Winterize your 72 Hour Kits

This is a good time of year to winterize our 72 hour kits. We like to think that when the SHTF it will be summer and in the middle of the day. It will probably happen on the coldest night of the year when we least expect it. We should be taking a few minutes to winterize our kits so we are ready for the new weather conditions of what ever area we are in.

Before I get to the list, I want to mention the one rule to rule them all! KNOW YOUR AREA!
Pack your kit for your area. My pack for Alberta, where we get lots of snow, will be different than a pack for parts of British Columbia where they get lots of rain. Pack accordingly!

Here are a few tips on how to winterize your pack.

1. Food
The food you have in your summer kit has been in your pack for probably 6 months. It should be cycled out either way. What you want to replace it with are foods that are high in calories, protein and fat. Nuts, beef jerky and peanut butter are great examples of high protein and high fat foods that can be store in a pack and are great at giving you the needed protein and fat to stay warm. Other ideas are instant oatmeal, soups in a package like lipton soups, energy bars, and trail mix.

2. Clothes
This is a very important one. For your winter months you will need more layers and accessories like gloves and hats. Make sure you switch these over because the last thing you want to do is be cold and not have a sweater or hat in your pack because your pack is still set up for summer. Also make sure you check the fabric of the clothes your packing. The last thing you want to pack into your winter bag is a pair of jeans. They get wet easily, hold onto water, and freeze. Good materials are wool, fleece, waterproof gear, polypropylene or hydrophobic materials. These fabrics are breathable, pull the water away from your body and help trap air. The trapped air will act as a great insulator keeping you warm.

One other point for clothes is your footwear. Make sure that your extra pair of shoes are winter ready. Change them for boots or add some gators to help keep the snow out of your shoes and keep your feet dry. 

3. Water
Don't forget your water. You can become very dehydrated in the winter weather. Just make sure when you pack it that it won't freeze, or if it does, it has room to do so. You don't want your bottles to burst when frozen and then thaw, leaking water onto all your gear.
Another option is to find water when your out in the wild instead of carrying it. One note on that though is DON'T EAT SNOW. Not as a source of water anyway. Your body burns too many calories turning snow into water and then into energy. You could always put snow into a pot and boil it.
Since you may be using the snow method of water, one thing you will definitely want in your winterized kit is water purification tablets. These should be in your kit already, but definitely make sure while your swapping out all your other gear. Nothing worse than getting sick while in the elements.

4. Fire
You will already have fire starters and such in your pack, but since it's now winter, you will want to double the amount of your fire supplies. Not only will you be needed fire to cook your food, you may need to make a fire just to stay warm. Make sure you have enough supplies to start multiple food fires as well as heat fires.

10 Rules for Prepping

1. Don't panic
Worst thing anyone can do is panic. When you panic you cloud your minds and you are no longer  able to make sound judgements. When it matters most, we may not be able to make the right decisions. The result could be devastating! Take a wrong turn, or give someone the wrong medicine and BOOM, dead.

2. Always know your surroundings.
Knowing the area will help us to know what places are good and what places we should avoid. Where are the main roads? Is there a water source somewhere? Knowing the area includes knowing the plants and animals of that area as well. This will help when we need to catch food or need to find plants for medicinal or other purposes. Do you know how to identify poison ivy or poison oak? Don't want to use those for the wrong reasons.

3. Rule of 3s
      3 minutes without air
      3 hours without shelter
      3 days without water
      3 weeks without food
      3 months without hope

This should help you decided what order to do things when you have to bug out to the woods. When you have limited resources, and time is working against you, what do you do first? According to the rule of three, build a shelter. 3 minutes without air should already be taken care of. If you have asthma, your bug-out bag(72 hour kit) should already have an inhaler in it. Unless you're drowning, air usually isn't a problem. Maybe we should all include a gas mask in our kits in case of nuclear warfare, or biological warfare. Generally though, first build a shelter, then find a good source of water, then make fire for food.

4. Two is One and One is None
Always have a back up. This doesn't mean you need two of everything, but the general rule when prepping is to think Two is One and One is None. If you can have two flashlights, then that is better then one. All it takes is for the batteries to die in one for you to now have no light source. That's no good.

5. Prepping should be a lifestyle
There are different stages of prepping. Some are way more into it than others, but it should be a life style. If it is not, we will not keep up with it. We will fall out of the habit of gardening or canning. We need to have a vision of becoming self reliant. Learn how to grow a garden, and then stop buying those vegetables. One thing we want to avoid when bugging out is being unfamiliar with our bag and supplies. If you set up your bag and then don't touch it for 3 years and then have an emergency, will you remember what you have in your bag? Will you remember where to meet and who to call? This should be something we are doing on a regular basis so when the emergency happens, we are familiar with the procedure and supplies.

6. Keep it simple
Complication creates fear. Keep things simple. Keep your bug out route and communication plans simple. Not only will it instill less fear, it will also make it easier to remember what to do, when to do it, and where to go.

7. Improvise
Have concrete plans, but set them in sand. That means you may have to change some of your plans as you go. Your plan is to exit the city via the main highway right next to your house. Your about to leave when you realize the military closed the highway to public use. Now what? You still want to get to your bug out location, but now you need to find a different route. Maybe you planned on having a very important person in your group, a mechanic maybe, but they died or can't get to your location. You should definitely have plans, but set them in sand. Expect to have to alter them as you go.

8. A little each day goes a long way
Many of us get overwhelmed when thinking of prepping. We look it up on google or youtube and see these experts with their underground bunkers and garages full of guns and think "Ha, ya right. There is no way I can afford to do all that." What we don't see is what they did on a daily basis to get where they are today. Starting small, and being consistent. That's the key. Pick something, and start there, and just be consistent. You will get there

9. Be discrete
There is a term going around in the prepper world called "the gray man." We all strive to be the gray man. Why? We don't want to look like we are extremely prepared. The main issue of a large catastrophe is other people are not prepared. That means they will want to take your resources. But if you can look just like them, then they wont think you have any more than they do. You would not last long if you walked around dressed like a combat specialist. People will attack you for your weapons and supplies. Try to look like the average joe, the gray man.

10. Have fun
Prepping can be fun. The more my wife and I get into it the more we love it. It was fun when we decided to make our own butter. We have only done it once, but it was enjoyable, and delicious. if this is going to become a lifestyle, we might as well enjoy it. 

A few points on 72 hour kits

A few points on 72 Hour kits.

Don't wait
Even if you don't have a nice tactical survival bag, get started on your 72 hour kit. Use any backpack you can find. If you can't find one, use a pillow case. Just use something to start putting items together for that 72 hour kit. 

Don't forget medication and vitamins!
I usually forget to grab my vitamins when I go on trips. Something that will make the 72 hours very uncomfortable is not having your allergy medication or prenatal vitamins.

Don't forget entertainment. 
Depending on where you have to spend your 72 hours and with who, a good idea is to have some cards for you and maybe some colouring books for the kids.

For those of you with pets, don't forget pet supplies. 
You may want a separate bag for your pet. If you have a dog and need to evacuate and head to a family members house that doesn't have a dog, what are they going to eat? What about any meds your pet has to take?

Change your contents so they are weather specific.
Every March-April remove your winter stuff and put in your summer things, and every October switch out the summer stuff of the winter gear.

Cycle your food. 
No food lasts for ever. Pick a schedule and replace the food in your bag with new stuff and eat the old stuff. If that idea makes you cringe a bit, then your leaving your food in the bag too long.

Test your bag!
Even if it is still while your at home, test your bag. Live off of only the contents of you kit. It would be best to go on a 3 day camping trip, but having small children can make that difficult. Testing your bag will show you how efficient it is. It will also show you what in your bag is taking up space. You may realize that you packed something that you thought was important, but you didn't use it once on your trip. If that's the case, get rid of it and put in the one thing you thought, "man, I wish I had that."

What points do you think everyone should remember?

Ward fanout

This Saturday we had a ward fan out. It was brilliant!

It was preparedness themed. The point was to feel extremely unprepared; It worked! Here is how it went.

At 9:20am we got a call from our district leader(someone that lives close to us) letting us know there was an "emergency" and we needed to grab the following:

72 hour kit
first aid kit from house
first aid kit from car
emergency car kit
jumper cables
flash light
go-book
picture of food storage
picture of water supply
picture of slippers with hard bottoms
picture of emergency contact list
picture of To-Do list(how to turn off utilities)
picture of evacuation ladder
picture of first aid cert.

