Travel Thoughts

Yesterday was the first time I had traveled on an airplane since the Christmas Day scare where a guy tried to blow up a plane with chemicals he had in his underwear (wonder who thought up that idea...). Anyway, here's some thoughts

• The security lines were LONG. Much longer than a couple months previous so be ready to stand in line for quite a while. The lines did move along fairly rapidly but it took about 25 minutes to clear the security checkpoint and be on our way to the gate.
• Travel with one bag. I make it a point to ALWAYS travel with only one carry on bag unless I am bringing supplies and need the extra 50 or 100 pounds that checked luggage allows. It is much easier to travel with only one bag to keep track of and getting into and out of the airport is much easier than schlepping two or three huge bags. If you really need another dress shirt at your destination, you can always buy one there.
• The only down side to airline travel is that I can't bring a firearm or knife with me. Obviously you can check these items if you really need to have them when you land. If I will need a knife, I often buy one in whatever city I land in then leave it as a gift to my host when I leave their city. I will occasionally check a firearm if I will need it at my destination (shooting events). Carrying a concealed firearm in a different city will require a bit of research so you can stay on the right side of the law. Bringing a firearm to a foreign country is much more hassle than it is worth--in these circumstances, I will hire protection before I will carry my own firearm to protect myself.
• Security at the airport, I thought, was less than stellar, especially when I went through the first check where they match your ID against your boarding pass. The lady looked at my ID and boarding pass, stamped it, then passed me along. Meanwhile the spouse was behind me with a boarding pass with my name on it and it took this little incident for the agent to realize that she had looked at my ID and the spouse's boarding pass then let me through. Duh.
• Checking in online is always a good idea. This along with carrying one bag will allow you to bypass the long lines at check in and go straight to the gate.
• Info that is always good to have with you: phone numbers for your destination (taxi company, hotel phone number, contact phone numbers, etc). When traveling overseas, you always want to carry phone numbers to contact companies that you would otherwise reach with a 1-800 number (banks, credit card companies, etc) as 1-800 phone numbers are only usable in the US.
• Check weather.com before you leave for information on your destination. And the corollary, be prepared for anything. We were supposed to have snow at our destination but all we ended up with was bright sunshine.
• Allow plenty of time when you travel. Getting connectingflights too close together, making appointments with clients for the minute you are (theoretically) supposed to land, and otherwise squeezing your schedule as tightly as possible is way too stressful. Leave plenty of time between connections, between appointments, and between events in order to keep the stress level down.

8 Thing I Am Doing This Week (Preparedness Related)

It's been a busy week thus the lack of posts. Here's what I am doing and how these things are related to preparedness...

1. Getting ready to travel across the country to visit my son who will be heading to Afghanistan within the next couple of months. Building family unity is always important as is lending support to all of our men and women in the military.
2. Volunteering with the Homeless Count tomorrow. This is a nationwide activity that surveys the homeless one day each year. I got talked into volunteering with this project last year and it was truly enlightening. Survival skills are what the homeless are all about and I always learn more from these people than what they learn from me.
3. Gearing up for a full-scale exercise in a couple of months. This is a high level disaster preparedness exercise which is always full of lessons learned (but which requires lots and lots of planning and coordination).
4. Am marginally concerned about a news clip this evening about a whole bunch of fertilizer that was stolen today. For those who don't know how fertilizer can be used in the wrong hands, note the destruction that 5000 pounds of fertilizer did in Oklahoma City. Not good, especially considering the winter Olympics are getting ready to start next month just north of here.
5. Exercising. Actually I should be exercising more as I have a marathon in April, a 175 mile bike ride in July, possibly a Canada to Mexico bike ride in August, and a recent invitation from a friend in Japan to do a two month trek around one of the islands there. Exercise is always a good step towards better preparedness. This may be too much of a good thing.
6. Evangelizing the need for everyone to have basic preparedness supplies on hand. The Haiti earthquake provided yet another "teachable moment" which emphasized the need to have even the most basic of emergency supplies on hand because after a disaster it will be too late to acquire these items. By show of hands at a recent meeting (of well educated people on the periphery of disaster planning) less than half of the group had BOBs or emergency supply bags in their home, office, and car. I was thoroughly amazed that these people didn't have BASIC emergency supplies. Ayayay
7. Looking forward to meeting up with friends who have been in Haiti providing disaster response and medical services. The stories from these people, after having responded to disasters around the world, is better than any information you can find in books and how-to disaster manuals.
8. Craigslisting and eBaying stuff. Between me and my goal of downsizing stands a whole lot of stuff taking up space in the garage. One of the best ways to get rid of all of this unneeded stuff and make some money to add to the emergency fund is to sell it. Which is what I am doing.

Hiding Your Stuff

The Haiti earthquake pointed out a number of things that people need to consider during a disaster, everything from the difficulty of procuring fresh water to the need for emergency medical care when there isn't any to be had.

One of the most disturbing news stories about how people react after a disaster was a short blurb in the newspapers about desperate people using force to loot food and water from orphanages in Haiti's capital. Orphanages! People--adults--who are hungry and thirsty were actually taking food and water away from children by force. Hard to believe but then again, when people's world goes to hell in a handbasket, there is no telling what desperate people will do. Which brings us to the point of this blog post...if you want to be able to keep your stuff after a disaster, you are going to need to be able to hide it.

Take this time now, when there is no urgent need, to plan what you could do with your important stuff (food, water, cash, gold, tools, guns, etc) to hide it and protect it from the marauding masses in the event of a disaster. Right now, you probably couldn't even imagine that your friends, neighbors, and even strangers would see that you have something they desperately want (this could be something as simple as water or a can of Spam) and use force to take it from you. But then again, right now, these people are happily complacent with food and water of their own. Should the situation change, all bets are off.

You may think that you will protect yourself, your family, and your stuff with force if necessary. After all, you have a nice stockpile of firearms along with your prudently thought out supply of food and water, but there is only one of you, you will have a limited supply of ammo, and you will need to sleep sometime.

Here are some things to consider:

