Being prepared is great, but one must keep in mind what to be prepared for. For instance in Tucson, where I’ve lived since Ford was president, I’ve experienced exactly 1 (one) blackout of longer than a couple hours, and that one was only 18 hours. So a generator and all that it implies is unnecessary. Also because of where I am in the city there’s lots of wide open space nearby, so my shovel is as much portable toilet as I might need.
There really is such a thing as over prepared, you need to really understand the problems your LIKELY to encounter as opposed to the ones you merely MIGHT encounter. Don’t prepared for might, that’s a waste of effort and storage space, stick to likely.
And to determine what is likely, start with what was. In the DC area, I focus on hurricanes (rare, but Isabel messed things up in 03), ice storms, damaging wind storms (tornado touch downs, sheer winds), heat related power outages, terrorist attacks (can affect distribution of consumer goods - i.e., no groceries on shelves for a few days), serious flu outbreaks and localized civil disturbances (expecting some of these real soon).