Posts Tagged ‘preps’

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Too Much To Do – With Updates

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

It seems the more time I need to put into prepping, the less time I have available. I’ve cut back on gaming, TV, movies, etc but there just isn’t enough time in the day. I know I’m not alone in this dilemma, and all we can do is muddy through.

I’m still working on my “prepping in 30 minutes a day” system. I’ll have some time this afternoon, and I hope to finish it off, review it and post it this week.

I spent some time in the workshop yesterday. I have been working on resolving a storage dilemma I know most preppers have. How can I store stuff, but have it portable? I’ve been banging away at Google Sketchup designing a way to build a wooden storage box that is stackable, sturdy, lightweight, and can be built from stuff you find in a Big Box store. I built a prototype yesterday, but it was a bit to heavy (about 20 pounds), and a bit too large.  One feature of this design is the height can be customized to whatever you want, the boxes still stack without a problem.

There are commercial alternatives made from plastic that would cost about the same. First, wood will take more abuse than plastic. Wood dings and splinters, where plastic shatters. Secondly, these can be built and repaired post-TEOTWAWKI with hand tools and time. Finally, you cannot access your stuff from the side. My design has one side that can drop down, allowing easy access to the contents, even when stacked floor to ceiling. If you have crates that you don’t want to have that feature, then don’t build them that way.That leads me to the other advantage: build it however you want! I’m planning on building different models.

“Jumbo” – roughly 36w x 22d x 12h – holds six #10 cans, with thin dividers in-between to keep them from getting banged up.Also used for big, but light things like clothes, blankets, gear, etc.

“Bigin” – roughly 20w x 16d x 12h – holds eight 1qt mason jars, or sixteen 1pt mason jars.  Shallower versions of this would be ideal for tools, screws, nuts & bolts, nails, etc.

“Normal” – roughly 16w x 12d x10h – holds 24 cans (beans, veggies, Spaghetti-O’s), ammo, books, magazines, and other heavier items.

When I get a working prototype I will post a full writeup, with plans, and how to build them en masse, to drive costs lower. I expect the sizes to vary some, until I am happy with the weight to contents ratio. I’m shooting for a container that is sturdy enough to hold up to some abuse, but light enough that it isn’t heavier than what it is carrying.

I’m also working on my role post-TEOTWAWKI. I’m anxiously waiting for my body armor to come in. I also have most of my weapon upgrades in, but not all. I’m putting some time and effort into my main weapons platform, my M1A, to improve my performance as a “designated marksman” after the collapse of civilization. While waiting for parts, some of which has taken over three months to get, I’ve been doing some reading and a lot of thinking. I have a post in the works on post-TEOTWAWKI tactics, and expect more tactical homework assignments to illustrate the difference in military and police tactics and what I feel the tactics we should be using post-TEOTWAWKI. The Military’s tactics are centered around taking and controlling ground, with air, artillery, and more importantly logistical and medical support. There is a percentage of “acceptable losses” when executing an attack plan. As a prepper, I don’t want to have to attack anything. This is why I don’t see the weight of my battle rifle as a problem, I don’t have to assault some hill with it and a hundred+ rounds of ammo. I’m holed up in my house with all the ammo I want, but with zero logistical and medical support.

I cannot wait to see how my M1A performs with these modifications! I feel like a kid at Christmas. I could have bought a decked-out M1A from Fulton Armory for $3k+, but I didn’t have $3k to spend. I did drop about $900 in these upgrades. My plan is to circle back when my budget allows and buy a top-notch M1A receiver and barrel from a place like Fulton Armory, and all the other missing bits like op-rod, trigger group, etc and install it into the stock I bought for my “stock” M1A I have now. Then I’ll have dual M1A’s, and can sell the Franken-FAL – my backup battle rifle.

I’m still downloading and evaluating apps for my tablet, and will post my findings soon. I also want to revisit the “survival computer” but avoid all discussion of hardware — it changes way to fast. I want to focus on software you should have and what options you have with your operating system.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to go over a backup procedure for us preppers. You are your data, and having a copy of that easily accessible, but secure, is something we all need.

So I have quite a few articles in the works that I know will be helpful, but time has my butt in a vise and someone is turning the handle.

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Fitness Update

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

The hardest thing about my line of work is finding sensible food choices when running between airports, hotels, and client locations with only a candy machine for food. The TSA has determined in its infinite wisdom that only a terrorist would bring food or water through a security checkpoint, so having some healthy snacks in my bag is not an option most of the time.

I have managed to stick with a lower calorie diet, and making those calories as healthy as I can. Now that I’ve cut back on soda, I’m feeling a lot better all around, and I’m sleeping a lot better since I switched to non-caffeinated teas at night. I haven’t lost a lot of weight though. I am getting thinner, I need to add another hole to my belt, and my clothes are becoming ill-fitting. Time to spend some cash on smaller clothing, although I really don’t want to yet. I have a lot of clothes for work, and replacing them would be a large expense. I’m going to selectively buy replacements as I wear them out, or if I catch them on sale.  I am still shrinking, so I don’t want to invest money in clothing that is going to be too big for whatever size I wind up.

