Ramblings of an active mind

Filipina Fiancee and trips to Foreign Countries

2012-10-29T22:17:00.001-04:00

Since my last post many things have occurred in my life. From the dull and boring to the crazy and exciting. I have purchased a new semi, set up a headquarters office for my business, traveled to exotic foreign countries and become engaged to a Filipina Lady.

First off in December 2011, I traded in my 2006 Kenworth T2000 for a 2012 Volvo VNL780 Semi that was used as Volvo' show and literature semi. It is loaded with features and chrome. It will be a much better truck to spend life on the road with.

In January 2012. I met my future wife online and started a daily Skype conversation which led me to take a trip to the Philippines in April 2012. For the first time in my life I took a trans-oceanic flight and visited a foreign country. While I was there for three weeks I live in a Nipa Hut (bamboo house) bathed with collected rain water from a barrel and had the most relaxing time of my life. I also rode a Honda Beat motorbike in an area where traffic laws are disregarded. Rode in the back of a Jeepney, rode as a passenger in a peddle tricycle (poor peddler) and swam in a sea of water that was warm enough to bathe in. I was treated very well by my now Fiancee and her family.

In June 2012 I leased a property for my company headquarters in Blaine, Washington and currently have a friend setting it up for me. It is large enough for me to park my semi-tractor inside and has a office upstairs.

I will try and post more often but have been awfully busy with plans and preparations to bring my Fiancee to America. I have also been busy working to earn the money to pay for all this.

Till next time....Jimbo

2011-12-28T17:00:00.002-05:00

Once again I am going to try and do better with keeping this blog up to date. I have recently purchased a camcorder to do a vlog on YouTube but sometimes I would rather write out what I am thinking. This of course allows me to correct myself as I go and not have to start recording from the beginning. I will soon post the many new and exciting things occuring in my life but for now...See Ya Soon...Jimbo

Insurance and the Modern Prepper

2011-06-05T14:04:00.000-04:00

If you have come here expecting to be blown away by a well written article by a journalism or english major, sorry to disappoint. The name of this Blog is Ramblings of an active mind, and that is what you will get.

First off I am going to give a little background on my understanding of the philosophy of modern prepping and then I will explain why I believe insurance is an integral part of prepping.

Modern prepping means many things to many people. I fondly follow the explanation given by Jack Spirko of The Survival Podcast http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/ . Which is "Helping You Live The Life You Want, If Times Get Tough, Or Even If They Don't". In this we are not prepping for the big event, SHTF, or whatever you wish to call it. The modern way of prepping is to prepare for every day life which includes the many small emergencies you may encounter along the way. It is not about living underground or in a cave but it does hold that having a personal bugout (place to go to) location in mind and set up in case natural or man made disasters make it unreasonable to continue living in your current home for a short to extended period of time. Another facet is that instead of stocking up on food and things which you may never need or use, to instead "store what you eat and eat what you store" as Jack often says. A few examples would be to have not only the food on hand but also a means of preparing the food if you couldn't go shopping at the local grocery store. Another example might be to have an emergency source of power in case the electricity went out (as is often the case in disasters). Too many of us rely on the fact that local or federal disaster management teams will come in and help us out, but what do we do in the meantime. Besides relying on someone else may leave you without even the basic necessities.

