Anyone else freaking out about the potential for an avian flu pandemic? Seems like that’s all I’ve been hearing about lately and, between what’s been in the newspapers and the people I’ve been speaking with for the December cover story of Medical Meetings magazine (all about disaster-prep training for physicians and healthcare workers), I am on a high-red freak alert. Even though I know the scientific reality behind all the hype, I still hesitated before scarfing some chicken last night.

Then I read this on The Onion (a satire site): Study Reveals Pittsburgh Unprepared For Full-Scale Zombie Attack. OK, they’re right. Time to stop getting crazy and start getting a grip on ourselves and do what we reasonably can do to hunker down for the next big thing. But we really do need to do what we can–it’s easy to feel sorry for Katrina victims if we don’t live on the Gulf Coast (and now Wilma’s gearing up to do her worst, wherever she lands), but the dam in Taunton, Mass., has been threatening to blow right here in Massachusetts, and our neighbors in New Hampshire, Western Mass., and elsewhere in the Northeast have already been flooded out of house and home. Anything could happen, anywhere, any time.

So, get your disaster kit ready, and make sure you and your family could survive for 72 hours without leaving your home (these are the two most important things we each can do to ensure our survival during a disaster, according to some experts I spoke with yesterday). And, of course, report any zombie sightings immediately.