Then we had to get to the church as soon as we could.

It took us 10 minutes to gather everything and head out the door. Granted, our kids had their shoes on already because we were expecting the call. We just didn't know what would be on the list. For the most part, I believe in a real emergency, if emergency personnel knock on your door they usually give you 10 minutes. So that should be the time to beat.

This exercise allowed us to see how easy it was to gather our emergency stuff and to see what was missing. Here is what we were lacking:

To-Do list.  We don't have a list pinned to the wall in our utility room letting us know how to turn our utilites off. It is super important. If someone knocked on your door and said "turn your utilites off and gather your things, you have 10 minutes to get out," would you know how to shut your water or your furnace off?

Evacuation ladder. We looked into getting one when we first moved in, but when we talked to the agency that helped us open a day home they said the fire marshal told them ladders were bad. Instead we are to break a window, throw a mattress out and throw our kids onto the mattress...yeah right. Like I'm going to throw my kids out the window.

Go-Book. We have a go-book, it's just not filled out. The purpose of the go-book is to store all your information. Banking info, mortgage and investment info, car and house insurance, copies of passports, drivers licenses and birth certs., pics of everyone in the family, all info you would need if you can't get back to your house.

Other than those few items we didn't have, we did pretty good. When my wife and I talked about it afterwards we felt we are also lacking in water supply and food storage. It's not up to where it should be. We need more of it. But it was good to see how an emergency evacuation would go. Once we got to the church, the lady that organized it went through our kits and gave us points on what we had and took points off for what we missed. Let's just say, overall, I'm glad it wasn't a real emergency. A lot of people showed up with very little.

I feel most of us are still co-dependent on others to provide for us. We are not taking this self-reliance thing seriously. We will not be able to just go to walmart or superstore and buy water the day of the emergency. The shelves will be bare from all the other people that weren't prepared.

Our take-away: We are not nearly prepared enough for a real emergency. We have a lot of work to do to get to where we want to go, which we will do, just one day at a time.

Our next goal: Have an "emergency situation" where we actually live off our 72 hour kits for 72 hours and see how we do. That should be an exciting 3 days!

How to winterize your home

Before I get to how to winterize your humble abode I wanted to give an update on the status of our family. We have added our third child to the family. Benjamin David Sinclaire. He was 20" long, and weighed 7lbs 11oz. 2lbs lighter than me when I was born. Both mommy and baby are home and doing well. It is still surreal for me to think we have another little one. Our family is growing so fast!

Ok, so onto how to winterize your home. With winter being here...for the most part, we should have already winterized our home. However if you're like me and procrastinate everything till the last second, your home is not yet winterized. So I have a list of 11 things that you can do to winterize your home and save on your energy bill.

1. Put a sweater on. First off I wanted to mention the one all our parents told us whenever we asked them to turn the heat up. "Put a sweater on!" This is the cheapest way to reduce the heating bill...unless you don't have any sweaters. In that case, you will need to go purchase a few. Apparently putting on a sweater can increase your body temperature by 4 degrees. So, if your home is at 18 degrees Celsius and you put a sweater on, it will feel like its 22 degrees. Nice!

2. Plastic on the windows. This will do a couple things for you. One thing is it will block any leaks you may have around your windows. The last thing you want to do is pay to heat the outside. The second thing plastic on the windows will do is insulate. It traps air between the widow and the plastic and can prevent more hot air from escaping.

3. Reverse ceiling fans. If you have a ceiling fan, there should be a reverse switch on it. What this will do is force the warm air down instead of up. When the warm air is forced back down, it can recirculate through the house.

4. Block any leaks. Take time to calk around windows and door frames. You can also get something called a "draft snake" to put under your door. According Kim Pressnail, associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto,  air leaks lead to 30-40% heating loss. That's huge! The price for calk and a couple draft snakes is definitely worth it.

5. Invest in a programmable thermostat. According to Pressnail, for every degree you lower your thermostat, you save 5% on your heating bill. With a programmable thermostat, you can tell it to reduce the temp by 4 or 5 degrees when you're not home. That way you're not paying as much to heat an empty house. Then at the time you get off work, your thermostat kicks back on so you can come home to a warm house...but not too warm, because you'll be wearing a sweater right?

6. Replace furnace air filters. Having dirty air filters can impede air flow through the house. Regularly cleaning or replacing the air filter can help make sure the heat you're using is being used to its fullest extent. We don't want to pay for heat that isn't able to circulate through your home!

7. Prepare a 72 Hour kit. Depending on where you live, ice storms can be the norm. Toronto and the east coast have had some terrible ice storms in the past years. Often these storms will cut power for a week at a time. Having a 72 hour kit will make that week without power a bit more comfy.

8. Have a food storage. Going along with #7, having food set aside in case you can't get out to the grocery store will be a life saver. Having a food storage may allow you to balance out your budget as well. Using your food storage in the winter will bring your grocery bill down while your heating bill is going up. When spring arrives, you can gradually build that food storage back up while your heating bill starts to go down.

9. Invest in a generator. When the power goes out, having a generator will allow you to run things like your fridge and deep freeze so your food doesn't spoil, saving you that grocery trip. It could also allow you to charge your car so you can get to work or wherever you need to go. You can also use it to run space heaters and the like to stay warm.

10. Close vents to rooms that are not inhabited. Rooms like a storage room or guest bedrooms shouldn't be heated all winter. Why pay to heat a room no one really visits? Open the vents when you have a guest staying, and then close them again when they leave. A simple way to reduce how much heat is being used in your home. Focus it on the rooms you are always in.

11. Check smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Winter sees an increase in home fires and CO leaks due to us running our furnaces on overdrive. Making sure smoke and CO detectors work can save homes and lives. Some alarm systems (like the one from Vivint) allow you to tie smoke and CO detectors into the system so that the alarm system can call the fire department for you. This is very beneficial when you are not home or able to get to a phone.

Do you have any other winterizing tips? Feel free to leave them in the comments.

Why food storage is so important

The next little while may be scarce on the posts. We are expecting our third child in the next few days. I completely spaced the post yesterday. My mind has been elsewhere lately.

I did read a really good post this week. Ill put a link in here for you. I recommend you read it. It is exactly what my wife and I think about food storage. I really liked the points that food storage is not just for when SHTF. It is for so many other reasons. What if you lose a job and can't afford to go grocery shopping, or your sick and can't get out. Or, being in Canada, if snows 4 feet and you can't drive any where.

Another great point is that you should store what you eat and eat what you store. Don't buy things you don't regularly cook with or eat. What happens is either it goes bad because you never use it, or when it comes time to dive into your food storage you don't know how to use it. Just buy extras of what you already eat, and cycle through that. Then when it comes time to use the food storage, you meals still taste the same and you are familiar with it all.

Last point I wanted to hit on from the article is to learn a new skill. Learn how to can food. My wife and I were talking about learning how to make our own butter and soap. It could be a fun family activity and you can save a bit of $$ by not having to buy butter or soap.

Well, I don't want to give everything away. Here is the link.
http://survivalistprepper.net/why-food-storage-and-prepping-are-so-important/

Let me know any thoughts you have on the subject.

Moral Obligation

*DISCLAIMER*
The term visa in this post represents any creditor not just visa.


My wife and I had an interesting conversation on Friday about "moral obligation." It really came down to a conversation about ethics. Ethics is such a grey topic that it's hard to not become heated when discussing ones views of ethics.

For example. What is your moral obligation? Is it to your children or visa?
If you answered children congratulations.
Now let me ask you another questions. Do you make sure you pay all your visa bills on time even if it means your kids don't get something they need? Or do you sacrifice your credit and get our child clothing that fits?

I feel (at least in our case we did) that most of us will sacrifice things our children need in order to pay that visa bill on time. The question for us came down to the point of one of our kids not having pants that fit any more (seriously though, kids need to slow down on the whole growing thing). If we can't afford to pay both visa payment and new pants, which do we do?

So then the ethics come is. Is is ethical to not pay your visa bill? What if you found out there was a way you could postpone your bill payment because you found a loophole somewhere. Would that be ethical? Or is it ethical to make your child wear pants that are too small because you would rather give that money to visa?

What about braces? Visa payment or braces payment? Would you think it ethical to pay visa and make your kid wait for better teeth? Or is it ethical to get your kids teeth aligned properly and make visa wait? What about a life skill like swimming? Do you take them out of swimming lessons because visa wants that money?

