(Everyone Deserves) A Little Respect: Adapting Response Efforts for the LGBT Population!

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

So I don't know if you notice my song choices (I can be a little Britney and Madonna heavy at times, and the 80's are my passion) and my tendency for excessive flair, but I am a gay man, and as such, I have a lot of friends in the LGBT community from all different walks of life and with so many different needs, so I wanted to make a post to emphasize that some people may have needs during disasters that are not immediately apparent. Sexual orientation and gender identity are very complex concepts, so always be sure to be accepting, affirming, and ask questions about preferred pronouns if you are unsure!

While I would hope that everyone is accepting and supporting of everyone they meet, this is something that can be particularly important during a disaster, when shelters may not necessarily have forms labeled to be accepting of those who don't identify within a restrictive gender binary, or recognizing same-sex partnerships when states may not legally allow partners of the same sex to marry. Many older people who identify within the LGBT spectrum are more likely to have a higher degree of isolation, so please check on your fabulous elderly neighbors in the event of a power outage or other emergency or disaster situation!

The concerns I highlighted above, along with many more, are explained in further detail in this short document from The National LGBT Health Education Center in Boston, Massachusetts. While I am a part of this community and have many friends within it, I know that the majority of people here in Charlotte probably do not, and while we should certainly be inclusive and accepting of all, especially in times of disaster, these are definitely some issues which might not necessarily occur to the typical Charlottean until it is too late to be able to revise policies and practices in a response situation.

I do hope you will take a couple minutes to read the material, even if just to learn about some of the issues facing the LGBT population in a disaster situation. And if you're involved in disaster response and recovery efforts, please read and share with your colleagues! There is a lot we can do to help these people feel warmth and acceptance in times of high stress, and sometimes it really is just as simple as asking for preferred pronouns! In case you missed the link above, feel free to click here to access the document!

And as always, stay safe, y'all, and let's all make an effort to be respectful today.

We Made It Through the Wilderness!

Good morning, Charlotte!

I would like to take a moment this morning to congratulate everyone who participated in the Red Cross shelter operations training at the Charlotte Emergency Management Office last night, and to thank Marge Gray from Red Cross for leading this training, as well as the Greater Carolinas Red Cross chapter's new head of disaster services, Kim Karslake, for participating with us. These trainees have now completed the classroom component of their Charlotte-Mecklenburg Volunteer Emergency Support Team (CM-VEST, for short) training, and will be helping the emergency management office, the Red Cross, Hands On Charlotte, and other agencies moving forward with issues and events related to emergency and disaster preparedness. These activities range from assisting at a warming or cooling station to provide relief for those without shelter, to helping with a shelter if any manner of natural or man-made disasters were to occur. Congratulations to all of you, and thank you for your hard work!

Marge Gray from Red Cross leads our shelter operations training!

If you would like to become involved with CM-VEST, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at rob@handsoncharlotte.org. We will be scheduling another training within the next three months, and we would love to have you join our already amazing and much needed team of volunteers. It is amazing to see a group of people from the Charlotte metropolitan area helping out and preparing themselves and their neighbors to make Charlotte and Mecklenburg County a more resilient community.

Stay safe, Charlotte, and enjoy some Madonna on this crisp morning!

(A Class for When Mother Nature Decides To) Rock You Like a Hurricane!

Good morning, Charlotte!

I know I have mentioned some of these classes in the past, but should you so desire to jump on my train bound headfirst for disaster preparedness nirvana, a new class through the University of Pittsburgh is available, beginning this week and lasting through March 12, that will focus mainly on the mitigation and recovery phases of disaster and emergency management. It promises to be quite the engaging and interesting course, and if nothing ever happens and we live happily ever after disaster-free, at least you will have the enjoyment and adrenaline rush of a simulation. That said, statistically it is much more likely that something will happen at some point in the decades to come, so it is always to our benefit to be prepared.

Want to take the course with me? Click this link to access the course page on Coursera, and you can even earn a verified certificate of completion if this would be of benefit to your professional development and future! I am quite excited about this, and hope I'm not the only one!

