www.markholder.org

Our winter in the South has been an odd one. A short spell of below freezing temps early on, followed by spring-like conditions for the majority of days, and now, in mid March, more below freezing temps. Luckily, we've had no snow this year, which happens to be the 30th anniversary of blizzard that struck the Deep South in 1993. Southern California, however, has received snow much like we did three decades ago. People stuck in their homes due to the snow experienced the same lack of preparedness I did. No food, downed power lines, inability to drive. Pardon me while I have a panic attack as I recall the experience. This event effected me profoundly and the ramifications continue to this day, one of which is prepping. I'm not a doomsday prepper (if SHTF and it's TEOTWAWKI, I'll be damned if I'm going to hang on as long as possible in that situation) but I do keep a small supply of food, water, flashlights, etc. We're more likely to lose power in a thunderstor...

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, radio was a constant companion in the Holder home. Even when it wasn't convenient - there was an AM station on the next street, and its signal was picked up by the family phone, so we often had to talk over the sound of the program. Sure, we watched too much TV back then, but radio was king. Rocky Face, GA is located between two large FM radio markets, so growing up I had a choice between Chattanooga and Atlanta stations. The Chattanooga stations came in more clearly, but Atlanta had more variety. Top 40 stations were most prevalent, but for me, there was only one kind of station: Album Oriented Radio. While Top 40 stations played just that, the most popular current singles, Album Oriented Radio (AOR) stations dug deeper, playing "deep cuts" from albums old and new. Atlanta's most popular AOR station was 96 Rock, where you could hear everything from the Eagles to Iron Maiden (often in the same hour). 96 Rock was THE station of the 80...