Link Round-up: Improve Your Life Edition

No matter how prepared you you are for disaster, one of the most important things you can do to be ready for anything is to have a good foundation. Namely, you want your every day life to be so well taken care of that a disaster becomes a minor blip on your radar instead of the straw that breaks the camel's back. Here's some links to help improve your foundation:

• Are you a good driver? People tend to prepare for the once-in-a-lifetime flood or earthquake but forget simple things like always wearing their seatbelts and not driving after having a few beers.


• 21 Quick Actions You Can Take to Revolutionize Your Health. Again, the foundation of survival is you. The foundation of you is your health.


• 10 Ways for Entrepreneurs to Build Brands Online. Everyone should have multiple sources of income. One (or many) of these sources of income should be some sort of online business that you can do from anywhere.


• Nearly Half of Americans are 'Financially Fragile'. In other words, BUILD UP THAT EMERGENCY FUND!


• The Cure for the Modern Male Malaise. Psychological health is just as important as physical health.

10 Tornado Tips

The weather this spring has been crazy! Having been real close to nearly a half dozen tornadoes over the past few months, I've had a crash course in earthquake preparedness. These are the ten things I've learned:

1. You need a basement. The last thing you want to be doing during a tornado is wondering if your trailer is going to fly away like Dorothy's cow while you try to shelter your family from the storm.


2. You need a NOAA/weather band radio. These storms can come up pretty quick and you may not always have the TV on (or you may be asleep). Having an emergency weather radio that will sound the alarm when important weather news comes on is worth it's weight in gold.


3. You need an emergency fund. The tornadoes that have hit towns and cities this spring have left nothing but devastation behind. Would you rather be devastated and have $10 to your name or devastated and have a nice, fat emergency fund to fall back on?


4. You need a BOB. Again, if you have nothing left of your home and your life but a bag full of emergency supplies, you will probably be miles ahead, in terms of preparedness, than most everyone else in town.


5. You need insurance. People's homes in Missouri and before that, Georgia and Alabama, literally looked like a pile of matchsticks after tornadoes roared through their neighborhoods. Unless your emergency fund is HUGE you will need insurance to help you rebuild. Make sure both your home/renter and car insurance policies cover tornado/wind damage.


6. Know where the safest place to be during a tornado is. In your home, this would be an interior room in the basement away from windows. In your car, it would be at the nearest disaster shelter or if you have no time to get there, laying in a ditch or depression in the earth (not in your car). Ditto if you live in a mobile home; you are safer in a ditch outside than riding out the storm inside. Be sure that no matter where you are, you have blankets, pillows, mattresses, etc. to cover yourself and your family to protect everyone from flying glass and debris.


7. Be proactive in cleaning up around your home before tornado season. Things like trees that are likely to fall over in a heavy wind should be cleared before storm season. Also, if you know a storm is coming, bring in as much stuff as possible (patio sets, garbage cans, etc) or otherwise try to tie down/shelter your things so you will have fewer things that can be blown into your home and fewer things that you will have to hunt for after the storm.


8. Monitor the tornado either via the television or radio news. The areas that are most likely to be hit by tornadoes have excellent prediction and tracking abilities when it comes to tornadoes. Having this information is useful so that you will know exactly when you have to take shelter.


9. Have the means to help yourself after the tornado passes (everything from a wrench to turn off the gas to tarps to cover holes in the roof to shoes/work gloves/and a hard hat if you will be doing your own clean up work). Other things to have on hand: camping supplies (you may need to live outside of your home and community shelters may be full), firearms/ammo (looters and thieves come out of the woodwork during disasters and you may need to protect your family/stuff), and plenty of food and water (stored in your basement).


10. Make sure that other parts of your family disaster plan are in order (everyone knows where to meet if you aren't all in the same location during the tornado, communications plan numbers, etc).

While there is no sure-fire way to avoid disasters such as tornadoes, a bit of pre-planning ahead of time will help you ride out the storm and put back the pieces afterwards.

Your House is on Fire, What Do You Take?

I came across this interesting website where people make photographic posts of what they would take if their house ever caught fire. Interesting idea. The possibility of me grabbing a Michael Jackson album as I escape my burning abode, as one person posted, is about zero, and there doesn't appear to be a survivalist-oriented person in the bunch, however it did give me pause to think about the question. Here is what I would grab in the event that my house goes up in flames (theoretical of course since at this point, nearly everything I own is in a backpack that I carry around with me as I travel the world for the next year or so which means I would, at this point, just grab the backpack and go):

• Wallet, cell phone, key chain. These three items contain everything I would need to get back on my feet should a fire burn my home to the ground--contacts, money, ID, etc. Note that all of my personal/insurance/financial information is on a memory card stored in my wallet along with scanned pictures, a home inventory for insurance purposes, a back-up of all of my computer files, etc.