As always, here's some tasty tunes for the remainder of your morning, and stay safe, Charlotte!

Paint It Black! (Or Don't. Color Can Be Nice Some Times, Too.)

Howdy, Charlotte!

While I am a Community Emergency Preparedness Corps member here at Hands On Charlotte, HOC really does a lot of things outside of this realm, including coordinating corporate volunteer events. One of these events we actually held this morning with Belk at Steele Creek Elementary School, and while we had a variety of projects, including some landscaping and construction projects, our new CEPC member, Molly, and I had the immense pleasure of leading a mural painting project. For these "portable murals" as we call them, we actually set up a projector and use permanent marker to trace an outline on our canvas, and then we are able to go in and paint as we wish. With today's mural, we were quite excited to have some fellow creative spirits, and I am quite proud of how our artwork turned out! For your enjoyment, here are some pictures from today's project, and of course, some Rolling Stones to keep your day nice and spicy.

Getting the outline traced on our canvas!

Molly, hard at work!

Molly contributed a psychedelic worm to the painting!

Belk volunteers starting things off!

The "Mob Squad," our second round of Belk volunteers!

Molly and me with the finished mural!

This week's mural (left) with the mural I helped Belk volunteers from the corporate office paint last week on MLK Day!

Stay safe, y'all, and don't forget to take a break from the stress of life and let your creativity flow every once in a while!

Ramble On! (Congratulating Another Round of CM-VEST Trainees!)

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

This past Saturday, Hands On Charlotte helped kick off our second round of disaster response volunteer trainings for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Volunteer Emergency Support Team (CM-VEST). I am quite excited about this second round of trainees that will join our group from December's trainings to help prepare Charlotte's residents for emergencies and be ready to respond should something happen. I would very much like to thank everyone who participated, and I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to the Charlotte Emergency Management Office for hosting the training and all their hard work getting things set up (if you're reading this, Stacie and Christina, you're amazing!). I would also like to thank all of those from Community Support Services, whether from Urban Ministry Center, the Women's Commission, the Homeless Resource Center, or elsewhere, and anyone else who helped make this training such a wild success. Each and every one of you were instrumental in making this training what it is, and Charlotte is a better and safer place because of each of your contributions.

If you would like to join future trainings, we are currently working to coordinate our next training in either March or April. Please e-mail me at rob@handsoncharlotte.org, and I will be glad to keep you in the loop about upcoming opportunities and ways to get involved.

Here are some pictures from the Saturday training, and for those of you participating in our Red Cross shelter operations training on Wednesday night, I am looking forward to seeing you there!

It turned out to be a beautiful day for training!

Stacie gives a presentation to the group!

As guest speakers arrived, we had quite the crew!

We even took a field trip to check out the Homeless Resource Center!

Again, thank you to everyone who took part in this amazing training, and I cannot wait to get rolling with upcoming events. 

Stay safe, Charlotte, and enjoy some Zeppelin.

Gimme Shelter! (And How We're Ending Chronic Homelessness in Charlotte by 2017!)

Good afternoon, Queen City!

Today I would like to share with you something I find to be absolutely amazing here in Charlotte. Earlier this month, partners from all over Charlotte came together to launch Housing First Charlotte-Mecklenburg, an initiative to eliminate chronic homelessness in Charlotte by December 31, 2016. Given that New Years is one of my favorite holidays and this is a cause about which I feel particularly passionately, I cannot think of a better cause for celebration when this initiative is able to accomplish its goals.

You may ask about the intersection of homelessness and emergency preparedness, as the average homeowner with emergency stores probably does not interact with the local homeless population on a regular basis, and this isn't a topic that would necessarily regularly frequent a blog of this nature. However, chronic homelessness has everything to do with emergency preparedness. Many of these people are stuck on the streets with little more than a blanket and a jacket, and while we are lucky to live in a warmer climate, we have already seen temperatures dipping down into the low teens and we've barely made it through one month of winter. By eliminating chronic homelessness, we are able to protect an entire population who would have been exposed to these conditions with little option for basic needs like shelter and warmth. I have posted before about hypothermia and the effects of extreme cold, and while these are concerns for people like me who are lucky enough to live in an apartment with working heat just in my time spent outside, these are much more significant for those with no escape, especially in the case that we wind up with a heavy snow later this winter.

