Flashback Friday: What I learned from last year's near disaster

For some reason, I've been reminiscing about our holiday a year ago in Hawaii.  It might be due to the fact that there are so many disasters hitting the world right now.  So with Snowmageddon and Cyclones, I thought that perhaps we should all make sure that we are prepared for the unexpected.

So today is a flashback to a post about one of our favorite trips ever:  Hawaii Winter 2010.  It did not turn out to be a disaster, but it very well could have been one, thanks to a devastating earthquake in Chile and the possibility of a Tsunami in the Hawaiian island chain.  To read about our evacuation and the fact that I ended up at 24 Hour Fitness to work out while awaiting disaster, click here.

After the event, Derek and I talked about whether we learned anything from this experience.  Yes, I’d say we learned some interesting things…

If it's yellow, it probably belongs in your emergency kit:

This was our purchased-last-minute Emergency Supply. Is it me, or is there a large amount of yellow in this part of the kit?

Let’s look at a small portion of our little last minute / we-might-be-stuck-in-a-field-or-parking-lot-for-a-week shopping spree...

Protein Sources:  Tuna, Spam Light (I know, I should have splurged and got the full-fat version), Derek’s little wieners (hee), Tofu, and Three flavors of Beef Jerky- heaven forbid I should get bored with one flavor during a natural disaster.

The “essentials”:  First aid items, Flashlight and batteries, (more) plastic sacks, (more) hand sanitizer, (more) Wet wipes.  I say ‘more’ because I already had these items thanks to my over-packing habits.  Notice the Advil for when you consume too many Mai Tais.

Essential Hawaiian-themed Eats, because it’s highly unfair to have “Themes” for fun events (like parties and weddings) and not for disasters:  Spam Singles, Macademia nuts with Spam flavor (?!), White Chocolate Macademia Nut Cllf Bar, MacaMania energy bars ( gasp on the 330 calories for one small bar, but I suppose that keeping calories up is a good idea if you are trying to stay alive). 

Please note that I have been far too scared to eat any of the spam products.  I bought them just in case I might be dying and I really felt that I should not leave this earth without trying Spam even the once.  

Edited to add:  I still haven't tried Spam a year later.  Also, I found many of these items at home in my nearby grocery store in Los Angeles.  I didn’t need to go to Hawaii and be faced with death to find the need to buy Spam products.  And one more thing:, yesterday I threw away the now year-old Spam Macademias that I just couldn't bring myself to eat.  Hoard much?

This was Derek’s purchase on the right.  Apparently, he didn’t want dragon-breath during a catastrophe. PS.   Splenda stolen from McDonalds during our evacuation. 

Lemon Lunas, obvi.

While yellow was the dominant Emergency-kit color, it also seemed to be everywhere even before the Pseudo-nami:

Beautiful Stained Glass Window made by our land-lady’s Mom. Spot the cute  yellow tea kettle and the blender (lucky me)

We slept upstairs but the bathroom was downstairs.  I'm pretty sure that's not 'to code.' 

Sooo yummy, yet sadly contains many grams of sugar per  “The Daily Plate”. 

Edited to add:  Ironically, after a long hiatus from calorie counting, I just went back to the DP almost a year to the day after I first tried (and loved) it while in Hawaii.  And I'm loving it again.  It seems to keep me on the straight & narrow.

Butterfly

What else did we learn?

Prepare and pack up all the food you can carry: 

This home-made filet-o-fish sandwich was made by cooking the raw fish the moment I heard we were evacuating at 5am.  I also hard-boiled some eggs.  And made a protein shake, To-Go.  Yes, some people might have grabbed medications and important documents.  I made a dash for the kitchen to make sure we wasted no food.

Speaking of food...Evacuating sure works up an appetite!  Just ask fellow Evacuee Allie, at Pimp my Protein Shake:  She admits to consuming enough high-glycemic tropical fruit to fuel a few Iron Man Triatholons while awaiting the Tsunami on neighboring Maui.  I must share some of our texts during this time:

• Allie:  Are u really at 24 hour fitness?
• Deb: Yes, it’s how I cope with disaster.
• Allie:  I eat chips during natural disasters.

And::

• Allie:  So many blog titles: In case of emergency.  Appetite of tsunami proportions.  Appetite for destruction.  When sirens blare, it’s time for ice cream.
• Deb:  Stop stop you have so many good ones and mine is boring
• Allie: Tsunamis are “swell”
• Deb: hahahahahha

Life is short:  One really should drink Mai Tais a little more often:

Deb Before:

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a Habitual Modifier.  I even modified this Mai Tai because I didn’t want the “prepackaged mix”  full of sugar and calories.  Instead, this creation was light and dark rum, soda water and a splash of pineapple juice.  And it was soo good.

Deb After:

Actually, the Mai Tai had nothing to do with my actions above.  This behavior has persisted for decades.

Old habits die hard. 

What else did we learn?

Life is short:  Eat only spectacular dessert:
 
One night we didn't care for any of the restaurant desserts on offer, so Derek announced that he was going to go home and create an amazing dessert from the remnants of food we still had back at the cottage:

You have to hand it to Derek- he's resourceful and creative.


Derek’s Temple of the Sissy Tsunami:

• Half of an Ice cream Sandwich
• Half of a slice of lemon cake plucked from the emergency food stash
• Expertly decorated with Japanese Pocky Men’s biscuits (why dark chocolate makes them “men’s” I’m not entirely sure).

 When faced with a disaster, proper footwear is imperative.


To take my functional flip-flops, or my dressy flip flops?

Reefs are so practical:  they have a beer-bottle opener on the bottom. 

“Reef”…Where fashion meets function.

Which brings me to the next lesson we learned:


When faced with disaster, keep hydrated...
(water is best but these island boys are after the beer)

This Bud’s for you, Bruh.

Appreciate walks on the beach and biking to picnics just a little more:

The Ocean is mysterious and beautiful.  Even Wimpy Waves deserve our respect…

Now, here’s my PSA:  Get your kit together:  Here are some sites that I just stumbled upon. There are hundreds more:

• Homeland Security preparedness list
• Hurricane list
• Earthquake survival

Q:  Do you live in an area that could be hit with a disaster of some sort?  How's Snowmageddon treating you? Are you a chronic modifier? Over packer?  Hoarder?