Book Signing and Presentation

I'll be doing a book signing and a 30-minute speech titled "Dealing with Danger" at Borders Books, Flatirons Mall, Broomfield, Colorado on Saturday March 12, 20011. The book signing is from 11 am until 1 pm. The speech starts at about 2:15 pm.
Here's a link to more information about the store location
Hope to see you there!

Always know when and how to escape

In 1977, the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Ohio burned to the ground. It was a large building, standing in its own grounds. It consisted of various ballrooms, bars and dining facilities. People held wedding receptions and other functions there. On that night in 1977, there were about three thousand people--customers and staff--in the building.

A member of the staff noticed that a small fire had begun and began to notify the staff and the customers. The building did not have the sophisticated fire alarm systems that buildings have now, and the staff had to go to each room and tell people to leave because there was a fire.

Some people left immediately, others took a little more time to leave, and (amazingly) others just sat at their tables and continued with what they were doing. Some people, it is said, even ordered another round of drinks. It may have been the last thing that some of them did.

Around 167 people died in the fire. When firefighters eventually put out the flames and walked through the wreckage, they found a few people who had died, sitting at their tables.

Why didn't they try to escape?

I think there may be a couple of reasons:

First, some people just don't believe that something bad will happen to them. You may even know somebody who, when you remind them to put on their seatbelt in the car, or to not walk home alone late at night, or to not hitch-hike, will simply dismiss your concerns and say, "It'll be OK. Don't worry." As if you're nuts to even think about the possibility of danger.

Second, there are people who have no real understanding of the concept of being aware of their surroundings and never give a thought to their own safety.

In either case, when they are confronted with a situation they cannot ignore, such as a fire in the building where they are, they are forced to go through three mental and emotional phases. First, the go into denial (this cannot possibly be happening to me!); when they finally accept that it is happening to them, they go into phase two, deliberation (what do I do now?); and finally, in phase three, they do whatever it is they decided on in phase two (action).

The problem is that this mental exersize takes time. And if they take too long to figure out what it is they should be doing, they run out of time and they die.

It is far better to have developed a simple plan before it is ever needed. In the example above, anyone who visited the supper club for the first time should have made a note of the location of the exits and been aware that in the event of a fire (or any other physical threat) they could, and should simply leave by the nearest exit as quickly as possible.

This isn't rocket science. It's just a question of being aware of your surroundings, coming up with a very simple plan to deal with whatever situation may be a possible threat, and to know what event will trigger you putting that plan into action.

For example: "I can see two ways to get out of this restaurant in addition to the way I came in. If there is a fire in the restaurant I will leave immediately by whichever exit will get me outside the quickest and easiest."

Once you have a plan, you can go ahead and enjoy your meal, knowing that you have a way out if you need it.

Armed American Radio

Last night I was a guest on Armed American Radio. This is one of the fastest growing radio shows in the country, and last night they added local stations in Illinois and California to their growing pool of listeners. The show covers topics associated with firearms ownership, legislation and crime. One interesting aspect of the show was my discussion with host Mark Walters about the murder of a Georgia police officer by a career criminal. It seems crazy that the justice system allows violent offenders to get into a cycle of being caught and released to commit another violent crime, caught and released again.

We agreed that the legal system has to be reined in to do more with repeat offenders than just put them in this revolving door system that has been a problem for decades. (Does anybody remember career criminal Willie Horton, who gained notoriety during the 1988 Bush/Dukakis presidential campaign?) Mark is going to kick off this effort with a petition to the government that will be available on the Armed American Radio website, and we'll see where it can go from there.

Be Competent

It is part of human nature to strive to be the best that we can be in some chosen field or occupation. People who are Number One, whether it is in sports or academic achievement or professional entertainment, are applauded by the rest of us.

That’s fine, but the problem is that very few people are number one at everything they do. And many people who are at the top of their game in one field fail dismally in other activities because they have put their lives into being the very best at one thing.

So often, society rewards us for being exceptional, for being number one in our chosen endeavor. Nobody remembers who finished second in any major race, competition or political election.

But in reality, in day-to-day life, isn’t it often the people who are “adequate but not exceptional” who are often the most useful because they are “adequate but not exceptional” in several different fields. In other words, the people who finish in second place are still finishers. They still accomplished their goal (or at least a major part of it).

On a sinking ship, an adequate swimmer is more likely to survive than a world class professional rock guitarist. When we talk about a mugging, a sixty-year-old retired police officer may well do better than a thirty-year-old dentist.

Most of us don’t have the ability to be number one in a single field. But in many aspects of life, being a good all-rounder actually makes us more useful for ourselves and other people.