Both of these pictures are from the January 6 launch of the Housing First Charlotte-Mecklenburg initiative earlier this month.

As contributors from Urban Ministry Center (a major partner in this project) mentioned at last month's Charlotte-Mecklenburg Volunteer Emergency Response Team training, many of us have had a moment when we have been one step away from homelessness. I recognize that I am younger, and let me tell you, college was quite the confusing scramble at points as far as housing was concerned. During my summer breaks, I was lucky enough to have a mother willing to let me live with her while I worked, and when I graduated, I was lucky enough to have resources to obtain a room in an apartment I found via Craigslist. Since then, I have moved through several different housing situations (including a tent in the Mississippi woods, but I digress), but in many of these situations, I easily could have been left without housing had I not been so well-connected or simply lucky. Many of these people simply missed one opportunity along the way that I was lucky enough to find, and in that respect, I could have ended up stranded in the cold as easily as they have been.

Partners in this project include the Urban Ministry Center, as I mentioned, as well as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Carolinas Healthcare System, Crisis Assistance Ministry, and many others, and I am quite excited to see what happens.

Should you so desire to get involved with Housing First Charlotte-Mecklenburg, please click here and check out their website. It is an amazing cause, and I cannot believe we are planning to eradicate chronic homelessness in our community before the dawn of 2017. Further, I am reaching out to see if it is too late or not to join the Point in Time Count, which is listed on their website, but in the case that it is not, I will be sure to relay this information as it becomes available. I cannot wait to see the successes of this project, and I hope many of you will join with me as we help these goals become realized.

If you would like further information on chronic homelessness in Charlotte, feel free to e-mail me at rob@handsoncharlotte.org, and I can help connect you with information and ways to get involved with local agencies as well. We have partnered closely with Urban Ministry Center and Crisis Assistance Ministry here at Hands On Charlotte in the past, and I would be glad to help relay information to willing volunteers and those curious in the local community.

And, because the Rolling Stones speak to my soul and this is one of my favorite songs of all time, here's the all too tempting Gimme Shelter:

Stay warm and stay safe, Charlotte!

Bad Dreams (and Some Other Things We Hope Never Happen)

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

I know I can tend to harp on the prevalence and effect of house fires and what we need to know and do to be prepared should the unthinkable happen and we have only two minutes to get out of a house fire (yes, the Red Cross estimates we generally have a two minute average to escape). While I hope I am not being too obsessive regarding the topic, I wanted to pass along this survey sent out by the Red Cross. It has only five multiple-choice questions about what you, as a potential future client of the Red Cross should tragedy strike, value and believe about house fires and the Red Cross' response.

Please click here to participate in the super short survey!

Further, here is a link to a fire safety and preparedness checklist from Red Cross for your perusal!

And, since you know how I feel about some good jams, here's a more current tune for a wonderful afternoon. Thanks for your participation in the survey and any preventative fire safety efforts you make in the coming days, and please stay safe, y'all!

Come Together (for a Celebratory and Reflective MLK Day)!

Good morning, Charlotte!

Happy MLK Day to all! If you've noticed my absence toward the end of last week, it was because I was helping Hands On Charlotte prepare for our MLK Day service events, which were held last Saturday. I participated in the site at Blythe Elementary School in Huntersville, while we also had sites at East Mecklenburg High School and Marie G. Davis Academy.

The project with which I worked with most closely was making Red Cross door hanger bags for their canvassing events. During these events, the Red Cross and Charlotte Fire Department coordinate a group of volunteers who go into communities recently affected by house fires and go door-to-door to see who has functional smoke alarms and who would like them. If there is no answer at the door of a house, these door hanger bags are left on the doorknob, filled with safety and preparedness tips.

Completed door hanger bags with some extra materials (and coffee, because coffee is everything)!

