Whether it is a natural disaster like hurricane Katrina or an unnatural catastrophe like an upwind industrial chemical explosion, what you do now to protect yourself and your family can make the difference between life and death. After you survive, rebuilding your life and business quickly becomes critical.
It's more fun hassling re-creating your working drive than it is to go out of business. You can also do regular backups to remote sites on the web. I highly recommend my backup 'guru' Sallie Goetsch's weekly Backup Reminder ezine. For essential backup tips visit the FileSlinger(tm) Backup Blog www.fileslinger.com/blogWhat are some of the pitfalls and concerns you need to have when assessing and integrating Instant Messaging ("IM" another biz acronym) with your business processes? Be aware you are sending clear text messages over the public Internet - so all IM technology is inherently insecure. Privacy issues can also be raised - these messages are typically archived via the IM servers of the company whose services you are using and can be made public at a later date. Anyone with a network scanner may have access to and be reading your messages and if your are downloading files, you need to ensure your anti-virus software is setup to scan these files when you open them.At Home: Put at least enough water in sealed containers so that your family will have one gallon per day for two weeks. I just bought shrink-wrapped cases of quart-sized plastic water bottles and stacked them under the backyard picnic table. Even if some of it is compromised you will still have other bottles intact. Swap water out every six months - put a reminder in your calendar.While many people overlook a flashlight, there is no telling just when a flashlight will actually prove to be one of the most useful items in a car safety kit. For this reason alone, almost all pre-made car safety kits come with flashlights, and many SUVs are starting to ship with integrated flashlights and toolkits. On the subject of toolkits, it is also worth noting that a small toolkit can be very handy when only minor repairs will help restore a vehicle to operating order.1) Without water you lose your ability to make clear decisions within 24 hours. Thirst kills you faster than famine. At Work: Keep a backpack at work with as much bottled water as you can carry. Plus, put in dried fruit, power bars, your daily medications or vitamins and a small first aid kit. Keep a Family Emergency Numbers List inside too.Finally, like all things in today's computer industry (or many) each of the Instant Messaging vendors are trying to build applications which don't integrate with the other (no surprise here - arrogance has not faded away in the business community!). So, you need to assess the installed base of the market leaders and make a decision on which company's product you want to utilized - my recommendation would be to review Microsoft's or AOL/Time Warner's products - their installed bases are in the 200 million users plus when combined (these numbers include consumer and business usage) and they both work well and have user interfaces that are intuitive.Yahoo also has an IM product ("Yahoo Messenger") but I am not convinced this will stay as a core part of their business, as they appear to be still trying to figure out what they are going to become in the post ".com gold rush era" market; i.e. Portal, Directory, Media giant, software/services company, etc. And, they've certainly jettisoned parts of their business the last 12-18 months and I would wager they've had discussions about getting out of the IM business.Arguably of equal importance would be a set of flares. Long lasting flares can burn for over 20 minutes, and it would probably be a good idea to invest in long-lasting flares whenever possible. A dark and stormy night can provide the limited visibility and dangerous driving conditions that conspire to put occupants of disabled vehicles at serious risk. This risk can be seriously mitigated by simply making the vehicle easier to see in adverse conditions.9) Maintain a Catastrophe mini-Kit for your car(s). Always have a blanket, food (e.g., power bars) and water in sealed containers. You can buy quality car emergency kits at Costco, too.The other dominant IM product is AOL's ICQ product http://web.icq.com - it has similar functionality as Microsoft's application. The original technology was developed by a great Israeli company, Mirabellis, Inc., subsequently acquired by AOL. My chief complaint with this product is the irritating banner ads that AOL keeps pushing at you when you are utilizing their product. But, it's a small price to pay for a free product on the client side.This brings up the key questions: what should every car safety kit have, and why? The answers to these questions will depend partially upon how much space one can dedicate to a car safety kit, which will be very different for large SUV owners than owners of Mazda Miatas.The first thing that all car safety kits should have is a set of jumper cables, especially when one happens to live in an area where the environment is not pleasantly cool during the majority of the year. Being stuck in a disabled vehicle can quickly become a safety hazard in the long, harsh, unforgiving deserts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Of course, the extreme cold experienced by the northern states can be equally dangerous to someone who cannot start their vehicle.A pen and paper may also prove useful, especially if one finds themselves in the position where they have to abandon their vehicle and go search for help. Similarly, a blanket may also prove useful for waiting out a snowstorm or particularly cold rainstorm. If long waits might be likely, remember to pack hearty foodstuffs such as granola bars or trail mix. A small first aid kit complete with bandages may also be very useful in a car safety kit. The best tools to have any situation are typically those that allow one to call for help. A backup cellular phone battery and/or CB radio might prove to be sound investments.2) Create a Catastrophe Kit on your property outside your house and garage (in a back corner of your yard, for instance). It is as easy as getting a plastic 55-gallon trash bin with clips on the lid to hold it shut. Or use a small plastic/metal garden 'shed' in your yard.8) Important: a battery radio for emergency broadcasts; ideally a CB radio or Nextel-type network phone; your Family List with names, essential medical and contact information, as well as local emergency numbers. Call friends/family outside your state to leave update info. Local phone access is often turned off or destroyed during emergencies.7) Include another plastic sealed container with all of the basic medicines or vitamins you and your family must have. Some doctors will give you double prescriptions once if you ask. Clean out your bathroom cabinets and make sure to pack first aid remedies like ibuprofen, tylenol, aspirin, bandages, anti-bacterial ointment, etc. You can get cost-effective home emergency kits at Costco.Create regular backups of your personal and business computer systems. I use Norton Ghost to image copy my entire drive onto an external hard drive and store it in the trunk of my car parked in my driveway. You probably won't be thinking about your business in the middle of a disaster, but when you survive you will need to rebuild your life and business as soon as possible.
"How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain" Tips by Eve Abbott
Author: Eve Abbott