It all came down to this. It is our moral obligation to pay off all debts, agree? So if you found a way that you could actually not pay all your debts and have it forgiven because of a loop hole, is it ethical to use that loop hole?

Lets think of it this way. You have to get pants for your kids. You find the pants you want and buy at x price. Then the next day you find out they went on sale. Is it ethical to go back to the store and ask for the deal to be put on the pants so you can save some money? Many would say yes, it's fine. So what if you get a visa for x price and y interest rate, spend some money, and then realize that there is now a way to get the visa company to pay some of that off for you (give you a "discount" on your debt). Is it ethical to use that loophole? Or is it the ethical choice and moral obligation to pay off the full price of that credit card?

Is it true that many of us think that the super rich use unethical ways of getting money? What if they are not being unethical but have found loopholes that allow them to cut their debt in half?

Why does the word "loophole" make us cringe? We think of it as a cheat. What if we just renamed loophole as "a lesser known law," would it still make us cringe, or would we seek out these lesser known laws? What if in the fine print, it never said you had to pay off the full balance? Would it still be unethical not to pay to full balance?

Are we being taught by our teachers or parents that it is unethical to use loopholes? That it is unethical to find a way not to pay all of our debt? I am pretty sure that those questions just made you cringe, like you were choosing a very bad decision.

How about this scenario. You find out there is $1000 sitting on a table free for that taking. Anyone who goes to this table can take $1000. Would you go? umm yes. So what if you found out that your creditor has a "loophole" that is $1000 off your debt? Would you consider it unethical to use that $1000? Would you think you were cheating your moral obligation by using that $1000 to reduce your debt?

My questions came because I started asking why? Why do we think it unethical.

What about this? Why is it ethical for banks to give you a 20% credit card but only a 4% savings account?  Why is it ethical for banks to charge you a penalty for paying off your mortgage too fast? Why is it ethical for banks to charge all their interest upfront, so they make sure they get it just in case you decide to pay off your debt too fast?

Why do we let these things slide? I sometimes wonder how the world got so backwards. They can charge what ever they want, raise interest rates, charge penalties for paying our debts back too quickly, and we let it slide. Not only that, we think its a "good deal". What??? Yet we think it unethical to find a way not to pay visa the max amount they demand.

What if the super rich just understand how money works and that "loopholes" are just "lesser known laws." And they use them. Hence why millionaires can get away with paying no taxes (not saying all millionaire pay no taxes). Not that they did it illegally or unethically, but they sheltered it properly using "lesser known laws" and instead of it being considered income, it was considered something different. Taxes are designed for the middle class anyways. Taxes are designed for income. Money from a job. If you own your own business your don't have to pay the same taxes and you can take advantage of more tax breaks.

Just some questions to think about. I think for the most part, ethics comes down to personal opinion.  What one thinks is unethical another might think is perfectly fine and feels is honest.

Our society is putting us in a corner by making it nearly impossible to do anything without having a credit card. I feel it is extremely important for all of us to learn how money works. We get so afraid of it because it appears complicated or boring.

Either we control our money, or our money will control us.  

blank mind

My mind is blank
There is nothing but nothing
Stars

That's my poem. I made that up just now. I think it could probably win a prize.

Truth is, I don't really have anything I wanted to write about this week. I had a plan for a different post but it is going to have to wait. I'm not ready to post it yet.

I have mentioned this before. Changes are coming. I am unsure if it will be to this blog in particular or if I will be starting a separate one, I have yet to decide.  But changes are coming.

These changes are all bases around blogging. I have been reading quite a bit and there are some changes I want to make that will enhance the blog and my blogging experience.

Honestly, I knew blogging would be tough, it's hard to come up with content on a regular basis. My issue so far has been me leaving it till the last moment and realizing I don't have a topic of the day. I want to turn this into more of a full time thing. That's why there are changes coming. My blog as it is now isn't set up for the full time attention I want to give it. Let me say that in different words. I want it to become a full time thing, it wont be that right away. That is a lot of time to devote to something.

I'll give away one secret. I want this or another blog to produce money. Why not? One plan I have is actually to do a blog about my journey to financial success in the blogging community. I'm pretty sure this is going to be one of the hardest things I will do. But that's why I want to blog about it. It will show everyone that anyone can get into it and make it work. If I make it work that is...other wise I will show the world that I didn't get it to work...that would be embarrassing.

In time. I'm in the middle of researching this thing out and documenting as I go. Even if it can bring in a couple hundred bucks a month, that's one more stream of income that has a potential to grow.

Anyways, I'm grateful for you the readers. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have this blog and I wouldn't think there was any potential or point in blogging.

MONEY MONEY MONEY

Hello Readers!

We found out that we were paying for a balance protection insurance on our credit cards. We promptly canceled that. We were paying that every month. What were we paying for? If I lose my job or get hurt, they will pay my minimum payment for 1 year. If I still have no job THEN they will pay off the balance of my card. WOW, thanks...
Or I could pay off my own card so I don't need anyone to pay the balance of my card. I was choked when I figured out we were paying that. Unreal.

Anyways, my thoughts this week have been on finances. Controlling our money and creating additional streams of income. Someone last week mentioned that it's pretty silly to have only one income stream. Why would be want to put all our eggs into one basket?

That is a great point. Why would we put all our eggs into one basket? When I looked at my situation I said, man, I need to spread my eggs out.

I don't only have one stream of income. Both my wife and I have a job, so that's two streams of income and I am starting a second job, so that's three. 

The question I had this week was "what happens if one of us loses our job. Are the other streams of income enough to cover expenses?" The answer is no.

I think that is the case for a lot of us. We have those two jobs, but we are living in such a way that forces us to continue in both jobs. If one spouse loses a job, then bills aren't being paid and credit is being destroyed. So why are we having two jobs then? What benefit is it?

I want to get to the point where we have enough additional streams of income that if one disappears the others are still enough to cover expenses.

Of course there are a couple ways to get into that position. One is to reduce your expenses, the other is to increase your income. Obviously, the second is the optimal choice. No one wants to reduce their expenses. What do you cut? Cable or internet? Netflix? Kids sports?

It's better to just increase our income so we can still enjoy our cable and internet. So what options are there for increasing your income? Heres a short list:

1. get another job/spouse goes to work
2. go back to school to get a better paying job
3. ask for a raise
4. start a business


This is what have come up with. I am already working two jobs and my wife is already working one, I have gone to school to get the better paying job, no one likes asking for a raise, and I have started a business and continue to look into how to start more.

Personally I feel the last one is the best option. In time you can free your self from your job with the business you start. There is, I'm sure, an infinite amount of ideas for kinds of businesses you can start. Mom and Pop shops, network marketing, affiliate marketing, selling crafts or home made items, start your own day home or hair salon, etc, etc.

I really want to spread my eggs out. I don't want to risk my family life on my boss not firing me, or deciding that our department is no longer needed or cuts are needed. So I want to ask you guys, what other ideas are out there? I would like to hear some ideas you guys have come across to increase your income or create a second/third/fourth stream of income. I would like opinions on some of the ideas out there.

One last point. The ball is in your court. It is extremely important that we take our financial future in our own hands. It is our responsibility to make our money and pay our bills. If we leave it in the hands of others, we will never be free.

A Toast to Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

In Canada, Thanksgiving is to celebrate the blessings of the harvest. Hence why we all eat really good food and drink delicious eggnog. So let us all celebrate this Thanksgiving by eating lots of food, drinking lots of eggnog, spending too much time with family and friends, and expressing our thankfulness for the many blessings in our lives. 

That is all.

Brain Dump

Wow, my mind is full right now. So many things to think about. Which one to write about?

Zombie apocalypse seems right around the corner. Just google ebola virus and there are articles of 3 patients who died and were "resurrected". Granted they may have been thought as dead, but still. Bodies appearing lifeless then coming back. Apparently one of the women who came back spent 2 days in a room with no food or medicine prior to coming back. But then again there are sites claiming it is all a hoax. I'm telling you, one of these days it's going to hit our door step and we still wont believe it.

Conference was this weekend. For those of you who don't know, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This weekend we had our second General Conference of the year. First one was the first week of April. It was an awesome conference, as always. A lot of great talks. I liked how they have now allowed speakers to speak in their native tongues and having subtitles on the TVs. They all used to speak English. We are getting quite the representation of nationalities at conference. It is a wonderful thing.