• Think about how you could make a buried cache. Obviously you will need to remember where you buried your stash of supplies and you will also have to consider its location (ie: you don't want to place it where development could inadvertently dig up your stuff). You need to make sure that the elements (water, vermin, etc) can not get to your stuff, and that it is easy enough to retrieve your stuff when you need to get it.
• How can you spread your stuff out so you don't have one huge stash of stuff that could be easily looted. Stores make great places to loot after a disaster because there are shelves and shelves of goods just sitting there. It would be a very different situation if people had to go from place to place to acquire only a can or two--it may not be worth their effort.
• Look around your house. After a disaster you don't want your place (home or BOL) to look like the Taj Mahal when everyone else has nothing. How can you make you place look, as a friend says, like a Romanian orphanage--very sparse and bleak--when you actually have all of the stuff you need to survive for quite a good long time? If no one has electricity and your house it lit up like a Christmas tree, this will bring people to your door. If people don't have heat and you have a nice bonfire going complete with lots of smoke signaling your location, how will you conceal this? If people break into your garage, will they see walls and walls of food? How about if you have false walls that can conceal your stuff and hidden space in the attic in which to store the stuff you want to keep away from others? The idea is to make your place to look like every other place so you don't draw unnecessary attention to yourself, even though you may have enough stuff to weather a nuclear winter. You want to look like you are in the same situation as everyone else.
• Some of the basics for hiding your stuff: you want hiding places that aren't very obvious. You want an easy way to store your stuff in these hiding places or you may get lazy and not use the places because of the difficulty of access. You want places that won't be inadvertently disturbed (if you hide gold in the lining of an old jacket and the spouse donates it to the Goodwill you're going to have a problem). You want a place where you can un-cache your stuff without bringing much attention to yourself. You want to practice caching and un-cashing your stuff; the more easily and inconspicuously you can do this, the better.
• Keep your caches secret, even from the kids. Hopefully you can trust your spouse and if anything ever happens to you at least the spouse will know where your caches are but your kids are a different story. They often talk with their friends, tell them secrets, and can inadvertently spill the info on your caches which could come back to haunt you. Don't tell your friends or family either. If and when you need to help them, you can, but bragging about your stash of food/firearms/cash will bring you nothing but trouble.
• Get creative. With some caveats. While it would be nice to post a list of locations that would make great places to stash your stuff, once this is done it becomes the looters handbook, which is why you will see articles about caching your stuff, but you won't see much specific info about where you should do this. So it is up to you to get creative and come up with your own cache locations. I would warn against caching your stuff in dangerous locations (ie: anywhere around water, electricity, extreme heights, etc) because while it may deter the looters, it could injure or kill you.

It is hard to think that all of your hard earned preps which you have taken care (and cash) to develop, could be taken away when you most need them. While I am not saying that you shouldn't use force to protect what is yours, using force should be your last resort for a variety of reasons. It is much better to blend in with everyone else, hide what you have, bring out what you need in small quantities so as not to bring attention to yourself, and save yourself the problems associated with defending large supplies of stuff that everyone else wants to get their hands on. After all, if people will take food from starving orphans, they would probably think nothing of doing this to you.

Your 'Go To Hell' Fund

You've heard about the importance of having an emergency fund. Hopefully yours is nicely topped off and is of sufficient amount to cover about six month's worth of living expenses should the need arise.
After you have a fully funded emergency fund, your next pile of savings should be aptly named your "go to hell" fund. What is this fund for? Simply, it gives you the ability to tell your employer/professors/significant other/etc to "to go hell" should the need arise.
While your emergency fund should only come into play during an actual emergency (job loss, emergency car repairs, the fridge dies, etc), your "go to hell" fund can be used in the following situations:

• You hate your job and literally can't survive another day at work. An immediate sabbatical is called for.
• You need a (possibly permanent) break from your significant other and are willing to take the next plane to anywhere to accomplish this.
• You come upon a once in a lifetime opportunity and after careful consideration, determine that it is something that you want to throw your money at (it may be a business opportunity, a classic car, a can't-miss investment, etc).
• You realize you just spent the better part of your undergraduate life (and a huge chunk of your parent's money) to work towards a degree in a field that you recently decided you would never want to work in. You hear the siren call of trade school...

Anyway, you get the idea. To develop this fund, you will first want to determine the amount of money that you want to have in this fund (a range of $5,000 to $50,000 seems like a good amount). Next you want to build this fund as quickly as possible--sell stuff, get an extra job, put all "found" money (birthday checks, rebates, etc) into it. A huge amount of drive and momentum will do wonders to get this account filled up fast so that when the mood strikes, you can simply say "go to hell" and be able to back up such words with cold, hard cash.

10 Things to Do When You Get Laid Off

I was pondering this post earlier today after talking to a woman who will soon be laid off from her job. I was actually surprised to see her at a meeting today because I though her company was doing their layoffs last week. I asked her what her plans were and she had no idea. She asked if I had any ideas so I am working on a plan for her which will better package her skills and generate some income for her.
Then the spouse came home tonight with a layoff notice. Talk about hitting home. Fortunately for us, the spouse only works very part time earning "fun money" and enough to cover the groceries. The impact, however, of being laid off, was not wasted on both of us.
So while we will be reorganizing our budget a bit and working on some projects to keep the spouse busy and possibly replace some of the income that has been lost, I am a whole lot more concerned with the woman I spoke to today along with her co worker who is also slated to be laid off and the loss of their six figure incomes which will no doubt impact them and their families severely.

Here's ten things to do when you get laid off:

1. See being laid off as an opportunity to make some much needed changes in your life. While most people will have a panic attack then a pity party, I have never, in my entire life, been fired or laid off without having an even better opportunity come along. In fact, that's how the spouse broke the news this evening..."you know how you always say that things happen for a reason..." This has always been my motto and painful things usually work out fairly well given time.
2. Apply for unemployment. Pronto. You pay into the unemployment system with every paycheck deduction so you might as well make a withdrawal from the system when you need it.
3. Give yourself a day to digest the situation then call a family meeting. There is no shame in losing your job. It happens to many people and with a current national unemployment rate hovering around 10%, one in ten people is currently experiencing this sort of situation. Announce to the family that you have lost your job then enlist everyone's help in dealing with the situation. The psychological impact of the main family breadwinner losing their job can be fairly substantial, however this is what family is for, to help YOU through a tough time just like you always help them.
4. Next, take a look at the family budget. With everyone's input cut back as much as possible on non essentials and make other reasonable budget cuts. Review every single expense and look at ways to make cuts (can you switch to garbage service every other week instead of weekly? Is it a prudent idea to drop full coverage from you oldest car instead of carrying full coverage on it?) Through this group process, no one in the family will be surprised when eating out is suddenly cut to never and going to the mall doesn't come with a withdrawal from the bank of dad.
5. After you have pared back the budget, it is time to make money to provide the funds to see you through this period of unemployment. Turn over every rock to do this--are you owed vacation pay, sick pay, or a severance package from your former job? Now that you don't have to go to work, scour the house from top to bottom both cleaning the house (a mood lifter) and gather stuff to sell via eBay, Craigslist, or a garage sale. You don't need to get rid of everything but most of us have plenty of junk laying around that we don't want/use/need. Also, pick up side jobs if possible. Check Craigslist for gigs. Pay attention--if a friend complains about their worn carpet and you can resurrect your college job carpet laying skills, offer to put in new carpet for a reasonable fee.
6. Reevaluate your life. This might be tough to do when you have just lost your job and are verging on panic, but take this opportunity to decide what you want to do with your life. Do you want to find a job in the same industry you just go laid off from? Did you secretly hate your job and now have the opportunity to do something totally different? Do you want to try your hand at being self employed?
7. Get active. Now that you have the time, exercise. It is a mood lifter, a definite bonus for your health, and it's free. Put on a pair of tennis shoes and get walking or jogging if you prefer. Pick a different route each day which may open up possibilities (ie: new work ideas or opportunities).
8. Volunteer. As long as you aren't doing anything, you might as well make yourself useful. Find a volunteer gig or two in your community, doing something you enjoy. Many people have picked up additional job skills as well as made valuable contacts in the community by doing this.
9. Make big decisions if needed. You may have to sell your house. You may need to move to another area where there is a market for your skills. You may need to get some scholarships together and go back to college (note I didn't say get into massive student loan debt to go back to college). You may need to cut off your freeloading adult children/various relatives you have been supporting when the money was flowing in.
10. Make a plan. Will it be a full court press to market yourself to find a job similar to what you lost? If so, you need to polish your resume, call every person you have ever met to see if they can help you find a job, polish up your job skills, and start looking everywhere for a job. If you decide to start your own business, you will need a plan in order to launch your new venture. Going back to school? Stop by the college guidance office tomorrow and get an idea of what you need to do to get started.