A completed door hanger bag!

We had a really great time and I was super excited to have Molly, who will be joining our HOC CEPC team, along to help out and get her feet wet as she starts her term. It was a beautiful day to give back to the community, and I cannot thank everyone who came out to any of our three sites enough! For your enjoyment, here are some pictures from Saturday's event at Blythe, and some Beatles to help you kick off your MLK Day, whether you are at work or lucky enough to be relaxing at home to celebrate and reflect! Stay safe, y'all!

Molly helps families make chew toys out of tee shirts for Animal Care and Control!

Volunteers work on bandannas for Animal Care and Control!

Volunteers sort nails for Habitat for Humanity build projects!

Volunteers set up card-making stations for Valentines' Day cards to benefit Love In Action!

Volunteers sort coats for WSOC's Steve's Coats for Kids!

These are just some of the coats our volunteers sorted through!

This Girl Scout models with her Valentines' Day card for Love In Action!

How could we not give back on such a beautiful day? Gotta love January in North Carolina!

Volunteers at Crisis Assistance Ministry, who received the coats from Steve's Coats for Kids!

Welcome to the team, Molly! I am so excited to start working with you and doing amazing things!

(And if you made it this far down the page, kudos, here's some Beatles for you:)

Give a Little Bit (for MLK Day of Service)!

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

With Martin Luther King Day coming up this Monday, some of you may have heard about Day of Service volunteering events surrounding the holiday. In honor of Dr. King's legacy, many take this weekend as an opportunity to give back in their local communities, and hopefully people from all backgrounds come together to help their neighbors in a myriad of ways.

If you are looking for a way to give back this weekend, I do hope you will join Hands On Charlotte at one of our three events. All three will have various projects from our partner organizations, and will be a great opportunity to give back while having a great time and probably meeting some new people. Our events are located at Marie G. Davis Academy and East Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, as well as at Blythe Elementary School in Huntersville. All three locations will be ready for volunteers from 9-11 a.m. on Saturday, January 17.

If you would like to join our efforts to give back on Saturday, please click here and sign up for the most convenient site to your location. I hope to see some of you there!

And since I'm sure you're all just as excited as me for Saturday, here's a little music to help you make it through the meantime:

Stay safe, y'all!

It's Raining Men! (Wait, No. That's Freezing Rain.)

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

If you are not already aware, I would like to bring to your attention that we are currently under a hazardous weather outlook for tonight and the morning. NOAA released this freezing rain advisory for 10 p.m. tonight through 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. While little to no accumulation is expected, there is a chance for some slippery roads, especially on bridges and overpasses, by late this evening. If you find yourself out and about, please do be careful, and if you are able to avoid the ice, please do. Tonight, I can be found in the comfort of my apartment listening to the namesake of this post, staying out of the cold and icy weather as much as possible.

Stay safe, y'all!

(What To Do Before and During a) Massive Attack!

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

While it is never my intention to petrify my readership into emergency preparedness action, with the recent attack on Charlie Hebdo in France, the atrocities committed by Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the raised awareness regarding the threat of terrorism in the media, I feel as if it is only fitting to address the issue of man-made disasters. Unfortunately, not all emergencies and disasters occur naturally, and thus we still need to be prepared and know what to do before and during an act of terrorism.

The Red Cross offers this guide to address what to expect during a terrorist attack, and how to recover in the aftermath. While nothing can be exhaustive, as terrorist attacks are incredibly hard to forecast and are many times without warning, this is a quick read for mental preparation if nothing else.

The Department of Homeland Security's emergency preparedness component, Ready.Gov, also has a slightly more detailed guide to what to expect, including descriptions of different types of terrorist attacks. Especially with the recent cybersecurity news regarding North Korea and The Interview, I found this guide to be particularly interesting.

And I know I have mentioned it before, but if you would like to join me in a free online class from The University of Maryland via Coursera, please click this link to sign up and join. The class, Understanding Terrorism, just opened yesterday and doesn't have anything due for a couple weeks, so you wouldn't be behind at all should you decide to join within the next few days. I hope you'll join me in this educational adventure!