Other than the problems with food acquisition, things are going pretty well on the fitness regimen. Just the other day I was humping gear up a flight of stairs and the skinny guy was out of breath and panting while i was still going strong. This led me to take an inventory of my body, which is weird since I live in it you would think that I would know WTF is going on, right?

I’m getting skinnier, but my weight is not dropping. the layer of fat on my arms, chest and legs is definitely getting thinner. I used to be able to gather about a 1″ thick roll of fat from my forearm while the muscles are flexed. Now, I’m gathering about 1/2″. The larger muscle groups are much more pronounced, but the measuring tape is showing that I have actually shrunk in size.

I think that I am burning the fat inside the muscles now, which results in a net reduction in size. This is because I’m burning this fat faster than the muscle fibers are thickening. Think of it this way: I used to be a Ribeye with nice marbling, and I’m becoming a lean NY Strip, with a little fat on the outside. This is all conjecture on my part since I do not have a dip tank to measure my fat percentage. I’ll confirm this theory when the fat inside my muscles is exhausted, and I see faster fat loss on the outside.

I cannot stress enough the importance of fitness as a preparation. There are those out there in the blogosphere who think you need to be as fit (or better) than a front line combat troop. I am way to busy to work out every day for a few hours. I feel the middle ground is the way to go. My goal is to be fit enough to be healthy, and flabby enough that I have time for the 10 billion other things I have to spend time on. If I need to increase my fitness level post-collapse I will be in a position to do so.

This workout rotation I have been focusing on low weight and high reps. I do this workout three times a week, and it kicks my ass just as much as the heavy lifting cycles, if not more so. The hardest part is figuring out a weight that I can do the required reps, but just barely be able to finish. Some days you have more energy than others, and this complicates matters enough that I’m only just getting everything down pat. Just as this cycle is about to end. This is what I’m doing right now:

  • Bench Press: 1×25,1×20, 1×15
  • Lat Pull Downs: 2×30
  • Close Grip Bench Press: 1×25
  • Barbell Curls: 1×15
  • Barbell Curls (reverse grip): 1×10
  • Squats: 3×20
  • Upright Rows: 2×25
  • Stiff-Legged Deadlifts: 2×25 (Really have to vary the weight depending on how my lower back feels. I’ve also skipped them to allow my back to recover from day-to-day abuse.)

I’ve cut down on the reps for the single group exercises because the plan is to use compound exercises to burn fat. I’m doing the curls to burn some fat, but really I am just trying to make sure my body is not eating these muscles instead of fat.

You have no excuses. You will need to lift/carry/ haul stuff if there is a calamity. Would you rather be like me, and carrying 40# boxes up and down stairs without getting winded, or the skinny IT guy who was out of breath and panting after 15 minutes. How far could this skinny guy walk if he had to? Don’t be the “Cupcake Commando” who thinks he will lose weight after TEOTWAWKI. Include fitness as a prep, and while the Cupcake Commando is having a heart attack carrying buckets of grain up from the basement, you will be milling grain for tomorrow’s bread.

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Puffy Rice?

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

I went through a lot of my preps this weekend, and I found that about 28# of rice I had vacuum sealed was “puffy.” Not the kernels themselves, but the vacuum was gone, but the bags were intact. I’m worried about botulism, and have pulled them from my preps for now. What would cause the rice to outgas? Has anyone else seen this before? I was careful when I packaged the rice, and it looks like it was only the batches I did in 7/09 and 11/09 so far. All the rest of the vacuum sealed rice (about another 30#) seems fine, including some bags from those batches. All the other vacuum-sealed items like beans, lentils, corn, dehydrated fruit, etc. are all still under a vacuum.

Please leave a comment if you know what’s going on!

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What’s Going On?

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011

Things have been very busy at Natog’s Sekret Bunker. I’ve had to sideline my writing career due to training and certification demands from the “real” job. I’m spending about three hours a night studying for a series of certifications the Job wants me to get. I don’t mind, because these certs are mine, and I can use them to get a different job if things don’t turn around here.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to starting my own computer consulting business. A LOT of thought. I have the skills, and lots of contacts in the field. Customers would need to be pulled away for the incompetent consulting firms in the area, which shouldn’t be that hard. What I need is capital, about $250k for my pie-in-the-sky project. Most of it would be from Uncle Sugar, as I’m a minority I get special loans for starting my own business. Yes, I’m milking the system, but after all the money I’ve put into Social Security that I will never see, I could care less.

There are a few things holding me back.  First, I would be feeding the system of dependence that I loathe. Second, I would need to gain the confidence, i.e. pay off, politicians to keep my business up and running. Finally, I would need to hire employees.