Now here are five things NOT to do when you lose your job:

1. Don't keep it a secret. People can't help you if they don't know you need help. I have heard of quite a few people who were so ashamed about losing their jobs that they pretend to go to work every morning just so the family and the neighbors wouldn't know what happened. Don't even start with this kind of charade.
2. Don't go on vacation because you need the break. This is also a way that people deal with stressful situations but running away and running up your credit cards when you can least afford to do so is a really bad idea.
3. Don't live on credit cards for months on end in order to keep the same standard of living that you have always had. If you have no income coming in, how will you pay off these credit card debts?? Better to ratchet back your spending to hardly nothing and even go to a food bank if you are hungry rather than going shopping with credit cards until they are maxed out--this will only shove you into a deeper depression when the creditors start calling.
4. Don't give up. After the punch in the gut feeling that comes with being laid off, some people want to stay in bed and watch TV talk shows all day rather than face the world. While this is understandable, it isn't very practical. Get up, get moving, and get creative. The answer to your problems will not land on your door step, you need to go out, hunt it down, kill it, and drag it back home.
5. Don't not accept a job because it is "beneath you." If you don't have a job, you need to get one. They say it is easier to find a job when you are employed so you might as well take any job you can find just to get some cash rolling in as you continue to look for a better job.

Well, that's about all I know about job loss, having been laid off a couple of times and fired more than that (seems I don't play well with others sometimes...). Maybe our readers have some more ideas...?

Haiti Update (News You Can Use)

If you have been listening to the news today, you will know that most of it revolves around the unfolding situation in Haiti. Here's some news you can use:

• People were noted to have been looting toothpaste from the stores. Not to brush their teeth with but to put on their skin under their noses to cover up the stench of rotting bodies.
• The gunfire has started. People were pretty much in shock the first few days but now they are getting desperate. Looters are out in full force, other people seem to be taking on the looters, and some are even using guns. Note that this happens in many disasters and plan accordingly.
• People are now sick with infections. The longer an infection goes, the more likely the person will die. Note the need to have antibiotics in these kinds of situations.
• Relief is slowly trickling into the city but the outlying areas have received no help at all. Plan accordingly.
• Medical care is sparse, even with medical teams on the ground. There are so many sick and injured people that they overwhelm the small number of medical providers. Supplies are taking even longer to get to those in need. There is no equipment to help treat the injured (ie: no x ray machines, using rusty saws to perform amputations, etc).
• Amputation is the order of the day due to lack of medical care, infections, broken and crushed bones, no antibiotics, and few other medical supplies. Imagine, you break your leg today and you go to the hospital today to get your broken limb fixed. Even difficult breaks can be fixed in the OR. In Haiti this isn't happening. Many people have went for days without treatment, there are no Xray machines to identify the exact problem, and parents are deciding if they want their children to be amputees or to die from infection.
• Some people are self-deploying to the country to help. Even though people want to be there to help, it is not a good idea to just send yourself. Organized teams (Red Cross, the military, Medical Teams International, etc) are the way to go as the teams make provisions for your food and water (you don't want to be a burden on an already overburdened system), they will confirm your skills and place you in the area of most need, and they will support your mission whereas just bringing yourself will leave you on your own, unwelcome and unsupported.

There are thousands of lessons to be learned from this disaster. Watch the news, find out what's happening, ask yourself "what if", and plan accordingly.

$10 Earthquake Preps

The coverage of the earthquake in Haiti is continuing. There are numerous lessons to be learned from that disaster, of course, but the main lesson to consider: as of tomorrow, it will be a week since the earthquake struck. Aid is just barely starting to come into the country, most of the people still do not have food, water, or shelter, and the injured are still waiting for care.
After such a complete disaster people feel helpless, both to help the people who were directly affected by the earthquake and to help themselves better prepare for something that looks so utterly catastrophic. Which brings me to the point of this post...
You may not be able to help people who have suffered such a disaster and it is a crap shoot whether #1 an earthquake will strike your area and/or #2 how you will fare physically after such an event, but you can take this opportunity, and the $10 in your pocket, and put together a basic "earthquake kit" from your local Dollar Store. Here's what you need to buy:

• A bottle of bleach. After an earthquake, ALL of the water in the immediate area will be contaminated. The only hope you may have of procuring water to drink is to find a local source of water and using the bleach to decontaminate it yourself.
• A tarp. After an earthquake, it is a pretty good bet that you won't be sleeping in your house for a while, if it isn't totally destroyed, the aftershocks will keep you from staying inside for long. A basic tarp to keep the rain or sun off of you may be your only shelter.
• A flashlight. If you have ever been in a city when ALL of the power went out, you will know that it can become eerily dark where there was before at least street lights or the glow from traffic signals. Whether you need to see at night or you end up searching for loved ones in the rubble, a flashlight is very important.
• Matches or lighters. You may need a source of fire which can be useful for boiling water, cooking what food you can find, sending a signal for help, etc. Without matches or a lighter how will you get the fire started? Don't worry about finding materials to burn, after an earthquake, there will be wood, rubble, and other burnable stuff everywhere.
• Rope. Rope or para cord has dozens of uses. From hanging up clothes you have washed by hand to be bleached and disinfected by the sun, to tying up your tarp, to helping you ford a stream, or escape from a building, a rope can come in pretty handy during a disaster.
• A small radio. A small AM/FM radio may be your only source of outside information. While hardly anyone listens to a regular radio these days because there are so many alternatives (satellite radio, iPods, etc), the only way to access real time info after a disaster is usually via radio broadcast.
• Work gloves. After an earthquake (and most other disasters) one of the first tasks at hand will be to start the clean up and/or search for others who are trapped. Using your bare hands for these tasks can significantly shorten the amount of work you will be able to do. Having a pair of work gloves on hand is always a good idea.
• A breaker bar. If you have done any home rehab work, you know how important a breaker bar can be. During a disaster, they are also quite useful. From giving you some leverage to move heavy rocks to using it to break windows, and dozens of other uses, a breaker bar should make it into your emergency equipment bag.
• Soap or hand sanitizer. One of the reasons that emergency workers are so concerned after a disaster is because of the spread of disease. Disease spreads easily in unsanitary conditions. One of the easiest ways to stop or significantly curtail the spread of disease (besides drinking disinfected water) is to wash your hands frequently. If you have a scrape or cut, clean it with soap and water; after you go to the bathroom, wash your hands with soap or hand sanitizer. These simple things will go a long way towards keeping you disease free.
• Pick one: first aid kit, knife, duct tape, ax, big garage bags... As you are cruising through the Dollar Store, use your last dollar to pick another useful item to add to your supplies.

