In Case of Emergency

In the past five years - America has been treated to one emergency situation after another. First 9/11. Then two years later, the blackout - well, for us east coasters anyway. Now, the craziest hurricane season anyone's seen...well...ever. And I'm starting to learn a couple of things that I should always do, in case of emergency:

1. Keep sneakers under my desk at work. Whether it be terrorist attacks or blackouts, at some point, I will probably need to walk home to Queens again.

2. Always have a decent amount of cash in my wallet. I had less than twenty during the blackout - and my ATM card and credit cards were pretty useless then, weren't they?

3. Keep my car full of more than half a tank of gas. Increasingly expensive - but worth it. Look at these poor people in Texas right now - trying to flee Rita, and either not being able to find gas and dry stations or running out of it on the freeway.

4. Make sure there is always food and water in my house. After the mess that New Orleans was - I'd better make sure that there's enough stuff for me to live on for three weeks - at least.

5. Keep my land line phone - no matter how annoying expensive it is. Like my credit cards, cell phones become useless pretty fast during the blackout when the lines got jammed, same with 9/11. And how glad was I that my stupid kitchen phone is on the wall - all those cordless ones - no dice.

Crazy. Just hope that Rita tires herself out in the Gulf and that when she gets to Texas, things won't be that bad.