Code Name Insight

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

20 Things to Know About Your Neighborhood

How well do you know the place that you live?

What are the natural water sources in your neighborhood?
What does your neighborhood look like on Google Earth?
How many evacuation routes are there from your neighborhood?
What are the (natural, commercial) food sources in your neighborhood?
Who are your neighbors?
Do you regularly check the crime map for your neighborhood?
What is the economic data for your neighborhood (average house price, average income, percentage of rentals, etc)?
What types of public transportation is available in your neighborhood?
Do you regularly walk around your neighborhood during the day?
Do you occasionally walk around your neighborhood at night?
What are the hazards (both natural and man-made) in your neighborhood?
What resources are in your neighborhood (ie: police sub-station, library, pharmacy, etc)?
What is your neighborhood/community disaster plan?
Does your neighborhood have a neighborhood watch program?
Do you know the people who work in your neighborhood (mailman, gardeners, etc)?
Do your kids have safe homes they can go to in your neighborhood if you aren't home?
Where is your family's meeting spot in your neighborhood in case they need to evacuate your home?
Do you regularly check the sex offender list for your neighborhood?
What are your neighborhood/community news sources and do you regularly monitor these (newspapers, blogs, Twitter feeds, etc)?
Do you ever work with your neighbors for common goals (neighborhood garage sales, neighborhood barbecues, community sports teams, etc)?

Monday, March 3, 2014

20 Inexpensive Ways to Safeguard Your Home

Protecting your home and property is a given. You want the things that you buy and the home that you live in to be safe and secure which has made home security a multi-million dollar industry what with home alarm companies, home protection camera systems, and even private security guards/security companies. Here's some simple, inexpensive ways to safeguard your home.

Choose a reasonably safe place to live. If you are moving to a new house or apartment, do a bit of sleuthing around and figure out which neighborhoods are safer than others (start here).
Put up a "beware of dog" sign. You don't need an actual dog as the sign itself can be a deterrent.
If you like and want a pet, choose a dog. I know that there are dog people and there are cat people but dogs make a better guard/alarm system for your home than a cat.
Buy new locks (or re-key your current locks) if it has been a while since this was done, especially if you have lost track of who has keys for your place.
See if your neighborhood has a neighborhood watch program. If such a program is available in your area, join up. If it is not available, start one.
Get to know your neighbors. Ask them to call you and report anything unusual they see happening at your home and offer to do the same for them.
Make sure basic repairs are made ASAP, especially if it impacts your home security. Make sure all window and door locks are secure. Make sure the garage door is secure. Make sure outbuildings can be locked down tight. Replace outdoor light bulbs as soon as you notice them burned out.
Landscape for safety. Make sure your doors and windows are visible and not hidden by overgrown bushes and shrubs. Plant roses or other spiky/thorny bushes beneath windows.
Light up for safety. Install motion detector outdoor lights around your property. Add flood lights at various places around your property if needed. Make sure you can light up all of the property around your home with the flick of a switch from inside of your home.
Hold regular home lock down drills in which your family locks down your home as quickly as possible.
Before you leave your home or go to bed at night make a sweep of your home to make sure all doors are locked, necessary exterior lights are turned on, all windows are closed and locked, the stove is turned off, nightlights are turned on, etc.
See if your local $1 store or hardware store offers cheap window and door alarms. These are basically two plastic pieces that attach to the door and the frame or two parts of a window. There is a battery which creates an electrical current and if the pieces are jarred or moved a shrill alarm is set off.
Set up a fake video security system around the exterior of your home (this is the cheap option and is a slight deterrent).
Set up a real, wireless video security system around the interior and exterior of your home (this is more expensive). Many of these systems can be monitored via computer or smartphone.
Don't make it easy for burglars/intruders to enter your home (make sure they can't enter through a dog door, can't pull out a window AC unit and enter than way, that you don't leave your garage door open unless you are actively coming or going in this area, that you don't leave your front or back door unlocked--both while you are at home or while you are gone, that you don't "hide" a key outside in case you get locked out, etc).
Don't do stupid stuff (like posting your vacation plans on Twitter or Facebook, never changing your alarm system code if you do have an alarm system, leaving a stack expensive looking stuff at the curb on garbage day like a MacBook box, an iPhone box, a box from your new 60" TV, etc).
Hide your valuables when you leave your home (ie: stick your MacBook air under the sofa when you leave the house instead of leaving it on the table where it can be seen through a window; if you do have a safe, don't just stick it in your bedroom closet, hide it in the attic under a blanket of fiberglass insulation, etc).
Keep your wallet, cell phone, and car keys on your nightstand instead of sitting by the front door or on the kitchen table where someone can see these items through a window or door.
Be aware of who you let into your home. Your home can be "cased" for a future burglary by your teenage kid's friends, door to door salespeople, etc.
Make it look like someone is always home (don't allow mail or newspapers to pile up, keep the radio or TV on when you leave to make it sound like someone is home, use timers on your interior lights to make it look like someone is home/awake at various times during the day and night, etc).

