As I’m sure everyone knows by now, there’s a really nasty storm heading toward the Mid-Atlantic. My son’s college (the University of Delaware) shut down on Friday and is currently not slated to reopen until Wednesday. That’s actually an added bonus because we get to spend a few days with him at home.

My theory on big storms is very simple. Nearly all information you get on a pending storm comes from a source whose business model is predicated on selling advertising. Advertising is sold on the basis of how many people see that ad. Thus, if the local news station, weather.com, or The Weather Channel say equivocal things like “This could be a big storm….or it might fizzle and be nothing” people will tune it out and go about their business. But, if they say, “Folks, this could be really bad. We strongly encourage all schools to close and everyone to stay inside and stock up on essentials” we will all tune in 5 times an hour to get an update. And, guess what, the value of the advertising on that outlet goes up 10-fold.

That said, I confess that I have heeded the advice of all these Henny Pennies and gone out to stock up on essentials. Of course, the definition of “stocking up on essentials” varies widely across different people affected by the storm. A few pictures tell a thousand words.

How Everyone Else Prepared for Hurricane Sandy

The bottle water shelf at my local grocery store

How I Prepared for Hurricane Sandy

My grocery cart – key contents include soda, ribeye steak for indoor grilling, strip steak for making beef jerky and, of course, pop tarts

And, perhaps most important….

The essentials….