OK. It is my time to get going with college basketball… I believe we are close the ‘the dance’, or the sweet 16… I know that the Gators beat Marquette last night and that is good; I also know Michigan State lost and that is not good… Ohio State won; blah… Don’t know where the rest are, but I’ll find out… I know the South Florida Bulls were in the mix and the stinkin’ ‘Noles were also trying to show up (are they still in it?)…
Our big car, the Escalade, was showing small failure of subsystems here and there until the ABS (Anti-loc Brake System) light came on, and stayed on, saying that the system needed attention… Took the car to a local shop in Sparta (not a Cadillac dealer, therefore very reasonably priced!) and he found out that both the front rotors were within few miles of breaking (seizing, burning, etc.) and that was causing the ABS light to come up… The A/C fan seems to be stuck on one position and he could not fix it; he said that Caddy designed the electronic for the system in a hermetic box that only they can get in (we’ll take it there one of these days). Bottom line, the big boat is ready to go again for several tens of thousands of miles more…
…and Spring is here! The Vernal Equinox happened for us on Tuesday, March 20th at 00:14 AM and, therefore, Spring is here formally. Never mind that we've had unseasonably spring-like weather for the last four weeks! In talking to Ligia, my sister, who lives in a mountainous region about 50 miles South of (and 3000 higher than) Caracas, Venezuela, she shared that their weather is also out of whack! By now, it was supposed to warm up a bit and the rains were expected to stop; well neither has happened, and that is completely unseasonable… I don’t know if you can call it Global Warming, or you can call it the beginning of the end according to the Mayan Calendar; whatever floats your boat. But I do know that things are not the same!
And so it appears – AGAIN- that it is Mitt against Obama. So, let’s see who is the most capable of telling what the people want to hear, making the right promises (the ones that have lots of caveats in it), saying the most without saying anything, making most allegations that cannot be verified but stick anyway, making the most egregious accusations without having to prove any of them, buying the most time on the media to get all those wonderful messages mentioned above to the masses. On this subject, I will go underground now and emerge again on the other side of the November elections (unless something really juicy or comic happens in between!).
So, here is a simple question: “If we lost power (for whatever reason) this evening and it was not restore for ten (10) days, am I prepared to deal with it? If yes, precisely how? If not, what do I need to do to be prepared?” This simple question triggers all sort of thoughts when one start evaluating the bases of one’s lifestyle… People who think – and act – about these things are called ‘preppers’. Some people take it to extremes, like some of the characters in the Doomsday Preppers series being broadcast by the Discovery Channel; they are real ‘kookies’. You also find many of them in the http://www.survivalmagazine.org web site, where there are all types of fora, most of them useful, some of them ‘frequented’ by real scary characters! I prefer to justify my interest on the subject based on old principles where the first step one took before starting any task was to take a back-up so, in case something went wrong, you could get back to the point of departure; and once you had a plan or solution, it was not complete without the proverbial ‘Plan B’, just in case you original plan did not work as designed. Based on that, I ask myself questions: do you have a back-up, and do you have a plan B? The answers are everywhere, except where I need them to be… So, needless to say, now I have a whole slew of new projects; some that I have only thought about; and some that I have already started.
Now food for thought:
“If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves”. - Thomas Edison
Keep pushing, my friends…
2 comments:
Love your comments Miguel as always. Have no interest (so sorry) on basketball other than the Heat and will remain quiet now re politics but certainly enjoy your input.
Re your Plan... having lived after Andrew w/o power for one month, no running water for 2 weeks and dozens of other extreme discomforts, I know we can do it. Better admit that within a week of storm's direct hit and having no roof over our heads, we did rent a motor home. If anyone dare suggest that was comfort for a family of 4 for 4 mts, I would smack them if within reach.
Anyway, in Miami at lease we now own a degenerator but it is VERY noisy and only provides power to limited things. That was, of course, the souce of limited hours of coolness in the motor home in August heat. Our friends of the Mormon faith certainly are prepared for food, water, plus many more items to sustain life should strife come. Guess that means Mitt will use Lincoln bedroom for his storage should he be the winner. People often comment on my expanse in our pantry and it is certainly due to the many items we desperately needed in 1992, I could go on but think you get the pix. I am sure should things happen I would be unprepared but maybe not as much as some.
Good luck with your projects and anxious to hear more. Sue & Jim
As always, I find complete joy reading your blog! Thanks for sharing and keeping up weekly! Look forward to seeing you in May!
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