Talked quite a bit tonight about preparation with one of my brothers. It's a hot topic right now with me if you can't tell. It's hard for it not to be when you look at the news and see things like ISIS doing whatever they want. I can't imagine the scene the prophets like John the Revelator saw of our day. They speak of bloodshed and chaos. It hurts my stomach seeing what has been done and that's only a few pictures. John saw it all. I don't know how he could have handled it. These things almost seem unreal.

I don't want to dwell on the negative but these topics have been in my mind this week. How blessed I feel right now to live in this amazing country. Still we need to prepare for anything. Could be a flood, loss of power, loss of a job, or an attack. Either way it is pretty dang smart to have something on hand in case the SHTF!

More Preparedness Stuff

More preparedness stuff this week. We have been working on getting our food storage up. It was really hard to have one when we moved twice every year for the last 5 years. Every time we had a food storage we would have to eat it all because we needed to pack up and go. Now that we are in a spot that we can stay for awhile (at least that's the plan for now, but you never know...), we can actually start creating an actual food storage. Each week we go shopping we grab something to go into either our 72 hour kits or food storage. First week was bottled water, then a big bag of rice and I believe we also got granola bars for the 72 hour kits. I think next we are going for the canned meat.

It is going to feel nice to have a reserve of food and water. We made butter this week. That was awesome. We got some cream, a marble and a mason jar. Put the marble and cream in the mason jar and shook it till we had butter. It is quite delicious too, Haha, tastes like cream. We are going to figure out a way to make it taste more like butter. Maybe more salt. I have been having this desire to learn how to do things on my own. Making butter is one example, another is how to sharpen knives and axes. Making soaps is another one I think would be pretty fun. Not sure how time consuming it is but it will be cool to be able to say I made my own soap.

I think we rely too much on others to provide. I fear for it actually. What happens when the power goes out in your house for 1 day or 1 week. How do you keep your food cold? How do you cook with no stove?

Anyways, this has been on my mind a lot. Can you tell? Haha. Maybe it's part of my dad instinct kicking in, making sure my family is taken care of no matter what.

By the way, the youtube channel is up. No content yet, and I'm not sure how soon either. I want to have a schedule set up for frequency of videos and topics picked out. Just thought I would let you know that I am one more step closer to getting it up and running. Name and everything else will come later.

The point of it is going to be education. I want want to help other people learn how to do the things I am learning how to do. I find there are a lot of videos by "experts" but not to many by a rookie who is also learning how to do it. I figured why not film myself learning how to do it and show everyone else that it isn't (or is...) as scary as it looks.

Anyways, I need to go to bed.

Armorial Achievments

So apparently the official term is "Armorial Achievements" not coat of arms. Back in the day, a coat of arms was actually a coat worn that would have the Escutcheon (shield) on the back. The Armorial Achievement is the entire collection of emblems awarded. Back in the day, these Armorial Achievements were awarded to families or individuals. Everything from the shape of the escutcheon to colors, supporters (the animals/people on the side of the shield), crest, helm, etc. I think the motto would be the only thing left to the family to come up with on their own. Click here to see a pic of what I am talking about. 

Nowadays, we can make one up without needing the emblems awarded to us from the king or queen. I have been looking at making a couple. One for my family, and one for my youtube channel. I was trying to think of a good logo to use but couldn't really think of anything I liked. Then I had an idea of using a coat of arms as a logo. This will have everything to do with the topic of my vlog; preparedness. Now I just have to come up with ideas for what to put on it.

Maybe this is why we don't really call them Armorial Achievements anymore, because we didn't achieve them. We just make a coat of arms that we think looks good and use it. Wouldn't really make sense to call it an armorial achievement when we didn't have to fight in a war to earn it. I do like that it is a picture of the person represented. Kate Middleton just had hers done. I recommend you check it out. I like how simple it is.

I really love how every single detail on a coat of arms has meaning. Everything. The shape of the sheild, the color, the fur, the symbols placed on it and around it. It is incredible the layers of meaning on some of these coat of arms. They are just stuffed with meaning.

I encourage you, if you have not already, to look up some of your family names and see what family crests and armorial achievements come up. That could make for a good FHE activity or genealogy activity.

Distractions

I was thinking a lot this week about distractions. Man, we have a lot of them. How often do I come home and turn on the tv instead of preparing for a lesson or working on my to-do list? Too many times.

I heard a while ago somewhere that the way we view our spare time is different compared to years past. Now it is spent "vegging" in front of a tv or just sitting. How many of us come home and just want to sit and do nothing? I think we all do. Spare time in the past was used to pursue hobbies and interests. Men would come home from a long day at work and then head out to the shop and work on their cabinet making (if that was their hobby).

Everyone today thinks "I'm too busy". Are we? "I don't have time for that". Really? Yet we have time to watch our favorite shows the night they air, or play video games after work. We have time and arn't too busy but we have all these distractions that we give priority to.

"But what about me time?" That's when the pursuit of hobbies would take place. Today "me time" means time to turn my brain off for an hour or more. Why not pick up a new hobby and pursue that in your "me time." Apparently science is telling us that shutting our brains down in front of a tv is contributing to why we all feel so exhausted. They say if we fill that time with exercise or a hobby that we will actually feel energized and happier. What?? Come home after 8+ hours at work and then work out?? no way. Yeah way! This is science!

Anyways, I am stuck in this same boat. I know what I need to be doing or should be doing, but I would rather watch my show or browse the internet looking for the next pinterest fad. It's hard to break these habits of vegging. Vegging is nice, maybe we should call it a hobby and then we will feel better about it and get energized from it. Haha.

Take time to look at what you do in your day and see if there is 1, just 1, distraction you can get rid of. Maybe it's a game on your phone, or maybe it's facebook. Either way, find just 1 this week and get rid of it for 7 days. See how you feel after that. I would put money on it that you won't even miss it.

Bushcraft 2.0

So this is more of a heads up post. I have talked this over with a few people and have decided this is a good idea. I am going to add a video blog to this not video blog. YAY!!

This video blog will be about survival/preparedness/bushcraft. I think it will be fun. I am not to sure as to a time frame on how soon the first video will be up or how frequently they will be posted. I would like to say weekly but I may be leaning to monthly to start off with. No promises though. This is mostly thoughts in my head. It will really depend on how frequently I can get out and film something. I will be starting a youtube channel. Ill let you know when that's up. I have a few other ideas up my sleeve that I will leave as a surprise. Really I just don't have all the details worked out yet for all the ideas I have. The first step is going to be this vlog.

I have seen a lot of video's and read a bunch of blogs from professional bushcrafters and preppers. You can get a ton of awesome information from them. The idea behind my video blog is to do this bushcrafting/prepping from a "rookie" point of view. I want to document my "journey" as I learn how to become self reliant and prepared for what ever catastrophe may strike. I do want to point out that I am a chief scout ( Canada's version of an eagle scout for you american readers out there ), but it has been way too long since I completed my badges. I have forgotten most of my knots, never really knew anything about plants and trees, and the last time I went camping was...I can't remember. I went on one after my mission in 2006. I'm sure there is one sooner than that but I can't think of it. Scratch that, I went winter camping with my father-in-law and brother-in-law 2 christmases ago. That was awesome.

So we will be learning together. I will be learning different skills, how to identify different plants and what they are good for, trying different methods of fire starting and shelter making, and filming it while I do it.

As of right now I am just waiting on some more equipment so I can actually have something to camp with. I'm not quite ready to head out with just the shirt on my back ( and pants ) just yet.

I have been feeling a pull to do this for a while. I love being out in the woods. I love sitting at the top of a sky slope and just staring at the valley below, and while camping hearing nothing but the river rushing and the wind through the trees. Really the only things holding me back are lack of equipment and I wasn't taking my thoughts about it seriously. I just passed them off as wishful thinking or just random thoughts. I would often think, "man, I really want to go camping. I need to get out in the woods, oh well". I would be reminded of it when I go to Vancouver Island and hike through the trees. I love it out there. I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to find this passion of mine...but here I am. Better late then never I suppose.

Tartans

I had family dinner today with my parents and brothers to celebrate my wife's birthday. While there my brother Dan and I talked about tartans. We have talked about getting a family tartan for a while now, almost a year. We had attended a Robbie Burns dinner last January and that is what sparked the idea in the first place.

A Little Back Story

My dads dad changed his last name from Greenwood to Sinclaire. I heard it was because of his belief in numerology. What ever the reason, we have a unique opportunity. My dad is first generation with the new last name, making my brothers and I second generation.