• Kids/the pets/grandma. Everything else can be replaced except these...help them out of the house first (you do practice regular fire drills at your home right? This way everyone will know what to do in the event of a fire and it will be much easier to get them out of the house).


• Laptop. While I have all of my files backed up and could just buy a new laptop, it is a grand hassle getting all of the software I use back on a new computer so this I would grab just to save me the frustration of setting up a new computer.


• BOB. For those who are prepared, exiting your house in a hurry with everything that you need is as simple as grabbing your (already prepared) Bug Out Bag. Should you not be able to get to your BOB, hopefully you also have a mini BOB in your car.


• Important documents/sentimental stuff/irreplaceable stuff. Hopefully your important documents have been scanned into your computer and are currently kept off premises in a secure location. Smaller sentimental or irreplaceable stuff can also be kept in a safe deposit box or other fire-proof, secure location. With larger things such as antique furniture, there aren't many options other than good insurance coverage.


• Money/gold/other easy to carry assets (firearms, etc). These are important items to have with you, however in the event that you can't get to them/can't carry them out of the fire, here's hoping that you have them stored in a fire-resistant safe which you can come back and retrieve after the fire.

Everything else is just stuff and can be replaced.

Note: be sure to keep a pair of shoes under your bed along with gloves and a flashlight to use in the event that you need to escape quickly. A change of clothes should also be near by.

Are You Prepared for the End of the World (Scheduled for this Saturday)?

If you have no idea what I am talking about, check out this link, which will explain the latest twist on this not uncommon religious prediction.
The answer to the question in the title, at least from my point of view, is a resounding NO. For these three reasons:
#1--I have been around long enough to have heard that "the world is ending on ___ date" numerous times. The fact that I am still here typing away on this blog proves that they were ALL wrong.
#2--If the prediction is correct, it doesn't sound like there is a lot to prepare for. You will either be "saved" and sent to heaven or sent to Hell. Doesn't sound like a lot of options there.
#3--Most importantly, especially if you have been reading this blog for a while, there should be no point in running around like a crazy person trying to prepare for the end of the world which will take place on a certain date. You should already be prepared! Emergency fund? Check. Year's worth of food stored? Check. Multiple sources of water/heat/shelter/sanitation/etc already prepared? Double check. Evacuation plan, personal protection plan, plenty of barterable goods? Yep, those too.

The bottom line is that you should ALWAYS be prepared. Of course you want to keep abreast of what is going on in the world but you have to use your logic and common sense to sift through news of things that could impact you and news being spread for propaganda/attention/"I'm a crazy religious zealot" purposes. As far as the world ending in a couple of days, I would lay odds that it won't happen. As far as being prepared for any sort of disaster that could happen today, tomorrow, the next day, or next year, of course you should be prepared--that's just our way of life!

A Busy Few Weeks, A Goal, and Why You Shouldn't Go to College

It's been a busy few weeks (thus the dearth of blog posts!)...

• I was supposed to go to New Orleans for a few days before heading back to Miami then Atlanta. As usual, and with my penchant for attracting disasters, that plan is on hold for a week or two.


• Family and friends have been dropping in over the last couple of weeks (note to self, invest in airline stock).


• And, as usual, our nomadic schedule is still up in the air but it looks like we will be traveling for another year, perhaps settling down next summer.


• I have also been biking a few hours each day.

The goal...

• Each year I like to do something that challenges me. Last year it was a marathon. This summer I will take a month or so to ride my bike from Canada to Mexico. Ole!

And the college thing: I have been getting calls from kids I know who are either entering college in the fall or debating whether or not to continue with their education, generally because they are swimming in debt and although they don't truly know the effect of huge debt yet (it is so easy to just sign for student loans and get a check), they have an inkling it is not good. I tell them we can talk about majors and funding and their future in general, but first I send them some reading material as listed below:

• JJ Luna was way ahead of the curve when he wrote 'Skip College: Go Into Business for Yourself'. Although the book came out quite a while ago, the message is even more true today if you want the ultimate freedom, and the ultimate opportunity to be as wealthy (or not) as you want to be. He answers the questions that every post grad student I have ran into lately is asking...how do I make money???


• Eight Alternative to College. Again, as in the above book, this list of alternatives to college teaches you many of the things you need to learn in order to be a successful human being.


• Then there is this article, The University Has No Clothes, which further notes why the value of a college education is negligible for many.


• And an interesting article from NPR.


• Finally, check out this article, this article, and this article.

After a Disaster, Here's What To Do

We were fortunate that the huge string of tornadoes that came through Georgia last week completely missed us. As we watched the news reports for hours, we watched the storm heading our way, but as it go closer, the tornadoes went way north and way south of us, barely even bringing a bit of rain to our place. Many others weren't so lucky. In north Georgia and Alabama, they are still cleaning up from the devastation that the tornadoes caused and this will probably continue for months as some of the areas hardest hit look like they were hit by a bomb or something. If you find yourself on the receiving end of a major disaster, here's what you need to do:

• Immediately after a disaster ascertain that everyone is OK. Medical care for those who have been injured in the disaster is of prime importance.