Here's a couple of caveats. First, I wouldn't recommend buying supplies at the Dollar Store that you are using to save your life. The idea is that even if you are flat broke, you could probably scrape together $10 to spend on emergency supplies and if you have no choice but to shop at the Dollar Store, the small cache of emergency supplies (of questionable quality) is better than not having anything at all. Second, your list of emergency supplies should encompass more than ten items, however, again, if you do not currently have the cash, or ability store more than a few things, it is better to have a handful of useful items than to have nothing at all.

Go out TODAY and get some basic preparedness gear together...you never know when your city will be the lead on the evening news.

50 Things You Need to Know: Earthquakes

All of the news today is centering around the massive earthquake which occurred yesterday in Haiti. Here's 50 things you need to know about earthquakes:

1. Earthquakes can happen ANYWHERE. Just because an earthquake hasn't happened in memory in your area doesn't mean one won't happen tomorrow so you need to know as much as you can about earthquakes.


2. Watch this episode of Surviving Disaster--Earthquake to get an idea of what you will be up against after an earthquake.


3. Check out all of the links on the USGS' earthquake preparedness webpage.


4. During an earthquake, drop, cover, and hold.


5. After an earthquake, your top priorities will be: getting out of the building you are in when it is safe to do so, turning off the gas/water/and electricity to your home, checking to see if everyone else was able to escape from your home/building and checking for injuries.


6. Immediate needs after an earthquake: water, food, medicine, blankets and camping gear (you will be camping outside until the aftershocks stop or maybe longer if you can no longer stay in your home.


7. Do you know where your local community shelters are located? You may end up staying at a shelter if you can not stay in your home--if the pre-designated shelters are even still standing.


8. Always keep your cell phone charged. Local cell towers may or may not be working. If you can't get a call out, try a text message.


9. Land line phones may or may not be working. A phone plugged into the phone jack (one that does not need to also be plugged into the electrical outlet) may still work even when the power is out.


10. First aid skills are a must for everyone in your family/office. You may be injured and others may need to tend to you, or a family member may be injured and you may need to tend to them. Make sure everyone has been trained in basic first aid.


11. Hospitals may be overwhelmed or no longer standing so receiving immediate medical attention may be impossible. This is why it is a good idea to have a first aid kit at home, in your car, in your office, etc.


12. This situation also reemphasizes the need for a BOB (Bug Out Bag). I keep mine in the garage, near the garage door, in a cabinet. If it is kept in a closet in the interior of my home and my home collapses, I won't be able to get my BOB. If the house and garage collapse, I will have a better chance of digging it out of the tumbled down garage.


13. Tools kept in the garage or shed/detached workshop will also be easier to access this way too.


14. Keep your vaccinations up to date. You may cut yourself during the earthquake and getting a tetanus shot will be the last thing on anyone's priority list (this is not good for you).


15. Always keep an adequate supply of necessary medications on hand. Pharmacies are often the first places looted during these types of disasters and most clinics/hospitals keep only a few day's worth of medications in stock (this is a few day's worth under normal conditions, not disaster conditions when many, many people may need heart/diabetes/etc. medications).


16. Check out the FEMA earthquake page here.


17. Don't expect outside aid to come for a while. We are 24+ hours into this earthquake in Haiti and little if any aid has actually been distributed to people who where impacted by the earthquake.


18. Here is another good earthquake resource from the LA Fire Department (these people know earthquakes).


19. Consider having a motorcycle or bicycle on hand. Most roads, especially those which connect by bridges/overpasses/underpasses will be impassable in your vehicle.


20. However, it is still a good idea to keep your vehicle in good working order and with a full tank of gas (or have extra gas stored in a shed) in case you are able to drive away from the damage.


21. Be sure to listen to your battery operated radio after an earthquake. News will include local shelters, Red Cross locations, etc.


22. If you are a HAM radio operator and have a HAM radio with power (a hand-held unit powered by batteries or another power source for a larger radio system or a radio powered by your car) you will be able to communicate with others.


23. Check out the CDC's earthquake website. Yes the information will be redundant but that's good, you need to memorize and internalize this information so during a disaster, your response will be automatic.


24. Note that the infrastructure that is usually there to help you may be severely damaged or no longer existing. Hospitals, police departments, fire stations, airports, military bases...the places people would usually go for help probably won't be able to help you. Their buildings may be severely damaged, their staff may have all been injured or killed in the quake, the airport and military bases may be locked down so as to facilitate rescue operations...you get the picture.


25. A note on security. During a disaster, people become desperate. Looters my be out and about, desperate people may be rummaging through pharmacies for medicine, people may see that you have food and water and want to take it from you. You will need to protect yourself (preferably by banding together with family, friends, or neighbors) from people who may want to cause you harm.


26. Some other good things to keep in your garage/shed/outbuilding: a fire extinguisher, work gloves, tools, eye protection, fuel for your car, etc.


27. You may need to deal with bodies. Dead bodies. There is a system that will kick in after a major disaster to process bodies. Depending on the type and extensiveness of the disaster, it may take a while for this process to begin. You don't need to bury bodies immediately (contrary to popular opinion, dead bodies don't spread disease unless they died from smallpox or something equally contagious). If you are faced with a number of bodies, you may want to store them at a central location wrapped in a sheet or plastic wrap, preferably with some sort of ID attached.


28. Work with your neighbors. These are the people who will be there immediately to help you after a disaster and vice versa so making a plan, practicing skills, and working together prior to a disaster will pay dividends after a disaster strikes your area.


29. Volunteer. Search and Rescue, Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross, FEMA, Medical Teams International, and many other organizations send volunteers to help out after a disaster. Other than actually being is a disaster, this is the only way you are going to get first hand experience and training for dealing with such disasters. All of the books, TV programs, drills, and exercises will not teach you what it is really like to experience an actual earthquake or other disaster.


30. Donate to those who have been impacted by a disaster. Whether you send cash, food, clothing, medicine, or other basic needs, this is just one of those good karma things.


31. Check your vacation and travel plans. Some places are more prone to quakes than others. While you can't predict where earthquakes will strike, know that areas that have recently experienced an earthquake my have limited infrastructure and resources, cancelled flights, and may still be experiencing after shocks. Check out this USGS page for current earthquake activity.


32. Here's an interesting earthquake prediction website not connected to the feds. SyzygyJob.


33. When seeking (or if you are able to provide) information on current earthquakes or other disasters, consider all possible sources (websites, Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, email, phone, satellite phone, news station contact info, Flickr, YouTube, etc.).


34. Help your loved ones prepare for an earthquake or other disaster. You may need to make extra efforts to help those who would not be able to help themselves: the elderly, the chronically ill, the physically disabled, the mentally ill, those who can't communicate (ie: blind, deaf, non-English speakers), etc.


35. Have cash on hand. You probably won't be able to use it in your devastated area, however if you are able to be evacuated to another city, you can set yourself up in a hotel or buy a meal or buy a phonecard so that you can call family.


36. The Red Cross in very useful during a disaster, Through the Red Cross, you can donate blood, donate money to help disaster victims, find first aid and other training courses, volunteer to help, connect with family members who may have been displaced during a disaster, etc.


