I don't like to be the boy who cried wolf, but it seems that at least once a year I am reminded of how important emergency preparedness is.

Not so much from the unusual weather, but most often in the form of a visit to some loved one's home, where the disaster plans look like disasters themselves. Take my brother, (please!)

When the power went out a couple of weeks ago, I dropped by his place in West Campus to see how he was getting along.

When I pulled into his driveway, he was fiddling around under the hood of his truck.

He looked exasperated. "Do you know anything about voltage?" he asks. He had an apparatus of some sort wired to the battery with an extension cord running into his garage.

"I've got this converter and I'm trying to power my fridge and a space heater off of it," he said.

The smell of overheated wire was in the air.

"Not my area of expertise," I explained, "but I think you're overextending the capacity of your...thing-a-ma-jig, there."

It's not as though my brother's intentions aren't good.

He has some firewood put up, the pantry gets stocked with Costco sundries on a regular basis, but I think he suffers from what a lot of us suffer from.

We don't think it all through.

Ok, so imagine that the power is off and it's been three days already.

Shouldn't be too tough, you're working your way through the stuff in the fridge, the warmth in the house is tolerable if you keep the doors closed and wear some extra sweaters and socks.

But going on day five, with no way to heat up the canned food easily it starts to wear on you.

We all know better than to bring the gas grill inside, right? What's that? Last year, you did bring it in and you got carbon monoxide poisoning and you had to spend two nights at St. Francis?

Well, you won't make that mistake again. You bought a little propane heater/cooker at Sportsman's Warehouse and you've got plenty of propane bottles. You've cracked the window open near the cooking counter too.

So, day seven arrives and you hear on your battery operated radio that due to the big earthquake, water service is going kaput because the big generators are out of gas. Hmm...

Ok, so the bottled water should hold you for a few days, and the water in the electric or gas water tank is drinkable.

You can put a pan under the relief valve and you're good for another week. There is the toilet to consider though. Those buckets of water you've poured into the toilet are precious. Looks like it's day nine and you have resorted to the five gallon bucket with the nifty toilet seat that you also found at Sportsman's Warehouse and you've lined them with hefty bags for sanitary disposal. Good.

So you're relatively comfortable for another, solid couple of weeks.

The self reliance thing has you feeling fairly smug, and you should be because a couple of your neighbors did not do nearly as much planning as you and they're knocking on your door more and more often.

Those extra blankets you saved and the freeze dried food you got at GI Joes sure paid off.

Whether it's a simple power outage, an extended storm event, weeks of snow or the horror of a major earthquake or even (God forbid) a terrorist attack, making preparations are just good common sense.

I would never suggest to my brother or anyone else that we should live in fear of stuff like this, but over the years I've seen the results of good preparation and the lack of it, and it's clear that all of us should veer towards the former.

Spend some extra time making a list of the essentials, get the family involved and have a little fun with it. Make travel kits for the car with food and warm clothing, first aid and flashlights. Remember pet food and sanitation requirements and that low-tech solutions are best.

A hammer and some nails, some rope and tarps at the ready will make you smart, not paranoid. Duct tape and candles are not enough.

You should have a gas shutoff wrench, gloves and extra batteries too. If you never seem to get around to it, hopefully your neighbor will.

My brother will read this and get a little indignant, but it's a price I'll suffer if he decides to add a few things to his closet.