mobile home community to investigate a dead body.  Just as they were nearing the home, the skies darkened and there in the distance was a funnel cloud.  As hard as they were trying to get to the scene, seconds later, the funnel cloud, became a full-fledged tornado.  Fighting the winds they stumbled into the home, and trying valiantly to preserve the crime scene – which by this time was the few inches of carpet surrounding the young woman’s body.  Walter started cutting the carpet around the body.  Ryan tried to loosen it and roll the girl up for safekeeping, but before they could lift her and run for safety, the tornado struck.  

Seconds later they were fighting for their own lives, as Ryan grabbed on to the only thing Walter could find to help keep him from blowing out of the wind ravaged doors – a string of Christmas tree lights.  Walter had to let go of the lights when they began cutting his hands raw.  Ryan flew out the door, only to be discovered about ten minutes later, lying in a heap outside.  Eventually Horatio and the rest of the team were on scene and discovered the girl’s body in a tree. 

Yes, everyone was all right, despite having risked their lives to try and maintain the integrity of a crime scene.  It was a great start to a fascinating episode.   Then right in the middle of the action, writer Brian Davidson slips in a critical lesson in evacuation planning.

As we find out later, after the girl’s parents saw the tornado watch and then warning, they spent about half an hour, getting ready to evacuate.  A flashback showed them grabbing family photos, their vital documents, asking each other if they had everything they would need.  

But the one thing they didn’t do, is the one thing that cost their daughter her life.  You see, their daughter was away at college.  What they didn’t know, is that she had an argument with her boyfriend and decided to spend the night in her own room at home.  She probably slipped in after they went to bed. 

The parents grabbed what they needed to start over again, in case their home was destroyed – which it was.  They asked each other if they had everything – which they thought they did.  

What they didn’t have was an Evacuation Plan or even an Evacuation List.  If they had one, like the “Ready In 10″ Evacuation Plan in our book, they would have known that they needed to double check every room in their house before leaving.  As it was, they must not have grabbed any of their daughter’s keepsakes or anything that might have been important to her.  Granted she’s away at school and has most things with her, but like most college aged people, she probably had quite a few things that she would have wanted to grab for safekeeping. 

If those parents created an Evacuation Plan or List with the other member of their family, as we suggest, they would have known what she wanted to take with before a tornado or hurricane were to strike.  And to do that, they would have gone into her room, and would have seen her.  And they would have woken her up, taken her along and she would not have been home when the looters entered their home.  That Evacuation Plan would have saved their daughter’s life. 

This is a great lesson for all of us.  The next time you update your Evacuation Plan or check over your Evacuation List, make sure that you include – “Check Each Room Before Leaving House”.  You never know what or who might have been left behind.

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Want some How To tools?  Here are more ways to Get Your Stuff Together… 

How To Put an ICE Contact On Your iPhone

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Could you and your family be Ready In 10 minutes for an earthquake, tornado or other emergency?   If not, it’s an easy fix.  All it takes is one afternoon.  Get a copy of our book    “Ready In 10” today, from Amazon.com.   $19.95   

This is a great time to make a quick observation.  Here were hundreds of people out to have a fun afternoon with their friends and families watching airplanes compete in a show that has gone on for years.  But for at least 50 of those people (numbers at press time), it ended in an unthinkable race against the clock to save their lives.  50 people who didn’t know that they’d be going to the hospital that day.  50 patients wheeled into ERs in front of doctors who had never seen the patients before them, didn’t know their medical history, the prescription medications they were on or the names of their next of kin, to answer those questions.  Those physicians, are in a race to save those lives.

Those unpredictable, unthinkable situations are just ONE of the reasons that we recommend having your ID/allergy/prescription information and preferably a current medical history at your fingertips.   In our book Ready In 10, and our upcoming book “Get Your Stuff Together”, we recommend some easy tips that would have come in very handy for this very situation.