37. Connect with your local Department of Emergency Management. Some cities, most counties, and all states have these agencies which can provide useful and area specific disaster assistance and information. I have signed up for the emergency alerting program with our county emergency management organization; by doing this I get alerts and warnings sent to my email, my cell phone, and in an emergency, via a recording that calls my home phone.


38. Check out this emergency preparedness checklist. Other such lists can be found by Googling emergency preparedness checklist.


39. Here's another good checklist for those with special needs.


40. Don't forget your business during a disaster. Does your business have a disaster recovery/disaster continuity plan?


41. Don't forget your animals during a disaster. Here's a good resource to start planning for your pets and other animals.


42. Develop a communications plan before disaster strikes. This includes having a distantly located relative or friend that you can contact after a disaster so that they can tell everyone else you are OK since you want to conserve your cell phone's battery and not tie up phone lines in a disaster area needlessly.


43. If you want to see what it is really like to not be able to communicate with the outside world, make it a no TV, no radio, no phone, no cell phone, no computer weekend. You will quickly see that with no communication you will be bored (for starters) and that you will be isolated (very).


44. Yet another general disaster information website. Ready.gov


45. Keep a flashlight, pair of shoes, and work gloves under your bed. This is the minimum you need to escape your home after a disaster. Of course you will want your cell phone, wallet, jump drive with all computer files and personal information backed up, pocket knife, and cash within arms length as well.


46. Consider stocking some PPEs (personal protection equipment). Right after an earthquake or many other disasters, there is usually a lot of dust and particulate matter in the air. It is a good idea to wear a mask at these times because you don't want to breathe that stuff in. If you are caring for someone who is bleeding, you may want to wear gloves. There are some parts of the globe where AIDs and other blood/bodily fluid-borne pathogens are so prevalent, you certainly don't want to catch any of these deadly diseases.


47. Some stuff you will need to do after the disaster: file a home/car insurance claim, apply for FEMA and other community aid, clean up, rebuild and repair...actually the list is long. Here is a general overview from Oregon, your state may have a slightly different process.


48. After the dust has settled (no pun intended), pay attention to mental health issues. Mental health problems (depression, sleeplessness, PTSD, etc) usually show up after things start to calm down. Seek professional help if needed.


49. Don't fall for scams. Right after a disaster, scammers will come out of the woodwork. Whether it is online scams seeking donations for the relief effort or people showing up after the disaster and price gouging or promising work then running of with your money, make sure to be aware that this kind of stuff can happen.


50. Finally, do you have earthquake insurance? Many policies require a separate rider for earthquake coverage. Don't assume you have this type of insurance (or flood insurance, etc), check to be sure.

The Current Situation and What I Am Doing About It (A Continuation of Yesterday's Post)

Yesterday I discussed the current state of the government/economy/etc. It was a fairly pessimistic overview. This is what I am doing personally to face the current situation (note that I am not an expert of the fall of modern civilization and have never lived through the fall of a country, in country, but have witnessed these situations from afar and have had some very enlightening conversations with people who have experienced these situations directly).

• I don't use credit. At all. If I can't pay cash for something I want, I don't buy it.
• I am downsizing my possessions. If I need a boat, I will rent one. Ditto for the multitude of toys and possessions which we hardly ever use and are just collecting dust. We are slowly and steadily selling off these possessions, and only keeping the things that are important and can be used in a SHTF scenario (ie: tools, camping gear, etc). Most everything else can be borrowed or rented.
• I am downsizing my home. My current home is fairly '90s extravagant and not necessary for my current lifestyle (ie: kids have all moved out and we travel regularly). My house is currently for sale (thankfully it has held its value however if I would have sold it a few years ago I would be rolling in money. At least it is worth significantly more than I paid for it many years ago). I am also looking for a small house which will be my US home base. I will pay cash for the new house as well as ensure that it is properly located (a neighborhood that can be useful when TSHTF). It will be located within a reasonable distant of an international airport AND a foreign country (Canada).
• I am diversifying my investments (cash on hand in a number of currencies--the almighty dollar isn't what it once was, some gold, mutual funds not single stocks, some international funds, etc).
• I am diversifying my businesses. I have set up businesses in a few foreign countries where I may or may not relocate to. The businesses are small, simple affairs, run by people I trust (kind of), which will at least give me a small start in these countries should it be necessary. Growing these businesses from a small amount of money with partners does a couple of things--it allows others to make some money from my investments, it gives me a presence in these foreign countries should I need to show up there randomly (or after TSHTF), and if the worst should happen (like fraud, the local bad guys strike, or the businesses fail), I won't have lost much since the investments were small to start with.
• I have bought land in these same countries. Again, nothing substantial, but enough to get me started should I have to move, and a few nice vacation spots should I decide not to move. And if the worst should happen there, I am not out a whole lot of money (these are developing countries--you don't pay a lot for things in these places such as land, businesses, food, hotels, employees, etc--but then again, you don't get a whole lot of assurance and security either. It's a trade off).
• My main businesses are being streamlined and I am in the midst of making them a whole lot more automated. I still enjoy working but being able to work anywhere, anytime, with only a computer and internet connection can be a profitable way to work outside of the US yet still collect funds in US dollars and other (for now) stable currencies.
• I am checking into dual citizenship which I should be able to acquire through the spouse or my grandparents.
• I am continually learning new skills. In the absolute worst situation, if you loose everything--your stuff, your home, and even your country--the people who seek refuge in other countries that have valuable skills, often succeed quickly. These days even in the US, having many marketable skills is a good way to piece together an income in the current economy.
• I put a great deal of effort into developing relationships in my community, my country, and around the world. You never know when you will need these relationships and for the time being, I am happy to help out these people if needed as it develops a particular sense of indebtedness.
• Where ever I go I make an effort to learn at least some of the language. I am surprised at the number of people who come to the US as refugees and NEVER learn English. This keeps them at the bottom of the socio-economic scale forever. Not good. Should I, in a worst case scenario, become a refugee, I want to at least speak the language and understand the culture. And, like I said, EVERY skill you have may come in handy some day.
• I try to keep in good health and good shape. When you loose everything, if you have your health and fitness in tact, you are far ahead of the crowd.
• I keep my vaccinations, passport, ID, and other important things up to date.
• I fly below the radar in most cases. I am fairly well known in my industry but I am not known as the crazy survivalist who scares all of the children in the neighborhood. I want to keep it that way.
• I try to seek changes that I see as necessary within the local, state, and federal government. It's like beating your head against the wall so I have no great illusion that this is a useful way to spend my time.
• I try to live as paranoia-free as possible. Sometimes this is difficult to do when the news is on 24/7 and the world seems to be going to Hell in a hand basket.
• I am not opposed to leaving the US should things become terribly bad. The people I know who were able to return to their home countries after conflict (World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Bosnia, and even Iraq and Afghanistan) are the people who escaped their war-torn countries, relocated to more stable countries where they set up a home base, then were able to return either for vacation or to move back permanently after the conflict was finished.
• I am ready and able to protect myself should the need arise. There is a difference between planning to protect yourself from a localized dangerous situation until you can get out of said situation (ie: seeking a safe haven or heading to another country) and building up a weapons stockpile to take on the government should the need arise. That would be futile and a waste of time/ammo/and body parts.
• In the case of a natural disaster or the like, I fully plan to stay in the US an rebuild. In the event of total societal collapse, I play to move to the place I deem safest then make plans from there.

