"No, I'm not really worried. My husband does computer programming and he sort of suggests to me that there's a lot of hype involved."

Do you worry about it?

"No, not really."

But a publication not exactly known for hype, Consumer Reports, says maybe you should be worried. Or at least concerned. The May issue includes a special report titled How to Prepare for Y2K. Finance Editor Lou Richman...

"The problem you may have to anticipate is less a widespread disaster and more in the nature of periodic inconveniences."

No need to panic, mind you, but Consumer Reports suggests you should keep a little extra food and water on hand, take out maybe two week's worth of cash from the bank in case of ATM problems, keep your car's gas tank full and save paper copies of your medical and financial records... .

"Make sure you have good documentation for all of the major bills you pay. Have current statements of what's in your 401K account."

Maybe none of that will be needed. But the feeling at Consumer Reports is, better to be safe than sorry.