Entry 2 - Baseline

Anytime in life a person wants to analyze change, a baseline must be established. It is the only way to accurately determine whether conditions have improved or declined. For me, trying to get a baseline of my life is key to improving it. In order to do this, I'll have to divide my life into categories and probably subcategories. Here's an initial list of all the areas I want improvement in (not in any order):

Finances
Health
Security
Preparedness
Basic Skill Sets
Being a dad
Being a husband
Self-reliance
Home-life

Ummm.... on second thought, maybe I need to just focus on these. I realized I could keep making this list longer and longer, but I feel these are some good areas to start with.

One thing that has been on my mind today is security. After watching an episode of The Colony, I started to think about how secure my home is. I noticed quite a few holes in my plan. Since I rent, I am somewhat limited by what I can do to secure my home. I think the area I'm lacking in most is awareness. I need to find a way to know when someone approaches my house, and to alert me if there's a break in. I'd like to be able to rely on my dog, but she's just as good at sleeping as I am. Even though my place is lacking in some areas, I feel my home security is above average for my area.

I have a ranch style house made out of brick with a basement. This basically limits entry to a few areas; windows, front door, back door, and garage. I'm not too worried about the windows because they are the old crank style. Although they are single pane, the frame design would limit entry to someone built like an Ethiopian. I would like to install alarms on the glass, as well as ballistic film. The front door is also a poor point of entry for intruders because it is completely solid and has no glass. The only thing I'm concerned of with this area is the huge glass window next to the door. The back door is a major concern to me. This seems to be the weakest entry point. I need to think of some way to fortify this area... maybe a force field. As for the garage, well, I'd probably feel sorry for them. It's a mess. I can barely get through it sometimes so there's no worries of them surprising me from that angle. Just to err on the side of caution though, I've installed a wireless camera that watches the driveway. There are details I am with-holding for obvious reasons, but I think I've made my point.

Understand that I'm not paranoid. I know the black helicopters aren't out to get me. I'm not naive either. Cincinnati has had riots in the past, and I've had things stolen from vehicles quite a few times. There are bad people in the world that mean others harm. I want to be ready for them. Invading my house is a great way to die from "lead poisoning"...