Moving? Pack an Emotional First Aid Kit – Positive-Attitude
Moving? Pack an Emotional First Aid Kit
From Making the Big Move: how to transform relocation into a creative life transition.For a wilderness trek, you pack sunscreen, bandages, and insect repellent. When you relocate to a new home or a new job, you face loneliness and upheaval, not alligators or killer mosquitoes.Here's what to include in your emotional first aid kit.Coping phrases for frazzled moments."There is time to do whatever I need."
"I will always have options."
"No matter what happens, I know I can cope."Phone numbers of friends and family who will laugh or cry with you.Photos of family, friends, special places, and pets;Tapes of meditation, inspiration and visualization.DON'T pack:Wet blankets: Leave behind the "friends" who share horror stories. They'll smother your dreams.Expensive treats: A maxed-out credit card creates stress. Think of small ways to reward yourself.Things you always meant to do (you probably won't read War and Peace while waiting for the moving van to arrive).Pack seasick tablets and you'll probably walk through a storm. Prepare for the worst and you'll probably wonder why you worried.Details of each point can be found in Making the Big Move, originally published as a trade paperback, now available for instant download.About The AuthorCathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant, helping midlife professionals take their First step to a Second Career. http://www.cathygoodwin.com."Ten secrets of mastering a major life change" mailto:subscribe@cathygoodwin.comContact: cathy@cathygoodwin.com 505-534-4294
Moving Troops and Evacuation Strategies
Moving Troops and Evacuation Strategies
There are many ways to evacuate people from disasters like Hurricane Katrina for instance. There are also many ways to move troops to the area of conflict. One way to move vast amounts of people, is to do so with large aircraft. Another idea, which has been kicked around, was lowering body functions to a near standstill through human hibernation techniques like what an anesthesiologist would do.The new paradigms of war are changing and sometimes it is more important to get the troops there quickly so we would load them all on a C-5 Galaxy or Boeing 747, so perhaps human hibernation is not such a good idea? However, it could be an option for transporting people home from theatre in Iraq or Afghanistan to save food, help wounded bodies slow down.Maybe we should use it to collect illegal border crossers or enemies caught and taken prisoner. They finally wake up safely in Gitmo, Cuba, in their cell safe from harm. You could stop hundreds of looters and ship them to a secure detainment facility without the stress of potential conflict.One concept of interest is the Boeing Pelican model using the aircushion or ground effect. Kind of reminds me of Howard Hughes Spruce Goose. See a picture here:http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2002/september/photos/Sept-Frontiers0050lg.jpghttp://foxxaero.homestead.com/files/Boeing_Pelican_WEB.gifWell, this idea might be better used to move massive amounts of people out of a region in an airlift or air rescue mission. Imagine putting 60,000 people to sleep loading them in air-cargo containers and putting them into a Pelican? Imagine if we had a few of these to aid in the "Operation Rebuild?" Or for around the world type movements of refugees, which you could not feed, simply hibernate them, then putting them in one of Schulmberger's many 747's or heck just ship them FedEx.If you had to evacuate 1 million people from let's say a coming Cat 5 Hurricane, you have everyone go to an airport and then lay them down, put them to sleep and ship them out to a safe haven and wake them up as you have resources for ground transportation once there. After all it takes some 2 hours to load up a 747 and another 2-hours to unload it and many aircraft all arriving at that same time or near the same time anywhere would over load the airports and over stress terminals and ground transportation.Perhaps we can learn better evacuation techniques from this Hurricane Katrina dilemma? Think on this."Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs
A Moving Experience: Making Your Move Easy on Your Parrots
A Moving Experience: Making Your Move Easy on Your Parrots
Moving is about as stressful a time as any in our lives and the lives of our fids. Having just completed moving the "gang" into a new house, I thought I would share some of the things that helped our move go smoothly. The feathered crew (Alex and Zeke, African Greys and April, Umbrella Cockatoo) have settled in nicely and things returned to normal quickly. Granted, the move was to a nearby city and we were not on the road in the U-Haul for more than an hour, but I believe preparing the birds had everything to do with their reduced stress level and smooth transition.I also want to mention that there is the coolest service for moving called PODS (Portable On Demand Storage). I had it delivered to my old house the weekend before the actual move. This allowed me to pack up all my non-essentials at my leisure, clear out the house and cut down on the stress and chaos of the actual moving day. They took the "POD" away and stored it at their warehouse until the day I scheduled it to be delivered to my new house. I only had to rent a