Post Jul. 28
Buy 9-volt batteries. It's just one of the handful of things I reminded myself to get as I left the house the other morning. The battery in my smoke detector was dying and I didn’t even want to think about listening to the insistent beeping for weeks on end. But, the beeping did get me thinking about a website I peruse from time to time,
theburninghouse.com. The curator, Foster Huntingdon (I'm pretty sure that's his real name, although I'm a little suspicious) asks one question that is extremely hard to answer:
"If your house were burning, what would you take with you?…"
People submit a list and a photograph of their items, usually in a
neatly organized style, which has become pretty popular on many lifestyle blogs. And this got me thinking, “What would I take?”
The first few items were easy: Family photos, important papers, my MacBook, but was there anything else? Well, maybe just a few other things…
- Hard drives with music, photos, backups and important files
- Family photos (they're scanned, but you can't beat the real thing)
- iPod Touch
- Phone
-
The Bern Book (my favorite book, no pun intended)
- Leatherman (if I can't fix it with this, it's staying broke)
- Beach stones from a road trip through New England
- A windup toy horse
- A tiny buddha statue from Thailand
- MacBook Pro
- CMYK-themed Asics Onitsuka Tiger Ultimate ’81s (total design nerd sneakers, but I love them anyway)
- 1950s office chair "liberated" from a dorm room
- First Friday Flaneurs t-shirt
- Wallet
- Moleskine
- Passport, SSI card, birth certificate
- Coffee cup I made
- Classic graphite iBook clamshell (still alive and kicking!)
- Personal letters (from the days before email)
*Not pictured: Two fat cats, a wood slab coffee table and a photo of a smiling buddha
There's no way I could save all of these things should the worse happen, but it was a good exercise in assessing what I hold most dear. I think this is everything I need.
Except for 9-volt batteries. Buy 9-volt batteries.
What would you save from your burning house?