So how does Prepping and insurance go together you may ask. Well here is my view on the subject, prepping is like insuring you and your families ability to survive a disaster and insurance is a means for replacing what you lose. Now many of us have or have heard horror stories in regards to insurance companies and their repayment practices, and some of us may even bristle at the regulations requiring us to posess certain types of insurance. Let me start with car insurance and I will not be using actual names although I will use actual cases. A friend of mine (lets call him William) was on the road when he got a call that his wife had been in an accident. Well William rushed back to town to see his wife in the hospital (big huge bill), as things were being discussed it came out that his wife had decided to save on monthly expenses and drop the car insurance (against the law). Now the accident was not his wife's fault, but the other driver didn't have insurance or a job. When his wife dropped the insurance she also dropped the under/uninsured portion that came with it. The other driver being unemployed is not a good place to go looking for reimbursement either. So now William has to come up with the money to replace the vehicle and for the enormous hospital bills. Fast Forward a couple years and his wife was leaving work and pulled out in front of a vehicle and was T-boned. The wife who was clearly at fault had also forgot to maintain insurance once again. Now William has two more cars to replace and more hospital bills. He still hadn't got the first accident completely paid for. One accident without his wife's fault, one with, no insurance, no means of recouping his money. Oh yeah and no preps to help live through the troubled times. If this family had built up preps it might have made the reduced income period a little easier. The other event was that happened was the 2008 bank failures which reduced his personal income from 70+ thousand a year to less than 40 thousand a year. Maintaining auto insurance and preps would have made this a much more bearable situation.

Life insurance (by this I mean term life insurance) is a way to insure the loss of income that may be derived from the physical loss of a family member. This should be considered mandatory by you for the main bread winner but also for the secondary breadwinner. Their may be an event where you lose the main breadwinner in the family and life insurance will help to cover the financial loss along with the secondary breadwinner working some, but what if they are both lost in the same disaster. Having a good supply of preps may also make the transition of losing someone go easier.

Now for the recent incidences we have all been dealing with. As many of you know there has been a whole heck of a lot of natural disasters going on around the country lately. They don't seem to be leaving any area untouched. Many people have been relying on both their insurance companies and the emergency management groups to restore some semblance of their prior life. But as evidenced by this article (well I couldn't find the article again) but it spoke of the fact that a town in South Carolina (I think ) was prohibiting FEMA from bringing trailers into the city limits. People were living in tents next to their destroyed houses. This is a good example of why insurance needs to go along with prepping. Use your preps to get you by until you can replace things like your home using insurance.

On any given year we hear about areas losing power from days to weeks. On top of this we hear about people dying from expossure from not having a way to heat their houses to getting stuck somewhere without any means of providing for their basic needs. Let's face it freak storms are becoming more frequent. One may catch you away from your house. Something as simple as AAA (another form of insurance in my opinion) may be a lifesaver. If you are stuck in a blizzard with a disable vehicle AAA may be the best friend you can call on. In my many years and miles of traveling for a job I have always found that the most likely place for a breakdown is in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, in the worst weather. Of course since I spend more than 120,000 miles on the road a year you might say I have a greater likelihood of a breakdown. Please remember however that my truck goes in a shop on a monthly basis for maintenance.

Having preps should not be like having insurance. You shouldn't just spend the money hoping to never use them. Preps should be gone through on a regular basis to check their integrity and validity. It is like a story Jack talks about in which many people had generators for Y2K but not the gasoline to operate them. Gas stations are computerized too. They also run on power. How do you get the gas out of the tank without power. What good does it do to have a first aid kit with expired medications? Of course people also fail to keep their insurance updated. When was the last time you checked on your beneficiaries. Does your policy still cover what it needs to? Do you have an updated list of your personal posessions? Have you made copies of family photos and such and placed them in a secure location. I prefer a copies in a location a large distance away from your current. A tornado can take out a large area at once, place your stuff a few hours away for better safekeeping.

By having things such as a B.O.B. (bug out bag), one or more vessels holding essentials that can be grabbed in a hurry on your way out of the area. A bug out location that you can stay at for a short to long period of time. Insurance to replace things that become damaged or missing. And last but not least a PLAN for you and your family in the event of a disaster, you will come out of most disasters on top of the hole instead of at the bottom digging yourself out.

In this line from Wikipedia "In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss." we see that even prepping is a type of insurance. Please insure yourself and your family. Commercial insurance cannot replace a life, but preeping can help to insure against the loss of that life.