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Survival Food: 10 Things

Most of the time I am not a "sky is falling" type of person. There are times, however, when a little warning is a good thing. So today's warning will be about food. Or the possible lack thereof in the coming year.

If you haven't heard about the massive drought in California, well, you probably should have. And since California is where a lot of food is grown that feeds the people of the United States, this is something to worry about. Add to that the fact that food prices keep rising. The price of meat, for example, has risen exponentially over the past couple of years ($8 for a single chicken??? Some years back I was paying 39 cents a pound for chicken!). Here are 10 things to consider about the current food situation:

Start a food garden. Even if all you have is a window sill where you can grow herbs, being able to produce any sort of food for yourself is liberating. Planting a flower pot of lettuce and a couple of tomato plants is even better. Obviously I don't expect that many people will have the space/inclination to grow the majority of their produce but growing a few things is better than nothing.
Fill up your freezer. Whenever I find loss leaders or sale meat, I always plan for the future and buy as much as we can reasonably consume within a year or so. Needless to say, the freezer is full of meat and vegetables.
Ditto for your pantry. While there are a lot of sale items at the grocery store that we simply don't buy no matter how low the price (processed anything basically), there are times, such as when stores have case lot sales and such, that we make a haul and fill the pantry with canned soup/vegetables/fish/etc.
Hit up the $1 store and 99 cent store. There are some items in these stores that you can find cheaper elsewhere but there are usually plenty of items that are a bargain for $1 and deserve to be bought in bulk.
Canning, freezing, dehydrating, smoking, etc. Buy a giant, cheap, box of something and experiment. A friend delivered a huge box of bananas that he got on sale for a couple of bucks and said "what can you do with these?" What we did: canned banana baby food. Froze most of the bananas for smoothies and banana bread. You don't want to spend a fortune on something to experiment with but you can often find cheap items that are worth trying to process for your future food needs. FWIW smoked fish is tasty and has along shelf life. Also, canning and jelly making isn't as hard as it seems.
Learn how to procure your own food. Hunting and fishing are fun hobbies which also provide you with a lot of protein for little more than the cost of a license and a bit of your time once you have the necessary equipment and knowledge.
Learn how to forage. Have you ever eaten a cattail? These plants are prolific in some areas and were once a staple food for many Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest. There are literally dozens and dozens of edibles that grow wild that can be had for just the effort needed to gather them (warning: know what it is you are harvesting, take a class to learn if necessary and/or go with someone who knows what they are doing until you know what you are doing).
Procure seasonally. Old timers probably remember that food used to be seasonal. There was no such thing as a watermelon in January or a fresh tomato in February. You can still flow with the seasons, however, and get dirt cheap prices on food just by buying or harvesting when items are in season (wild berries in late summer, mushrooms in the fall, smelt when they are running, super cheap watermelon at the grocery store in summer, etc).
Buy grains in bulk. Dried grains (oats, rice, wheat, etc) tend to have a long shelf life, are easy to store, are cheap to buy (ie: a bag of dried beans are much cheaper than the same amount of beans in canned form), and are endlessly useful.
When you do buy/grow/harvest food items to last for a long time (unlike just buying enough groceries to tide you over for a week), learn how to safely and effectively store them for the duration (the LDS folks are genius at this, info here) so you don't waste your time, money, and most importantly the food.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

10 Things You Need for a Weather Emergency

It's been a pretty wild winter what with massive snow storms and now heavy rains and flooding (example here). What is consistent among all of these weather emergencies is the necessity to be prepared in advance of such occurrences. Here's what you need:

