Paracord Mania

Aside from trying to catch up on Breaking Bad, White Collar, and honing my wing marination natural talent, I've picked up a new hobby!!!

My first paracord bracelet:

And my first multi-color paracord! Made these two for my Al Pals <3

I hope that one day my bracelets will help people survive. These will make great additions to survival kits for my fellow NERTS!

And I made brunch over the weekend. Proof :)

Preparing for the worst, or at least something moderately scary

I'll bet anything that at least 70% of the people I know don't have emergency kits. And those that do have kits, probably didn't assemble them. What fools. I used to be one of those dillydallyers - but no longer! Most of the things that I ordered for my emergency kit have already arrived. LOVE AMAZON PRIME!

I ended up spending about $200 to cover the essentials for three kits. Pricey you say? I say I'd spend $200 to give my family a chance to survive ANYDAY. Even IF my brother wasn't willing to chip in for it. Whatever, family is family. Two go-kits for the cars and one more substantial kit for home. I'll be honest though, I put a lot more stuff into my own kit - if disaster strikes I REALLY hope that I'm with Klaus.

Once finalized, all of the kits will have:
Duct tape, medical grade scissors (that can cut through pennies), zip ties
Books of matches, firestarters, hand-crank flashlight/usb chargers (cars), cash$
Hand-crank radio/USBcharger/LED flashlight (home only, since the cars have radios)
Packets of tissue, paper cups, bandages, neosporin, latex gloves, dust masks,
Medicine (Tylenol, Immodium), 3-day supply of food rations, emergency blankets
Paper plates, paper cups, chop sticks, garbage bags, zip lock bags, multitool

My kit has extra thangs:
Handwipes, mirror, emery board, hair ties, hair clips, earplugs, feminine necessities,
Plastic forks, plastic knives, plastic spoons, safety pins, tablet towelettes
Lotion, toothpaste, toothbrush, extra socks/undies/tshirt, hand warmers, beanie
Index cards, two pens, Apple USB charger, USB to mini USB charger, map of SF bay area

I think I've got most of my bases covered! I'll still be thinking about extra things to add over the next few days (while I wait for the dust masks to show up and Alex is getting me duct tape next week) then I'll be satisfied. The coolest items by far are the hand-cranking devices. I got the Eton Clipray and the Eton Microlink Self-Powered 3-in-1, and I am VERY happy with both. Even though some reviewers on Amazon said that they didn't produce enough power to charge smartphones, I tried it on my iPhone 3G and my brother's iPhone 4 and it worked with BOTH! The radio also gets great reception, both are very small and compact. The radio is the size of a desktop tape dispenser. Yeah, it's f'ing impressive.

I'm putting everything in a Jansport and I'll have more than enough room. I hope that I never have to use the kit, but I'm not stupid enough to risk not being prepared. Get ready people, disaster is no joke!

Gone Country

So after the holidays things have definitely calmed down *PHEW*, but still lots going on. The weekend before last, Victor came to visit from Seattle!! I always wondered what it would be like to host visitors from another city and I had previously thought that I'd know exactly where to take them. Nope. Turns out, it's harder than it looks. I took him to some of my favorite places to eat! And we went to Medjool, Redwood Room, Rogue, Holy Cow, and a few of the other regular spots. It was a kind of a crazy weekend, and we didn't get to go to the Sharks game, but I think he and his friends had fun! I know I did!! :)

I also started a NERT class last week with the Al Pals & co. I've already learned a lot of things I feel I should have known about safety, how to react, and useful tips for emergency disaster/awareness. Even though sitting through class for hours is super tiring after work, it was nice to be "learning" again and in a lecture environment. I miss school! And I am SO glad we're taking this class, I know we'll be so much better off ... just in case..

I've been going out lots and soaking up as much time as I can with my wonderful friends, I even went to my first dog birthday party on Sunday! It was entertaining to say the least, I just love staring at dogs. I drove Bear to the dog party and thankfully he didn't try to eat or paw Klaus. Everything has been awesome thus far, almost three weeks into the new year and I'm lovin' it!

I think I'm starting to outgrow hip hop. And I'm definitely tired of hearing Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, and Kesha, over and over again on ALL of the radio stations. I've started listening to COUNTRY! And I will close with a few of my new fave songs :)