Archive for November 29th, 2007

Zombies and Disaster Preparedness

November 29th, 2007 / / 8 comments

I’m a zombie movie fan, ok maybe fanatic is more accurate, and have always been interested in disaster readiness. Before the birth of my daughter I was regularly active over at the Zombie Squad Forums, this forum was founded by like minded people, people who are preparing for the undead to rise and hunt the living because (and stay with me on this) if you’re prepared for brain munching corpses, a power failure or flood isn’t going to throw you that much.

And that is the gist of that forum. Largely urban residents taking basic precautions to protect themselves in the event of a natural disaster, the fact that most of those that frequent the forum are fans of zombie movies isn’t too shocking, as anyone who has given some thought to their needs in the event of a natural disaster is likely to enjoy an “end of the world” scenario as one they can compare their own preparations to.

Now, I hesitate to use the word “survivalist” here as it has come to evoke images of wilderness bunkers filled with MREs and ammunition, but the truth is that most of us can (and should) take some sensible precautions against a day when the services and supplies we take for granted may be interupted.

I’m not talking about zombies here, for once, I’m talking about that winter storm that knocks the power out (and with it your heat), I’m talking about the big blackout that leaves entire cities in the dark, I’m talking about a hurricane or tornado and all their attendant logistical and infrastructure issues.

Now, it’s easy to say “We’ll get by”, but the day my daughter was born I knew I couldn’t take her well being lightly, and that I’d be negligent (yes, NEGLIGENT) if I failed to take some basic precautions. What are those precautions you ask? Let me tell you.

We have a fair supply of canned and dry foods in our house, not enough to survive the undead rising, but enough for several days if needed. We have some cash on hand (in a blackout those credit and debit cards are not going to work so well), we have fresh water (admittedly not enough, but some is still better than none). We’ve first aid supplies and we’ve flashlights and chemical brake lights, a hand crank radio to tune into the news, and a fairly large supply of batteries to power it all.

In my house we are certainly not ready for the undead to rise (as much as it pains me to admit it), but we’re reasonably ready for the most probable disruptions of service.

How’r you fixed for the end of the world?

[Just a general rant brought about by this post I came across. He gets it, why don't more people?]

Relationship advice…

November 28th, 2007 / / 3 comments

Five important tips for women.

1. It’s important that a man helps out around the house, and has a good job.
2. It’s important that a man makes you laugh.
3. It’s important to find a man you can count on,and will never lie to you.
4. It’s important that a man loves you passionately, satisfies you completely, and spoils you with expensive gifts.
5. It’s very important that these four men don’t know each other.

[Found randomly online, and made me laugh]

I guess it’s about time…

November 27th, 2007 / / 9 comments

I was starting to wonder if we’d have a proper winter, what with all the global warming and all.

Snow on the street

Nice to see some snow, even if I do have to shovel it.

Zombie Postal Match 5 – Milsurp Deanimation

November 26th, 2007 / / 15 comments

Based on a few exchanged comments over at What the hell am I doing here? I’ve decided the next match will be for the less modern occupants of the gun safe.

Ready?

A quiet day, almost perfect in fact, and you and a friend are wandering out to your favorite parcel of empty land to run a few rounds through your newest acquisition, a beautiful old -insert rifle name here- you can’t wait to try out. As you approach your private range area a man stumbles out from the treeline immediately ahead.

Dressed in the tattered remnants of a three piece suit stained along the front with some sort of black liquid he certainly doesn’t “blend” with the countryside. You call out to him, now 40 yards away, and on hearing your voice he changes direction and begins shuffling towards you groaning loadly.

As the distance shortens you can clearly see massive injuries to his head and right arm. You’re conflicted, is this the survivor of some massive car wreck from the nearby highway or (having just spent the previous night watching zombie movies on TV) is this a reanimated corpse come to ruin your day? Your friend quickly decides to render aid, and despite your warnings goes racing up to the man. He is immediately attacked and goes down fast and hard. You’re rooted to the spot, your confusion momentarily overwhelms you until you see another stumbling corpse exit the foilage, quickly followed by a third.

Confusion evaporates as you fumble open your box of shells and begin loading your rifle, hoping against hope that the guy who sold it to you wasn’t embellishing when he described it as dead accurate.

» Read more..

Jillys Birthday Party – Part II

November 25th, 2007 / / 3 comments

At the crack of noon we set of for a drive across the dreaded 401 to Fantasy Fair in Toronto for the second installment of Jillys Birthday party with Lisas parents. Jilly (naturally) enjoyed herself quite a bit, immediately fixating on the carousel and wanting to ride the horsies.

Jilly on the Carousel!

The choo-choo and ferris wheel were next, and each adult got a turn acting as escort.