• Keep your ID with you, either in your purse/wallet.
• Create emergency Wallet Cards for yourself and each member of your family, that you keep along with that ID.  We have a great version you can cut out and use in Ready In 10.  Just make sure yours has your name, age, address/phone, names of your emergency contacts, physician and any allergies or prescriptions you currently take. 
• If you’re not taking your purse or wallet (for example when you’re out running or on an outing with other family members, consider using a Shoewallet, a small wallet that holds an ID, emergency card and a key, credit card or a few dollars.  They strap right to your shoe or to your belt.
• We also suggest putting an ICE contact or two in your cell phone.  ICE stands for In Case of Emergency, and will alert people at the emergency room or rescue workers to the people you want contacted if you are unable to speak for yourself.
• If you want to kick it up a notch, consider putting you and your families medical history on a document in a secure file server (like your own web site directory or online file depository).  That way if someone is injured, another family member can send the link or the document to the hospital treating them, so that they hospital can use that information immediately, before the next of kin even arrives on the scene.

Can you imagine the chaos that took place moments after that air disaster?  People thrown feet into the air, away from their family or away from their belongings, then scooped up by emergency personnel and rushed to the nearest hospital that could take them?   The only thing anyone can do at that moment, (besides prayer!), is to make sure that they’ve done everything in their power, to ensure doctors treating them have everything they need to treat them with their particular needs, in mind.  To have what they need to save their lives.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people and families impacted by this air disaster.  For more about the story click on the link below.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=us/2011/09/17/von-air-show-crash.dwilson

Voicemail is fast, easy and convenient to use — until your cell or phone company decides that saved message of yours has been sitting on their server long enough.  And if you’re not careful – sometimes even if you are – that message will suddenly disappear.  Not a big deal for people who don’t mind a little electronic housekeeping.  

But it’s a HUGE deal for people who want or need to keep a treasured message.  Like the news of a baby’s birth, a long awaited job, or the final message of a much loved spouse, friend or relative.  In fact a friend of ours kept her husband’s cell phone account active, so her grown children could hear his voice any time they wanted, after he unexpectedly passed away.  Problem is, trying to keep a message on voice mail for posterity is nearly impossible.  So is finding a way to save it as an MP3 or voice file on most phones.  Until now, that is. 

Whether you have an answering machine or voicemail, here are the best ways to save your treasured messages.

1. If the message is on an answering machine that uses a cassette tape, simply save the tape.  But be sure to back up the recording to another cassette or MP3 so you’ll have another copy if it breaks.
2. If the message is on an answering machine with a digital chip, play the message and record it onto a digital recorder, cassette or onto your computer, using Sound Recorder (Windows/PC) or SimpleSound (Mac), to make it into an MP3 that you can keep for posterity.
3.  If the message is on voice mail, here’s a great new solution.  Until now, recording a message from voice mail was nearly impossible.  But with MiCorder, from Olens Technology, you can record any kind of audio from any device, as long as it has a headphone jack, and turn it into an MP3.  Just put the patch cord (included) into your cellphone’s headphone jack, hit record, play the message and MiCorder will turn it into an MP3.  It works amazingly well to turn cassettes into MP3s too.The next time someone leaves you a message that you never want to delete, do yourself a favor.  Don’t leave it to the cell phone company or your answering machine to keep it safe for you.  Take five minutes and back it up.   Click here for a video on MiCorder.
4. 4. And here’s another brand new solution, especially if you’re not technically savvy.  CBW Productions specializes in recording voice mail messages right from your cell phone account.  Through a special partnership with Verizon and with other cellular carriers, if you want to save and archive special messages on your voice mail, go to www.cbwproductions.com.  They’ll copy the message for you and email you an MP3 copy or a send you a copy of the message on a CD so you can keep it for posterity. 

And the next time your voice mail company cleans house, that great news, those kind words or that beloved voice, will be safe and sound — not hanging out on your phone, just waiting to be deleted. 

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Want more How To tools?  Here are more ways to Get Your Stuff Together… 

How To Put an ICE Contact On Your iPhone

___________________________________________________________________

Could you and your family be Ready In 10 minutes for an earthquake, tornado or other emergency?   If not, it’s an easy fix.  All it takes is one afternoon.  Get “Ready In 10” today, from Amazon.com.  Only $19.95 and it comes with a free download of the complete Get Ready Kit!  

What are we calling it?  That we’ll have to keep under the covers for a bit longer.  But I’ll guarantee you this.  It’s going to go places that “Ready In 10″ never even thought about going.  Once you finish this book, you’ll know how to keep from losing nearly every “thing” that is important to you. 

