creative preparedness

Inspired by the commercials for food storage that immediately follow General Conference, my roommate commented that a motorcycle would be a very useful thing to have in the case of an apocalypse. And I speculated on the barter value of knitted mittens and hats.

I'm going to be honest when I say that I don't  have a strong testimony of food storage. I could list all sorts of excuses but at the end of the day, I don't think any amount of food stockpiled in my basement is going to affect my ultimate mortality in an apocalyptic event, zombies or no.

I do think that it is a good idea to have some extra food around and I can image all sorts of scenarios in which a 72-hour kit might come in handy. But even after reading the Road, I'm still not convinced that I need 2 years of food stored. I pride myself in having a particularly vivid imagination but I don't even know what 2 years of food looks like (and I know this is really more of a question of math than imagination) but seriously, I just don't how to think that far into the future.

I am however willing to entertain ideas of effective bartering. So if I am burdened with the task of planning ahead I think I will stock-pile yarn, cadburry mini eggs and vitamins (again, I've read the Road). Imagine the the amount of  macaroni I could get for a bag of mini eggs and a pair of mittens when everyone's been living off canned soup for months and their fingers are all numb from the cold. (I realize here that I am betting against a global warming related crisis here which is potentially shortsighted but after sea level has risen and we a are all driven to the mountains, mittens may hold some value.) And if all else fails, I'm quite comfortable with the idea of being a casualty of disaster.

say cheese!

It's so nice outside, it's a shame to be cooped up indoors. As I haven't a window, I like to imagine that it's miserable and grey outside. But I know that it's actually a sunny 75 degrees, the birds are singing and the flowers are a blooming. Such is life.

I'm getting excited about my summer travels and my goal for this week is to renew my passport. That means it's time to get a new passport photo - hallelujah! - my last one was horrendous. It's so bad that I can't believe that I didn't just pony up another $15 for another. But then again, $15 was sort of a lot of money to a college student in 2001 and we didn't have luxury of digital cameras - it was a 1 shot kinda deal. (Is it weird that I remember the exact cost of my passport photo 11 years ago? Guess it just shows how conflicted I was over it at the time.)

But if I could go back in time, I'd tell that frugal young thing that it'll be worth the splurge. Maybe a waste of time travel, but we're talking about quality of life.

Grammy's buzz

Blast! Work has gotten busy and I just don't have the time to aimlessly search the interwebs like I used to. Consequently my blogging has suffered but since I've made it this far I'll just say a couple of things about the Grammy's.

1) We all know that Chris Brown is a dirt bag for what he did to Rhianna a couple of years ago. But should they have welcomed him back to the Grammy's? Well, I don't really see why not. Artists will continue to disappoint us with their actions and shortcomings, should we allow our personal disdain for their bad acts taint everything they do? That's up to you, but if we started censoring artists because they made poor life decisions, we'd be left with a very small and boring library.

Honestly, before Sunday night, all I knew about Chris Brown was that he beat up Rhianna. But I watched him perform anyway - and guess what, I was impressed. He's quite a dancer.  

2) Adele is fabulous! I loved her hair, her dresses, her nails and it's so good to know that she got her voice back. And I guess I'm not alone in my adoration - 6 Grammy's not too shabby. Can anyone explain to me the difference between an album and a record?

3) Was Lady Gaga wearing a muzzle? or a poor man's face lift? I'm so confused. But I've got to give it to her for bringing back the scepter.

Sorry, no time to link anything. Gotta get back to work.