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I just had a funny call to Microsoft, well to Xbox.com support, that really just gives some insight into what Microsoft culture is like.

So what I want to do is stop having them automatically renew my credit card for Xbox Live Gold Service ($49.99/yr). I go to their website and poke around the account settings page, and come to find out that I can’t do that online, I have to call and talk to someone. Fine.

I call Xbox Live at 800-469-9269 and go their voice menu prompt system and choose the “Accounts & Billing” -> “Other account questions”. Apparently I went to the wrong place. After explaining what I wanted to do the CSR said I had to be transfered, I guess I am cancelling my subscription, instead of just turning off auto renew.

The first problem started here, it wasn’t too obvious where I needed to go in their menu system. The second problem was immeadate: the CSR asked me to verify my account information, screen name, email, address, phone, last 4 digits on my credit card.

He then transfers me to the billing who procedes to ask me the same questions again… waste of time there. Starting to get annoyed.

Now after I explain again that I want to stop the auto billing “feature”, he asks me if he can give me some Microsoft points to keep my subscription. Further annoyed.

I say no, that I don’t want to have my card auto billed. So he asks me why I want to stop the auto renewal, and I reply that its more than $20 cheaper to buy the Xbox Live Gold Cards then to have them auto charge my card.

So he suggests that I reduce my plan to the $7.99/mo plan because it is less expensive. Ugh! I just want to stop the dang auto renewal. So by this point I’m over it, I ask him to just remove my auto renew plan and be done with it.

About time. By the way, that wasted 15 minutes of time. Add another 10 minutes for this rant.

Thank you Microsoft! If that had been Apple or some other customer focused company I could have done the whole thing online in 30  seconds.

In case you missed the leap second today, here is a YouTube video from the Eastern Time Zone:

Here are some links to more info about leap seconds:

• NIST
• USNO
• Wikipedia

In a previous post, I talked about the basics for starting food storage, namely having enough food and water on hard to last two weeks and three months, respectively.

Now I’ll go over some of the emergency equipment that I think is essential during a prolonged disaster.

Essential Equipment

Among the most essential equipment to have during an emergency is a camp stove and fuel. During a disaster it is possible that your electricity and/or natural gas supply could be compromised. If that happens, how are you going to cook your food? Or boil water? Unless you live in a place that has a ready supply of firewood, you could be left out in the cold.

After doing some research, I’ve decided that the best equipment for myself is a Coleman dual fuel camp stove. It is small enough that it can be put into the car, should I need to evacuate. It also has great flexibility in that it can use regular unleaded gasoline to power the burners. Compared to a propane burning camp stove, I figure that unleaded gasoline will be easier to get than propane during a disaster. In addition to the stove, storing 3 months worth of fuel, and at least two weeks worth, would be a really good idea.

Coleman 2 Burner Dual Fuel Stove

Another absolute essential is a flash light, or other light source. This is something you should have around, even if you aren’t worried about a disaster. I like this hand cranked LED model. You use the hand crank to charge up the batteries, and if the batteries are completely dead, you can power the LEDs directly from the hand crank. Nice! It’s important to choose a light source that doesn’t require batteries, that’s one more thing to worry about storing, and another thing to worry about acquiring during a long disaster

Garrity hand crank LED flashlight

The next essential item to have during an emergency is a hand cranked grain mill. In order to use your stored grains, you’ll need to be able to make your own flour, and without electricity, it better be hand powered. This is probably the most low-tech thing I’ve ever gotten, but I think it will be absolutelynecessary during a prolonged disaster.

Back to Basics Grain Mill

Summary

There are a few essential tools to have around during an emergency:

• Backup stove & fuel
• Flashlight that doesn’t rely on batteries
• Hand powered grain mill

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about making sure that I am prepared for a major disaster. With a report recently from the USGS saying that a large scale earthquake along the California coast is imminent, as well as continued council from the First Presidency, I think now is a great time to make sure I’m self-sustained in the event of a crisis.

I’ll be writing a few posts about the different things that I am doing to prepare for an emergency. I hope that everyone that reads these posts will think about their emergency preparedness (or lack thereof) and come up with a plan that works for you.

Food & Water

Food and water are the most important things needed in an emergency. During a disaster, you might not be able to rely on a grocery store to have the life sustaining items that you can’t live without. Thinking back to the Katrina disaster, I realized that I can’t rely on the government either. So you need to store all the food and water that you can in order to be ready.

My Church councils that we should keep 2 weeks worth of water and 3 months worth of food on hand at all times. That’s figuring that water is so important that the civic services will be restored within two weeks. I personally think that isn’t enough, if earthquakes break water mains in critical areas, it could take a long time to repair.

• 1 Gallon of water, per person, per day = 14 gallons of water
• 25 lbs of grain, and 5 lbs of beans, per person, per day = 75 lbs of grains, and 15 lbs of beans
• See providentliving.org
  

That’s the minimum needed to sustain life. But that will be extremely boring, I couldn’t eat bread and beans alone for three months! Also, I think it’s good to eat food that you are comfortable with and is similar to what you normally eat. In the event of a disaster, changing your food supply could result in some serious consequences that will only add to your problems. For example, changing your diet significantly can lead to constipation or diarrhea. The latter will make you dehydrated, wasting precious water.

Also be sure to think about the items that you need in order to use the food storage you have. For example, you may need to use sugar, yeasts, shortening, and other ingredients to make bread and cakes. A good tip might be to buy an extra of everything you normally buy at the store. Over time, you will slowly build up your storage supplies.

Next Article: Equipment

Miss the Total Eclipse today? Yeah, me too. But I found a nice video from the Exploratorium on scene from China. The actual eclipse is right around 37 minutes on the video.

One thing that I would have wanted to see is what things look like around on the ground when the eclipse happens. I don’t think you could really take it all in, unless you were there though. Hopefully some time I’ll get to see that for myself

Checkout this NASA site for more info on Solar Eclipses, and when the next one will be!

Just felt the biggest earthquake I’ve felt in awhile. 5.4 out of Chino.