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" Grundig FR200 Radio ($40)  With no TV or internet, I turned to radio as my connection to the larger world. The Grundig FR200 can be powered by a hand crank, if batteries are in short supply, and it also has a little emergency light that was useful on a couple of occasions. The radio has AM/FM and shortwave, so it also became my main source of entertainment during the outage. One night was spent counting how many different languages I could hear (six). The good times never stopped rolling during the power outage. Multipurpose Lighter ($2.50)  Under normal circumstances, burnt-down candles with high sidewalls would quickly find themselves in the trash. In this emergency, though, I was alarmed at how quickly my candle supply was getting, well, burned through. Using this long-necked lighter (which I once considered a lame alternative to a good match), I was able to extend my candle supply by practically a third.  Striker LED Light ($8)  Though it looked more like a cat toy than a flashlight, the Striker LED proved essential, particularly in the kitchen. Not only is it very small, but because it&amp;#039;s covered with magnets, you can stick it on the side of the fridge and direct the light wherever needed. It&amp;#039;s brighter than you&amp;#039;d expect, too. The Striker ended up being the go-to light for all quick trips out of the candle-lit living room. Raytek MiniTemp Non-Contact Digital Thermometer ($45)  Because the ice storm occurred in midwinter, I had quite a bit of concern about my pipes freezing. If it came to it, I knew I could drain them or start getting antifreeze into the equation, but it honestly wasn&amp;#039;t something I wanted to deal with. Sometime around day two it occurred to me that I could monitor the pipes&amp;#039; declining temperature with my digital thermometer. So about three times a day, I went through the basement and took a number of readings with the Raytek. Because it can accurately read temperature from a distance, I could even check the pipes in the crawlspace. On the final day of the outage, the pipes running along the exterior of the basement got to down to 36 degrees. Close one. Bosch PS20 12-Volt Pocket Driver ($100)  The LED lights on drills&amp;#039; tips are a nice novelty--but when you&amp;#039;re beyond task lighting and are instead navigating the house via LED, they are essential. The tool also lit my way through a few minor to-do list items. If you walk through a door using a drill driver as a flashlight, you might as well stop to snug up that nagging loose hinge leaf. Working into the evening installing blinds added some needed sense of normalcy to the situation. Plus, it got my mind off those slowly freezing pipes.  RELATED STORIES * PLUS: How to buy the right backup generator for your budget  * EARLIER: Four Ways to Power Your Home When the Grid Fails  * COMPLETE COVERAGE: How to Survive Any Disaster   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a3929/4303134/>