I cannot tell you what you need to do in order to help your family not just survive but to also thrive, but I hope this has given you a few things to think on.

Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, Prepping and Me

2011-03-27T06:53:00.000-04:00

So today I made a decision. The decision I made today was to start spending more time on my blog and posting the updates via Twitter which will post them to Facebook. In the past I have ignored my blog to a large degree choosing instead to publish my thoughts directly on Facebook. I find I have alot more to say these days and some of it may have no interest to my family. Publishing my thoughts, ideas, and passions here on my blog will allow them to choose between seeing what I have posted or just ignoring the new blog message without cluttering up their feed. My blog will be focused to a large part on prepping and my thoughts on it. I plan on including links to interesting sites or things I find around the internet and if it is something that you can purchase through Amazon I will add it to My Associates Store, which can be accesed by the banner at the top of the page. I do this to make it easy to purchase the items I recommend. These items will range from books on gardening to food storage to survival stratagies. It will also include items related to prepping. I hope you will enjoy my blog and look forward to providing you with quality entertainment....as the boy scouts say "BE PREPARED".....Jimbo

On another note....

2011-03-26T13:26:00.000-04:00

So today I signed up for Amazon.com's Associate program. It is my hope that they will accept my application so that I may be able to offer you a richer content and provide you an easy way to get the books or other products I write about in an easy manner. I will let you know if this comes to pass. Over the last few months I have spent several hundred dollars on products through Amazon.com and plan to begin a more in depth review of the products shortly. Most of these products are based on the preparedness/survival/homesteading lifestyle...Till next time as the Boy Scouts say BE PREPARED....Jimbo

A little late

2011-03-26T13:20:00.000-04:00

An update that is well overdue on what happened with my clippers. So I contacted Wahl about the problem via their website and then received a response the very next day. The response stated their apologies and let me know they were sending out the replacement part the next day. The next time I got to to my mail the part was there as promised. Upon examing the part I noticed it was redesigned in such a way as to keep my problem from occurring again. My kudos to Wahl for their excellent customer service. Please consider Wahl as a great company to do business with as I do....Thanks and till next time....Jimbo

The throwaway market

2011-03-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

I am feeling a bit miffed today. I finally decided today to shave off my winter fur. I went into the bathroom pulled out my Wahl haircutting kit. Chose the combs I would need to use. Plugged in my rechargeable clippers. (they were out of charge) Turned the clippers on and WTF that is a strange loud noise. So I started looking and to my dismay found that a plastic piece that holds the spring for the reciprocating blade had broken. Damn throwaway economy! Here is what I shall do. I am going to contact Wahl through their website and see if they have a replacement part available. Mind you I have had the clippers for about a year but they have only been used around six times.

Bad Bad Me

2011-03-08T06:21:00.000-05:00

So I have been an absent blogger recently. I will try and work on this. I have been fairly busy recently setting up my own business. I now have my own truck which has been leased on to a company. I now pick the loads I carry. I have been spending a lot of time researching and learning about the prepper lifestyle and mindset. I feel this is a positive thing and a new but old interest of mine. I plan on putting links to some interesting sites and articles in my future blogs. For this post I will include a podcast I listen to daily. I truly enjoy this guy.

