Higher Ground

Today has been dominated by news of the earthquake and resultant tsunami. Here in San Francisco, the Great Highway and all beaches were closed, and police are telling gawkers to stay away.I watched a video this morning of footage someone took during the quake that made me think about BOB. BOB is my acronym for Bug Out Bag, the bag (or box, or briefcase, or other container that works for you) that you keep with all kinds of things in it for an emergency. The part of the video that launched my heart into my throat was when the person handling the camera is sent back into the house to look for something, can't find it, comes out, and then has to go back in yet again to find it. This is something you don't want to have to do in an emergency. This is where BOB comes in. BOB lives by the door (at least in our house) and has all sorts of things you may need if you have to, say, run for the hills. If you have to bug out, the last thing you want is to be tied up looking for that one backup drive, or the first aid kit, or your insurance number. Round up what you need ahead of time, while you have the luxury of time.Today was spent reviewing emergency gear and provisions, so I'm dressed pretty comfy. Gym shoes, levi's, grey sweater with a striped tank hiding beneath. I'm also going to plug NERT training for those of you here in San Francisco. The full name is Neighborhood Emergency Response Team, and it's run by the San Francisco Fire Department, and it's FREE. They train you in disaster awareness and mitigation, triage and disaster medicine, light search and rescue, fire behavior and extinguishing, incident response and terrorism. Did I mention FREE? When you graduate, you get a sexy helmet, very sexy vest, and jaw-droppingly sexy badge. And oh yeah, it's FREE. Be the hot hero on your block. Get trained.