Look Around

Many days on my lunch break, I will take a walk around campus. Yes, I have a specific route, and yes I go the same way every time, but that's beside the point. I like to be outside and soak in the sunshine, especially when I've been sitting at my desk all day. Since I work on a college campus, there are always many other pedestrians out walking, though most are simply trying to get from point A to point B.

It never ceases to amaze me just how many people look downwards staring at their phones! Sure, I have my phone with me to listen to Survivor podcasts, plus, well, for safety reasons, but I don't understand this compulsive behavior to stare down during your entire walking commute.

Here are 3 Major Reasons not to Text and Walk

1. It is Dangerous. I give training on Safety all the time. It is part of my job responsibilities to inform employees about the hazards that they may encounter will working at the university. I can always get a laugh when I talk about students texting and walking and running into stuff. Why do I use this example? Because texting and walking is dangerous! ESPECIALLY when you are walking adjacent to a busy road with crazy drivers!

2. It is Rude. One of the things that bugs me is how rude looking down at your phone can be. We all know its rude to be staring down at your phone while someone is trying to talk to you, but its also rude when you aren't talking at all. When you walk around in a public place, you will probably interact with people, even if its not on an audible level.

interact. verb. act in such a way as to have an effect on another, act reciprocally.

If you think that hogging sidewalk (and forcing me to dodge out of your way because you've got your eyes glued to your phone) isn't interacting, you're wrong...

3. It is Inattentive. For me, this is huge. My brain is wired to pay attention to detail. It's why I'm good at my job. It's why I like to create things. It's why I remember really really weird things. If you pay attention, there are so many things to take in!

I've mentioned before in a previous post about how random people ask me for directions all the time. As I mention in that post, it could be because I have a friendly face. OR it could be because I'm the only human around who is not looking down at their phone! I look present and approachable.

Several months ago, I watched a webinar about texting and driving. Texting and Driving has turned in to a huge problem in America, and I'm not going to get into all of my ideas about that, but I wanted to mention something that this webinar pointed out. "Distracted Driving" has existed since the Model T. In the past, distracted driving was eating your Chic-fil-a sandwich, or changing your Hanson CD, or putting your baby's pacifier back in her mouth. Normally when you are distracted, you are being distracted via one body part (i.e. your eyes, your brain, or your hands). Texting is a whole new "genre" of distracted.You are literally forced to use your eyes, your brain and your hands to successfully text.Texting takes your eyes off the road, your hands off the wheel, and your thoughts off of your main task. [Side note: I was looking for the percentage of your brain that is used while texting and I stumbled on this awesome website about texting and driving.]

I'm not anti-texting and I'm not anti-technology (obviously), but it's just not a good idea to try and successfully do anything with only part of your brain, even if it's something you learned at the age of one! Texting and walking is a bad idea. It's dangerous. It's rude. It's Inattentive. Just don't do it.

Surviving an Emergency

I'm not a worrier. Plain and simple, I just don't worry. I know that what is going to happen in this world, will happen. Some things, you just can't change. If I am at work, and an armed gunman comes in my office, and fires shots at me before I can even look up from my computer, what would I do? What would you do?

The thing is, is that there is nothing you could do. You'd be bleeding out before you can dial 911 or reach for your (legally) concealed weapon.

One huge reason that I don't worry is because I understand that my life is in God's hands and that what is His Will, will happen. Matthew 6:33-34 says, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." But that's not the only reason I don't worry. 

I don't worry about things that are out of control because I've made sure to control what I can control. 

I've always been a detail-oriented person, pretty much since birth. But if there's one thing that working in the safety profession has taught me, it's to always be aware. At work, I preach to people to be aware of their surroundings while they do their daily tasks. Watch out for things you could trip over; think about how lifting this heavy bag is going to affect your back; understand that using a weed-eater without earplugs increases your hearing loss, etc. There are so many things that we can do to protect ourselves, simply by being aware.

This is also applicable to emergencies. When you think about the word emergency, what comes to mind? You might think of a house fire, or a tornado touchdown, or a gunman at work. 

The definition of emergency is, "a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action." Ok, the first part is pretty much a no-brainier. It's the "...requiring immediate action" part that I want to focus on.... 

Knowledge is Power

Just like every job having its own set of safety issues, every area has its own set of emergencies. Florida has a much higher chance of a hurricane than Wyoming. New York has a much higher chance of a snow storm than Nevada. For me and Nathan specifically, we live in Memphis, Tennessee. We've taken the time to ponder and analyze what emergencies are the most likely to happen.

• Tornado
• House fires
• Zombie apocalypse
• Earthquake
• Terrorist Attack
• Flash flood
• Snow / Ice storm
• Biological disease release
• Atomic bomb

YOUR TURN. Think about different scenarios that could occur where you live. Be realistic. Obviously, a terrorist attack could happen anywhere, but its more likely to happen in a bigger city. A tornado can happen anytime, but it is more likely to happen during certain times of the year.

Severity and Frequency

Severity and Frequency are 2 words that are used often to evaluate occupational safety risks. The same principles can be applied in your own personal emergency plan. Determine the most "dangerous" emergency that could happen by analyzing the severity and frequency.