I can do a lot on my own in this business. I can perform all the technical design, provide our internal IT services, and complete the technical work for the customers. What I am not good at is being a salesman and schmoozing customers. I also am a complete rookie at running a business, and have no experience doing it. I’ve managed people before, that’s not a problem – it’s the day to day financing, cash flow, etc. that I have no familiarity with.

So I would need to hire a sales weasel, a part-time bookkeeper, a cute-sounding girl to man the phones, and a help desk grunt to field customer calls & do minor admin stuff. I also would need to hire a business consultant, preferably a retired businessman, to help me about ten hours a week with the business side of the company.

As I have said I have put a lot of thought into this. I have a business plan sketched out, and I’ve done three out of the ten or so technical designs for the various customers completed. These designs are the foundation for demonstrating profitability, and to show customers the options for services my company will provide, the monthly costs, and the TCO (total cost of ownership) of their existing IT infrastructure.

It is so tempting to go for it, but until I have six months of cash saved to cover bills, and I’ve completed the business plan and all the designs, it’s really a pipe dream. It’s funny in that the idea I have is actually helped by a poor economy. Datacenter space is cheaper, and it’s more advantageous to companies to spend a monthly fee, rather than outlay capital on computer equipment.

The big advantage is it will pay a shitload more than a writer/woodworker’s salary.

Speaking of woodworking, I’ve been a busy beaver in the shop. I’ve been doing a series of small projects to make my home more liveable. I built a storage unit for the pantry so all the cookie sheets and such stand vertically. I’m almost done with a plate rack for the cupboard that will let me stack the plates vertically, giving me a spot to put all my vitamins and supplements. This frees up counter space and makes the kitchen neater.

For the basement, I built a weight bench, with snazzy upholstering and a plate rack to store my freeweights. It’s nothing fancy, two 2″x4″ sides with 2″x6″ verticals. I can’t find the pic of the one I copied, I’ll have to snap a pic when I get home.  Next, I am going to focus on storage and organization in the basement. I will make a few shelves from 2×4′s, and then make wooden boxes to hold stuff on the shelves.

I am going to make a jig tonight to cut through dovetails on my table saw. I’ll upload pics and a diagram on how to build it in a future post. The dovetail is the strongest joint in woodworking that doesn’t use any mechanical fasteners. With some quality plywood, this jig, a little glue, and a table saw, you can bang out piles of these boxes for about the same cost as the plastic bins you buy in Target. The advantage is that you can customize the size to exactly what you need, and when target is no longer around, you can make them from whatever wood you can find.

The idea is for me to go through all my computer crap and organize it into bins on these shelves. I’ll sell what I’m throwing out for scrap because motherboards, network cable, etc is worth big cash now. I’ll buy silver with the money I get. I really, really need to get some more precious metals, but the bills are getting outrageous. I had to fill the oil tank and $550 later I have enough to heat the house until the spring. (The secret is to not have a wife or girlfriend — that way you can set the heat at 63 degrees and not hear the endless bitching about the cold.)

I guess I’ve been focusing more on the woodworking and handyman/tinkering around the house because I am already spending between ten and thirteen hours a day in front of a computer. Writing is more of the same, and my brain can’t handle it. I already don’t exercise enough — the last thing I need to do is sit on my ass more.

I have been exercising fairly regularly, and if you are too then keep it up! If you are not then get off the computer and go for a walk. I have been shortening the belt, matter of fact I need to add another belt notch as my pants are starting to slide off.  Muscles are showing through my subcutaneous fat layer, most notably my biceps, triceps, quads and back muscles. I don’t think I have lost that much weight, but rather converted a lot of flab into lean muscle. I’m getting there, slowly and surely. If you change too radically then your body will bounce back. It has happened to me in the past, when I did the Atkins diet. I lost ~50 pounds in 6 months, then gained 75 back the next six months. The better strategy (for me) is to ignore the number (the pounds) and focus on changing my body from fat to lean muscle.

My body type is like a power lifter’s. I make huge gains in mass and strength, but because of my genetics I’ll never be “Brad Pitt” ripped. I will always have a layer of fat. That is OK by me — it keeps me warm in the winter! The goal is to have enough fat to cover the icky veins, while being strong and fit enough to do manual labor all day, and kick some ass if I have to. I gain motivation by watching the amount of weight I lift increase, by putting more holes in my belt, and fitting into a 2x shirt when I was starting to buy 4x. With my frame I doubt I’ll ever get to an XL, my shoulders are way to big. Every workout I push a little harder, every day I curb the cravings for sweets, every meal I eat better calories. More fuel than sweets, more fat and protein than carbs. I haven’t cut out carbs completely, just switched from “fast” carbs like sugar and flour to “slow” carbs like oatmeal and whole grain.
I’ve been looking around for an Uke, a sparring partner, to start re-training myself in Martial Arts. The few dojo’s in the area I called or visited have never heard of such a thing. Of course, they kept pushing me to sign up for their version of kenpo-kung-jusitsu-karate-dragon-ninja-fu bullshit. I might try other means of finding training partners, if you have any ideas please shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment. I’m very rusty in hand to hand, and could use some practice with uke’s of different sizes and body types to get comfortable with people swinging at me again.