Obviously, it is my hope that as with any disaster, whether it be natural or man-made, we never need this information. However, this week has been a little scary with everything going on across the world, and I hope many of you share my desire to be as prepared as possible. And, since I've been in a female rap mood for most of the morning, here's a little Nicki Minaj to make your day that much better. (No worries, if you have sensitive ears nearby, it's edited.)

Stay safe, y'all, and best wishes for your Tuesday!

Come Clean!

Howdy and good afternoon, Charlotte!

Even if we have passed the peak of flu season, I know it is still running rampant in Charlotte, and while I can't stress enough that it is still not too late to get a flu shot and that most insurance plans will cover the cost, one of the most effective and inexpensive ways of avoiding the flu may be easier than you think: hand-washing.

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it in a blog post before, but I do also work in a restaurant in Charlotte, and while we are always avid hand-washers especially while directly handling food, once flu season reared its ugly head and we realized it was going to be an even more brutal flu season than normal, I don't know that I've ever heard the faucets of the hand-washing sinks running so consistently. Hand-washing is one of the best defenses against any communicable illness, as many times germs find their way from surfaces that you touch to your hands which you then use to rub your eyes or fix your hair, and just like that bacteria can find its way into your body. Keep your hands clean, and your chances of becoming ill are magically reduced!

Sara models tools for keeping our hands clean and germ-free!
Soap and hand sanitizer both share the dream of keeping us flu-free and healthy!

However, the knowledge of the effectiveness of hand-washing has not always been so common. In fact, just a couple centuries ago, hand-washing had not yet been realized as an effective tool to halt the spread of germs. This morning, while I was working with Sara, our Mission Continues fellow here at Hands On Charlotte, we were listening to NPR's Morning Edition, and heard quite the interesting true story of one of the first champions of hand-washing, Ignaz Semmelweis. Mr. Semmelweis, as the article below explains, noticed that more women were dying in childbirth under the care of the medical professionals of the time at a rate five times that of women in the care of midwives. After many trials, Mr. Semmelweis realized that the medical professionals were performing autopsies while the midwives weren't, and thus the medical professionals were carrying the germs that caused the illness and death of women in labor with them. The ending of the article has quite the scary and interesting twist, too, but I'll let you read that for yourselves.

Click here to read the article from NPR's Morning Edition!

And since I am a child of the 1990's and early 2000's, any post regarding cleanliness is going to have to be accompanied by this gem. My AmeriCorps status won't let me say anything regarding my views on Ms. Clinton, but I am certainly ready for Hilary Duff!

Stay safe, y'all!

The End of the World as We Know It! (Do You Feel Fine?)

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

I came across this article that was published in The Economist back when everyone had time off for the holiday, and I wanted to share it with all of you. While this takes a look at preparing for the end of civilization with a pretty hefty suspicion of a government collapse and national descent into chaos, it's still a grand idea to be ready if emergency response cannot make it to you immediately after a disaster. This is exactly why we keep at a very minimum three days worth of food, water, and other necessities in a home emergency preparedness kit. Also, the subheadings are lines from "I Will Survive," and if nothing else, that kept me happy and engaged as I read. Definitely an interesting article, complete with pieces everyone can learn from, even a cock-eyed optimist like me.

Click here to access the article via The Economist!

And since they actually brought up the song before I had a chance to, here's a little something for your day:

(During This Cold Snap, I'm Thankful for Every) Paperback Writer

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

With the impending doom forecasted by our local meteorologists regarding tonight's 10 degree temperatures, I decided that my warm and toasty apartment will be the spot to spend all of my time outside of this office. I know I've said it a million times by this point, but PLEASE stay indoors as much as possible as we enter bitter wind chill territory tonight, and be sure you are dry and well-insulated if you do have to venture outdoors.

