Due to recent unfortunate and tragic events in the Pacific Northwest regarding c|net editor James Kim and his family, I wrote the following email to my sisters, and thought I would share it with all of you. Basically, my sisters were very closely following this story either because James Kim was Korean, or because as they say, it could easily have been me (since it sounds like something that I would do). After I have this conversation with my family, I'll relay any points that I forgot here. I encourage each of you to make your own survival kit and know how to use it. One of the things that I learned from scuba diving was that you can panic, that's fine, but get over it quickly if you want to live. Assess what is going on, and think before you act. Keeping a straight head is the key to survival, and that is just what the Kim family did.
Oh yeah, I also wanted to tell you guys about what I do for long trips where I might get stuck for a while in some remote place. This is what I pack in my car:
I ALWAYS have multiple flashlights. Call me a geek, whatever, but when I'm in my car, I always have at least 4 flashlights. I'm not even kidding. I also carry those road flares that can easily be used to start a fire. They're pretty cheap and small. They're easy to light, and bright as all hell. Also, if I know that I'm going into a remote area, like I when I went to Breaks, VA (near KY), I packed my sleeping bag and some extra clothes and a case of water. I also had a bunch of nuts and fruit. Obviously, the fruit is first to go, but nuts can keep you going with the water for a while.
Being the semi-nature freak that I am, I also have knowledge of various plantlife that is edible. I learned these from reading the hardy boys, My Side of the Mountain, and a few other books. I also have two knives on me whenever I travel. (unless I'm flying). In addition to that, I have a few tools that can be quite useful to whatever I need, for instance, screwdriver, and something that can be used as a hammer. Also, always keep a lighter in the car. I know that dad has always done this.
One of the other things that I do is to put old ski gloves and a large garbage bag in my car. The garbage bag can be used for shelter or as a blanket. It's also waterproof. The ski gloves are mainly for if I should be somewhere really cold and I get a flat tire. You DON'T want to be out in the cold changing a tire with no gloves on. I started doing that last year when I bought my new gloves. Anyway, That's basically my "in-car" survival kit.
Basically, the ingenuity and resourcefulness that Kati Kim used was absolutely remarkable, and extremely smart. I think that if she and I were out somewhere, we could fairly easily survive for at least a few weeks. I am sure that I'm forgetting some of the stuff that is in my car, but I just wanted to let you know that most of the stuff in my car, I hope I won't use, but in case I need to, it's definitely there. You guys should really prepare the same.
Also, if you go underwater in your car, kick out the window away from you. The force of the water that comes rushing in will likely knock you to the other side of the car anyway. Make sure that you take a deep breath before you do this, and if you need to, use the air in the tires to breath. You can go a long time with the air that is in the tires. When you come up, never EVER hold your breath. This I learned from SCUBA diving, and the air in your lungs will expand as you come up. Seriously, if you take a deep breath, you can quite easily rupture your lungs, and you will die. It doesn't take much ascension to burst your lungs. I'm talking like 3 feet. I'll bring my scuba book home and talk to you guys about this when we're home for Christmas. It is quite serious and not a very well known fact.
We can talk about a lot more when we're home (and not playing Snood) and I think it's very worthwhile to use this unfortunate and sad incident as something that we can use to guide us and prepare us for many of the situations that can arise.