Self Reliance

Ok. So It has been a month since I last posted…..

Things Happen. Time passes and life goes on.

The Move has been successful and I have ensconced myself in an apartment in the burbs. I am less than 10 minutes from my place of work and have all the basics to make life … well … livable.

I have all the ingredients to make a meal to include dishes, pots-n-pans, silverware, and glasses and basic food stuff to use in it. A Futon makes a great inexpensive couch and crash spot for visitors. TV, Cable/Internet, and electricity make it so much more less isolated. A bed to sleep on and basic furniture to store clothing. A Washer and Dryer sit in a back hall room waiting to restore cleanliness to my attire and make sure that piles of smelly laundry do not adorn the abode. Like they say Cleanliness is next to Godliness…..

It is important to make sure you keep the place clean. Vacuum, dishwasher, Laundry care and all the expendable products to use in those items are a must. Maids are expensive, so buck up and do it yourself. It gives a small amount of instant gratification when you can see how clean the place can stay.

It is important to become self reliant when you are a one person group. Everything you need must be available. Do not think for a second that the guy or couple next door or upstairs cares a rats butt about you. They have their own life to live and it may not be one that you would want to get involved in. Do not get me wrong here. It is important to know thy neighbor. Just do not rely on them to keep your best interest at heart. After all this is an apartment community and leases are … temporary.

Any way, now that we have a place to start from we need to look at what is needed to ensure we can continue to survive in the urban jungle. To start with the 1st week of setting up, we experienced a power outage of 5 hrs. We had to scramble because it got dark really quick after the power went out and sitting around in the dark is just a pain in the backside. So we went to the local Walmart and picked up a couple of 3 wick white candles. White because it allows more lumens to illuminate the apartment.  Also picked up a couple of glass containers to put them in …  would not want to burn the place down now would we …. Anyhow with candle light to see by we took out the battery powered radio and listened to the weather reports and called in the outage to the local power company from our internet connected smart phone. We will address long term power outages in a later segment but suffice it to say 5 hrs was only a minor convenience. The neighbors took off and went to a show, since only a small section of the city lost power, something to thing about next time.

Time to think about what is needed to survive the next inconvenience …