I have tried to find a tartan somewhere in our family history. Nothing. I know, seems odd. I tried again tonight with my parents giving me family names to try. Nothing. We are all from southern England. They don't have tartans in Southern England.

The Result

So I was thinking it would be a great idea and a wonderful opportunity for our family to create our own tartan and coat of arms. Tartans tell a nice story of where the family came from or important things to that clan/family. Often clan tartans would have yellow for the wheat they grew, green for the grassy hills of Scotland, or blue for the endless sky. Coat of arms show strengths and more images of where the family comes from. So now I want to create one that can tell our families story. Apparently I can actually create a tartan and register it so it will be an official tartan. I definitely want to get some kilts made from it. That would be so sweet.

This is going to take some time. I have 4 brothers and we will have to agree on what colours to use and what it should look like. I laugh at the thought because my brothers and I are very different. Each one of us is completely different from the rest, so this will be interesting. But from the discussion tonight at family dinner, it sounds like everyone is on board. I'm excited to help create an image of who our family is.

Now let the compromises begin!

Bushcraft

Again, sorry for the late one.

Im sitting in a lodge in Soldotna Alaska about to go to sleep. We are meeting at 5:45am to go fishing on the Kenai for a number of hours. This is where I feel at home. Out in the wild. I definitely don't do this enough.

I watched a video last week of a guy from England who filmed himself doing a 5 day "bushcrafting" trip. That looks the most interesting to me. I love camping but I definitely want to get into bushcraft.

The idea behind bushcraft is to learn how to use what is available in nature instead of tools you would normally carry in a camping bag.

So this guy, as he is bushcrafting, explains what different plants are good and bad for. He shows how he uses certain mosses as a scrubbing tool to clean dishes and his hands, talks about how certain plants make for good tp. He makes his own teas from plants he picks.

I think that is so interesting. Not only will I gain a greater understanding of the plants and animals but also a much greater appreciation for the world God has created for me.

This is going to be my new hobby from here on out. I know this is what I want to do. I love the outdoors, and im not sure why I have been putting this off for so long. Im going to combine this hobby with my other hobby of geocaching and soon, hunting. This should be good!!

Number 2

This is one if my favorite numbers. It's main meaning is that of opposites or opposing forces. Opposition in all things. One image that comes to mind is the scales of justice. Two sides to it, never more. There needs to be a balance between the two sides of mercy and justice. Actually with the scales of justice we hope it is tipped more on the side of mercy than having a complete balance. Though we do know that the demands of justice need to be met. Good thing Christ met those demands. Sounds weird to say that we need a balance between good and evil though. I don't think I need a balance of evil. We don't need to do a bad thing for every good thing we do. So the scales of justice only work as a symbol to a certain extent. But I believe we do need a balance of happiness and misery. The story of Adam and Eve gives us that same idea. The Book of Mormon clarifies the story quite a bit. It says Adam had no joy for he knew no misery. There must be a contrast so we have something to compare it to. 2 Nephi chapter 2 is a fantastic chapter to read about the law of opposition in all things.

Some symbols come to mind when I'm thinking of the number 2. I enjoy the duality if some symbols.  Two opposing meanings to 1 object or image. Here's a few examples:

A tree. Tree of life vs tree of knowledge of good and evil

The swastika. A symbol for good fortune. This is why Hitler chose it. But now it brings feelings of hatred and anger to mind when seen.

The serpent. Satan in the garden of Eden, and Christ risen as the brazen serpent by Moses.

I'm sure there are plenty others, but those are the ones that come to mind. Another one I just thought of is the inverted 5 pointed star. Many view it as a satanic symbol, but it is anciently a symbol for Christ, the Morning Star.

I am curious about why it has to be 2? Why is opposition 2, not 3? Or more? It's choose God or satan, good or evil. Why not Good, evil, or mediocrity? Or God, satan, or man? It really does come down to one of 2 choices. Not one of 3 or 4. You either choose to be with God or against Him.

It makes it simpler. Not so many choices to choose from. It's like going to buy a car and your choices are a red one or a yellow one. That's it. All cars are the same, just pick your color. 

So really, we just need to pick our side. Who do we choose to follow? And yes it's a choice. We choose to follow satan or we choose to follow God. It hit me pretty hard when I read it in a book called "The Compound Effect" that everything we do is a choice. Sitting and watching tv instead of doing work or attending to our family duties is a choice. You made the choice to sit and do nothing. You are where you are in life because of choices.

Let's, if we haven't yet, sit down and consciously choose who we are going to follow. Once that decision is made, all other choices to follow will be easier to make. 

Remember when you read the scriptures that they don't always say the number 2 when they are using it as a symbol. You can see it in the way they right, for example "man is free to choose liberty and eternal life...or to choose captivity and death." No mention of the number two but it is implied in the available choices.

There needs to be an opposition to all things. This is an eternal and unchangong law. Which in turn makes the number 2 a very powerful number.

Number 1

I'm going to continue in my numbers in scripture theme. I am going to actually do a post per number. I hope you will find this as interesting as I do.

So we start at the beginning. #1

Clues to finding out what the numbers mean is to ask why? I mentioned in an earlier post that my favorite question is why?

Here's a good example. Deuteronomy 6:4 "The Lord our God is one Lord". Why is it necessary to mention that God is "one Lord"? Is there another God that is two Lords? In a book called The Lost Language of Symbolism, it says "The number one is indivisible, and not made up of other numbers, and is therefore independent of all others". 

Sounds like the number one is a great number to symbolize unity. To be one. So in Genesis when it says "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh"(Gen 2:24), it means there should be unity in the marriage. I feel pretty safe to say that it doesn't mean they will literally become one person, like the husband obsorbs the wife or something, or they become attached at the hip. It simply means to be united. So why not say " and they shall be united"? Because the number 1 paints a nice picture. One is not to rule the other, but they are to be one, nothing dividing them. Act as one. Similar to a basketball team that plays as one. 

This, I believe, is one area where the idea of the Godhead becomes confusing. It is thought to be three yet one. Many believe it to be three different hats of one being, God. Others believe it is three different beings under one hat, God. 

Either way, the number one is a great number to paint the image of unity. So when God commands us in John 17:11 "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are", he is asking that we be one like the Godhead. Not in flesh, becoming one body, but in unity. 

Man this turned into a sermon rather quickly. Not my intention, but what can I expect when I talk about numbers in scripture?

One other thought. One is the first number. It is the first in existence. Before reaching any other number, we must first arrive at one. Before we obtain any other number we must first aquire one. One must be present in all other numbers. No wonder it is a great number to describe God. 

Numbers in scripture

I taught sunday school this week. It was on Elisha getting the mantle from Elijah. I don't think I knew this before, but the mantle was an actual piece of clothing worn by the prophet. So when Elijah was taken up by God and the mantle fell to Elisha, it actually fell. The cloth that Elijah wore as a mantle fell to Elisha, who became the next prophet.

Anyways, onto numbers. In the story of Elisha, he offers to heal a leper named Naaman. He tells Naaman to bath 7 times in the river Jordan. If he does, he will be healed. I got thinking. This kind of a request is all over the scriptures. Children of Israel marched around the city of Jericho 7 days and 7 times on the last day, God created the Earth in 7 days. Why 7? What is so significant about 7?

I'm not really going to talk about the number 7 in this post, but I wanted to plant the idea in your minds of the importance of numbers in the scriptures.

The bible is an interesting book. It is debated daily all over the globe. What do we take literal and what is figurative?  When we consider what we are reading in the bible, we need to consider the author.

I mentioned this is my first post about symbols. "If I understand it correctly, the easterners, those who wrote the bible, wrote more in a painting style. The details aren't important as long as the message gets across. We westerners, write more in a architectural style, where all the details have to be perfect. So, we "architects" are reading a book written by "painters" expecting every detail to be perfect and literal. We are looking at a painting and expecting it to be a blue print. Seeing it as such is a very big mistake. Now don't get me wrong, I believe the bible is an inspired work. I believe it is the word of God. But the authors wrote in a way as to paint a picture in our minds, not give us a blue print. Hence the dilemma in the world of whose interpretation is correct? A lot of what was written is symbolic, and I love searching it out and finding the true meaning behind it."

The same can be considered about numbers in the versus. There are meanings behind those numbers. 

