The containers are outfitted with basic supplies including; 150 cots and blanket, a propane cooker, large pots, soup stock, drink crystals, first aid supplies, cups, bowls, spoon and outdoor admin post tent.

"If there is any money at the end of this five year project, we will consider purchasing water and other personal preparedness supplies." ref:http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/corpsvcs/emerg/ess/contain.htm

There is no propane or water in these containers! They are supposed to be delivered by city staff from a City works yard?

Keys to the containers are held by the Community Centre Office, ESS co-ordinator, Vancouver Police and Fire Department.

So lets work out the numbers. There are about 250 units in my highrise building. Lets say the average unit has 3 occupants (750 people), if my building was to be evacuated; the needs of people from one evacuated downtown condo would exceed all the ESS containers alloted to the all Downtown Vancouver Community Centres.

Image of stranded victims of Hurricane Katrina inside of Superdome.

At least the ESS acknowledges this deficit:

"(Q) Provisions for 150 evacuees doesn't sound like enough if we faced a major earthquake.

(A) True, but our plans are to place containers at every community centre. We can either spread the evacuees around, or we can bring in supplies from community centres not being used as shelters. In recent earthquakes in Taiwan and Turkey, about 30% of the population were displaced from their homes, and faced with the prospect of sleeping on a cot in a gymnasium, many found accommodation with family or friends."

The ESS site says that if they are over run with evacuees from a major disaster, that they have access to a B.C. Housing warehouse in Burnaby.

We reccomend you plan today which family, friends or neighbors you can stay with if you have to evacuate your home.

"Big Ones occur here about every thousand years, much less frequently than in California. The last one occurred in what is now Seattle 1,100 years ago. By the geologic clock, this city is due for a catastrophic shake"

72 hours of emergency preparedness is better than none; but I think I'd be more comfortable with one week of supplies.

Seems that "Recent events have changed the recommendaton for 72 hours worth of supplies to ONE WEEK." according to the Regional District of Nanaimo Emergency Planning website.

What is interesting is that the site advices "Go to www.pep.bc.ca for further information." which showcases the old 72 hours.

I figure it doesn't hurt to have a few more cans and bottles, so I will prepare for one week.

Oh, BTW... Kudos to Canadian Tire for the donation of 100,000 litres of bottled water to low-income families on Vancouver's lower east side!

Gmail integrates Google's powerful search for finding that particular email.

Conversation view groups all emails of a particular thread together.

Ubertor websites integrate easily with Gmail for your Domain. Just copy and paste the MX Servers and your ready to receive your first email.

You can sign up for Google Apps and turn over your email service completely to Google. Just replace their MX Server with your own and all your incoming and outgoing email will piped through their 5 redundant mail servers.

If you are unable to modify your domains MX records you can forward your email to your Gmail Account and change your reply to address be the same as the email address with which you recieved the email.

Currently Gmail account are only by invitaion. Send me an email if you would like an invite.

1. Communication

Google Apps are about communation. Effective and easy communications is critical to all businesses especially startups. You need to be able to easily communicate with your team, vendors, press, leads and clients. Having email, instant messaging and shared calendars keeps everyone on the same page.

2. Web Based

Google Apps are webbased. Nothing to download or install. Works on any computer with a web browser and internet. You can be up and running within minutes.

3. Price

Google Apps are free. Conserving cash is critical to a brand new business. Think really hard about any expenditure that is not going to directly contribute to a sale.

Here is what Google has to say about their web application suite:

"Google Apps for Your Domain lets you offer private-labeled email, IM and calendar accounts to all of your users, so they can share ideas and work more effectively. These services are all unified by the start page, a new addition to this service, a unique, dynamic page where your users can preview their inboxes and calendars, browse content and links that you choose, search the web, and further customize the page to their liking. You can also design and publish web pages for your domain.

It's all free* and everything is hosted by Google. No hardware or software required."

Sign up for Google Apps here

So, I signed up our Disaster Preparedness Kits for Condo Dwellers business up.

2 minutes later, I received a disapointing email from Google.

"Hello Michael,

  Thanks for your interest in Google Apps for Your Domain. Unfortunately, we are not able to invite your domain condoark.com into the beta at this time, because you have reached the maximum number of domains per administrator. If we increase this limit, we'll let you know by email.

Sincerely,
The Google Team"

Disapointed, I decided to just forward emails received at CondoArk.com to my personal Gmail Account.

Operating on a very strict timetable, we decided to take advantage of their refund policy and try another provider; Logo Design Pros.

We found Logo Design Pros in the Sponsored Link section of a Google search for "Logo". I figure sponsored links are our best bets for this stage of our buy cycle.

Logo Design Pros offers the same satisfaction guaranteed policy, so we proceed to try them. Knowing that our logo may be designed by someone who is not a native English speaker we enddevaur to give them great detail about our needs.

Company Name:CondoArk.com

Company Slogan: Emergency Preparedness Kits for Urban Dwellers

Company Description: Emergency preparedness information for Condo Dwellers. Lifestyle Emergency Preparedness Kits for Urban Homes; comfort and well being in a time of disaster. Emergency Supplies from 72 hours to 1 week.

Product Description: Condo Ark's are the Lifestyle Disaster Preparedness Kit for Condo Dwellers. The Condo Ark kit has everything you need to be self sufficient for 72 hours. Be ready with the essentials for your mind and body with our easy to store ark. Included is water, organic energy bars, gourmet canned food, tools including a jack as well as a deck of cards and condoms to name a few of the items.

Comments: The Ark in condoArk.com is of Noah's Arc the huge ship or vessel. Or it can be a chest. As, something that would store/contain essential life supplies. http://www.answers.com/ark&r=67 . It is not a ARC, as in a geometric shape. http://www.answers.com/arc&r=67

To keep things moving, we opt for thier 24 hours $100.00 Rush Option.

24 hours later. nothing.

48 hours later we received this:

The logo's and client interface look similar to LogoJeez's, is it possible the are the same company, operating uder two different names?

Here are the logos side by side; left side is from LogoJeez and Logo Design Pros on the right.

So, 24 hours late, 48 hours after ordering I am presented with more clip art logos.

Logojeez emailed me a link to the 5 designs. I logged and was pleasantly surprised but something struck me as not just right.

Here is snapshot of the 5 logo's.

Anyway, upon further examination Adam Baechler (my business partner in this proof of concept business) pointed out that a few of the logo's incorporated an "arc"; the geometric shape.

So, I tried to report this to LogoJeez and discovered that they do not offer phone support, just email.

I emailed them this:

"Re: Order 2610944

Hello,

The Ark in condoArk.com is of Noah's Arc the huge ship or vessel. Or it can be a chest. As, something that would store/contain essential life supplies. http://www.answers.com/ark&r=67

Your designers interpretted an ARC, as in a geometric shape. http://www.answers.com/arc&r=67

Please send me 5 designs of the correct Arc."

Guess we'll wait to see how long they take to reply and if they submit to me another 5 designs for consideration.

Here are the five logo's in more detail.

I searched on google.com for Logo's and ended up choosing due to their see before you pay promotion. How could I not do it?