Well, that's my plan in a nutshell. Most of the time I am busy with my day to day life, happy to be an American, and fortunate to live in one of the best countries in the world. There are times, however, when our government/economy/society seems to be on a quick downward slide and that a response to the situation on my part may become necessary. It is always good to have a Plan B.

A Pessimistic View of the Current Situation

I am usually fairly optimistic. Recent events, however, have challenged my generally positive outlook. My crystal ball is a little hazy so making concrete predictions about the future is not going to happen here, but today I will outline what I see as the current state of our life in America and tomorrow I will offer some suggestions about what can be done about it on the individual level:

• Unemployment is high, especially for college graduates. This doesn't bode well for a couple of reasons. One, whenever you have very high unemployment for young people it means they are not working and gaining experience. This causes recovery to drag and sometimes come to a standstill if unemployment hangs on for years because it creates a gap between the older, educated masses who want to retire and the younger people who don't have the skills and/or experience to take over where the older generation left off. Second, with the Boomer generation soon to be retiring en masse, many will be depending on Social Security. Now who is going to be putting funds into the Social Security system if the younger generation is unemployed/underemployed?
• People are getting out of real estate, whether by choice or by circumstance. The people who are losing their homes due to foreclosure, aren't doing so by choice, but because of their situation, and because many others are walking away from home loans that are underwater, there is a chill running through the housing market (which impacts most other markets) that won't be remedied any time soon. This also impacts people who have a great deal of equity in their homes and are having a hard time selling at anywhere near a normal price due to the glut of foreclosures and short sales on the market. On a side note, a handful of real estate investors that I know seem to be liquidating their properties as quickly as possible. Hmmm
• The government, from the local level to the federal level has, as my southern granny used to say, done lost its mind. Judges that don't know the constitution. Cities, counties, and even states that are on the verge of bankruptcy (with the federal government not far behind). Government programs run amok (**cough** TSA). Prisoners held virtually forever a la the Guantanamo detainees. Are we going to house, feed, and clothe these people forever? Try them, sentence them, and get it over with already.
• The US has the highest rate of documented incarceration of its citizens. Great. In addition to paying for every other boneheaded program the government can dream up, we also get to pay to support all of the people who are incarcerated.
• The US is knee deep in a war they are not fighting to win (our guys on the front lines could win the war, they just aren't being allowed to). Now we are heading full force into Afghanistan, and, well I guess the people who plan these wars have not read much about the history of invaders in Afghanistan.
• The world is getting smaller by the day, technologically speaking. Outsourcing to countries where you pay a couple dollar for a product or service instead of a couple of hundred is now not too far from the norm. How does that impact Americans? Not favorably overall. Yes you get cheaper products but all of the money spent goes to support the people of another country, not our own.

Tht's enough negativity for one day. Tomorrow we will discuss how to mitigate these conditions in our lives.

Apocalypse Man

I was flipping through the channels looking for a bit of news before bedtime and came across a new show, Apocalypse Man. The premise is that there has been an apocalypse and it is TEOTWAWKI (ie: marshal law, total disorder and lawlessness, societal breakdown, etc). Looks like I will be up for another hour or so. Here's what the host, a former Marine, had to teach us:

• Follow rail lines instead of the major roads when there is total social collapse, there will be fewer people here.
• In your backpack carry gloves, a good flashlight, a crowbar/breaker bar, rope, etc).
• Move quickly and watch out for people who will try to take what you have.
• When using your flashlight, carry it tactically so you can use it as a weapon if needed.
• Head to a city to find materials for survival.
• Sometimes bridges and roads will be destroyed or otherwise unusable. In the show, the host used rope with butterfly knots tied to a crowbar which he used as a grappling hook to scale his way from one side of the open bridge to the other. You don't want to swim the river because there will be all kinds of pollutants in the water due to the sewer and power processing plants being shut down.
• When you travel, along the way in old buildings. Always clear the building when you enter it to make sure no one else is there. The second floor is a good place to shelter because you can hear people coming from below and you can also jump from the window if needed.
• In you shelter, cover your tracks so others won't know you are there.
• Use a steel wool pad which you rub with a 9 volt battery as a fire starter.
• Build a fire in your shelter but block it with concrete blocks so people can't see the fire if they come into your room. Damp cardboard over the top of the fire will absorb some of the smoke.
• To escape a building in an emergency undetected, go down the elevator shaft. The host suggests jumping onto the cables of the elevator and shimmying down the cable.
• Check out residential districts. Most people will be gone. Watch for looters.
• Houses with windows and doors in tact that are still locked probably haven't been looted yet. Speed, surprise, violence, action are the rules of making entrance. Make a quick entry.
• Scavenge basements, that's where most families store their emergency supplies.
• Collect canned food. If the tops pop back and forth, don't eat it.
• Check the garage for tools, equipment, a bicycle pump, camping gear.
• With no power you need to find information. Check out the library for info from books (maps, medical books, mechanical books, etc). In New Orleans after Katrina the library was one of the few places NOT looted.
• Maps of the city can provide information about more resources and the best way to travel from point a to b (ie: road maps and sewer maps).
• When crossing open ground, go fast. A better way is to go underground through the sewer system. Pop the sewer lid with a shoelace and metal wrapped around your flashlight. The lid may weight 100 pounds or more. Sewer drainage systems basically follow the roads above.
• Sewers may be cleaner because there won't be commercial/household use of the sewer system.
• To set up a home base, the host is heading to the hospital for power. Most hospitals have back-up generators. First, switch off all of the breakers so when you fire up the generators it won't light up the hospital like a Christmas tree. The selector switch on the generator should be on auto.
• You will need to find fuel from underground fuel tanks at a gas station. Go for the diesel fuel (95% of cars in America run on unleaded not diesel fuel so there should be some left).
• Use a hose and the bicycle pump to siphon fuel from the tank. The host also found a car battery at the gas station which he took with him.
• A car battery can be recharged and provide ongoing power. Fuel and power are the most important commodities during a disaster.
• Once the generator is started, charge the car battery.
• The security office makes a good home base. With power, the closed circuit TVs in the security office will allow you to see what's happening around the building.
• Catch water from the roof.
• For food, if you have cans without labels, you eat whatever is in the can that you open.
• Make contact with others by using a short wave radio. Check the phone book for the local taxi dispatch center. At the dispatch center, take CBs, a tape recorder, a 12 volt battery, handset, transmitter, a whip antenna, co-ax cable.
• Use rooftops and fire escapes to cross the city undetected.
• Get to the roof of a high building to set the antenna for the radio. With an unblocked signal, you can transmit up to 25 miles.
• Attach the transmitter to the 12 volt battery. Put the radio on channel 9 which is monitored by emergency services. Put the antenna up in unblocked area, connect it to the radio. Record a message on tape recorder (include name, status, specific destination) and let it play on a loop; be sure to tape down the mike button so it will continue to transmit after you leave.
• When you give your destination, set up at the location a day prior so that you can scope out the area before others come.
• CB radios were the only form of communication used successfully during Hurricane Katrina.
• Find an older, diesel car and use the charged battery to get the car going. Newer cars have to much safety and electronics--they won't work. Hot wire the car.
• You can make your own fuel for the car from grease found in a restaurant's grease trap. You need to cook down the grease (using a covert fire). Heat grease, skim off the surface, then use methanol (antifreeze) and lye (household drain cleaner) in 5 part grease, 1 part methanol, and 1/2 tablespoon lye. Mix lye and methanol then add to grease. Cool then pour fuel through a t shirt to strain it into the tank.

