• CARRY A CELL CHARGER: If you have a cell phone (and you should, if you can afford it), make sure you invest in a "travel version" and take with you everywhere possible. Too many people are stuck with the bigger ones that come with the phones and are reluctant to carry them around.
• REMOTE ACCESS FOR HOME PHONE: Know how to access your home answering machine remotely. If you are stuck away from home, this is a very useful skill. Most people just know to hit the "play" button when they come home.
• NOTE 10 VITAL E-MAIL ADDRESSES: Write down your 10 most important e-mail addresses in a place that is
  not your computer (say, in a notebook or Palm PC). That way, if you lose access to your office computer, you can still contact people you need to reach. Many people rely on the e-mail "alias" to write to their e-mail - "Mom" or "John" or "Mary" - that they don't know the real addresses. Also pay more attention to addresses so you can recall them if necessary.
• SETUP WEB-BASED E-MAIL: Set up a Yahoo or Hotmail account for free e-mail that is not PC centric. This way, if you lose your office access, you have way to send e-mail, from anywhere in the world.
• SETUP AND USE INSTANT MESSAGING SOFTWARE: If phone lines are jammed, the Internet might still work and instant messaging (also known as "IM"). If you already have accounts on AOL, MSN or Yahoo, you probably use it already. If you don't time to learn. If you are not on any of the services, you can sign up for AIM, an AOL service for which you don't need AOL access. You can learn about it AIM.com. You can also learn How Instant Messaging Works from HowStuffWorks.com.
• SETUP AN E-MAIL GROUP: Set up a free account for all your family members at YahooGroups.com or Topica.com and you will be able to communicate with them with just one e-mail message. It's a great way to circulate information and keep in touch - and wish everyone on their birthdays and such. My family uses a list, and we have more than 30 people in seven countries on it. Right after 9/11, we were able to let everyone know what was going on thanks to this e-mail group. Only one person needs to be registered with Yahoogroups, the administrator. Everyone else just uses their regular e-mail.
• CREATE AN EMERGENCY PLAN FOR YOUR FAMILY: There are several sites that help you create emergency plans and compile information with check lists and other useful resources.
• Ready.gov: This is the now famous site prepared by the government to help you prepare for emergencies. It's checklists and plan pages are very handy.
• NYC.gov: The official site of New York City allows you to register and receive emergency notices and provides information on the security situation in the city and the region.You can register here and see the emergency "go bag" here.
• 4MyEmergency.com: In January 2002, I recommended this Web site and am doing so again. This is an excellent site for these difficult times. It allows you to track your personal medical, insurance and other information. It's free and is not stored on the site - it's stored on YOUR computer, so the data is safe. Here's my full review. Sign up for it today.
• GoToMyPC.com: This service allows you to connect to a particular PC from anywhere in the world, once the softrware is installed on the host computer. If you are unable to get to the office for some reason, it works really well. There's a good free trial meant to be used during winter storms, but you can use it anytime here. Here's my full review.

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