	Severity	Frequency
Tornado	2	5
House fires	2	2
Zombie Takeover	5	1
Earthquake	5	2
Terrorist Attack	4	2
Flash flood	1	5
Snow / Ice storm	1	3
Biological disease	4	1
Atomic bomb	5	1

YOUR TURN. Use your list you created from your research and try to determine which type of emergency should take priority. To be clear, when I talk about "severity" please don't misunderstand me. I realize that all of these situations would be severe, however, there are some situations that it is likely for you to survive. 

Additionally, realize that technology allows us to be aware of certain emergencies, which somewhat lowers the severity. Due to advances in the weather industry, we are able to predict and be alerted of many weather emergencies. But remember, every situation is different, so the more prepared you are, the better.

Ranking Priorities

Based on my own personal analysis, The two most significant emergencies for Memphis are Tornadoes and Earthquake. Tornadoes mainly because of the frequency, and Earthquakes because of the potential severity. Essentially, I just added the values of severity and frequency to determine overall significance.

Photo retrieved from geiologyinmotion.com

You're thinking, "Earthquake, you say? Hmmm...." This is where the importance of research comes into play. Many people know of the San Andreas Fault and the whole California-is-going-to-break-off theory. Similarly, Memphis is supposedly due for a huge earthquake because of the New Madrid Fault. The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has filed reports stating that an earthquake in this zone could result in "damage to structures affecting water distribution, transportation systems, and other vital infrastructure. The earthquake is expected to also result in thousands of fatalities, with more than 4,000 of the fatalities expected in Memphis alone."

YOUR TURN. What is the most significant emergency risk where you live?

Prepare for the Worst

If a catastrophic earthquake were to occur (and our house was still in tact) and we were safe, it doesn't necessarily mean we're out of the woods, yet. When a massive earthquake happens, it would affect the power lines, telephone lines, road systems, water systems, etc. 

So, the real question is, how do you prepare for that? Here are some things to think about:

• If there are no telephone lines and no cellular lines, how will I communicate with my family or friends to let them know the plan?
• If there are broken roads or bridges, how will I leave the city if I need to?
• If there is no electricity, how will I use my debit card to buy fuel or food?
• If roads are blocked (due to earthquake flooding), how will I know where to go without my GPS? 

YOUR TURN. Think about issues that would arise if just one emergency happened in your city. What are all of the dominoes that would fall? So much is connected these days due to technology. This is convenient now, but it is training us to become VERY reliant on it. What would happen if you had to learn to survive? Are you ready?

Get Ready

Ok, so you have all this knowledge of all these situations that would devastate your life. Now what?.... 

Nathan always says, "I can't control what other people do. I can only control how I react to what they do." We can use this same principle in preparing for emergencies. You can't control if an earthquake occurs, or if zombies start taking over, or if an active shooter is in Kroger. But you CAN control how you react.

YOUR TURN. Hopefully, this post has helped to get your wheels turning on how you can get ready. Here are some specific things you can do in the near future to make sure you are ready:

• Gather your "Emergency Kit" supplies
• Determine your "Escape Plan." Think about where you and your family will go if you need to leave your home or city.
• Agree on a "Communication Plan." Figure out how you are going to communicate if there are no power lines, or no telephone lines, or no cell phone lines. This might just mean, "Ok, if we are separated when disaster strikes, we will meet *here*"
• Make sure everyone in your household knows this plan. When panic sets in, you want to have the least variables as possible.
• If you own a gun, make sure every adult in the house is knowledgeable about how to shoot it. Even if everyone doesn't carry, its a good idea for everyone to know HOW to use it.
• If you have young kids, make sure they understand about gun safety

Thinking about emergencies is sometimes scary, because it forces you to think about things that could change your life forever. But I find, as you hopefully will too, that being prepared gives me peace of mind that I've done all I could do. And that's why I don't worry.

Photo courtesy of flickr

What We've Been Up To

I'm sure everyone is wondering what happened with the Cold Tuesday Morning. Its riveting, I know... Our last entry was posted on Christmas Eve. I really don't like that its been over 3 months since we've written anything, but it couldn't have been helped. Since then, we've experienced several changes and we've spent the past few weeks adjusting to these changes. Lets just start from the beginning.

1. I got a new job working at the University of Memphis. I am an Occupational Safety Coordinator and I started the beginning of January. Many people are very confused about what I actually do as an Environmental Health and Safety employee, and I'm not going to go into a long tangent in this post, but basically EHS people work for your company (in my case the university) for two basic reasons. The first is to keep all employees as safe as possible by eliminating hazards that could cause injuries or illnesses. The second is the save the company money through lower workers compensation costs AND avoiding OSHA fines. As I'm writing this, I've come to the realization that I'm going to write an more in-detail post explaining things an EHS person might do at work. 