U-Haul for a few left over things and the bird cages.Everything but a blanket, pillow, alarm clock, bird supplies and cages (that didn't get into the POD) were packed up in the U-Haul the night before the actual move. Renting the U-Haul for an extra day was really worth it! All I had to do on moving day was gather up a few things, place the birds in the carriers, load up the cages and away we went to our new home. My "POD" was delivered to my house later that afternoon and I had as much time as I wanted to unload it. It arrived on a Friday and I scheduled the POD pickup for the following Tuesday.The reason I recommend a service like PODS is that it relieved so much stress. I was calm, the birds were calm and I could focus on making them more comfortable instead of running around loading things up at the last minute. I will never move without PODS again - it was that good!The move actually took place in several stages.Stage 1 - Keep the Fids InformedHouse hunting is always both exciting and exhausting. But, when I found a house I really liked and the offer was accepted, I showed the flyer with the picture of the new house to the fids and told them all about it. I told them how nice it would be for them to have a bigger room with nice big windows and everything. Yes, I really did this! They may not understand all the words, but they get the fact that something is up.When my old house sold and the paperwork was progressing along nicely, I started packing. I made sure they saw what I was doing and I would talk about the moving day and how exciting it would be.Stage 2 - Prepare the FidsA few days before the actual move, I cleared out my master bedroom and moved the fids out of their normal "bird room" and into the master bedroom. It was only across the hall, and not in totally unfamiliar surroundings. But, it conveyed the message to them loud and clear that change was coming. I made the move in the morning so they would have time to get used to the new room before bedtime.After their first night in the master bedroom, I introduced the idea of travel. They have all been in carriers at one time or another, but I didn't have three carriers, I only had one. I went and bought a new one and borrowed another to make three. Three days before moving day, I placed each carrier in front of the cage of the bird that would be using that particular carrier. I placed them there all set up and ready to go with the doors open.After they stated at the carriers for a few hours, I took each parrot and placed them in the carrier briefly. Just long enough to close the door, tell them how good they were and take them out again. The next day I kept them in there a little bit longer, about 5 to 10 minutes or so. The third day, I placed each into their carrier for about a half an hour. I also picked them up in it and walked around the house. All the while telling them how good they were and about moving day the next morning.Stage 3 - Moving DayI woke up early. We were supposed to arrive at our new house at 8 a.m. because the phone company, cable and internet company, etc. were arriving that day to set things up. And you know them, they are so exact on the appointment times, "Sometime between 8 a.m. and noon" was about as precise as it got. I needed my phone and internet hooked up pronto, of course, what's an online parrot supply store going to do without the online part and a phone?I talked to the fids for a little bit and told them this was it. Moving day was here! Then I put them in their carriers and started loading up their cages. (They have big cages.) They all went in their carriers without a fuss. I put them by the front door so they could watch their cages being loaded and telling them how exciting their new home was going to be. The last thing I did was put them all on the front seat of the U-Haul with me and drove off to our new house.Along the way, I picked up my helper for the day who would help me get their big cages up the steps to the new house. April actually greeted her with a big "Hi!" She wasn't stressing at all! Upon arrival at the new house, the first thing we did was to bring the birds inside and put them in their new room. Of course, I was talking to them the whole time. Then, we unloaded cages and one by one they were placed inside. I prepared their food and water like I always do and tried to keep things as normal as possible for them. All that was completed and the birds completely set back up in their cages before anything else was done.Stage 4 - New DigsI kept things as normal as possible for them. After a day or two they were pretty darn comfortable. That's when I started being a tour guide. Each was given a tour of a different room. I went from room to room, one a day or a whole house tour. It depended on the bird's comfort level. I made sure to point out the windows to them and have them touch it so they know not to fly into it. Things returned to normal quickly and they really love their new space!I really believe that it went so smoothly because each of the steps prepared them for the next. I was shocked at how quickly they adjusted to life at the new house. They were even back to talking within hours of the move. April even talked IN THE U-HAUL. I hope this has been helpful to anyone considering a move in the near future!Your Parrot Place
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