Resurrection Blogfest II

Today is the Resurrection Blogfest II hosted by Mina Lobo over at Some Dark Romantic.

I really like this fest because it gives me chance to flaunt a previous post w/o looking braggy.

Back in July I posted about blogging friends for IWSG. I had a lot of comments and feed back and I really appreciated the love and response. So today I'm going to share that post with you.


Originally posted July 3 of this year here.

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IWSG is brought to us by our local blogging friend Alex. Its a month meme that brings us insecure folks together and gives us a chance to let our freak flags fly and air out the smells of insecurity.

My insecurity I want to talk about this month is...

Are we friends?

That is the question I’m asking you. (The only blogger I don't worry about is Jackie. She's a part of both worlds!)

I follow tons of blogs I read weekly and maybe half of those I read daily. And a few dozen, I mention daily and a couple dozen I call friends.

Let’s see if I can explain this as fluently as possible… I try not to throw the term “friends” around lightly in my everyday life (I have my reasons) but in the blogging world it seems kind of “weird” to use the term friends to those who do not blog. Just like talking to non-writers about writing.

But I DO consider you friends. There I said.

And those outside of the blogging biosphere think I’m crazy calling for you friends. “Oh, you mean your virtual blogging folks?” *pursed face*

See, to them, you guys are SIMS characters or something similar. Like, I turn my computer on, play with you, turn my computer off, and it ends there. But it doesn’t. I take what I’ve read and think about it/you throughout my day(s).

     In a convo about movies I say, “My friend Suzi saw that! She said it was really good!”

     When talking about Juicing with a couple I know. They said they threw away their left over pulp. I shared with them what they could do with it from Mark's and Jackie's posts. “Oh my friend has this great page for this type of stuff!”

     I will share a funny post from Mina or a funny convo from Facebook we had.

     “Oh my gosh! My friend Jaybird posted the funniest thing about being at the store and…”

     “Sheena-kay likes skirts over… and she lives in Jamaica so she knows all about hot weather and clothes, I'm sure.”

     “DL is your age mom and he…”

     “Lexa doesn’t wear dresses anymore cause she used to work…”

     “Laura is so lucky, she is going on holiday to Spain and…” (My mistake was using the word holiday. I used it cause that's the word Laura used. Here we say vacation. But where I work, I'm used to talking to our sister-company in Ireland and they say holiday all the time. So for me it's not a big deal.)

     “Morgan totally agrees and anyone who calls me cool knows…” (I've only used this line once and it was to win my arguement against the Hubby.)

     “Bushman says to grow tomatoes in their own greenhouse you need too…”

I can’t help it, you guys just come up in my conversations. You are more a part of my everyday life then most of the people I hang out with. I “see” you more – almost every day.

But most conversations tend to lead to:

"Her/his name is Jaybird/Bushman?" *sigh*

"How do you know someone in Jamaica/Egypt/Germany/England/Hawaii/Australia?" *sigh*

"You know someone married to a Gold Medalist?!" *sigh*

"Wow, so you know someone who has a book out there?" *sigh*

And my answer usually begins, "Well technically I don't KNOW them, know them..." My point here is, they missed the info I was giving them and concentrated on the silly stuff.

And I know even more about you than I do people I work with or hang out with. Not necessarily linked to the people above…

• I know that someone’s son shares his name with a president.
• Someone’s son is on a trip in another country.
• Another has three daughters all starting with F’s and wants a pant-less summer.
• Another has 4 “ankle biters”.
• Some don’t want kids. Some do but it hasn’t happened yet. Some can’t.
• He has two dogs, chickens, a duck, and endless amount of yard work but also works 10hr days.
• She lives in Germany but would love to move back to the states and start a ranch!
• He takes care of his loving wife and still has enough time for his blogging community and his wife loves to help him.
• Even dragon’s, who are tough as nails, get sick and need a community to lean on. 

The list can go on and on.

So my question is: Are we friends? Should I be insecure about calling you friends like I’m insecure about my writing? Or should I just ignore my “non-virtual”friends and family critics and continue calling you my friends?

So what I'm really asking is, do I need a life; cause I really feel like I have one. I just like to talk about you.

Resurrection Blogfest - Zombie Tips for an Apocalypse

If you are here for IWSG - that post is here

Mina is celebrating her first year of blogging by hosting Resurrection Blogfest! Details here! This blogfest is for you to post something from your first year of blogging that you believe deserves a little TLC or something you are proud of, or maybe it holds sentimental value to you.