Time is ticking away. The Eurozone is holding together with duct tape and bailing wire. China is trying to paint over the rot in their economy so investors don’t notice it. Our economy is beyond fixing, and is only functioning because investors are so afraid of the EU and China that they are dumping money into our worthless bonds. We do not have a lot of time, and I am doing my best to spend it wisely in preparation of what is coming, while enjoying life and keeping (mostly) sane about the whole situation.

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Is This A Setup?

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Maybe I am a little paranoid, or I have finally gained the ability to see through political bullshit, but I think the deal is already in for the cutbacks, raise the debt ceiling, etc. All this is just grandstanding, and the can has been successfully kicked down the road. I’d like to play poker vs. Obama, as it seems he is way to calm during this crisis, as if his handlers have given him the script and he is just waiting for his cues and reading his lines.

Not that I care either way. The system will fail, as all systems do when stressed so much for so long.  I’m still making plans either way, so if we crash I follow plan X and if we kick the can down the road I follow plan Y. This is a good thing to do, with whatever detail you feel is appropriate. In ’83 and ’39 the US developed the “rainbow plans” to provide planning for a variety of contingencies. Plan Black was war with Germany, Plan Red was war with England and Canada, and Plan Orange was war with Japan.

These war-gamed planning sessions gave our leaders a playbook, using football analogy since we will have a season after all, to start persecuting the war. War Plan Orange did not predict the importance of carrier-based aircraft in the war, but the island-hopping to close a noose around Japan was envisioned in the plan. There is a lesson here that the battlefield, even at a Macro or Strategic level cannot be fully planned for, so the plan needs to be more of a frame work than strict dogma.

Since you cannot plan macro-level events then detailed planning for long term micro-level events is impossible.  This chart shows how I perceive the relationship between time and the ability to perfectly plan events. This touches on Chaos Theory (intro for beginners here) where the slightest change can have drastic effects over time disproportional to the original event in a complex system. The usual metaphor is where someone farts in China and it causes a tornado in Kansas.

So what are my plans? I will post my macro-level plans soon so that you can use them as inspiration for your own planning. Fill in detail as you have time, and as the event’s probability of use increases. To start, get a notebook from a dollar store and use one sheet per plan. The trick is is not to plan all the way to completion, but a couple years out. We do not have the resources and planning teams the Naval Board did in 1939, so good enough will have to do.

I should start a betting pool on when the deal will be reached. I called the Venetian Sports Book, but couldn’t get any action. I’m going to say Friday @1pm EST because they want the markets to rally and go into the weekend on a high note.

 

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Hot Weekend!

Monday, July 25th, 2011

It was Africa hot this weekend. Too hot to do much, but I still got some stuff done.

Saturday morning I jumped up on the roof for some maintenance. The pitch of the roof over the Garage and In-Law apartment is real low, so the oak tree’s branches, leaves, etc. get stuck up there. So every year I go up there and sweep all that crud off of the asphalt shingles. While i was up there, I noticed a few of the branches were lower than I’d like – low enough to hit the roof with snow load so I trimmed them with the chainsaw and pruner. This will allow air to circulate better, which should keep the house a little cooler in this blasted heat.

After getting back from work at a client site, I spent some time on the inventory spreadsheet I started a long time ago. I made some nice progress, including a dashboard that adds up all the calories you have in each location, and figures the # of days you have depending on what you decide your family or groups caloric needs are. I also have a 2000/day(per person)  formula built in, as a sanity check and also as a quick reference if your family or group is hunkered down without much activity. Like if you were sheltering in place from nuclear fallout, or riding out a pandemic where you couldn’t go outside.

Mum got her new pistol, and she loves it. I might not have mentioned her problems shooting before, so I’ll go into some detail now. I think this is going to be a common problem with female shooters, I just hope they do not have as expensive tastes as Mum does. Her pistol’s going for over $1400 on gun broker.

So the distance between her trigger finger and the heel of her palm is shorter than most peoples. This isn’t just having small hands, it’s different for every shooter, but it can happen in men as well. (This is how we learned of it.) Now, when she shot her 9mm, or any centerfire pistol, the knuckle of her thumb, the  one closest to the hand, rode right against the heel of the pistol, where the bevertail is on a 1911 pistol. The recoil was painful, and she could not shoot a lot before it really bothered her.