1 is unity(be one with God). 
2 often represents opposites(good vs evil). 
3 can mean divine involvement(Father Son and Holy Ghost). 
4 is a number to impress geographical completeness (four corners of the earth). 
5 can have significance to Gods grace, or mans fallen state. 
6 is the number for mortality. 
7 means perfect or complete. 
8 is the number for Christ, resurrection, new beginnings, rebirth and baptism. 
9 is often the number for judgement, finality or completion, 
10 means all of a part. (10 commandments did not comprise all of Gods commandments). 

There are more numbers mentioned but I wont go any further then the 10 examples above. So when Elisha tells Naaman to bathe 7 times in the river Jordan, he may well be suggesting that Naaman have a perfect or complete cleansing. Whether or not Elisha actually told Naaman to wash him self 7 times is not important. The use of the number 7 is. Either the author is telling us that Elisha told Naaman to have a perfect or complete cleansing, or, if Elisha actually did tell him to bathe 7 times, Naaman would have been well aware of the significance of the number. It would not have been odd for him to have to bathe that many times. 

One things to note about leprosy. It was often used to symbol for sin. To rid ourselves of sin(leprosy) we must complete perfect(7) repentance(washing). 

I really hope I am making sense. You can see why I can't include more about the numbers in the this post. It will go on for ever. I find this stuff quite interesting, which I'm sure you can see. I hope I am creating a small spark of interest in some of you which will cause you to pick up the dusty book and begin studying it again, looking for these small hidden treasures. More to come on this subject.

Communication

This one is a sensitive thought for some. I do not mean to offend anyone by this post. Just something I have been thinking about over the last week and I admit now that my opinion is mine and may be considered by some wrong. 

It is said that the two biggest reasons for divorce are sex and money. Personally I think there is one factor that is common among the two reasons which is lack of communication. 

One of the talks at church today hit on this subject a bit. He talked about marriage and compared our marriages with that of the Lords(the Bridegroom). The Lord was very good at communicating. He often, even though he knew what was needed, would listen and wait until the disciples(his covenant people) asked him for those things. 

Communication is the single second most important aspect in a marriage. The first is what the other talk in church hit on; Christ should be number 1.  If we aren't open and honest with our spouses/partners things will not change. There is a time and place to bring up issues that are bothering each individual and this should be done regularly. Nothing hurts anyone more than a small matter becoming larger because someone allowed it to fester inside for too long. 

Be open with your spouse/partner with all matters, especially sex and money. Money is a very large stressor in a lot of peoples lives, if not everyones life. Being open and communicating with your spouse/partner about money will help ease that stress. Imagine being on a tight budget, yet a parter makes a large purchase(eg. new laptop) without talking it over with the other partner first. There are a few feelings and thoughts running through the partners head. 

They feel: 

1. Left out. 

2. More stressed about money because the couple really couldn't afford it. 

3. Insignificant because it appears the partner did not want to include the other in the decision. 

4. Angry because the previous three fester. 

Proper communication is not just great advice for salesmen who want to woo their clients. It is one of the most important characteristics of a successful marriage. 

This also works with good things as well. Like saying "I love you", or "I'm sorry". Saying encouraging things to our children and spouse/partner help to build trust and love in the relationship. Never assume the other person knows anything, even that you love them. Make it a point to communicate that to them. 

One last point. Communication is more than just words. According to psychology today, "...55% of communication is body language, 38% is tone of voice, and 7% is the actual words"(http://goo.gl/WPs8wu). Communication is not just about saying what's on your mind, it's showing it.
It's not to difficult to know what someone is thinking if you just watch their body language. It is almost like reading their mind.

You may not agree with this post, and I would love to hear what you feel makes a marriage or relationship successful. Feel free to send me a FaceBook message or leave a comment. 

Your #1 Critic

As a bit of a follow up to the post 1 month ago (almost to the day) titled "Your #1 Asset," I wanted to touch on your #1 critic.

Of course the answer to this one is the same as your #1 asset: You. Weird if you think about it. Why is it that we are our own worst critic? Why is it that we constantly talk negative to ourselves? "You can't do that, it's too tough." "You? Are you kidding? HAHAHA. You think you can just go and join a sports team? HAHA. Everyone will be better than you. You will just embarrass yourself. Don't even try out."

Odd I find it that we hold our selves down instead of lifting our selves up. Are we taught to do this somewhere? I don't recall my parents teaching me to talk negative to my self. I also don't recall my parents saying those negative things to me. Saying I can't do it. 

I have read/heard a few sayings I want to add in here to help us get out of this constant bullying of our selves. 

1. Fear stands for False Evidence Appearing Real.

2. Fear knocked on the door, faith answered and no one was there. 

3. Action cures fear.

I feel it has everything to do with fear. We attempt to protect ourselves from harm because we fear getting hurt, when in reality we are harming ourselves from potential growth. We don't ask that girl/guy out because we fear rejection. What goes through your head? "There is no way a girl/guy like them would like a person like me. I'm not good enough. They will just laugh at me in front of the whole class." Little did we know that she/he was waiting on us to just ask. 

I tried an exercise I read in a book. It goes something like this (paraphrasing): Every time you get a thought of "I can't do that...That is too hard...I wouldn't be any good at that" ask your self what proof do you have that it would be to hard. Have you ever tried it before? Probably not. You are just fearing the False Evidence Appearing Real. 

I have come to realize that it rarely is ever as bad as you imagine it. You get all these scenarios of what is going to happen. You picture them laughing at you and think your so crazy for even thinking you were good enough to apply for this job. Then when you get some courage and do it they actually commend you for applying for the job that was above your abilities and give you a shot at it anyways. 

Next time you think a negative thought about your self, think 2 positive ones and just go do whatever it is your are wanting to do. 

How to use your analog watch to find true north.

For those of us who like to hike and rarely take a compass because we are going on an "easy" hike, or a "we do this all the time" hike, there is a way to find true north without a compass (acutally there are more than 10 ways to find north...but I'm only going to show you one). It is done using an analog watch. It's not the best compass...technically it's not a compass...but it is better then no compass. I think this is a fantastic tool to use. Especially when we're on an easy hike that we do all the time and didn't bring a compass and I swear the trail was right here.

I have included a picture for your viewing and educational pleasure.

How it's done.
Three simple steps. 

1. Place the watch in the palm of your hand or on the ground face up.
2. Point the hour hand in the direction of the sun. (Or along a shadow, making sure the hour hand is   pointing towards the sun, not away from it)
3. The half way point between the hour hand and the 12 mark is your north-south line.

A few points to remember:
1. Yes I drew that picture
2. For us in the northern hemisphere, the sun will always be in the southern sky at its meridian
3. If it is before noon, measure clockwise from the hour hand to find south. If it is afternoon, measure counter clockwise from the hour hand to find south.

And there you have it. An easy way to use your analog watch as a compass to help find true north. Give it a shot the next time you're outside. It is actually pretty cool. Or I am just a really big nerd. 

Harry Potter and skittles

Odd thought this one...

I began reading Harry Potter for the first time ever. I know...Apparently I live under a rock.

I have never really had any desire to read fiction. I thought it to be a waste of time. Same reason for not knowing what I want to do for a living (needed to have a purpose...carry me to my end goal). I am rather enjoying Harry Potter though. It is a fun story. Makes me want to buy an owl and find platform 9 3/4. (Is 29 too old to go to Hogwarts?)

I am trying to find a good way to put down my thoughts... Why read a novel of something that is completely made up when I could be reading my scriptures or a book about a gospel/self improving topic? I have the same thoughts about movies and TV shows (although I do watch a lot of shows. Thank you Netflix). Why watch a show about someone who has made it big in life and not go make it big in your own life? Instead of watching rookie blue why not just become a cop? (I know I know, why not be a cop AND watch Rookie Blue). Instead of watching suits why not go study law? (maybe you already are ;)  )

I had a thought today that has changed my previous thought. My wife gave me some skittles in the van on the way home from church and I had the same thought (whats the point?). Why eat skittles? They have no nutritional value, they just taste good. Then I thought, why do we have taste buds at all? Most of our body parts work in a specific way to keep us alive; Heart pumps blood, lungs breathe air, spleen takes up space, skin keeps in all in. Then it occurred to me. We have taste buds so things taste good. (As well as to know when something is rotten and potentially kill us. That thought just came to me...guess there is a big purpose to taste buds that completely ruins the reason I am writing this post.... :p ) I was going to say "is that essential, food tasting good?" No, not necessarily. We could eat just the same if everything tasted like styrofoam...we wouldn't know any different.