The piece I picked has been viewed 669 times and was originally posted 1/6/12. I began blogging in August of 2011. I was a nobody when I first started out and no one viewed this post until The Walking Dead came back from it's break during season two and talk of 12/21/12 was all the rage. I'm pretty proud of all the info that went into this. Hope you enjoy.

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Since the oncoming of December 21^st, 2012 is approaching and the end of the world talk (most likely a joke) one can only rely on what one knows on survival. The Mayan Calendar has repeated itself hundreds of time over the centuries, so one should assume that, again, life will continue to thrive come December 22^nd, 2012. You can only fit so much on a piece of wood.

But just in case…



Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.

A Brief History of Zombies
We’ve all seen at least one movie about flesh-eating zombies taking over (my personal favorite is Resident Evil), but where do zombies come from and why do they love eating brains so much? The word zombie comes from Haitian and New Orleans voodoo origins. Although its meaning has changed slightly over the years, it refers to a human corpse mysteriously reanimated to serve the undead. Through ancient voodoo and folk-lore traditions, shows like the Walking Dead were born.

In movies, shows, and literature, zombies are often depicted as being created by an infectious virus, which is passed on via bites and contact with bodily fluids. Harvard psychiatrist Steven Scholzman wrote a (fictional) medical paper on the zombies presented in Night of the Living Dead and refers to the condition as Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome caused by an infectious agent. The Zombie Survival Guide identifies the cause of zombies as a virus called solanum. Other zombie origins shown in films include radiation from a destroyed NASA Venus probe (as in Night of the Living Dead), as well as mutations of existing conditions such as prions, mad-cow disease, measles and rabies.

The rise of zombies in pop culture has given credence to the idea that a zombie apocalypse could happen. In such a scenario zombies would take over entire countries, roaming city streets eating anything living that got in their way. The proliferation of this idea has led many people to wonder “How do I prepare for a zombie apocalypse?”

Well, we’re here to answer that question for you, and hopefully share a few tips about preparing for real emergencies too!

Better Safe than Sorry

 

     Some of the supplies for your emergency kit.

So what do you need to do before zombies…or hurricanes or pandemics for example, actually happen? First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house. This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp (or in the event of a natural disaster, it will buy you some time until you are able to make your way to an evacuation shelter or utility lines are restored). Below are a few items you should include in your kit, for a full list visit the CDC Emergency page.

• Water (1 gallon per person per day)
• Food (stock up on non-perishable items that you eat regularly)
• Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds)
• Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery powered radio, etc.)
• Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.)
• Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets)
• Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate to name a few)
• First Aid supplies (although you’re a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or hurricane)

Once you’ve made your emergency kit, you should sit down with your family and come up with an emergency plan. This includes where you would go and who you would call if zombies started appearing outside your door step. You can also implement this plan if there is a flood, earthquake, or other emergency.

1. Identify the types of emergencies that are possible in your area. Besides a zombie apocalypse, this may include floods, tornadoes, or earthquakes. If you are unsure contact your local Red Cross chapter for more information.
2. Pick a meeting place for your family to regroup in case zombies invade your home…or your town evacuates because of a hurricane. Pick one place right outside your home for sudden emergencies and one place outside of your neighborhood in case you are unable to return home right away.
3. Identify your emergency contacts. Make a list of local contacts like the police, fire department, and your local zombie response team. Also identify an out-of-state contact that you can call during an emergency to let the rest of your family know you are ok.
4. Plan your evacuation route. When zombies are hungry they won’t stop until they get food (i.e., brains), which means you need to get out of town fast! Plan where you would go and multiple routes you would take ahead of time so that the flesh eaters don’t have a chance! This is also helpful when natural disasters strike and you have to take shelter fast.

Never Fear – CDC is Ready

If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak. CDC would provide technical assistance to cities, states, or international partners dealing with a zombie infestation. This assistance might include consultation, lab testing and analysis, patient management and care, tracking of contacts, and infection control (including isolation and quarantine). It’s likely that an investigation of this scenario would seek to accomplish several goals: determine the cause of the illness, the source of the infection/virus/toxin, learn how it is transmitted and how readily it is spread, how to break the cycle of transmission and thus prevent further cases, and how patients can best be treated. Not only would scientists be working to identify the cause and cure of the zombie outbreak, but CDC and other federal agencies would send medical teams and first responders to help those in affected areas (I will be volunteering the young nameless disease detectives for the field work).

To learn more about what CDC does to prepare for and respond to emergencies of all kinds, click here.

To learn more about how you can prepare for and stay safe during an emergency, click here.

To find this original information, click here.