www.thesurvivalpodcast.com

Not suitable for photos, but I might make U-tube

2010-11-07T01:35:00.000-04:00

Well as things go I did not wake up this morning with the intent to write in my blog. Of course as you can see that has changed. I have been at this hotel for several days and have nothing really to do until monday. I decided to go down to the hotel's bar and grill for the entertainment of watching people sing karaoke tonight. A little while after I was there a patron decided to get into it with another patron about the number of classifications for sausage that exist (oh brother....really). This was only a verbal argument that did not escalate because one of the guys group of friends convinced him to leave. Things seemed to be ok for a while then I heard that a patron had broke his leg. Well since here in Wisconsin it is illegal to smoke in any public establishment (yes this even means all the hotel rooms are non smoking) I decided to go outside and smoke. While outside I was hearing the story of the guy with the broken ankle. Apparently it was the father of the patron who didn't leave. I heard the approaching sirens and went back inside. When I went back inside I asked the bartender to turn up the lights so the medics could see. I was standing in the general area of the hurt patron when his son (which happens to be the instigator of the previous verbal altercation) decided he wanted to get into an altercation with another patron. It was only verbal when a law enforcement officer came in first with an aid bag to secure the scene. He noticed the young mans belligerence and told him to back up and be quiet. The son continued to mouth off to the officer and the officer told him to leave. He refused to leave and the officer told him he could leave or be arrested and backed him towards the door. The son took his time with putting on his jacket and the officer pushed him towards the door once again. And then...the kid swung at the officer and rushed him (yeah smart huh). The officer clung to the son and took him to the ground and it sounds like the officer broke his hand in the process. A floor struggle ensued and another patron placed himself on the kids back and I ended up crossing the guys ankles and pushing his feet to his rump. I was not wanting a loose weapon in a drunk bar with me as a potential target. The other patron on his back pulled the guys hands behind his back and told the officer he was going to get his cuffs. The officer told him no and we just held the guy and waited until another officer arrived and cuffed the guy. As the two officers were trying to escort the guy out he decided to fight them. A third officer approached with his hand on his weapon and the second officer said no no no. The third officer started to help and the guy kept fighting. A handful more officers arrived and they were going to tase him but instead carried him out as a group. Once outside the guy started fighting the officers (now about six) again. They hog tied him and placed him in the car. Once he was in the car the original officer thanked me and asked me if I would be willing to provide a statement. I agreed and then was asked if I had seen the cause of the other guys injury. I replied that I hadn't but I knew who had. He asked me if I would see if they were willing to make a statement. I went in and asked and they agreed. Apparently the son was fighting with his dad, threw him down a couple times and in the process broke his ankle. The son is now looking at 10 years for assault on a police officer. Although most thanked me, a few asked me why I got involved. I didn't think about it at the time I just did. I have seen a couple of pictures that were taken and I was not really visible but a video was taken on a phone and my ugly mug might end up on you-tube. So of course I figured I would write up my interesting day in my blog...Jimbo

So here I sit

2010-10-27T18:24:00.000-04:00

Well as the title says here I sit. Where you ask. Well that is why this blog has a locator. I am sitting because I ran out of legal hours to run. This is a bummer because it means I now have to wait until monday to deliver this load. That means I now have 4 days to travel 1000 miles. While this may seem like alot of miles to some it is usually less than two days for a truck driver. On monday I will deliver in Minnesota and then my current company only has until thursday to get me back to Omaha, Nebraska to turn in this truck. Some people have asked do I miss Buster. The answer is two sided. Yes, I miss him. I also find it nice to have a break from taking care of him. Those of you that are parents should understand this. I find times like this I notice his absence the most. He would usually be bugging me to take him out so he could take me for a walk. I have been asked what the deal is with the changes I am making. Here is the short answer. Most of the trucking companies in recent years have started prohibiting drivers from taking pets in their company trucks. This includes the one I currently work for. I have been trying to find Buster a good home for a while now and have had no luck. While looking into alternatives I came across a way I could lease my own truck for a year. This eliminates the issue of having the company truck rules imposed on me. This also gives me another year to find Buster a good home. Why am I looking for Buster a good home. Those of you that are non smokers should understand how it is sitting in a vehicle with a heavy smoker all day every day. The other issue is that the trucking environment does not lend itself to having an active lifestyle. Not only are there many customers that do not allow pets out of the truck on their property but 11 hours of driving and 8 hours of sleep leaves only 5 hours in a 24 hour day. These five hours are usually taken up with fueling, servicing, paperwork and eating. Buster is a high energy dog that enjoys exploring the outdoors. We do not find much time to do this. Although he seems content with this lifestyle I do not believe it is the best for him. Well that's it for now...Time for all you english majors to correct my grammar and punctuation.....Jimbo