• Figure out where you will stay. Some people have chosen to live in their damaged homes, others are camping out, still others have headed to friends homes, relative's homes, and hotels. The Red Cross can also provide limited shelter if needed.



• Put together the basics. You need water, food, and clothes for starters. You will also need toiletries, basic survival gear, and transportation (this is what your BOB is for). Eventually you will need the other components of daily life such as a way to shower and clean up, a place to wash laundry, and a "staging area" for getting your life back together (ie: an "office" for collecting and storing needed documents, storage for things that were salvaged after the disaster, etc).



• Take care of the people who need taking care of. Kids will need to get back to school and if you usually take care of the elderly or your small children, you may want to look into a daycare-type situation for them in order to give you time to focus on the many tasks you will need to do to recover from the disaster.



• Get the ball rolling by applying for help to fix the mess left from the disaster. You may need to file an insurance claim or apply for FEMA assistance (you do have the needed documents backed up somewhere for this, right?). A home inventory, a list of insurance policy account numbers/contact info, and all other pertinent documents should be backed up on a secure thumb drive/hard drive somewhere other than in your devastated home.



• Get in contact with those who need to know about your situation. For wide-spread disasters, this may mean going on the Red Cross website to their "people finder" section and listing your whereabouts so that family and friends will know you are OK. You may need to have mail rerouted if you no longer have a home/mailbox. You may want to send out a "we're OK" email to everyone instead of having to repeat your story a hundred times when friends and family call.



• Stay in contact with local authorities. Generally the local authorities (county sheriff in some cases, county Department of Emergency Management in others) will be able to provide daily updates on what is happening/what you need to do in your area. These are the people who will be providing water and food if needed, pointing you to shelters if needed, escorting you to your devastated home if necessary, directing you to the local FEMA intake center that has been set up, etc.



• When the all-clear is given, you will need to start the actual clean up process. Depending on the disaster, you may need to wait for inspectors or insurance claims adjusters to come for an inspection. If you are going to undertake the clean up yourself, read this. If you can hire the work done, all the better (but you need to be extra careful for scammers who come out of the woodwork at these types of events, like this).



• Be sure to document everything! Sometimes things will fall through the cracks so having good documentation of everything--from videos and photos of the disaster area, to lists of supplies purchased for clean up, to lists of items destroyed and taken to the dump, etc--will be more than useful even after all of the clean up has been completed.

There are about a hundred other things that you will have to do after a disaster, these are just the high points (not to mention the actual rebuilding process which could take many months and many thousands of dollars). Depending on the situation you may be responsible for yourself for days or weeks after the disaster (like during Hurricane Katrina), you may be responsible for your own safety and security (chasing off looters is usually par for the course after a disaster), and the red tape you will have to fight through can be everything from marginally annoying to devastatingly complicated. Which is why, even if you live in an area that rarely ever sees a disaster, to get prepared today!

A Note in Response to the 'Updated Carry List' Post

A couple of weeks ago, I posted my Updated Carry List. Reader D.R. had this additional information to add:

"Recently saw your updated daily carry list and have a couple of suggestions:

For the cell phone:

extra SD cards and recharge gear as follows:

Tekkeon TekCharge Mobile Power and Battery Charger

Sanyo Eneloop AA batteries

Goal Zero Nomad 7 solar panel with USB port

Downloaded apps: APP 2 SD or equivalent, U.S. Army Survival Guide, Google Books, WikiPock, MapDroyd, iTriage, KnotsGuide, ElectroDroid, Scanner Radio, Flashlight, Google Translate
backup SD cards, batteries and solar panel

Obviously I wouldn't carry around all that stuff but would have the capability to keep the phone/s charged in the event of a power outage. The apps and extra SD cards would be a potential gold mine of handy info in very portable format.

For the USB thumb drive:

In addition to the personal documents, backup documents, whatever, I like to have Portable Apps, a suite of portable applications that include OpenOffice, web browser, etc.

http://portableapps.com/

I also like to carry a second thumb drive with a full bootable Linux distro image on it, my preference being Linux Mint 10.0, but Knoppix and Puppy Linux are even smaller.

http://www.linuxmint.com/

http://www.knoppix.net/

http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20Latest%20Release.htm

You can easily and quickly burn any of these Linux distros to a thumb drive using the software package found here:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

I like to have the capability of access to an excellent operating system wherever I can plug in a USB stick if needed, and there are also a bunch of computer system repair software tools out there that can be put on USB drives, as you probably know already. It is also possible to have a bootable image of Windows XP or Windows 7 on a thumb drive but the procedure for making that happen is a royal pain in the ass. Not so with Linux.

Hope you find this info useful and thanks a million for your site and keeping it up to date so well; it is definitely a goldmine of extremely useful information."

Thanks DR for this useful information!