A bug out bag. You never know when the sheriff will show up on your doorstep and inform you that everyone needs to evacuate ASAP due to flooding, a wild fire, avalanche hazard, etc.
A bug out plan. Should you need to leave in a hurry due to the aforementioned weather emergencies, what is your plan? Where will you go? How will you get there? Do you have the cash to sustain you while you are gone? Can you work remotely?
Forewarning. Generally you will want to keep an ear on your local news, receive updates from NOAA on your phone, have a weather radio, etc. so you will know ahead of time if a tornado or hurricane is headed your way. This will give you enough notice so that you can take precautions/evacuate ahead of any disaster.
Foreknowledge. No matter where you are--whether you are at home or on vacation--you need to study up ahead of time and be knowledgeable about the sort of weather-related disasters that are common to your area. You need to know what to expect and how to prepare and how to, pardon the pun, weather the storm.
Mitigation efforts. Now that you know what to expect, say, when a tornado is heading your way, you should also be ready to mitigate the impact of any sort of weather emergency. For tornadoes and hurricanes you may want to keep plywood and screws on hand so you can board up windows if necessary, for areas prone to flooding you may want to have sandbags on hand, etc.
Back-ups. No matter the emergency you want to have alternative sources of food, water, and shelter available in the event that your utilities are taken out by the storm.
Clothing. You also want to dress appropriately for the weather. Sometimes the difference between being uncomfortable and having a severe case of frostbite if you are stuck out in the snow is a hat and gloves. Be sure you have appropriate clothing for any weather eventuality. Also have appropriate shoes (this could mean heavy winter boots or water shoes depending on your circumstances).
A disaster plan. An overall disaster plan encompasses many things that may be useful during a weather emergency such as a communications plan so worried relatives will be able to find out what happened to you, knowledge of your kid's school's disaster plan so you can incorporate this into your own planning, the ability for the family to lock down the house in minutes or escape from the house in the same amount of time, etc.
The ability to help others. Many disasters--including the planning, response, and recovery thereof--may require more than just you. Working with your immediately family is the first step in working with others to survive a weather emergency, checking on elderly or infirm neighbors before, during, and after the emergency is a nice thing to do, and being able to work with your neighbors--whether making sandbags or boarding up windows--is another ability to have.
Recovery. After the weather emergency has passed, you will then be in recovery mode. This encompasses everything from the ability to clean up after the fact (this could be a small or overwhelming job depending on if a bit of water got into the basement or the roof of your house collapsed under the snow) to the information necessary to file insurance claims or seek community or federal resources to fix up whatever was destroyed during the weather disaster.

tldr; the most common emergency you will face on a regular basis is a weather emergency. Prepare ahead of time!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Links (With Commentary, Of Course)

Here's some links from around the web (with appropriate commentary of course):

Man accidentally kills self during gun safety demonstration (what are the four rules of gun safety???)
I'm quitting my job...thanks Obamacare (actually it should be thanks tax payers, they are the one's who will be paying for your insurance in all of these scenarios)
Hackathons (this is definitely the new wave of learning useful skills for the marketplace)
The History of Bitcoin (not regulated, not backed by anything...yep that's a great investment /s)
And now for something more relaxing and enjoyable...Nature Valley Trail Views

Thursday, February 20, 2014

10 Things on My 'To Done' List

After a very nice vacation I came back to perfect Vegas weather and a lengthy to do list which, at this point, is nearly done.

Taxes. These were done simply and inexpensively online, months before some procrastinators will be heading to the post office at midnight to beat the April 15th deadline.
Garden. Unlike most of the country, we got zero snow and now temps in the high 70s which means gardening time. I've got a half dozen vegetables planted and the fruit trees are already flowering.
Cleaning out the garage. Spring cleaning is best done in, well, spring. And since it is very much spring here, cleaning has been commenced.
CraigsList. Which leads us to CraigsListing many items we no longer need. This both clears out the clutter and provides cash to add to the emergency fund.
Pantry and freezer. As we get set for the spring influx of guests, it was time to review our food stores in both the pantry and freezer, rotate stored food, and restock.
Revamp the BOBs. Also as the weather changes it is time to dump out the BOBs (house BOB, car BOB) and review/replace/exchange items as needed.
A semi-annual home inspection. Fortunately the "need to fix" list is short after a thorough home inspection but there are a couple of fire extinguishers that need to be recharged, an AC unit that needs an annual service, a vehicle that needs its oil changed, a stockpile of batteries that have dwindled over the winter and need restocked, etc.
The annual bill review. This is done once a year, usually at the beginning of the year, and includes a review each expense we pay. For example, the house payment. I am quite please with this and the interest rate is much lower than anything I can get today so that bill is left as is. However, when I looked at vehicle and home insurance bill the rates seemed a bit high so I did some comparison shopping, got quotes for better rates than what I was currently paying, then marched over to my insurance agent's office and finagled a lowering of said rates to my satisfaction.
Summer travel. In our case, winter is generally a good time to stay home but summer...not so much. So summer travel has been planned, tickets purchased, hotels booked, etc.
Fitness goals. Fitness activities are an integral part of my life anyway but I do have some particular goals for this year and need to plan out how they will be reached. For example, I want to walk 1200 this year which should be accomplished with daily three mile walks and a couple of "big walks" of 20 to 50 miles which need to be scheduled. Ditto I need to get busy scheduling a Grand Canyon rim to rim hike and a long distance walk in the UK.

And from today's BS-conspiracy-theory-inducing-let's-hope-this-cover-up-gets-exposed news: this

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Getting Clobbered By Bad Weather? 10 Things to Remember

Yet another snow story as more than 60% of the US is covered in the stuff. Here's 10 things to remember: