Y2K Preparedness Finally Paid Off!

I was a computer support guy and I know that the Y2K bug was for real. I worked for P&G at the time and they did some testing beforehand by changing the date in their security system and it did indeed go wacky. Y2K was not a huge disaster because somebody had a glimmer of foresight and everybody spent a bunch of money and did a lot of work to correct it. There were very few system failures when the date clicked over, nothing that could be called disastrous.

Preparedness is just good sense. If you don't realize that there are uncountable things that can go wrong then you are just not thinking things through. You don't have to go to extremes either, because you probably would just goof it up anyway. Not everybody can pull off the extreme survivalist tactics that some people put in place to face The End Of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI). However, it's stupid to allow yourself to be completely helpless when faced with a relatively minor mishap. Right here in the heartland of Cincinnati we have seen water systems shut down by benzene polluting the river, power grids knocked out for days due to the windy remnants of hurricane Ike, and winter storms that make it tough to get around town. And don't forget illness and financial problems.

We face some kind of TEOTWAWKI every day. It's always something. We're having a tough time financially but we are not freezing because before Y2K we installed a backup heater that runs on propane (thanks Hank Hill). That big propane tank sat idle out back for 10 years, bought & paid for all that time, until the beginning of this winter when I moved the heater next to Marcy's seat in the living room, lit the pilot light and set the thermostat to her comfort level because she gets cold easily. The house's main gas furnace kicks on only occaisionally, and me & the boys in other parts of the house are more active and a lot more resilient to the cold. Our utility bill is kept lower by our Y2K preparations. We'll talk more about preparedness in future posts.