2. Because of the new job, we moved closer to UofM, obviously. We found a perfect townhouse that has a wood-burning fireplace, huge bedrooms, and plenty of room for Koba and Yuki to chase each other around. And, its an easy commute to work. Although we have visited Memphis often, moving here has been different, to say the least, moving from a fairly rural area to the 23rd largest city in the United States! We've enjoyed trying new restaurants, doing Memphis things, and meeting new people at church and work.

3. Nathan and my dad went the the NHL All-Star skills competition and game on January 30-31. This weekend had been building up for almost a year since Nashville won the bid on the NHL All-Star festivities. When this season started, we decided to go in with my parents and buy half-season tickets to qualify to buy All-Star tickets. Well, basically we only got to use half of our game tickets before we moved and had to sell the rest, but we made the trip back to my parents house to enjoy a hockey-filled weekend. Nathan and dad loved getting to experience such as once-in-a-lifetime event (for Nashville) and my mom and I enjoyed watching it live on TV also.

4. Yuki turned 1. She's just so darn cute, still. Yuki Koehler was born on February 12, 2015. She enjoys eating, playing with Koba, getting belly rubs, and howling at the moon (literally, she howls like a little dog). Happy Birthday Yuki!

5. Nathan passed the CCNA test, so he is now a Cisco Certified Network Associate. Yay! This is us celebrating:

6. We celebrated Resurrection Sunday. It was a beautiful day to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead! We enjoyed the weekend with Nathan's parents and an Easter lunch complete with steak and pecan pie. Oh. Also, I joined the choir at church, so it was pretty exciting to get to perform during the celebration service.

As far as the next post on Cold Tuesday Morning goes.... I'm not sure when that will happen. We are going to try and post something at least once a month, but it isn't going to be near the amount of content as it was before we moved.

Using Spreadsheets to Organize

Organization. It's what gets my blood pumping. It's what gets my heart racing.

Ok, I exaggerate, but not by much. 

I love organizing stuff. If something can be organized, it will be organized. (Disclaimer: this does NOT mean I'm not messy...) One of the best ways you can use excel spreadsheets is to organize ideas, thoughts, or items. 

In my previous posts about spreadsheets, I've discussed Using Spreadsheets to List and Using Spreadsheets to Schedule. Now we all know, that these tasks can also be completed using a word document, and a virtual planner, respectively. But the absolute BEST way to ORGANIZE is by using Spreadsheets. 

Essentially, a spreadsheet is a pre-made table that you can merge and un-merge cells as needed. Additionally, you can change or update it indefinitely, color coordinate, or add bolder lines for categories or sections. 

Organizing for Planning Purposes. This is sort of a mix between organizing and scheduling. I use the spreadsheet shown below to help me stay on track at work. Each month I update our website based on specific safety topics. At the beginning of each month, I simply refer to my spreadsheet and determine what needs to be changed, updated, or deleted on the website. It makes this task very simple. Using Spreadsheets to Organize takes more time on the front end, but saves you time in the long run. 

Another example of Organizing for Planning Purposes is when you are in need of "filling up slots." (Sorry, I'm not very good at thinking today.... Let me just give you an example, and it will make more sense). When we were planning our wedding, we spent a lot of time picking out the specific songs we wanted played at specific times. To make it even more complicated, we both have pretty strong ideas about what "good music" sounds like. So, we decided that our music picks would be equal. This specific spreadsheet was on Google Drive so that we both had access whenever we needed it and could add songs as they came to us.

You will notice that this spreadsheet is a more common format of "the table" as opposed to "the matrix" style (shown in the spreadsheet above).

Organizing for Knowledge Purposes. One way I use spreadsheets is to gather information from different sources online and keep it all together in one document. These types of spreadsheets are perfect for a quick reference for a topic that you are extrememly interested in. 

A good example of Organizing for Knowledge Purposes is this spreadsheet that lists all of the Books of the Bible. Of course, I could look up all of these facts in my Bible concordance, or Google, as I need them. But instead, now its all in one place for me.

This type of spreadsheet is great if you are really into facts, or if you are interested to know how things are categorized. A normal person probably wouldn't make a spreadsheet just to have random information on it that you could look up anyway, but I say, why not cut out the middle man all together and create your own reference. #SpreadsheetsAreFun

Organizing for Trending Purposes. Another great way to use spreadsheets when it comes to organizing stuff is, to organize in order to visualize trends. I personally don't do this frequently, but when I do, its always beneficial and satisfying. Ok....so don't judge me on this example.

This example shows all of the seasons of Survivor with random things that have happened in each season. The show has been on the air for over 15 years, so obviously some things have changed and evolved, both with gameplay and "twists" that production adds. The spreadsheet shows the presence of said gameplay or twists, and it shows ME the trends. 

For example, as a Survivor fan, I can see that for the past 18 seasons, there have been 15 "final 3" situations, and only 3 "final 2" situations (The first 12 seasons were ALL "final 2" situations). SO I know that, at this point of the series, it is the most likely that there will be a "final 3" as opposed to a "final 2."

Sorry everyone for the nerd overload.... The last installment of this series will be coming before 2015 ends. It will be Using Spreadsheets to Calculate.

Other Spreadsheet Posts
Tips & Tricks | List | Schedule | Organize | Calculate