The solution is any 1911-style pistol. Turns out one of the design elements is the  distance from trigger to the beavertail is the shortest of any pistol design. This allows her to hold the pistol properly, and not twist her hand counterclockwise (if viewed from above) to compensate for her short finger. This allowed the pistol to ride where it should, and not right on that thumb knuckle.

She loves it. Now I just need to get her to watch where the damn muzzle is pointing and adjust the sights. Out of the box, it’s pulling to the left ~4″ at 25 yards for me, and ~8″ for her. I don’t think she is flinching. Mum is short enough i can look over the top of her head at the pistol while she shoots.

I tried talking her into getting a .45ACP 1911, but she wouldn’t hear it. Even though she has shot my Sig, she really wanted the 9mm. Like I said, she has expensive tastes. I could have loaded lighter rounds for her to reduce the recoil, but she had her heart set on that pistol.  Nevermind a solid .45 1911 is about $500 cheaper!

The S&W 1911 9mm Pro series is a shooter. Very accurate with heavier bullets. I had some 147 grain LFP (lead flat point) loaded with Longshot powder and I was surprised I shot a 4″ group. That’s a lot better than my Sig. Mum never shoots at 25 yards, but kept all her rounds on the paper, which is about the same size as a silhouette. Not one issue with misfeeds, everything loaded smooth as silk. We did have an issue with one factory round didn’t fire, but I tried it again and it fired the second try.  So if you want to spend a lot of money on a 9mm, this is the perfect Pistol for it.

I’ll be posting the spreadsheet soon under the non-commercial, keep credit for the authors and modify as you want Creative commons license. Normally, I wouldn’t care, but someone already snarfed “TEOTWAWKIAIFF” for a booklet that’s out there…

In the spirit of why I’m doing this blog, I’ll also be publishing how-to’s up on Smashwords for free. Each one will be focused on one subject, and will have everything I know about the subject. The idea is if someone likes reading disaster fiction they can grab these for free and be more prepared. The other idea it’s a simple series of documents people can print out and add to their survival binders, and keep on their kindles and such. Maybe I’ll include sample chapters to drive up marketing, but I don’t want that to print if they just download a .pdf version and hit print. We will see.

The debt stuff is heating up, and Greece was downgraded to Ca, which is one step above default. Economic news should be fast and furious all week. I’ll try to boil it down for everyone as time allows.

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Updates

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Well I thought I run through some of the things I’ve been doing and hopefully inspire everyone to step away from the Air Conditioning and get some preps done.

I scored at the Flea market on sunday. I got a D handle pointy shovel for $2, and a D handle flat edged shovel for $3. The flat one has some cement stuck to it I want to remove, but for now that’s still a great deal. The only yard/ditch-digging implements I’m missing is a long spike, a mattocks, and a pickaxe. Almost there.

I need to get a splitting maul and a nice sledgehammer, but I might have to break down and go to a big box store. I like the new fiberglass handled ones. Mum’s had one for many seasons and has survived my brother missing 2 out of 5 times with it.

I got a whole butt-load of electronic and Ham supplies. I got 150′ of RG-8X cable, a 10M hamstick mobile antenna, all kinds of crimpers for coax and power-pole connectors. Next up is to convert and old power supply so it can power my 10m or 2m mobile radio while in the house. I also picked up a SWR reader of e-bay for short money ($25) and it handles from 3-150Mhz. Took me a little while to figure out how to use it, but I got that under control. My mobile 5/8 2m antenna is reading a SWR of 3. :( that sucks.

Looks like I need to do some experimentation to see if the cable got mangled or if I need to trim the antenna. I need to bone up a little on SWR before i cut anything though. I also need to manufacture a mount for the jeep so I can put the 10m mobile antenna on.

I’ve been studying for the next ham exam, but it has been slow going. Lots of electronics that I forgot over the last 20 years.

I have spent some time fixing things around the house. I have repaired the fence (yet again) where the dog chewed his way out in a blind panic from when the neighborhood was lighting off fireworks when i was away. Poor Thor hates loud noises and I wasn’t home to let him in. A ticket for violating the leash law is all i got, but my neighbor is a little pissed. He scratched up his screen door. I fixed that right way, but he is still concerned Thor might get out again.

Which leads me to my next project around the house. I have it on hold until the fedgov decides how to fuck me with this debt-ceiling crisis, but I wasn’t planning on doing it until August anyways. I’m going to rent me a mini excavator (after calling digsafe) and dig out a good part of the back yard to put in a 16′ x 27′ patio. With a firepit.  Should cost me about $1500 and several weekends worth of work.  The house really does need some improvements and maintenance I’ve been slacking on. While I have the excavator I’m going to finally dig out a few shrubs and stumps around the house. Right by the front windows are two of them ubiquitous evergreen-cedar plants that got flattened out by all the snow, and somehow doubled in size from the sunlight getting into the middle. They got to go, as they are ugly, and getting big enough to hide burglars. I plan on planting something small but spiky in front of those windows.