All that said, if you're like me and have no plans to venture out into the cold, you might also be interested in some tasty reading material to enjoy with your coffee, hot chocolate, bourbon or tequila or whatever it is you like to enjoy in your spare time. I found two books through the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library that I am all too excited to share with you as I start them over the next few evenings. The first, Inevitable City by Scott Cowen and Betsy Seifter, addresses the recovery effort in post-Katrina New Orleans and the implications for urban disaster recovery in the future. The second, The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why by Amanda Ripley, addresses exactly what the title implies. Nothing like some emergency preparedness knowledge on a cold night! I have pictures of the front covers below, and I promise you Charlotteans that there are plenty copies to go around if you check out your local library branch. And if you happen to have any great emergency and disaster preparedness reads to share, please comment or message me! There is no end to the knowledge we can find.

And naturally, since cold snaps put me into a mood for some mellow classics, here's a Beatles track for your day as well:

Stay safe and warm tonight, Charlotte!

Don't Fear the Reaper! (Or Actually, Do, and Be Prepared for Anything.)

Good afternoon, Queen City!

While I know I am constantly throwing information out on this blog to help Charlotte (and hopefully the rest of the world) become more prepared to deal with realistic emergencies, I did want to showcase today a nifty campaign launched by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A while back, while looking for ways to grab the attention of the masses regarding our oh-so-glamorous topic of emergency preparedness, the CDC in its infinite creative wisdom released the preparedness campaign to end all preparedness campaigns: a zombie apocalypse novella. 

While the actual likelihood of a zombie apocalypse is a topic of fair debate (I still somehow can't get into The Walking Dead), this campaign was so effective that rumor has it the CDC's server actually couldn't handle all the traffic. In the 36-page graphic novella, Todd, Julie, and Max must survive a zombie apocalypse, during which they are trapped in their home for almost a week and then must evacuate and navigate to the closest shelter. This brings up a lot of issues with relevance to disaster preparedness, regardless of the proximity of a zombie population. If you are trapped in your home for a week, do you have food and water set aside for you and your pets? Do you have a battery-operated radio in your home to be able to find out where your local shelters may be or if there are any official advisories for your area?

Somehow, even with this being a fairly common distributed material in the emergency preparedness community, I only just now sat down and read the novella, and I will say, it's quite worth the read. Not only does it remind the reader of what might be needed should any disaster (natural, man-made, or zombie) arise, but it's also pretty downright entertaining. 

Click here to read a PDF version of the novella!

And, because life with music is always better than life without, here's some more Blue Oyster Cult to make your workday a little nicer. And as the CDC points out with their zombie apocalypse allegory, maybe you should fear the reaper. Or at any rate, at least fear the reaper enough to get by for a few days on your own.

Stay safe, Charlotte, and enjoy the particularly on-point moustache game in this music video.

Diva Is a [Prepared] Version of a Hustla.

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

Clearly after a couple weeks being fairly absent from the office with the holidays, I've gone into withdrawal, as this is my third post today, but I have so much great information to share with you, and with the impending Southern-bound freeze coming our way this week, I feel as if I can't wait to tell you all of the things.

Given the residency of our office canine companion, Diva, I started thinking about what to do with pets when not only is it cold, but also in any emergency weather situation. These things need to be planned for, and it doesn't take much time to sit down and figure out what one needs to do in order to be ready. For example, I would already have a gallon of water per person per day in my emergency storage, so I should go ahead and set aside additional water and food for my pets. Luckily, dry and canned food is in no short supply for dogs and cats, so as far as Diva is concerned, we are golden!

Even Diva is looking ahead to plan for a rainy (or snowy or blustery or otherwise unpleasant) day!

Unfortunately, during Hurricane Katrina, it was very much realized that we as a nation had not done enough to plan for the incorporation of pets during disasters. Many people chose not to leave their homes because they couldn't take animals to shelters, and some even abandoned their pets to weather the storm. After this, policy has changed so that there must be a pet-friendly shelter during disaster, provided the owner is able to prove the pet is current on vaccinations. Much of the materials one should keep as a pet owner can be found through the links below.

