Guide for Personal Safety from Lightning

Picture from National Geographic

I was doing some research on lightning protection system when I come across this appendix from National Fire Protection Association standard (NFPA 780) which furnish guide for personal safety from lighting.

This information is useful especially this rainy season when almost everyday we experience lightning activity.

According to NFPA 780, during lightning activity, avoid going outdoors unless it is necessary.  Seek shelter in structures such as the following:

a. Dwellings or buildings that are protected against lightning  (structures with well designed and installed lightning protection  system).
b. Underground shelters such as subways, tunnels and caves.
c. Large metal-frame buildings.
d. Large unprotected buildings.
e. Enclosed automobiles, buses and other vehicles with metal tops and bodies.
f.  Enclosed metal trains and street cars
g. Enclosed metal boats and ships
h. Boats that are protected against lightning
i.  City streets shielded by nearby buildings

The following structures/locations should be avoided:

a. Small unprotected buildings, barns, sheds and so forth
b. Tents and temporary shelters
c.  Automobiles (non-metal tops or open)
d.  Trailers (non-metal or open)
e.  Hilltops and ridges
f.  Areas on top of buildings
g.  Open fields, athletic fields, golf courses
h.  Parking lots and tennis courts
i.   Swimming pools, lakes and seashores
j.  Near wire fences, clothes lines, overhead lines and railroad tracks
k. Under isolated trees
l.  Near electrical appliances, telephones, plumbing fixtures and metal or electrically conductive objects.

There are instances when it is not possible to choose a location that offers good protection from lightning.  In this case, the following should be observed:

a. Seek depressed areas - avoid mountain tops, hilltops and other high places
b. Seek dense woods - avoid isolated trees
c. Seek buildings, tents and shelters in low area
d. If caught in an exposed area, crouch as low as possible, keeping feet together, putting hands on knees.  To minimize the risk of direct strike, it is necessary to keep as low as possible but do not lie flat.  Minimize the area of the body in contact with the ground.

Lightning activities are natural phenomenon and we have no control over it so it is better to take precautionary measures to avoid injuries or deaths.  It is better safe than sorry.

Top 5 Reasons Why I want to be a Stay-At-Home-Mom

Since last year, my husband and I have been doing some thought of me going to be a stay at home mom (SAHM). Actually, it was my idea and I discussed it with him so we can carefully study the pros and cons of my being a SAHM.

Here are the top 5 reasons I presented to my husband why I wanted to become a stay at home mom:

1.   I want to personally attend to all our family needs.

- I want to plan and prepare healthy food for my family, assist my children on their lessons and assignments, bring and fetch them to school, make our house clean, organized and suitable for our family’s activities, take care of our personal belongings and most of all, just be there for them whenever they need me.

2.  I want to have control of my time.

- I want to have full control of my time ... not to be restricted by an 8 to 5 job. I want to be flexible with my time with no one telling me when to work or when to rest.

3.   I want to have a time for myself to do daily exercise routine for me to be healthy and fit.

- This year I turned 40 years old. Thanks God. Reaching this age is a blessing but it is also pay back time to all the abuse I did to my body when I was younger ... eating unhealthy foods, physical inactivity ... the result? ... obesity, high blood pressure and so on ... I need to do something now and that can only be realized if I'm not always in a hurry to go to work which also means less stress.

4.   I want to pursue my interests which I love and enjoy doing.

- I am a homebody type of person. I can stay at home for days and do things I love and enjoy ... needle works, gardening, housekeeping, on-line stock trading and the latest ... blogging.

5.  I'm so tired of travelling to and from work.

- Our office is in Alabang and I'm residing in Taguig.  I'm taking the public transportation and there's no direct route from our home going to the office so I have to take three (3) jeepney rides and one (1) tricycle ride ... it takes me one and a half to two hours (one way) travel to reach our office on time.   Taking the public transportation here in Metro Manila is really horrible that I'm more stressed commuting than doing my job for 8 hours.

Right now, I'm just finishing one project I am assigned to and next year, hopefully I can start being a stay at home mom. I'm excited and at the same time a little anxious because financially, we will be living in a single income but I believe that with proper budgeting, living a simple life and God's guidance, I can make it ... we can make it.

My Son's Creative Imagination

CJ my four year old son loves making something out of anything he sees interesting.  He plays with clothes hangers and makes butterfly figures, he ties handkerchiefs or plastic bags and he forms a fish figure.

This morning, he saw a plastic bag of ice drop sticks.  Those were extra ice drop  sticks my daughter used for her math subject last year.  He asked me if he could play with the sticks and I let him so he'll be busy and stop meddling with what I'm doing.

At first he was quite then after a while he called me to see what he have done.  Using the ice drop sticks, he formed a figure of a girl with long hair.  He told me it's his Ate (older sister) Christine.  I gave him a bond paper and asked him to transfer what he have done on the bond paper so we can see the figure clearly and we can take pictures of what he did.

CJ's masterpiece

CJ did a little mess because he broke some of the ice drop sticks but it's okay, he only showed his creativity and he had fun doing it.