Friday, September 04, 2009

Are You Prepared for a Major Emergency? "There's smoke coming from the Pentagon!" one of my coworkers shouted. I ran to his office window where we worked at the top of the Old Post Office Building in downtown Washington, DC, to witness black ribbons flowing from the Department of Defense building. This, after just watching the Internet's news about the attack on the World Trade Centers that morning, September 11, 2001. We were allowed to leave work-but I was at a loss as to how to get home since I had heard that the subway was closed. I had just moved from DC to a suburb in Maryland, and didn't know an alternate way to get home. I ended up stuck on a gridlocked bus for four hours because I didn't have another plan. Are you prepared for a natural disaster, potential terrorist attack, or other major crisis? September is the sixth annual National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The companion website, Ready.gov, gives you tips on what to include in a basic emergency supply kit, and suggests ways to contact and regroup with family members in an emergency. It also offers information on a variety of emergency situations, such as influenza pandemics, wildfires, chemical threats, and winter storms, and recommends preparations for businesses as well. Interactive features help you personalize a family emergency plan, and links take you to sign up for free emergency alerts from your local government. You also can follow Ready.gov on Twitter, or take the Readiness Quotient quiz. USA.gov offers information on preparing for emergencies for specific groups, including people with disabilities, kids, and pets, and links to federal information on disasters and emergencies. Since 9/11, I've maintained an emergency supply kit and made it a point to learn a variety of ways to get home. Do you have an emergency kit and plan? - Stephanie [Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog] 9:42:54 AM     Upcoming Events at HPL MCGS Board Meeting September 8 6:30 pm Muskegon County Genealogical Society Board meeting at the Torrent House. Ulysses Group September 8 10:00 am Julia Hackley room. Book Discussion Group. This month's book is In the Land of Invisible Women by Qata Ahmed. For more information call 231-722-7276. Yarnspinners September 9 7:00 pm Torrent House. Storytelling Group. Family Genealogy Workshop September 12 10:30 - 11:30 am Learn how to do Genealogy research in the Local History Department. For more information call 231-722-7276 x 233 Scrabble FUNdraiser September 12 7:00-10:00 p.m. “Read Muskegon,” Muskegon County’s nonprofit adult literacy organization, is hosting its First Annual Read Muskegon Scrabble® FUNdraiser on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009 at the Masonic Temple, 396 West Clay. Amateur and serious scrabble players welcome. There will be food, fun, and prizes. Individuals or teams of four are urged to sign up now to raise money for adult literacy in Muskegon County. The entry fee is $25.00 for individuals or $100 for teams of 4 players. Or sponsor a team! Read Muskegon promotes adult literacy through free, one-on-one tutoring for adults in Muskegon County who cannot read or who have difficulty reading. Information and applications are available at readmuskegon.org, your local public library, or call Courtney Schaub at (231) 777-3926. Hackley Library Board Meeting September 15 5:30 pm Julia Hackley Room, Hackley Public Library. Open to the public. For more information call 231-722-7276 x 222 Family Spelling Bee September 16 6:30 pm Youth Services. Form your own two person Spelling Team and join HPL's Spelling Bee. Teams must have one child and one adult. Try for the Best Speller Prize, or join the End of Bee Prize Drawing, open to all participants. Registration required. Call 231-722-7276 x 230. Please call the Youth Services Department at 231-722-7276 x 230. Mini class on Searching the Catalog-1 September 16 2:00 pm Drop by the Julia Hackley room for a mini class. Feel free to bring your own laptop, otherwise the class is a watch-and-learn. This week's class is searching the Lakenet Catalog. For more information or to register call HPL at 231-722-7276. 9:39:47 AM     We're Moving Within the next two weeks our blog will be moving! We will be at http://hackleypubliclibrary.blogspot.com/. The beta site is up if you want to take a peek. 9:20:40 AM     How to file a complaint This past month my Internet service provider has been the bane of my existence. My service has been fickle, at best. More often than not, it will work for a few hours and then stop. And then I'll spend another hour on the phone with customer service trying to troubleshoot. They've sent a technician once to fix the problem, and our service worked for a week or two, but then last week it went out again. I wasted more time on hold and talking to very nice and very helpful customer service agents. (That's not sarcasm, the people I spoke with this time around tried to do the best they could.) But alas, my service still goes out every couple hours and then stays out for several more. I finally had to file a complaint against the company. I've never had to do that before so I turned to ConsumerAction.gov for advice on what to do. My first instinct was to call up my Better Business Bureau, but ConsumerAction.gov advised that I try to contact someone higher up at the company first. So I hunted around on the company Web site until I found a contact name and email for the Vice President of customer relations. Then I followed some of the suggestions from one of the sample complaint letters and read about next steps to take. I decided I'd wait a week before contacting the BBB to see if the company could resolve the problem. Earlier this week I got a phone call from the company telling me they were trying to get the problem fixed as soon as possible and I have another technician coming out this week. I really hope this solves the whole problem. I hate paying so much for service and then not having it and I'd really rather not have to file a complaint with the BBB. Have any of you ever had problems with a company that you had to file a complaint against? What was the process like? Was it easy or tough and did you get the results you wanted? - Jess [Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog] 9:17:44 AM

© Copyright 2009 Jocelyn Shaw. Last update: 9/16/2009; 9:11:49 AM. Photo curtesy of Marjorie O'Brien