Today's Power Outage

Today we had a power outage. It was mainly San Diego and Orange County as far as Southern California goes. Parts of Arizona and Mexico also experienced the same outage. I was halfway listening to the news and heard that it was some sort of major malfunction. Well duh! Ya think. They shut down the San Onofre power plant for precautionary purposes and the FBI said it was not a terror threat. Understandable for them to come out and calm the fears of some given we're pretty much right on the eve of 9/11. 

However, that being said, this is what really scares me. People were freaking out over this. I mean it was hot. Air conditioners were going out, intersection lights/signals were out; people were not able to get through to 911. Pure chaos. So my question is: if it's like this for a power outage, how are people really going to act in the event of a real emergency situation/tragedy?

Recently, I've become very annoyed with this "Me Generation". People thinking that they don't have to pay their dues. Acting like it should be theirs automatically. I come from an age (enter my Mom here) that had to work hard for what you got. You learned the process. You were genuinely interested in what people’s thoughts and ideas were for a common goal. In Los Angeles (NOT California) you have so many people wanting/trying to be something or someone else that they've forgotten to be themselves. Common goals are gone and those days are over. Nowadays if you're not immediately answering an email or phone call either at work or AT HOME you're not doing your part. 

The past ten years, technology has been unbelievably great and a burden. Who doesn't carry a cell phone or own a computer in this day and age? The good part about technology is that we have social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to get the word out of our happenings. Look at all these uprisings in other countries. Started (in part) through Twitter and Facebook posts. Flash mobs. All through instant communication.

So getting back to the power outage and future disasters. Here is what I have learned and what I have done to prepare myself and my loved ones should something happen at home, work or my car. Sadly, those are the only places you will find me these days :(

When the Northridge earthquake of 1994 hit I was living in Santa Monica canyon. Entrada drive to be exact. Just a block East of PCH. Anyway, that area suffered some pretty severe damage. Apartment buildings were red tagged, part of the hill came down, etc. I was talking to a guy from the fire department (go figure) and he told me that I "must have had one hell of a ride because the foundation of my house was essentially on sand". After that extremely scary event, I will always remember what I didn't have and what I will always now have on hand. 

Under my bed: Spare sneakers with socks in them, a crowbar for opening jammed doors and a solid flashlight. Something like a Maglite. Door jams shift so the crowbar is really important and also a really good tool for making noise, etc. These are the things I didn't have at that time.

Backpacks for each member of your family with spare cloths should you need to leave quickly. I would suggest keeping it somewhere close to the front door or exit point. I would also suggest that you check on the clothing yearly because we all know little ones grow and so do waistlines :/

Have a very simple medical kit ready at all times. Not just for emergency situations. KNOW WHERE IT IS! Communicate this to everyone. That's directed to all those who have a, "Honey, where is the...". 

Water, water, water. When the shit hit the fan during the earthquake, stores were marking up water due to demand. Highly illegal but people were doing it. Get it, date it and store it off the floor.

If your really a doomsdayer then get food like, bags of rice, peanut butter and jelly, canned fruit and vegetables, evaporated milk. Things that have a long shelf life. SPAM. 

If you want to go the extra route as I did, I walked around my house and took photos of each room. Did kind of an inventory of the items in my house. I'm super anal about doing it when I change the battery in the smoke detector. I also scanned all of my important documents and stored them on a flash drive and an external hard drive for back up. I got a really small, relatively cheap drive at Costco that you can throw in your purse. You don't want to leave things lying around the house, so make sure that they are in a safe, secure and cool environment. Just make sure that it's easy for someone to get should you not be able to retrieve it yourself. 

And last but not least, I have a generator(s). A gas generator and a solar powered generator that runs off a car battery. I found that in the Northridge earthquake, I had a LOT of condiments in my fridge. So I vowed to never let it lose power ever again. 

Par-tay at my house if there's a disaster! Whuh whuh

Aloha and mahalo

\m/

Disneyland, Unemployment and Carmaggedon

Disneyland/California Adventure

Just got back from Disneyland and California Adventure. We took up the current offer of the $139.00 for a 3 Day/1 Park a Day pass offered to southern California residents. It was pretty awesome. Good to finally get away with the family and not be on a schedule. Our friend Chris suggested that we watch the "Fantasmic" water show in the Frontier Land/New Orleans area of Disneyland. Awesome! It was really well done. Disney of course pulled out all the stops on this one. The paddle boat in the end with all of the characters on board was really cool. Worth the wait. Our spot was not the best so I suggest maybe staking out some prime real estate early. The best spot for viewing is right in front of the Pirates of the Caribbean. We were more to the left of the stage in front of the Haunted Mansion. Get as close to the water as possible. You may get a little misted there, but it's a great spot.

Overall a great time at both parks. Thank god were were not hit with the heat that is expected this upcoming "Carmageddon" weekend! I was amazed by was the amount of obese people there. Sad.