Now that the outlines and basic chapters are complete, it’s time to kick this book up to a new level.  Next week we begin interviewing the best of the best — from companies with cool new products, to celebrities and experts — who will share some amazing stories, valuable tips and a lot of fun along the way.

So stay tuned and buckle up…  The next few months are going to be a wild ride.   We can’t wait to see it all put together!

Best, Laura and Jan

Can’t wait for our new book?   Then pick up a copy of our last one.    Check out Ready In 10, now on Amazon.com — $19.95. 

Newest Edition of the Ready In 10 Video

Emergency personnel walk through a neighborhood severely damaged by a tornado near the Joplin Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo. (Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press / May 22, 2011)

“When the tornado hit, Staci Perry, a scrub technician at St. John’s Regional Medical Center, had just left the operating room to grab a piece of equipment for a surgery in progress. An urgent announcement came over the loudspeaker: “Execute condition gray.” That was the hospital’s code for an impending disaster, though in drills, the command was always preceded by “Prepare for condition gray.”

There was no time to prepare. As she heard the massive glass walls crack, Perry, 33, dashed back to surgery. “The pressure in everyone’s ears was just tremendous,” she said. A physician’s assistant threw himself against the door so it wouldn’t blow in and destroy the operating room. The lights went out. The wind howled.

Well we’re hard at work on another book.  This one is going to be quite a bit different than Ready In 10. 

I’ll fill you in, in a few days and since everyone always asks us what it’s like to write a book, we’ll try to keep you posted on the progress. 

In the meantime, here’s a few photos we took of our local tulips.  Finally — spring is here!!!

LG

A Family Trying to Get On With  Life, In A Temporary Cardboard Home In A Fukushima Evacuation Center

Today marks the one month anniversary of the Fukushima Japan Earthquake. 

At 9.0 it was one of the fiercest, most destructive quakes of modern times.   As time goes on, the images and feelings about the quake will fade, but only for those who didn’t experience it.  For the people of Japan the reality of that destruction, that DISRUPTION of their lives, is not only crystal clear, it’s ongoing as those families who were hardest hit by the quake, struggle to get back to their daily lives.

Thousands of families are taking refuge in evacuation centers like this one — cardboard walls now cordon off their private living space.  The question is, do the people who have now been in this center for a month, have any way of returning to their normal lives?

Although some cities were devastated beyond recognition in the original quake, or multiple aftershocks, most were not.   Which means that the families now living within the cardboard walls could probably have gotten out of the city they’re currently in, and on to a different location, within that month.  They could have gone to stay with friends or relatives in other cities, where they could have been reunited with the vital documents and information they needed, so they could begin to get in touch with insurance professionals or put the kids in a new temporary school.  They could have located their online stash of family photos and keepsakes to make their temporary home, or new life a little more comfortable and cozy.

They could have done all of that if they had only had one thing.  A Get Back To Life Plan.

Believe me we know how that feels.  For us, the day we realized how important that little plan was, was on a day that began like any other.

I was a stay at home mom, and had just finished a load of laundry, before getting ready to start dinner.  As I opened the cabinet to reach for a dish, the house shuttered.  It felt like something had hit the roof — hard.  A moment later there was an enormous roar, followed by a shock wave.  The kitchen chairs flew across the room and everything was cascading off the countertop .  I ran to the living room window and pulled back the curtains.  All I could see was orange – everything was orange.  I closed the curtains and opened them again thinking I had to be imagining this.  But I wasn’t. 

As I stared out the window I realized that the orange was actually a ball of fire surrounding what remained of a 737, lying broken, smoke billowing, just across the street and two houses away from where I stood.  The houses under the airplane were nothing more than rubble.  I immediately searched the distance for my daughter Laura’s school just two blocks away.  From what I could see beyond the smoke, it looked okay.  Adrenaline took over.  We’d need clothes – at least one night and one day’s worth for Laura, my husband and my mother who lived with us.  We’d need cash – whatever we had in the house, ID, pictures — at least a few, credit card…  By this time I was running from room to room dumping everything I needed on the couch.  There was a knock at the door.  “We’re evacuating the neighborhood”, said a fireman in full gear.  “Take everything you need for the next two or three days.”  