Lucky for us, FEMA has an entire portion of their Ready.gov website dedicated to caring for animals in disaster! Click here to check it out. Not only should you definitely be sure to bring in any animals that can't handle the outdoor temperatures, but they have advice for how to be ready in almost any disaster or emergency situation. FEMA also has this nifty and concise brochure for pet owners with bulleted points to make emergency planning easy.

And lastly, because Diva is about as precious and wonderful as a dog can be, and also shares a name with one of my favorite Beyonce songs of all time, here's Beyonce's music video for your viewing pleasure. And ladies (and gentleman), let's all get on track in 2015 to be hustlas prepared for emergencies, including how to take care of our pets.

And while you're gettin' ya Beyonce groove on, stay safe, Charlotte!

Psycho Killer! (And Other Lessons Regarding Terrorism)

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

Since I am taking a free class through Coursera to better understand terrorism and the threat of man-made disasters (not all disasters are caused by weather, unfortunately), I figured I would share the wealth of resources and knowledge offered by Coursera in partnership with the University of Maryland. Click here to check out this class, Understanding Terrorism and the Terrorist Threat, and feel free to join me on my journey to emergency preparedness nirvana. It promises to be a good time, and I'd love to interact with people here locally in the Charlotte community while in the class, in addition to the student participants from across the world. It promises to be an interesting and engaging class, and I hope you'll join me!

And since I don't know how not to add some wacky music, here's some Talking Heads to make your day even brighter:

Stay safe, Queen City!

Cold As Ice!

Good morning, Charlotte!

I know I have posted this guide from the CDC before, but with the arctic blast that will be descending upon us here in Charlotte over the next week, I thought it was only appropriate to take a moment to remember just how dangerous cold weather can be.

While we are lucky enough to have dry weather over these next few icy-cold days, the low temperatures themselves are incredibly dangerous. On Wednesday night, NOAA says Charlotte will feel temperatures as low as 14 degrees, and on Thursday we are not forecasted to break freezing, with a high of only 29. Note, this does not factor in wind chill, so if a breeze picks up, it will feel even colder.

Sara and Diva are bundled up and ready for winter! Are you?

Throughout the winter, but especially through these next few days, please be sure to do the following:

• Make sure you have an emergency kit in your car in case you become stranded and may be exposed to the elements while waiting on emergency response personnel. Here is a guide for general winter car safety, as well as suggestions for what to keep in your automobile emergency kit!
• While I would love to think that everyone has battery-powered flashlights and doesn't need to use candles, I am also a realist, so I will say please only use candles when absolutely needed and under constant supervision. 
• I know this is North Carolina, and not all of us are used to the more bitter cold temperatures a little further north, but do take the Yankee advice and dress in layers to keep yourself best insulated from the cold. I'll be wearing a couple tee shirts probably under a sweatshirt and sweater under my jacket once it drops below freezing, and as goofy as I probably look, it keeps me warm!
• Further, if you're like me and are keeping your holiday tree up (and healthily watered!) until the absolute last minute, be sure you have the lights on only when someone is in the room! It takes only a minute for a tree fire to overtake a moderately-sized living room.
• Since it is the beginning of the month and we will probably all be utilizing more than our fair share of heating sources, this is a great time to go ahead and check our smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms. Please be sure you are testing these every month. I like to check mine on the first since it's easy to remember, but what day you choose is up to you!
• Stay dry! Be sure, especially if you are braving the cold, that your body is dry and dressed warmly. One can experience hypothermia at temperatures over 40 degrees if wet, so I can only imagine how quickly my body temperature would drop if I was out in the 14 degree weather immediately after showering. Stay dry and keep warm!
• If possible, keep your pipes on a slow constant drip so that water doesn't freeze in the line. Also, if you are leaving your home and trying to save energy and energy costs, be sure you don't leave your heat set below 55 degrees. Can't have our pipes bursting!

Much of the points I have highlighted above are outlined in a wonderful guide from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Click here to download the CDC Extreme Cold Guide.

And, because I've gone into withdrawal from my wacky cheesy blog post songs, here's a pretty tasty video of Foreigner performing Cold As Ice. Enjoy, and stay safe, Charlotte!