We have taste buds so that we can enjoy delicious things. So if God gave us taste buds so we can enjoy good food and drink, why can't we also enjoy using our imagination while we read a good book?

I am enjoying reading through Harry Potter. I still have that thought of "you should be reading your scriptures and moving closer to saving your self."

And then I had another thought. Why are we so willing to read Harry Potter every waking moment we have but roll our eyes when we think about how we still need to do our 15 min of scripture study? Why do we neglect the things that matter most? Same with the taste bud thing. Why eat skittles simply for the delicious taste and neglect something that will make us feel way better and actually help us be healthy?

My final thought was this: Part of the reason God created us and this world with everything in it was so we can ENJOY it. We are meant to have fun and enjoy our time here. We just can't forget to have a moderation in all things. Let's all work on not neglecting the things that matter most. Lets get as excited for the scriptures as we are about Harry Potter and skittles.

A bit of symbolism

We went on a hike today on Mount Washington. It was refreshing to spend time in the woods. I don't get out as often as I would like to living in Calgary.

It reminded me of Moses 6:63. It is one of my favourite scriptures. At least on the symbolism topic. "...all things are created and made to bare record of me."

My seminary teacher would ask us "how much is all?" We would reply "100%." 100% of things are created to bare record of Him. It's hard to walk in the woods, away from the rush of the big city and not feel closer to Him.

This is probably the biggest reason I enjoy camping and snowboarding. Sitting on the top of the slope looking down at the valley, no sound but wind and my own thoughts. Sitting around a campfire listening to the fire crackle and the breeze rustle the leaves. Very awe-inspiring.

My dad used to go camping by himself. He called it "going into the house of the Lord." He would do it when there was a big decision ahead of him. I can see why he did it. It is so peaceful. He encouraged me to do it before I went on my mission. So I did the weekend before I left. Took my scriptures and my journal and talked with the Lord about the next two years. It was awesome. A great way to clear my mind.

For me I like to look at things around me and think about Moses 6:63. I think about how every thing was created to bare record of Christ. I wonder, when looking at a tree for example, "how was this made to bare record of the creator? How does it remind me of Him." I can come up with a few ways it does for me, and I am sure it's different for everyone. The important part is that it brings our attention to Him.

Some of you may not believe the same as I do and that is ok. Either way, going out into the woods can bring a sense of peace to everyone in their own way. To me it is a recharging of the mind and a way to strengthen my relationship with my Creator.

Your #1 asset

Sometimes I get to Sunday and think "shoot, I have a post to write". Ya that happens pretty much every Sunday. Blogging isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. Some weeks I just don't think about much. I just go through the motions. It sounds very sad but I would bet everyone has those weeks, frequently. 

Anyways, onto the topic of the post. Your #1 asset. 

I heard this awhile back. I am quite sure it was at a leadership conference I went to...or I read it in a book, either way, the person was talking about assets and investing. When he asked the crowd what their number one asset was he heard shouts of "House, stocks, my business". None where correct. Our #1 asset is not the house that is rising in price, it's not the stocks or shares on the rise, it's not your own business. It's you.

You are your #1 asset. I hope you aren't disappointed but think about it. What should you invest most of your time, energy and money into. Would you invest it in your #2 asset? Your #3? No, your #1. The problem is people forget or don't see them selves as their #1 asset. What is going to make you the most money? You. What can get you the best ROI? You. If you don't invest in yourself, you will not become successful. 

How do you invest in your self? Do I mean to go on a shopping spree because it makes you feel on top of your world? No. 

Heres a question. How many of you read? What do you read? Fiction? Romance? Fantasy? How about self help books? "How to make friends and influence people", "The seven habits of highly effective people", "The compound effect", The scriptures. Why does the term "self help" sound wrong? Don't we all cringe a bit when we here that. "Hey, you should read this self help book". *eye roll*

But why not invest in our selves. Why not read about how to influence people and get what you want. Why not read about how to be better at organizing our time? 

Invest time in your self. You are your #1 asset. Take time every day to improve something about you. 15 minutes every day learning a new language, scripture study, or reading a self help book on better parenting. How can you make your self better? It's pretty funny, we would rather sit and watch a show about other people who made it work than actually going out and doing it ourselves.

Zombie Apocalypse. Part 4. Finale

Alright, lets finish off this zombie topic.

Final type is Fast Smart.

Worst case scenario and most probable. A great example of this is "I am Legend". If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it. These zombies are strong, fast, and even smart enough to set up traps. How messed up is that? Not only are you running for your life from zombies, but they are setting up traps to capture you and then, Im assuming, kill you. Many people actually believe the creatures in I am Legend are NOT zombies, but some type of vampire. Either way, they are not normal humans that were infected with a "cure for cancer" that had terrible side effects 3 years later.

How could this happen? According to the movie, curing cancer caused the outbreak. Most likely though, it would probably be caused by a military experiment, trying to get super soldiers who can run faster, sleep less, and are stronger. Something goes wrong with the chemical or procedure they use and now the super solder can't think normally. They turn back to survival instincts only and may view everyone as a threat. Some how they can sense who is also "infected" or otherwise affected by the same procedure.

What can you do to prepare for when this kind of zombie hits? Nothing. We are all screwed when this type hits. They are faster, smarter, and stronger than you. You definitely want to have lots of weapons, know how to survive on your own in the wilderness, and trust no one. My idea would be to go up north as far as I can. I don't know for sure if the cold would have a huge effect on them, but Hitler lost Russia because of the winter so I'm hoping the zombies wont be able to last through it either. 

Well, honestly is there going to be a zombie apocalypse? Probably not. The most likely situation you will be dealing with is a natural disaster of grande proportions and other people trying to pilfer your stuff. Sadly, in all zombie movies, not only are we fighting zombies, but we are also fighting each other. We all should be prepared enough for when the power goes out, or the city cuts the water supply. I am really hoping there is never a day I have to defend my family and belongings from others, zombie or not, from killing us and taking our stuff. 

Decisions

Well, it's another sunday night/monday morning so another post is in order. I've been sitting on the thoughts from my last post for a week and this is how I feel.

We are moving toward the pilot idea. I took the intro flight and man, flying feels good. We have made some decisions and taken some action to move toward becoming a pilot. It's going to take some time but I feel that it is the right thing to do. That's the important thing right? That it feels right?

Anyways. Now we are changing the way we think and everything is about how to get me into an airplane and receiving a private pilots license. The hardest part is waiting. Not being able to just jump into it and get it done. Saving money to pay for it up front (it's cheaper that way).  We are trying to think different. How to make extra money to put into my flying fund. We have a few ideas. Gabby is running a day home to bring in some extra, we started an amway business a while ago, and of course, I have a job. Now we are trying to think of other ways to bring in more. The private pilot license is $10,000 and unless that's sitting in our couch, we need to do some saving.

It's tough when you find something you want to do but can't afford to go and do it. Frustrating mostly. What do we cut? We already don't have TV. Cut internet? Why is it hard to chase your dreams? Or am I just too impatient? I had someone say it's cheaper to buy a plane than to rent one for experience. yikes. Did the math. It is true. It's cheaper by about $100,000. But really? Just go buy a plane?

Anyways, another venting post. Just typing my thoughts out while watching runner runner in Fort McMurray at 1:30 am...

Who Needs a Career Anyways!

Alright, I've got a random post for you.

Why is it so hard to figure out what I actually want to do for a living? This question has been the bane of my existence. I have never known what I want to do. I've never been able to say "since I was two I have always wanted to be a..." Nope, never. I have changed my mind so many times I'm losing track. Lawyer, something with psychology, accountant, software engineer, fire fighter, cop, teacher, electrician.  None of these are my passion. Thats really what I'm missing, knowing what my passion is.

I have a passion for public speaking, but I don't know of a good way into a career with that. And no I do not actually want to be a teacher. It would be awesome to get paid to travel the world and speak to tons of people from a stage. Not sure how to get into something like that. Write a book?

We recently had a polite nudge from a bishop who recommended that we take a look at what we are doing now and if we aren't happy then find something that will make us happy. I actually really needed that nudge. I feel I have not been taking life very seriously. Just taking jobs here and there. Hoping some opportunity pops up. Not that I don't like what I do, I just don't see a career in it.