I planned out the patio in Google’s Sketchup, a wicked cool free drafting/cad application that I use for everything. I need to draw up some different ideas for the fence and see how they look in 3d before I pick one. I’m leaning towards a five foot picket fence with slats on each side, offset so they alternate on each side. I will NOT just buy the standard, everyday plain 6′ wood fence everyone has. I’m looking at making this functional, and adding value to the home. So if I’m walking away, why bother? That’s why I’m waiting, along with making sure I am picked up full time by this company.

Next on the list is paint the metal railings on the front steps, cut a dog-door in the back door of the house, and replace the main door I use with something more secure.  It has a big window right by the doorhandle, which is a joke in terms of security. I’m going to re-use the frame, because it is fairly secure, and I don’t want to take out the umpteen deck screws I used to beef it up.

I have been writing, although not as much as I would like to. Work is still kicking my ass with the amount of material I need to learn and retain. I have a short story about 1/2 written, and I’ll need to spend a session or two editing it before I start looking for alpha readers.

As part of the deluge of reading and learning I have doing. I have also been looking into starting my own corporation for this blog. As you all know I am very concerned (translation: downright paranoid) about protecting my “real life” identity from my real identity. I consider myself Natog, but the other me has a SS# and all that jazz.  The other me has to watch what he says so he doesn’t rock the boat at work or endangers its chance for a continuing career in the IT field. Part of this other career will involve government-related projects including DHS projects. The other me will be going for a Top Secret clearance as part of the new job. Although I’ve said some pretty inflammatory things, in particular telling the Commander in Chief to go fuck himself, I’ve never called for violence. Odds are the Fedz will be able to link me to this blog, but there is hope they will miss it. By isolating my other me from the real me via a corporation, I might be able to do that.

They way I look at it is if they find it they find it. I’ve never posted any secrets or information about my employers, and see no reason anyone reading this would want to know. This isn’t a forum for that. This is to help noobies get prepared, encourage others to continue to prepare, and to bitch about the stupidity inherent in the Federal and State governments. It is for me to pass on what I’ve learned and to learn from others. No biggie, right?

Back to what I’ve been doing. I spent some time researching a security camera system for the house, but I’m kind of stuck. I’m torn between a turnkey solution and a home built one based on Linux. Cost would be about the same. the linux system would be way more flexible but take longer to implement. The turnkey would be limiting but easy to set up. The turnkey’s cameras are all wired, where I could go with some wireless for the linux. I could also get moveable cameras with the linux system for only a little extra cash, and remotely control them. I also have a friend who wants to put in a camera system as well, and we could send images to each others house, in case the bad guys take the computer equipment. this is going to be difficult to do with the turnkey, but it’s a snap if its a linux system. My buddy is clueless about Linux, so that means I have to support it… :(

I need to revisit my micro-BOB. I always have access to the Jeep, so I now have the space to build something with more redundancy, and more food and water than what I have with the micro-Bob. I’m going to rig up my iphone as a video camera so I’ll have a video to go with the blog post. I’d like to do more videos, so if you have suggestions, please let me know.

I just proofed the post so far and I have a crapload of stuff to do. Just a few more updates.

My exercise program is working well. I am getting stronger every week, and I’m really wailing on that heavy bag as a warm up. I have lost a bunch of weight, a full 2″ from my waist (I wear my belt below the buddah, so that translates into 4-6″ from my middle) I need to go find another leather belt because this one is wrapping around the side too much. I do need to do more cardio, then my weight loss will accelerate even more. For a diet I basically have reduced my portions, and don’t eat crap. The hardest change was to stop eating muffins for breakfast and switch to a smoothie.

My smoothie consists of:

  • ~1 cup of filtered water (love the berky btw)
  • 3/4 cup oats
  • 1 cup of plain yogurt
  • 1 1/3 scoops of tropical punch Gold Standard Whey protein
  • Handful of frozen berries.

In a blender, add the water and oats and puree them. then add the rest and blend until smooth. I gulp it down with a fish oil capsule, a zyflamed, and a multi-vitamin. You have to use the protein powder to make it edible. Uncooked oats taste like chalk. yuck! I now am impressed enough with the Zyflamed to recommend it. I was only taking 1 a day, when the bottle says to take 2. I’m still over 300lbs, so i might up it to three. I have noticed my shoulder and wrist don’t bother me as much, and the soreness from working out goes away quicker. YMMV, talk with your doctor and all that CYA crap.