Interesting show. Like anything you see on TV, pick out the pieces of information that will be useful to you in a survival situation. Don't watch a show and think every survival situations will follow a TV script. Which is why the more information you have, the better off you will be during a disaster.

A Dozen Basic Life Tips

A dozen things that everyone should know:

1. Don't start a fire with gasoline.
2. Always wear your seat belt.
3. Never co-sign a loan for anyone.
4. Exercise every day.
5. Don't drive drunk, or even buzzed.
6. Stay away from drug dealers and other people whose lives revolve around crime.
7. Wear a helmet anytime you ride a bicycle, motorcycle, etc.
8. Have a cash emergency fund.
9. Eat (real, not processed) food. Not too much. Mostly plants. (Michael Pollan)
10. Never use credit, pay cash for everything. (Dave Ramsey)
11. Don't take work so seriously. Feel free to quit if you don't like your job. There are plenty other jobs out there. Probably something you will like better.
12. Don't follow the crowd.

Safety and Preparedness at Work

I'm sitting at my desk with another law enforcement officer's funeral playing on TV in the background. That makes six law enforcement officer funerals for those who died in the line of duty in our area in the last couple of months with a seventh coming up later this week or next week. Not good. This year has been a statistical anomaly considering that overall line of duty deaths for the entire county are at their lowest point (124 this year) since 1959. That's 124 total deaths for 2009 for the entire country with six concentrated within a two month span and in a two county area of our state. Which brings us to today's subject: preparedness at work.
Aside from law enforcement, people die at work with surprising regularity. Sometimes people die from natural causes while others die from accidents, random shootings, and targeted attacks. Some begin the process of dying at work (ie; a needle stick from a person who has AIDS or inhaling asbestos, etc) and this impacts their life and their lifespan in the future.
We often equate preparedness and safety precautions with our home because we are the ones who are responsible for safety in our homes yet we delegate this duty to our employers when we get to work. Don't assume that your workplace is safe just because you have OSHA hovering over your industry. Here's how to be prepared and safe at work:

• Keep an emergency bag at work, just like you have a BOB at home. It should include a change of clothes, some food, water, and emergency supplies in case your building goes into lock down, you are snowed in, or you are otherwise unable to go home after work.
• Use the safety gear that is the standard for your industry...and maybe consider going above and beyond. I remember when gloves weren't even used in hospital settings now medical professionals wouldn't think of touching a patient without them. I remember when bullet-proof vests were only used for SWAT teams and your average cop wouldn't have even considered wearing one. I remember when road workers wore their usual dark colored clothing while working in the middle of the freeway, now their clothing lights them up like big fluorescent banners. Safety gear comes about usually as a result of someone being killed or injured. Through a QA process it is determined that if Mr X had been doing/wearing/trained to Y, then he would still be in one piece.
• Take training seriously. If you have ever been in the military, you will know that no matter what service you are talking about, EVERYONE drills. Continuously. The military figured out that a disaster or emergency situation is not the time that you want your people trying to figure out what to do. You want your people to train so often and so well that whether you have an emergency or not, your employees will be able to respond immediately, accurately, and efficiently. Good training and good drills will create this desired outcome.
• Seek out safety and preparedness information at work. Some workplaces have an extremely high level of preparedness and safety for their facilities and their people. Other business have nothing. Find out what your employer has done in terms of workplace safety and preparedness and if you see areas where improvements can be made, volunteer to help out.
• Teach others. If you see someone not following set rules or you see someone doing something that could be dangerous to themselves or others, say something. I'll never forget a story a friend of mine told me about a time he was piloting a commercial aircraft with a couple of hundred people aboard. He thought air traffic control had said to hold at a certain altitude, the co-pilot thought he heard the same thing, and a brand new, very junior officer thought he heard something else. He meekly brought this to the pilot's attention and ended up saving the flight from a mid-air crash.
• Encourage a QA (quality assurance) process. After any negative incident, it is good practice to gather those involved along with management, the safety officer, etc. and review what happened. More often than not, the group will determine that there were things that could have been done that would have prevented or limited the impact of the incident. This is how policies get developed and implemented--see a problem, determine how to correct the problem in the future, write a policy to educate and enforce these changes.
• Be aware of potential problems. If an employee is getting divorced and her soon to be ex is a psychopath on a good day, this is a sign that there could be some possible workplace violence issues. Take note and take precautions. If the parking garage is dark, dreary, and secluded, make sure the powers that be know about this potential area of risk and that steps are made to make it safer for everyone. If other things (location, type of business, etc) could cause potential problems (robbery in the case of a liquor store, random shootings from zealots with guns in the case of an abortion clinic), make sure that adequate safety precautions are take for the staff, facility, and clients.
• Call in an expert if needed. If you oversee or work for a large organization, there is often a dedicated, trained staff to handle your workplace safety and preparedness needs, however if you have a small business, trying to have an untrained staff handle such important tasks may not be the way to go. If needed, don't hesitate to call in experts in the field of workplace safety and preparedness to help make sure your workplace is as safe and prepared as possible.

Your List of Go-To People

Sometimes you need help from other people. Do you know who these other people should be? Do you know how to contact them? If you were in a completely new and potentially litigious/dangerous/life changing situation, such as happened to the two bloggers when the TSA agents showed up on their doorsteps a few days ago, would you deal with the situation yourself or call in the Cavalry so to speak? Here's a list of people you may want to cultivate in order to help yourself out in any of the above mentioned situations. At a minimum, you want these people's office phone numbers, email addresses, and cell numbers (additional contact information such as their home phone numbers, Twitter/FaceBook/other social media contact information if they regularly monitor these services are also helpful). It is also a very good idea to cultivate good relationships with these people--the stronger the relationship, the more likely they will be to help you out in a crisis.