So, My most recent ideas have been cop or pilot. I'm looking into both at the moment. More leaning toward the pilot. I took an intro flight with the Calgary flying club. I paid $75.00, flew over downtown and on the way back to the little air field the pilot let me take controls. Oh man, it was awesome. I would love to fly helicopter, or a fighter jet, haha, who wouldn't want to fly one of those. Honestly I just want to fly anything right now.

The problem is $$. It can cost between $9000 and $14000 to get your private pilots license depending on how fast you can get it done. No student loans for that either. So I have to try to come up with an extra $10000+/- so I can get moving towards being a pilot. It's not going to be easy...but man is flying awesome.

Anyways, as you can see there is a lot on my mind. Trying to figure out what will make me happy, give me meaning, and help me be a good provider for my family. And I'm 30 for heavens sake...Wait...am I having a midlife crisis???

Zombie Apocalypse. Part 3.

*WORLD WAR Z SPOILER ALERT* Read at your own risk



Zombie Type 3: Fast Dumb.


A good example of this is World War Z and 28 days later. For those who haven't seen World War Z, the zombies are virus infected, and have to bite someone else to spread it. They run very fast, tackling people to the ground and then chew on a body part and them move onto the next person. The one bitten is very quickly turned into another fast running machine who wants to bite the next victim. They are dumb because there is no common sense. They climb all over each other trying to get at the victims, they turn corners like water does, by hitting the wall and ricocheting into the new direction. They bust windows with their head, never a smart idea. All they do is run really fast and only stop to bite someone. 28 days later is a rage virus. Still very much human, but not in control. Now the rage reigns supreme.

Likely hood of this one happening? High. This one could be a virus or something like a military experiment gone wrong. Trying to make super soldiers that can sleep less and run faster. Some kind of side effect makes them in a constant state of rage. I could see if happening. Maybe not on a global scale but I could see if happening.

What can you do to prepare for when this kind of zombie hits? Start running, now, or get a armoured vehicle. You need to be faster then they are. Well, actually according to World War Z, you just need to get sick, and for 28 days later the "cure" was the non-infected leave Europe and come to the Americas, but still, get your running on. Even the fortifications they built in the movie didn't keep them out. They just climbed over each other until they had made a pile of raging zombies high enough that some started falling over the wall into the "safe zone". What then? Well, get your running on and you may be fine. The issue here is that these zombies are probably using all their bodies strength plus a bit more to run faster then the body probably should, so you're not likely to out run them. As long as you can out smart them, you should be fine. This is where you either need to ALWAYS be on the move, or make the craziest fortification ever, or both with an armoured vehicle. The last option is probably not likely unless you know in advance they are coming. So you will probably have to always be on the move. The only reason sickness is what saved people was because the virus could detect a sick person and only wanted to infect healthy hosts. The thing is, we can't expect the virus to actually sense or care that the host is sick or not. Better safe then sorry in my opinion. GET YOUR RUN ON!

Avoiding high dense populated areas is also a good idea. Head out to the woods. This is where your 72 hour kits and previous preparation comes in handy. You will need to have some food and supplies set aside because the last thing you want to do is go back into the city where those crazy raging marathon runners are biting everyone.

The good thing about virus infected zombies is there is normally always a cure. Since the virus is not airborne, we may just have to hop over the ocean and all will be well. Unless it is a human created virus and released on all continents...then we are screwed. That's when I would hope that World War Z got it right and all we have to do is give each other the flu.

Zombie Apocalypse. Part 2.

Ok, onto the next type of zombie. Slow smart

One thing to point out before I get to far into this one is that when a zombie apocalypse happens there is a very high chance that there will be different types of zombies running around at the same time. You may have all 4 types to fight off. One example is fast smart zombies taking over the world but then you have some that are injured in some way, maybe missing a leg, or its broken, and now you have a slow smart flesh eating machine. One guy has brain damage  but is still able to run fast (dumb fast), and then you have brain damaged injured zombies (slow dumb) walking or limping around.

Anyways,  these slow smart guys are unable to move quickly but are smart enough to use weapons and wait in the shadows until someone is vulnerable. They could set up booby traps or hunt their prey. This is definitely not best case scenario but it's also not worst case. They are slow, easily out run, but if you fall for one of their traps, or aren't paying attention as you walk into that dark alley or abandoned building, your probably dead.

Most likely these types of zombies are caused by some kind of virus or experimentation. One that doesn't kill them per se, but takes away their ability to rationalize or have a conscience. Basically it would be a world being hunted by a bunch of slow moving psychopaths. They are smart because they still have their human problem solving abilities, but are slow because they are injured. Their body won't allow them to run, or the virus has caused them to lose the ability to react quickly.

What can you do to prepare for when this kind of zombie hits? Focus on being fast. These guys are slow, so if you can have amazingly fast reflexes you should probably be ok. The only down side is you may become super paranoid thinking everything that moves is out to eat you. Which may not be a bad thing, better safe then eaten right? You will need to learn how to always be on alert though. Knowing they are laying traps and using weapons changes how you should scrounge around. Finding the "jackpot" supply load could actually be a trap.

Likely hood of this type hitting? Higher than the undead walking, but not as high as the last two types. I wouldn't spend most of my time thinking about how to fight off these guys. Since it's a high probability that they are slow because they are injured, coming across one would pretty much mean only one thing...I have worse things to worry about...fast smart.

Zombie Apocalypse. Part 1.

Laugh all you want. It's bound to happen.

I was talking to my brother a while back and he mentions there are about 4 or 5 types of zombies and through my research, and I guess depending on who you talk to, there can be up to 350 types...I wont go there. I'm going to focus on 4 types of zombies:
   

                    Slow Dumb       Fast Dumb
                                           
                    Slow Smart       Fast Smart

This will be a 4 or 5 part series. Each post will be about a different type and the likely hood of it happening...general likely hood. No statistics here.

So, slow dumb. This is the best case scenario but the least likely to ever happen. This is the undead. Those in the grave walk. Unlikely because we know (so far) that the dead don't walk. Yes there are types of zombies other than the undead, and I will get into that in other posts.

To give you an idea of the slow dumb zombies you can watch The Walking Dead or Shaun of the Dead. Bodies are falling apart. They walk slowly, and when in groups can run, but they don't sprint. They are as dumb as a post. Don't know how to get through or over a fence, how to open a door, etc.

This is the best case scenario type because as long as your faster and have at least an IQ of 1, you can probably survive. Unless you are part of the initial outbreak...then sorry. Keep on the move and you should be fine. The reason this type of zombie exists in idea is because I feel it is the best for movies. Nothing gives you more suspense than knowing there is something slow that will eventually kill you. Slowly the masses turn, and theres nothing you can do about it. At least that's the feeling you get during the movie.

Being that it is the best case scenario, what can you do to be prepared for when this type of zombie hits? Doesn't take much. Have a food storage, a go bag. Other than that you should have time to scrounge up stuff while your on the move. Weapon of choice would be anything but my bare hands.

Sadly this is the least likely to ever happen, so when the zombie apocalypse arrives, we wont be so lucky.

Importance of a Mentor

We had our bishop come visit us in our home tonight. He wanted to get to know us and our situation better. During our conversation he gave us some advice on life. I'm not going to get into what advice he gave, but I think we should consider the importance of having a mentor for our lives.

Gabby and I started our own business. A perk of starting this business is it comes with mentors. Free ones at that! Can't get better than free. These mentors are helping us know where to step and what to do to get success out of our business. These mentors are mainly just for business topics, but not only can you have mentors for your business and financial life, you can also have them for your daily life.

These mentors can see your situation from a different perspective. It was nice to sit with our bishop and hear how he sees us from the outside. From someone that doesn't live this life. I think it's human nature to feel comfortable in our little circles and thus become robots. In other words, we can get set in our ways. Having a mentor that sees things from the outside can help us know when we are in a rut and remind us of our options.

I think the bishop tonight dispelled some things that I have convinced my self are true. I just feel it's always good to have a second opinion from someone not really benefiting from our lives. (you know what I mean). He has no real vested interest in whether we take his advice or not, he's just there to give it. Either choice affects him very little.

Anyways, I hope this isn't to scattered. I will say one thing that the bishop mentioned. Our goal should be happiness. Seek happiness. I realized that we often get so bogged down with everything going on in life and all the decisions we have to make that we forget what our true desire is; to be happy. What brings me happiness? What brings you happiness?

I don't really care if your mentor is a business professional, spiritual leader, or just a friend. Have someone you can talk to who can give you advice from how they see things from the outside. They aren't in your head, and thats a good thing.