I’m now of the mind I’d like to continue some training in the martial arts. I took some a long time ago, but I’m not going to go and join up with some ninja-dragon-kempo guy. The only people teaching what I want are in California these days, so I’m going to learn it on my own. I need to find some Uke’s (uke=training victim in Japanese) and a place to train a couple times a month. I stopped by one of the dragon-kenpo-jujitsu places in town, but it was in the middle of a kids class. I’m going to reach out to my old sensei and see if he will give me lessons once a month (hourly rates are expensive) for myself and a few friends. He closed his Dojo and went back into construction. He’s a great martial-artist, but a terrible business guy. I expect fees in the area of $150/hr. If he is willing to teach 5-6 of us it’s worth it. Maybe he will re-open his dojo… He deserves to teach – he’s very talented and respected.

I will say this: Do not bother with any Kenpo, Kempo, Kung-fu, or any of that shit. It’s pointless. I judge an art by their physics and philosophy. Akido has great philosophy, but they help each other throw themselves around (poor physics), and they don’t train in groundfighting. Akido + Brazilian Jujitsu would be a good combo to learn, but two classes is expensive.

I have learned that I learn faster on my own that with regular instruction. this goes for Kosho Shorei Ryu as well as calculus and electronics. Time is short, so I need to find a teacher who is not looking at my wallet. The dragon-ninja crap is a viable business model, just don’t try it on me in a fight.

I’ll keep everyone posted as to how things go. Now get outside and get sweaty. Build a fence, work the garden, and feed your mind!

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Snowpocalypse!

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday(s), and I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous New Year. I am in the middle of the MOASS (mother of all snow storms) and I’m flabbergasted by what I’ve seen.

There wasn’t a fresh egg to be had in 4 supermarkets. All bread and milk was gone too. I guess people have a burning desire to make french toast during snow storms. There were lines at gas stations for 1/4 mile in most places. I don’t understand this behavior, but I have come to expect it. It’s like driving in the snow. I learned how and so I drive around town looking for an HDMI cable cheap so I can watch movies on the projector I bought myself (used) for my birthday present. I should have ordered the cables from Amazon, but I wasn’t sue what I needed so I figured I could get them at Best Buy or whatever. I sure can at five times the price!!! Screw that! I can wait two days.

Back to driving. I’m endlessly amazed that New Englanders don’t know how to drive in the snow. It isn’t hard you just need to know how your car handles in the snow then take it easy. I had one nitwit going 10mph on a main road! If your that much of a wuss, stay at home! It’s not rocket science, just common sense. My Jeep is a real snow pig, and with the new tires I got it turns, stops and accelerates safely and confidently in the snow. So if you don’t take care of your shitbox then don’t drive. Very simple.

Tick Tock. Time is running out for the illusion of prosperity this country has maintained. Investors are starting to realize that there is no pea under any of the shells. The Game will soon be up. I wish I bought more silver, but I’m happy I have well over a years worth of food stored (420 days divided by 3 people). I have completed my inventory and now I’m making the spreadsheet pretty and useful before release. I always wish I had more food. The big order I placed for dehydrated food is almost complete, just missing the sour cream powder. It’s vexing because I like sour cream on my tacos. and I fully intend on enjoying my freaking tacos during the Zombie Apocalypse!

Prepping is not just about survival, it’s about surviving in style.

Anyway, This week I plan on splitting my cache of food into three locations. Here at the house I will have the best and longest lasting food in the sekret room in the basement. I’ll keep the stuff that is due for rotation in the more obvious hiding spot. This way if anyone gets the drop on me I’ll only lose some of my supplies. My plan is still to bug out, but in a slow slide I might be able to stay here a while. The remainder of the food will be put in buckets and stored offsite at my fallback location.

A big shout-out to whoever suggested doing the inventory military-style. “beans, baked, maple” winds up next to “beans, baked, bacon & onion” like it should. I put the manufacturer in a different column for now. I am doing a dashboard for the spreadsheet as well. Now management-types love dashboards. I’m always getting requests from some necktie-wearing fruitloop for some dashboard so they can rub one out over their quarterly numbers at a glance. I really hate making them, but this servers a practical purpose. I do intend on making it DAMN snazzy. I will work on it this week.

I also stumbled upon xtranormal.com and I have an idea for a video… hopefully I can pull it off.

Well that is enough for now. I better not lose internet or I’ll go batty. How can I enjoy a good blizzard without the internet! Bad Company2:Viet Nam is damn fun!

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Inventory is a pain in the ass.

Saturday, October 16th, 2010

I’ve been making progress, although hampered by the sort function screwing up my inventory. The servings/calories got misaligned from the qty/item. That took 3 hours to fix. I had to re-inventory everything to fix it. I was not pleased.

I got good news and bad news. And more bad news. The good news is I’m not done and I already have 180 days of food stored. The bad news is that I am not done. The really bad news is with my Mum and Brother then I have only 60 days of food stored. This is computed with a 2000 calorie / day meal plan. So if I’m working hard or fighting then I’ll eat more. Also the first week or so I’ll have to wind down to 2k calories a day, as right now I’m about 3k / day.