• Accountant. Anytime you deal with finances (you own a business, invest, buy property, have a trust, etc) you want an expert to be able to provide you good financial information. Accounting and tax rules change quite frequently and unless you are in the business, you may miss something important. A wise accountant is worth his/her weight in gold.
• Lawyer. Or maybe a couple of them. I have friends who practice in a variety of areas of law so depending on the situation/need I will call up one of these guys for assistance. A good lawyer is also invaluable.
• Doctor. One of your priorities is to keep yourself in excellent health so you can continue to function normally. Usually you will make an appointment and see your doctor in their clinic, however there are circumstances where it is nice to have a doctor who is also a personal friend on speed dial. A friend, who happens to be a doctor who specializes in tropical medicine, has provided useful information on more than a few occasions. And did you know that in most cases if you present at a hospital with a gunshot wound, the hospital is mandated to call the police and report the situation? Sometimes it is nice to have a physician who makes house calls.
• Dentist. Ditto the above. Usually you don't need dentists in crisis situations but it can be very convenient if you are pressed for time, to have a dentist that will see you anytime, anywhere.
• Local law enforcement. Most people try to avoid the local LEOs at all costs, however it is a good idea, if possible, to have contacts with your local police/sheriff's office. The higher ranking the officer, the better.
• Politicians. Although politicians usually have a less than stellar reputation, there are many situations your Senator or Congressman can help you with. Having friends who are local, state, and federal level politicians, despite their reputations, can be quite useful and are always good to have on speed dial, just in case.
• The media. Again, you usually don't want the media around but there are times when having the media--hopefully a friend who will be sympathetic to your cause--on your side can be very useful. Contacts you may want to cultivate in the media include reporters for your local newspaper, national media contacts (think CNN, New York Times, etc), bloggers who have a huge reach, and anyone else who can spread a story quickly and efficiently.
• Money people. I am not talking about loan sharks or payday lenders. I am talking about friends who can front you a large sum of cash, on a moment's notice, with no questions asked.
• People who get things done. These people are few and far between but infinitely useful. I am actually one of these people which is why I happen to have so many contacts. People who get things done are those who can fix a situation, any situation, and generally create a positive outcome. I have a couple of people whom I can call on, any time, any place, with any situation, and with very little, if any guidance from me, they can figure out how to fix a problem. If you are being hauled off to jail and have one phone call, who would you call? If you have a major crisis in the middle of the night and you have one call, who would you call? If you are in a legally dicey situation in a third world country and have time to make one phone call before TSHTF, who would you call? You may have more than one of these people depending on the situation but you want to be sure that they are people you can trust with your life and who know how to fix a wide range of problems.
• Fed types. A local FBI contact, someone placed well with Homeland Security or the myriad other agencies that made up the government can also be useful for information and advice.
• Those who aren't going to win any citizenship awards. Whether it is a drug dealer, mercenary, muscle, or what have you, when being politically correct is not expedient/effective, sometimes you need other people who can help you. A note, that playing with fire may get you burned, so proceed with caution.
• Mentors. In every field, there are people who are much better at what they do than I am. These are the people I use as mentors. Over the years I have developed relationships with people in a wide range of fields--military, firearms, business, etc--who are excellent at what they do. These are the people I call on when I need help with a specific project/problem. Note that I don't choose these people by how much they brag about themselves. I choose these people based on what I see--are they skillful at what they do, are they humble, are the "less talk and more action", do they produce favorable outcomes?

The way to have contact with these people is to socialize or work with these people. You can't just call up someone out of the blue and make friends with them because you think they will be useful sometime in the future. It doesn't work that way. Instead, you build relationships like you would with anyone else, by meeting people "on their turf" which may mean a golf course, a Chamber of Commerce meeting, your kid's soccer game, or an expat hotel. Relationships take time to develop and it helps if you do favors for people and otherwise build their trust. You want to avoid people who have negative traits (bragging a lot about themselves, can't keep confidences, speak negatively of others, those who lie/cheat/steal) as these people will do the same to you that they do to others.
For the most part I rely on myself. I don't like owing people--whether financially or otherwise--and I prefer it if people owe me. There are times, however, when a crisis happens and I need to call in reinforcements. It is good to be able to have these reinforcements on speed dial.

The Latest TSA SNAFU (Or, How to Protect Your Home and Yourself)

If you've been online in the past few days you probably saw this article about a couple of TSA agents who went to two blogger's homes and intimidated them, threatened them, and even took one guy's computer. TSA stupidity notwithstanding, this would have never have happened if the bloggers had followed a few simple rules:

1. Your home is your castle so treat it as such.
2. Whether you are at home or away, your doors should ALWAYS be locked. Unless you are using a specific door (ie: you are barbecuing so the door to your deck is open or it is hot and you leave your doors open--with very secure screen doors which are locked) always keep your doors securely locked.
3. The only people who should be allowed into your home are friends, family, and people you specifically invite into your home (ie: the cable guy whom you have made an appointment with).
4. You should have a low tech (peep hole) or high tech (closed circuit camera system) way to ascertain who is at your door.
5. It is your right to not open your door to ANYONE. The only people you may want to consider opening your door to are law enforcement IF they have a warrant with your name on it (it's your choice to open your door or not but if they have a warrant, they are legally allowed to break your door down if they have reasonable suspicion that you are in the house or the warrant is to search your residence) or, if you see that there is local law enforcement standing there with a coroner and chaplain (it won't be good news but you should probably hear what they have to say). Everyone else (door to door salesmen, Girl Scouts, TSA agents shouting threats, "official" looking people from the utility company, or anyone else you do not know) should make an appointment or you should just let them think that you are not home. Personally, if I don't know the person at my door, I don't answer the door. They can think I am not home. If it is very important, I figure they will leave me a note or a business card so I can follow up later.
6. Note that if you do let people into your home, you should delineate where they are allowed to be in your home. If a repairman needs to fix your furnace, they don't need to be upstairs in your kid's rooms.
7. Anyone else (life insurance agent, friends of friends who just came to town, etc) should contact you by phone to set up an appointment and be met at a neutral location such as their office, your office, or a coffee shop.
8. A couple of caveats: someone may be ringing your doorbell to see if you are home before they break into your house, in this instance, watch what they do. If they don't leave after you didn't answer the door consider calling the police...and prepare to defend your home. If someone from the utility company shows up at your door, call the utility to find out what they want before you decide whether to open the door to them or not.
9. Make sure everyone in your household knows these rules and make sure they are enforced. Your home is only as secure as you make it.
10. NEVER open your door to people who are threatening you. Whether it is the TSA, local law enforcement, bill collectors, or anyone else, if they are threatening you and don't have a warrant IN HAND, don't open the door. You may want to call 911 and have these people removed from your property.

This may all seem a bit paranoid, but these are simple safety precautions. Unless you have developed some level of trust with someone, there is no reason for them to be in your house. There are more than enough news articles about strangers who entered someone's home under pretense to either scope out their home for a future burglary, stole prescription meds out of their medicine cabinet when they asked to use the bathroom, or worse, figured out the age, gender, and bedrooms of the homeowner's kids then came back and kidnapped them. The security of you and your family far overrides the need to be polite to strangers.

Happy New Year (and a Website Update)

Just a quick note to wish everyone a Happy (and prepared and prosperous) New Year! The CNI website has been updated as of today and lots of old/disabled/broken links have been removed from the huge link list while a bunch of new and useful links have been added.
On a side note, I hope everyone was able to start their new year of with a bang. Mine entailed a midnight run and a short 5k this morning. Which is the reason I always encourage people to actually get out and do stuff--you learn a lot of useful preparedness stuff when you actually partake in semi-related activities. Case in point, I learned that my Goretex jacket works great in a downpour and my rain pants don't so, in the event of a disaster that would require me to be outside for many hours in a downpour, I wouldn't have known that my rain pants were crap and would have been kicking myself for not being better prepared. I am also learning some things I had forgotten, like how to take care of blistered feet...