It feels weird to be all “business as usual” when we all
know there are so many people out there for whom that is not the case. The fact is, we got incredibly lucky and just
lost power for a few days because of the hurricane.
This was inconvenient, but for many others, it was much more than that.
In honor of that, I’m going to hold off on the funny for a
little while longer, and tell you about some things that I learned about/ ways
you can help.
- Solar power. During the power outage, I was
spending too many hours a day trying to find ways to charge my gadgets. I took this opportunity to learn more about
backup power, which also gave me the chance to learn how far solar power has
come in the past couple of years. Now I
am the proud owner of this nifty backup power pack from GoalZero, along with a
solar panel that I am going to use as soon as the sun comes out again. - Backup WiFi.
Did you even know this was a thing?
I now have it, and I’m glad I do.
I only ended up using it for a few days, but at one point it was the
only connection we had to the real world, which was nice. Check that out at the Virgin Mobile USA website. - The “Don’t Be a Bonehead” philosophy. I believe one of the greatest lessons I
imbibed from having an Army Colonel father was the “don’t be an bonehead”
philosophy, and I tried to adhere to that during the Hurricane and in the
post-Hurricane cleanup. This would
include things like: if you wake up to
discover that you have no power and no cellphone service, stay where you are
and do not attempt any shenanigans.
Shenanigans could result in injury, which would further burden the
already overtaxed services in your area.
The “Don’t Be a Bonehead” philosophy also really helps you out with storm
preparation, such as “Don’t be a bonehead and buy a bunch of stuff you have to
refrigerate or freeze, since chances are good that everyone is throwing
everything out in a few days,” and so on.
By the way, I should make it clear that my father never actually said
“Don’t be a bonehead,” because he is way more civilized than that. Seriously though, I believe that not being a bonehead is a good contribution to disaster relief efforts, because your lack of drama allows all the resources to go where they are actually needed. So there's that.
Also, if you’d like to give a donation to the Red Cross to
help Hurricane Sandy victims, here is a link, all convenient-like. Another thing you could do if you're in the area is donate blood and platelets, which I am planning on doing.
Now, if it’s ok with everyone and it doesn’t seem too
flippant, I will go back to posting pictures of funny signs and writing about
commercials that make me laugh.