Jilly on the Ferris Wheel

At the top of the ferris wheel (my turn as escort) I asked Jilly if she was scared, the response I got was summed up well in the picture above, she was pretty far from scared and gave me the sort of look I KNOW I’ve given people more than once.

At least she comes by it honestly.

After the rides we parted ways with the in-laws and dashed off to my Cousin Theodores place for a small family gathering unofficially celebrating both the birth of Patrick Arnold and Jillys B-day (and of course spending a little while catching up in the usual din that accompanies any gathering of my family). Pictures of that are somewhat confusing, and I’ll save them for another time.

We’re home now, and more than a little beat. Night night.

Fell off the back of a truck? Not likely…

November 25th, 2007 / / No comments

You’re approached in a parking lot by two guys who have the “Deal of a Lifetime” for you, through some clerical/computer/staff error they have too many expensive consumer electronics items, and they’re willing to sell them to you at a MASSIVE discount, cash right now and they’re all yours!

If this doesn’t send up red flags with you then you’re in danger of buying a bridge or swampland in the near future (in fact I’ve some to sell, just send me an email and we’ll work out the details).

..i was with my friend driving out of the parking lot and all in the sudden a couple pull us over. i thought he was asking for directions but he end out asking me if i want a high quality home threater system. he told me that he works for a well known company show me some flyers and show me his product that he got it for extra that he has to get rid of before returning back to his company and getting nothing so he asked me 2000 dollars for it. at that time i just saw the goddamn brand!!! never heard of it and i saw the bar coded labelling the MSP at $4799…

Even if what the scammer was saying was true you’re buying stolen property.

..welll i asked him 3 bills thats all i got however he tries to persuade me to get as much as possible 350 dollars. as a matter of fact that i was a really good price for a 5ks home threater system so i tell him 300 bills and i give him a pack of cigarretes he unload the boxes into my car..as soonest that i got home i told all my friends about my big deal and that i hit the jackpot and today was my lucky day i was planning to buy 2 of them but i didnt have enoff money and resell them for at least 1000 dollars…
Source: Ripoffreport.com – Genesis Media Labs

This scam is becoming more and more popular, but has all the classic elements that SHOULD set of warning bells for a consumer;

  1. An AMAZING deal.
  2. Immediate transaction
  3. Cash, now.

It seems the newest element of the scam is the documentation that the scammers bring with them, nothing too complicated. A few invoices showing a staggering price for the components, some glossy promotional literature and newest of all is the website showing the MSRP for these systems (although checking this website I’d expect a contact phone number of some kind if I paid $5000 for a sound system).

In short (too late), as the old saying goes, if it apears too good to be true, it is.

Jillys Birthday Party – Part I

November 24th, 2007 / / 4 comments

Jilly’s birthday is not until tommorow, but familial obligations and geography require two small parties as opposed to the one party I’d prefer. Today was part one of two, and featured a small family gathering in our home. Jilly, Carolina and Ros eating cake and chips and watching Shrek 2.

The birthday cake!

We’re not entirely sure if Jillys figured out the significance of the day, but the receiving presents and eating copious quanities of junkfood certainly registered, and smiles, laughter and the odd scuffle over toys dominated the event.

The girls get into the party spirit!

As of tommorow at 9:00am my little girl is three years old. Three years that seemed to have both flown by, and crawled by. Go figure.

Happy birthday sweetheart.

Friday Motivational Poster: Containment

November 23rd, 2007 / / 14 comments

Zombie Movie motivational posters can now be found here.

Waiting, waiting and waiting some more.

November 20th, 2007 / / 7 comments

The other night our Washing machine truly gave up the ghost. It appeared to make clothes wet, but didn’t actually seem to do much else to them (ie agitating, rinsing, spinning…you get the idea). This culminated in a nice burning smell originating from the machine itself.

Burning smells always make me nervous. The burning smell, however, seemed to be the only thing the washing machine actually did well at this point, and so I was forced to concede to Lisa that yes, it may in fact be time to go and get ourselves a new washing machine.

I’m not criticising the one we had. We got it for free from my Mom and Stepfather when we bought the house (all the other appliances were included), and it wasn’t precisely in pristine shape then. So 18 months of use from a “free” machine shouldn’t be sneezed at I s’pose, although the burning smell did seem to trigger some sort of alergic reaction.

So this past weekend we went out, found a nice front loading washing machine (Lisa had done all the homework here, and for this major purchase my contribution was limited to the odd sarcastic comment) and arranged to have it delivered on Tuesday, the earliest day available (We go through a fair amount of laundry here at Casa Flexibility).

So here I sit. My delivery window has been alternately given as between 09:00 and 13:00, 09:00 and 17:00, 09:37 and 13:37hrs (Huh?) and now stands at between 08:40 and 12:40 according to their online service. I took the morning off work to be here for the delivery, but beyond surfing the net and playing the odd video game I’m not getting much done staying within earshot of the driveway.

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