Speaking of obesity and food, If I can also make a suggestion. The food at Disneyland in most spots is extremely overpriced. We chose to get stamped for re-entry to the park and hit all of the restaurants on Katella Blvd. Just about a mile down the road (if that), there were several choices. Roy's (Hawaiian), CPK, Bubba Gump's, Cheesecake Factory, etc. Put it this way the first day at the park I paid $25.00 for (3) turkey dogs and (3) waters. For dinner we went to Cheesecake Factory where I paid $37.00 for a pepperoni pizza, tuna tartar, field greens house salad, children's mac and cheese, Amstel light beer, milk and coffee. Nuff said. Take a minute to eat better and you can still go back to the park and not have the aftermath of a bad one.

Unemployment

So I just found out that EDD is going to be issuing Visa debit cards through Bank of America (I use the "A" for something else). This will be coming to me in place of checks and will be automatically credited to my account on the day of payment. This should help in the frustration of not getting checks consistently on the same days. Infuriating if you've ever had to rely in unemployment.

Now here's my beef with a Visa debit card. Once again you have big brother intruding into your life. This now gives them the opportunity to see what your spending your money on. Now granted I have not been issued or used the card yet and not have read the fine print, but doesn't this seem just like another gimmick to look into my personal spending? Enough already! I don't want another card, password of pin for something. What I would like is automatic deposit! And California wonders why they are going down in flames. This just is proof of more stupid spending.

Carmageddon

There is no doubt in my mind that this is going to suck for many people. Pure chaos on the horizon. However, we have all been given the ample notice to make our arrangements on how were going to handle it. I plan on staying home and maybe catching up on some movies, bbq and take some time to really enjoy doing nothing. It's a weekend for crying out loud. Oh boo hoo to all the people crying about how they won't be able to drive the beach. Really, one weekend? Is it really that hard to hang out on your own neighborhood for 2 days? Support your local businesses instead? Obviously there will be people that need to be out there and my hat's off to them. However, if anyone knows me, I am THE WRONG PERSON to have out on the roads Carmageddon weekend.

Good luck out there.

10:35pm thoughts

Tonight's News:

RANTS:
Just watched a story on a guy who went after a ball in Texas Stadium and fell to his death. Josh Hamilton, the Texas Ranger outfielder was tossing the man a foul ball - like a lot of players do, and he (the fan) was reaching for it and fell 30 feet. I can only imagine how Josh Hamilton must be feeling. What a horrible accident that could have happened to anyone. Since this is the 2nd incident in 2 years, luckily only one death. They need to seriously re-think possibly the height of the bar in front of the fans to make sure this doesn't happen again. Something needs to happen. Also running the footage of his fall on a loop is beyond tacky.

Rupert Murdoch thinks he's God. The collapse of News of the World couldn't make me happier. I can only hope that he along with everyone else involved gets jail time. Not in one of those posh prisons either. You can also lock him up for selling Frank McCourt my LA Dodgers! Hated him then, hate him even more now.

Speaking of Frank McCourt, listen all you fans out there, he is scum. We all know this. He took it the extra mile with putting the Dodgers in bankruptcy BUT and this is a big one, ALL owners live lush lifestyles. What makes him scum is that he used money from Dodger charities for his personal use. Jamie McCourt is not the angel she portrays either. I love my Dodgers too much to see this happening. Bottom line, get him (them) out and let's see what Mark Cuban can do? God did I just say that?

I don't care about Lindsay Lohan in the slightest. She's old news. Who cares if she can act. She's an idiot. Mel Gibson's a great actor too, but I'm not going out to any of his movies either. Jody Foster backed or not. And enough with Casey Anthony. Who cares about her and her ugly new hairdo.  Do we really need to have 24 hour coverage of this beast? I'm sickened at the thought of someone offering her a book, movie or porn deal! Steve Hirsch of Vivid pulled his offer after public outrage. I would call that smart but then again he made an offer. Anything for money right?

RAVES:
Corner Cottage in Burbank still makes the most amazing breakfast burritos.

My Daughters New Lunch Box

Ever since I watched ABC World News Tonight on the "Made in America" series they did, I have been taking notice of the products I buy. I figured that I would try and make a serious effort to buy American. Well, I'm here to tell you that it's much harder than you think.

For example; I was painting my bathroom and was in Home Depot picking up some paint. I was thinking about all of these home projects that I to do and went looking for a nail gun to finally attack the headboard I've been wanting to make. Well as I was walking through the isles looking at all the power tools (drool drool drool) ex: Milwaukee, Black and Decker, Bosch, DeWalt, Makita, etc. ALL made over seas. NONE of the brands that Home Depot carried were American made. Not one of them! At least the ones that I was looking at. Hey, I'm all for foreign import/export, but this is really upsetting. They wonder why our country is going under.

When you can, look at a label and see where it's made. You could be saving someone's job here in the good ol' US of A. I will look for a American made Website and post later. There's quite a few out there. 

My daughter and I both love her American made lunch box. AND, it's almost exactly the one I had when I was a kid. : )

My new blog page

Hi anyone who may be reading this,

I started this blog because I wanted a place that I could share my displeasure with things I come across and also to share things that I think are great. Who knows what this will become, but I'm happy to be doing this.

We'll see where it takes me and IF I get any followers. I've seen quite a few dumb ones before, so I personally think that mine will be WAY more interesting.

Makanani