The new truck

2010-10-24T18:32:00.000-04:00

Changes

2010-10-24T18:15:00.000-04:00

Well I am about to make some changes in my life and here on the blog. As far as the blog goes I have added my location on the top left. It should update every 30 seconds or so. As far as my life goes....well after 12 years I have finally decided to get my own semi. I am having to change companies I work for so I will no longer be with the Acklie Companies. I think this will be a very good change for me and I am excited about it. kinda nervous too. I also plan on blogging more with this new experience so keep an eye out....all for now Jimbo

Where have I been?

2010-07-14T21:44:00.000-04:00

Well to put it bluntly, everywhere. The reason I haven't been on here to write for a while is because business picked up and I have been running all over the place. There mare a couple blogs I follow and I have noticed they are more prolific and entertaining writers than I could ever hope to be. I just started this blog so that when I had some to express I would have an outlet to express it. I am not even sure that anyone is coming around here anymore. Well I have several subjects to rant about but they will come later. If you are actually reading this stay tuned....Jimbo

An interesting day

2010-03-23T23:54:00.000-04:00

So around 8:30am CDT today I was told to head for South Bend, Indiana to pick up a load with a load appointment of 12:30pm CDT.....I get almost there and get a message that the appointment has been changed to 2:30pm CDT....Then I got a call from someone I have been wanting to talk to for a long time.....The call went well and I hope to have many other talks with this interesting, intelligent, beautiful lady in the future.....So I go to the address to pick up the load to find out that I need to be at the main plant on the other side of town....I zig-zag my way through the city (not very easy in a semi when most of the roads are posted no trucks) and arrive at the correct location at 2:38pm CDT....so much for showing up early....now for the kicker...the product has not been released for loading yet....they are hoping to have it released by 5:45pm CDT....It finally got released at 5:00pm CDT, but being the third truck waiting on the product, I ended up waiting till 6:30pm CDT because they take lunch at 5:45pm CDT....8:00pm CDT finally loaded, secured, tarped and ready to go.....Of course since my log book started at 9 and I cannot drive after 14 hours on duty, I had 3 hours that I could drive.....and this load is supposed to be over 600 miles away tomorrow morning.....At least I got to talk to Nicole today.....see you later...Jimbo

Looking out my office window

2010-03-22T21:00:00.000-04:00

This is a picture from a few weeks ago using my old phone and its 2meg camera..... the previous post has a picture from my new phone and its 5 meg camera.....I will try and take pictures and post them as I travel around the U.S.....I think the 5 meg camera on my new phone is up to the task.....we will see....see you later....Jimbo

Dexter, Michigan

2010-03-22T20:33:00.000-04:00

Well tonight is another night spent in Dexter, Mi. After unloading today in McComb, Mi, they were unable to find a load for me to leave this area....So here I sit and wait...Isn't the life of a truck driver exciting?...so back to the blog...I will try and write each night before hitting the bed....some days it might be thoughts, some might be experiences......Since there is a few out there that wish to keep up with my location I will try and start each blog with my current location...I will also try and tag the blogs either trucking life or thoughts, etc.....enough for now...see you later....Jimbo

2010-03-21T20:58:00.000-04:00

Well tonight I am spending the night in Dexter, Michigan...I have to deliver tomorrow northwest of Detroit. then who knows....Jimbo

The Beginning

2010-03-21T20:39:00.000-04:00

I guess you could call this the beginning. The beginning of what you may ask. Well not the beginning of my ramblings for sure, just the beginning of my sharing them with you. I am not going to do this by a schedule or any other kind of composed format. As the owner of this blog I have that choice . I am just going to write when I have the time and inclination, that is why I have chosen to call it rambling. Tonight for example I set this up and wrote a few words, but this is it. See you again next time....Jimbo