I recently listened to a short piece of a radio interview with musician Billy Joel where he said (and I’m paraphrasing here) that he knows how to play a piano, how to sing, how to write songs, how to record songs, how to perform in public, but that he did not consider himself to be really good at any of those skills. What he does consider himself to be is competent.

The dictionary defines competent as “… having suitable or sufficient skill, knowledge, experience, etc., for some purpose; properly qualified; adequate but not exceptional.” Notice those three words: “suitable,” “sufficient,” and “adequate.” They define the person who has a wide range of skills that may not be complete, but will be enough to help them to survive a wide array of threatening situations.

If, for example, you can think on your feet quite well, run quite well, punch, kick, stab and shoot quite well, you are probably “adequate but not exceptional.” And if, on top of those skills, you are constantly aware of what is happening around you, and you have a good plan for how you will deal with specific threatening situations and which of your skills you will use and when to use them, then you are probably much closer to being number one as a survivor than most people around you.

When we think about surviving disasters, it would be nice if we were all experts of whatever disaster threatens our lives, but in reality, we are better off having a core set of skills and a highly developed survival mindset that allows us to be competent to deal with a variety of threatening situations that we cannot avoid.

You don’t necessarily have to be a champion boxer or cage fighter to survive a mugging. Of course it helps if you are, but many people survive knowing just a handful of fighting moves: kick, punch, block, throw etc, but what few moves they do know, they can do very well. In the same way, the average driver knows enough to avoid car accidents most of the time, without having to become a world class NASCAR or Grand Prix racer.

By all means, strive for excellence; be number one in your chosen field, but remember also that true survivors are likely to be competent in several different areas.

Keep Your Credit Card Safe

Most people have at least one credit or debit card, and many people routinely carry them all.
The obvious problem is that if a person's wallet or purse is stolen or if all the cards are stolen it's a huge headache to inform the various credit card companies and banks and it may be too late to avoid incurring the charges that a thief runs up on those cards.

What is at least as bad is when the card owner does not realize for a long time that their card has been stolen. Thieves are now substituting similar-looking expired cards for the owner's original and it's likely the theft will go undetected until the next time the owner tries to use their card.

But there are ways for credit card owners to reduce the risk of becoming a victim of this card switcheroo:

1. Every time you take your card out, look at the name on it to verify that it's your card and not some stolen or expired card.

2. Every time you hand your card to anyone, a store assistant, waiter or pizza delivery guy, check that the card they give back to you is indeed your card.

3. Don't leave your purse or wallet lying around where someone can switch your credit cards.

4. To minimize the effects of a theft, try to carry only one credit or debit card in your wallet or purse. If you need to carry more than one, then consider carrying the extra card in some other location such as in a money belt, in a secure pocket that can be buttoned, zippered or Velcro'd closed, or even punch a hole in one corner of the card, run a cord through the hole and carry it around your neck! (provided you can do it without breaking the card and losing it.)

5. Finally, always keep a photocopy of each credit and debit card in a secure location so that you can quickly contact the credit card company or bank that issues the card with details.

Sure, it's a pain to have to do all this, but as long as you have money or credit, someone is going to want to take it away from you.

The Lesson of the Japanese Tea Bowl

In Japan, drinking tea has been a carefully orchestrated ritual for centuries. The tea is served in a bowl, rather than a cup with a handle. If the tea is too hot to cradle the bowl in the palms of your hands, then it's too hot to drink. Think of it as a warning system to stop the tea drinker from scalding their mouth.

Here in the west, we go to the local Starbucks or similar coffee place and drink tea and coffee from mugs and cups with handles or get it to go in a paper cup with an insulating cardboard sleeve, or our own insulated container with a lid.

Most of us have scalded ourselves at some time or another with that first hasty sip from a cup containing near-boiling liquid. Why? Because we have circumvented the Japanese warning system. By insulting and protecting our hand with a mug handle or a protective sleeve, instead of our hand being the first thing to be scalded, it's our mouth.

We insulate ourselves from an early warning system in other ways too. Any time we are out in public and we are listening to music through stereo ear pieces, or we are texting while driving and not watching where we are going, we risk becoming a victim of an attack or an accident.

Don't insulate your senses from what is around you. Remember the lesson of the Japanese tea bowl.

Book Signing Today!

Today is a big day for the Junkyard Dog. I'll be signing copies of my book, "Dealing with Danger" at Borders Books, Flatirons Mall, Broomfield, Colorado at 1pm. The book is $15.95 and you can also order it online at www.lulu.com and also at www.amazon.com . You can also check my website www.junkyard-dog.net for more details.

The next book signing is also at Borders in Broomfield on Saturday, June 26th at 1pm.

Have a great weekend, and don't forget to look around you and be aware of your surroundings!