A few observations so far. I overbought on a lot of things, like Morton’s Nature’s Seasoning. It is a seasoning blend I use on just about everything, and I have 10 bottles downstairs.I bought some things that were on sale but did not have a long shelf life like the pasta side dishes. I stopped buying them when I tried one and gagged. I guess they are for old people.

I also forgot to re-pack my white sugar into mason jars – I threw out 13# because it was bad.

Another problem I have is a bulk of my canned preps are expiring in 2011. Not a big deal as food is quite good after the date. If I was to donate it, then I would have to before the expiration date. Just another thing to think about.

Because of the sheer bulk of canned foods I have I have been working on buying bulk dry items and dehydrating my own preps. The dehydrating is going well. Every trip to the market I bring back five or so pounds of some frozen veggie to dehydrate and store.

This project is a wicked pain in the ass, but I have already seen things I can do better. I strongly urge you to inventory your food preps so you can make better decisions on what to buy next.

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Random thoughts

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Well I am continuing my search for land. It’s not as easy as I thought it would be. I’m very limited in that I want it for camping and a bug-out location. The desire for water nearby is a vexing problem, this adds to the cost tremendously. Ideally I want something within 3 1/2 hours of Boston, as I could bail from here and make it there before it gets too late on Thursday night, then work from there on friday, leaving me the whole weekend to fish, hunt and run nekkid through the woods.

My brother gets fixated on things, and right now that is prepping. He was going to order a case of those life-raft ration bars until I talked him out of it and buying some of the mountain house meals for hikers. Those are tasty. The life-raft bars are disgusting, and the foil packaging is easily punctured, ruining the contents. The hiker packaging is much more durable.

I’m very happy with my new hunting rifle. I’m consistently getting <1″ groups at 100 yards with my 168grain Nosler HPBT rounds (42.5 gr of H4895). More than accurate enough for hunting. I have concerns after reading some reloading blogs about the performance of the Nosler Ballistic tip rounds I am planning on using. I heard a lot of good things about the Barnes triple-shocks, but at $45 per 50, that’s kinda pricey. Yes, I realize it might mean the difference between eating and going hungry, but it’s going to cost me $10 minimum to work out the load. Hornady has a line of hunting bullets that people seem to like,  and those are much more reasonable. I need to spend some time reading reviews on some sites to see what I might go with.

I took my M1A to the range a few weeks ago, and popped off 50 rounds. using iron sights I shot a softball sized group 2″ high and 3″ to the right. I need to tweak the sights a little to the right to compensate and I’ll be good to go. My loads fire perfectly, although some of my brass is not getting grabbed by the extractor pin. All the culprits are from 1 batch of Remington crap brass. I use Lake City Match brass for 90% of my shooting, but I recycled some I had floating around. I’ll load these and give them to my brother, his Franken-FAL shoots anything, but beats the hell out of the brass. I only get 4-5 reloads before even military brass is junk. My M1A has a very tight chamber, so the brass is not beat up so bad, and I get more than 10 reloads.

To make reloading my “military” .308 Win and all pistol rounds faster I bought a powder measure. Accuracy is not as important, so I can sacrifice some for speed. I do love the ChargeMaster I bought, but it takes WAY to long to dispense a charge that I could give a crap if it’s +/- .1 grains. I need to build a little stand for it, then develop a rhythm to get a consistent charge.

The other week it was a perfect storm at the supermarket. I went nuts because some items were on sale, and discounted with the saver card they make you get. Mine is from my last girlfriend, so I could care less if they track me her. I bought $96 worth of preps and regular food, and only paid $63. I am starting to run low on some items I hope go on sale soon. I drink a TON of Crystal Light at home and work, at least a gallon a day. Yes, I should drink water, but I need something with flavor. I have enough to make 25 gallons stored, but it goes quickly. I’ll be damned if I can’t have some fruit punch as a mixer for TEOTWAWKI!

Speaking of mixers I need to go to Kittery Trading Post sometime soon. I say that because I stop at the New Hampshire Liquor Store on the way back and load up with 6+months of alcohol. Cheap prices and no sales tax. Plus, this trip I want to grab 5 cases of Sam Adams Octoberfest – my favorite beer. The stuff goes fast in the stores and I never think ahead to buy up enough to get through the fall/winter.

I’m taking a class this semester in creative fiction at an unnamed university in Boston. Part of my two prong attack on freedom is to become a writer. The other prong is woodworking. this is why I’ve been lax in writing my fiction. I plan on doing a reboot once I get through the class, as they have me writing a short story in 2 weeks. It won’t be that good, as I need to plan out a lot farther in the story than most writers (I guess). I’m hoping I can fix some of my writing problems through this class – telling instead of showing, poor story structure. Maybe I’ll just do it as a series of short stories instead of a Novel format. I’ll keep you posted.

With that I need to get back to coming up with a story idea for this assignment. Bleh, 39 years old and still doing my homework last minute!

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