Since almost everyone has plans for the three-day weekend – which marks the nominal end of Summer in ‘Merica – I thought you’d like to see how it breaks-out using our Seven Systems of Life approach to things.
As you’ll remember, these are Food, Shelter, Communications, Transportation, Energy, Finance, and Environment.
This last is more a catch-all. Environmental includes everything from healthcare to first aid, to the friends and other who surround you, right on through toilet paper and trash disposal. Several people have mentioned my lack of emphasis on other people but as someone who has actually lived “a little apart” I know a bit about people. Most aren’t real team players, they are way into me-me-me and the majority have addictions to useless time-wasters.
To my way of thinking, if it’s not a skill-builder, income producer, or spiritual fertilizer, it’s probably a time-waster. We’d hate to see you waste time as life is inly 18,000 days long anyway…once you hit grade school and begin to materialize on this here rock…
So here’s this weekend’s list:
Food:
1.Don’t eat undercooked BBQ. Especially pork and chicken.
2.Best BBQ sauce is about 2/3rd’s KC Masterpiece and 1/3rd Kum Kee Lee Hoisin sauce.
3.Homemade Teriyaki Sauce: ½ cup soy sauce, 4 tablespoons ketchup, ¼ cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of ginger powder, garlic powder (not salt!), one or two shots of spiced rum. OMG…adjust to taste or province.
4.Keep anything with mayo in it on ice and cool to touch.
5.Go light on carbs. Salad (Hearts of Romaine) and a BBQ meat with a sauce is not much work if you get the prewashed lettuce. The Teriyaki Sauce as a salad dressing is pretty good.
6.Never drink Sake cold.
7.Never drink beer warm.
8.Never let a person with either drive. No open booze containers because that’s just stupid.
Shelter
9.Don’t leave home without a reservation.
10. Don’t leave home without two credit cards.
11. Buy a tent with the tallest sn ake flap.
12. Don’t sleep near food…bears can smell very well….,so wash up after a face-full of food. Don’t smell like dinner.
Communications
13. Swear off all texting on holiday weekends.
14. Don’t waste a weekend on social media either. It’s a useless time sink.
15. Have enough minutes on your phone if a pay-as-you-go for emergencies.
16. Do you have your car-charger? Don’t leave home without it. Wall charger too…just in case.
17. Tell a relative or friends where you are going and who to call if you don’t show up.
18. On a boat, never leave shore without a two way radio.
19. On saltwater, never leave shore without a GPS (this also applies to the Great Lakes).
20. Check NOAA Weather Radio before casting off, driving off, taking off, or jumping off.
21. During is a good idea, too. Check your ADS-B display or call Flight Watch if fling…
Transportation
22. Fill the car up with gas when you get to your location.
23. Plan trips so you can go out – and back – on one tankful.
24. Gas prices are usually cheapest the Tuesday before the long weekend. If you stay home, avoid filling up till next week. Wednesday, I’m guessing.
25. Try to come home at a non-peak time. Not Monday afternoon. Don’t leave at 3 PM today…everyone on the planet does that. Call in “Well” Monday and roll in Wednesday if you have seniority and suck points. What’s the point of being a suck-up if the points don’t mean something?
26. Change oil, check belts, fill windshield washer last week. Not when it breaks this weekend.
27. Those pop-up tire pressure caps make it easy to check tires every time you stop – and when you roll out in the morning.
Energy
28. Bring spare batteries.
29. Bring a rechargeable battery charger if you use them.
30. Change your car battery before it goes dead. Five or six years seems about right.
31. Check battery fluid levels – use ONLY DISTILLED WATER and use a BATTERY SYRINGE and with glasses or safety goggles and not when the car is running… (Yeah, people are that dumb…)
32. Never run out of fuel. If you are lucky and a State Trooper comes along, fine. OTOH the USCG and the FAA take a dim view of stupidity. (We do too, but if we gave IQ tests to read the site, we would have a much smaller audience…(sigh).
33. If airplane flying – use the preflight checklist even if you can recite it in your sleep. And don’t chintz on the fuel drains to check for condensation in the tanks…triple important in humid areas if you don’t keep your tanks full. Yeah we will fly some this weekend.
34. Riding lawnmowers sometimes have gas caps on so tight fuel can’t flow. If you fill up, secure the cap but don’t reef it down with a breaker bar. (Go ahead, ask how I learned this one…) Fuel filled, no air could get in, so it caused a suction in the tank and it quit….true story.
35. Really: When was the last time you checked your spare tire? Jack? Wrench? Tire Pressures…
Finance
36. Refer to two credit card minimum. 36-A Split the tab if someone offers to buy. You will have more friends. Freeloading ain’t stylish.
37. Have enough cash on hand at all times to buy a tank of gas to get home on. Yeah…card readers do go out, but cash never goes out of style.,
38. NEVER spend money on something you can’t afford. If you don’t have the dough for a hotel, camp. If you don’t have camp gear, sleep in the car. Or save the gas money, stay home and learn a new job skill. Leverage your future with knowledge and the best possible spending of the one limited currency we all only get so much of: TIME.
Environment
39. One roll of toilet paper per person in a car.
40. One gallon of water per person.
41. One LifeStraw Personal Water Filter for every person traveling.
42. One MRE per person if more than a 3 hours trip.
43. Flashlight in trunk.
44. Take two days of meds for each day away from home.
45. Tums?
46. Aspirin/Ibuprofen?
47. HandiWipes?
48. Roll of paper towels?
49. Insect repellant
50. Windshield cleaning kit (microfiber towel, 0000-sized steel wool)
51. Dried fruit or trail mix
52. Bee string and allergy prep?
53. First Aid kit up to date?
Other items include Adstroglide/adult lubricant, DudeWipes, baby prevention materials an d all that but you’re a grown-up…
Live by M.F.M.B. = Matching Food equals Matching Breath. This is the WE either do garlic or not, drink wine or not, rule of happy relations. Right up there with NROOM (Never Run Out Of Money). Floss, brush and toothpaste! Trust the Old Man on this. 16-years of bliss…
This is not a comprehensive checklist, but if you follow everything on it, you might have a better time before, during, and after than might otherwise happen.
See you over the weekend… or back Tuesday morning.
The key thing about labor is: We do too much of that and not enough dispersion of the means of production…but we can have that discussion some other morning I suppose…
Write when you get rich…
Might I add having a list of people and phone numbers to call in case of problem . . .
My husband used to be in charge of ‘doing’; I was in charge of ‘information’ – and it worked pretty well . . .
George:
OCD much? Your ‘seven systems of life’ reads like a classically chronic case… anyone who carries a roll of TP for every passenger in a car for a casual holiday trip needs some serious therapy.
I could go for one roll for every two people and a jug of Kaopectate?
LOL…not for in-city people, I’m sure – there’s a Mickey D’s on every third corner. But rural? You don’t get out of town much?
Oh and OCD offsets ADHD, lol
You didn’t mention ham radio, 2 meter HT
GU, you’ve never had the worlds best BBQ sauce!
You will throw rocks at KC Masterpiece after tasting the real stuff! email me and I will send you a brand new bottle of authentic BBQ sauce. You’ve lived too long to deny yourself the best any longer.
Quit teasing! What’s the name of this sauce and where can we get it?
Plan ahead and take my wife.
If it is not in her purse, you don’t need it.
Exactly what my answer to my husband is when he kindly offers to carry my purse when he finds out how much it weighs. Everything and anything we could need in a pinch!
I’ve replaced most flashlights with https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GXAO1K/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
No batteries to leak in the car trunk, long burn time, cheap, enough light to do something, lighter than batteries and needing to carry spare batteries. Can get in other colors as well. Sure, not the long beam, but keeps from stubbed toes and investigating engine repairs.
As the saying goes, “I don’t know why its called COMMON SENSE, it doesn’t seem so common.
every car has a bag. every bag has:
water (2)
ration bars (2)
gloves
tarp
emergency blanket
pancho
light sticks
flashlight/radio
socks
cordage
bungees
wet wipes
trash bags
pencil/paper
extra cash
whistle/compass
knife
pepper spray
first aid kit
tylenol/advil/pepcid/immodium/allergy meds
lotion/sunscreen/bug wipes/sanitizer
junk box (nails/zip ties/ coffee filters/
lighter/fire starter/string/you get the idea)
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found need of stuff in the bag. Not “life threatening” situations, but certainly good to have on hand!
Condensation checks in avgas…out in the back of beyond, is there anyone who doesn’t catch all the gas-every last drop?
(ASEL 1966, well past my last flight check…)
Finding and keeping a significant other can improve productivity drastically, reduce or eliminate entertainment expenses(since you’re not seeking, just experiencing each other), and provide for spiritual growth for both parties. I see little downside if it’s possible to find the RIGHT person, though there is little information on how to do this. “Just be yourself” is dismissive and useless, “find common interests” is quite difficult for those way out of the box, and isn’t enough either. Pray is good, but even that is uncertain since we’re expected to do our part. The real problem is learning to communicate accurately and effectively non-verbally both ways, and that’s worthy of a book, or at least a PN column.
Its just another sales and marketing process. The steps are prospect, qualify, demonstrate, overcome objections, close, finance/marry, lol I don’t need a book. It’s a sales funnel/. The more you put in, the better the odds. Like fishing: More lines in the water catches mor4e fish! Must fish often to win
An observation: when exhausted, Kirkland batteries lead easier and more than copper-top…just sayin’…
You mean LEAK?>