“You have ten minutes.”

If an airplane crash, Japan sized earthquake, terrorist attack or medical emergency struck right now, would you be ready? 

Where is your spouse, your children, the other people you love?  What if they were injured?  Would a doctor know what to do to save their lives, with their specific healthcare needs in mind?  Would the hospital know to call you?  

What about your vital documents?  Could you find your bank account number, your homeowner’s policy and your birth certificate, if you suddenly had five minutes to evacuate? 

Most people can’t.  As human beings as much as we realize should be prepared, we’re just not hard-wired to be disaster-oriented.  If that’s all we thought about, we’d never make it through the day – at least not without living under the bed.   The good news is, being prepared doesn’t mean we have to be disaster- oriented.  Just the opposite!  It means that by taking an hour or two to prepare now, we can relax knowing that if a disaster or medical emergency ever strikes, we’ll:  

Know what to do

Know what to take

Know where everything is

Know that we’ve done everything possible not just to survive, but to thrive 

And isn’t that the point?  Having lived through a neighborhood plane crash, a tornado and a few medical emergencies, we can definitely tell you, that it is! The last few years, more than any other, our nation and our world have faced more than its share of natural and man-made disasters.  The only good thing about that is, we can use the lessons learned during Hurricane Katrina or floods, tornadoes, the Tsunami or even the London Bombings, to make sure our own families are prepared.   

And make sure that if you ever have only five minutes, you can grab what you need and go. 

Our family survived the plane crash that day.  Those across the street, did not.  We were and continue to be very blessed.  But those ten minutes to grab whatever I could, were some of the most stressful, most difficult I’ve ever experienced.   

That’s why we made sure that Ready In 10 comes with a Get Back To Life Plan.  Along with tons of other plans and forms that will help you Get Your Stuff Together.  So do yourself a favor, stop by and pick up a copy.  That $19.95 is going to be one of the best investments you’ve ever made. 

Purchase Ready In 10 from Amazon.com

Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll all see images of Japan as her citizens struggle to get their lives back.   Let’s use those images to remind ourselves of one VERY important thing.  

People with a plan don’t usually have to live in a Cardboard House.

Best,

Janet Greenwald 

Has earthquake proofing your home or office ever crossed your mind? Chances aresomeone will get hurt from something flying through the air more than the roof caving in. Here’s a true life experience from this morning.

I was around Pomona, CA today visiting a family in a new 9,000 sq. ft home with all the fantasy bling. Wow nice! They are furnishing it with nice things including vintage oil paintings, collectibles, ceramics and figurines, souvenirs and lots of family photos in frames on shelves and countertops. I love walking through people’shomes and looking at their family photos and vacation shots. But that’s not what thisis about.Being in Southern California, they’re worried about earthquakes, like most everyoneelse, and the discussion started about what might get damaged. That’s, of course,hard to say because it all depends on how strong the earthquake is. The recent earthquake in Northeastern Japan lasted 2 1/2 minutes at 9 on the Richter scaleand one would think,  What can hold up under THAT strong of an earthquake?!   Actually, quite a bit can hold together and our discussion turned from what itemsmight be damaged to what items might become flying missiles/projectiles.

More people are damaged by stuff flying around than the roof caving in.  So, I took a quick inventory: 72 paintings, 173 collectibles/framed items and 30items that need to be strapped down so they don’t topple over.  The walk-through inventory took 15 minutes with a note pad but gave a good quick picture of what might be a flying dangerous item or be a valuable item to bedamaged.    It was very useful!

Then we talked about anchoring things down, getting better hooks for hangingitems, strapping things down that will topple over (maybe on top of someone?!).If this discussion interests you for your home or office – either because you live inearthquake or hurricane country – perhaps you’ll find the following  helps interesting, if not entertaining:

See a quick video about anchoring things down and using Museum Wax at www.saveyourstuffblog.com/museum-wax-package 

See other articles at www.preservationcoach.com Follow us on Facebook at  “Save Your Stuff”. 

I’ll be following up with my visit today. It looks like getting the house earthquakeproofed has turned into a high priority. At your home or office, don’t just think about what item might get damaged.  Think about the safety or those around youand your peace of mind in being prepared.