After being offline for a few months, I have finally been able to replace our dead forum board, with a brand new state of the art forum system called the Invision Power Board.

We HAD been using IkonBoard 3.1.1, which suffered massive unfixable security issues, and upon trying to update many different ways to the latest version of 3.1.5, it promptly committed suicide. Hundreds of spams a day were being injected, and the Ikonforum team in the years since I had originally installed the software no longer existed or cared for full path upgrades. This was very disconcerting, and painful to loose so many useful posts.

I was able to save the data in a database, but attempts to salvage them coherently into the new software haven’t been fully successfull…yet.

But… the NEW board is COMPLETELY operational. I’ve already got two new moderators, and more to come.

Jump on over to the SRCC (SurvivalRing Community Center) and register a username and start posting away.

The more the merrier…

Rich
Founder - SurvivalRing

One of the big problems we’ve seen in the US, and just as much around the world, is how to obtain needed items (food, water, shelter, etc) in disaster areas. The best thing to have on hand in times of extreme distress is enough cash to get the basic survival needs covered…as frugally as possible. This can always be mitigated to a NON need if you are prepared with a 72 hour kit, bug out bag, or a safe place that is already stocked with those same basics of survival.

Here is a excellent article posted on The Simple Dollar blog a couple of weeks ago. Give it a read, and see what you can apply to your life to make the future, however safe, or not, at least a little easier.

Rich

First, thanks to everyone for your support and kudoes. It’s very humbling to a) win this national scholarship opportunity, and b) know that what I’ve already spent years doing on my own with SurvivalRing.org, was part of the key to enabling me to get this far, and set my goals as high as I have (I mean, a bachelors degree in emergency management and a masters in homeland security ? There’s no money in that!! )

It’s all about helping the community, and getting _some_ recognition for hard work is the most I can expect. I’m ok with that…a lot deeper meaning for me comes from knowing I’m doing all I can to help my fellow man.

Now, for those parents with “college bound” kids…I *is* one, too.

My wife, son, and daughter are ALSO going to college here at Central Wyoming College full time. Laurie has finished two associate degrees and started her bachelors degree here thru the University of Wyoming distance program.

My wife Annie will finish her Social Science Degree in May, when I finish my web degree. My daughter Laurie finished both her technical theater and english degrees in December (thanks to scholarships from the college in the theater department), and my son Ken won a full music scholarship from CWC for this year, based on his passion and work on his music, which he started on his own YEARS ago ( www.kennyfleetwood.com to listen) when we were HOME SCHOOLING.

In 2 1/2 months, I will get to walk across the stage to get my next A.A.S degree, steps behind my wife AND daughter…three of us together. How cool is that?

The key for us earning these degrees has been EXTREME hard work, extreme frugal living (4 college students in one two bedroom apartment on campus), doing without (no car or mortgage payments, no extra entertainment fun, no vacations, no road trips, no new toys [except where needed for school],) and no wasted time.

We each chose degree paths that we EACH were passionate about, which made the learning process much more interesting. And fortunately for us, we each have skills that for the most part complement each other, which helps one another when we hit a roadblock or snag.

For scholarships, the key is USING that passion for that topic, INVESTING time in extracurricular activities (at school, or in the local community) that mesh or connect in some way with our majors, and PURSUING all scholarship options that come our way, that we in ANY way might have a chance to obtain.

This New Century Scholar award is just one of thousands out there, but if I had not had good grades (3.93 gpa) AND not excelled in classes by being helpful, considerate and thought provoking (even class clownish sometimes), then I would not have been nominated by two faculty members at my college to be inducted into Phi Theta Kappa (must have 3.5, and must have 2 faculty nominations).

Without PTK, I would not have had access to the New Century Scholar award, and millions of dollars of other scholarships offered ONLY to PTK members.

There are a lot of scholarship websites out there. I would like to recommend the FASTWEB service…lots of useful features.

I did win two other CWC college only scholarships last year, and two this year (my third). These were mostly standard program-specific degrees (electronic media student, and non-traditional student) but every penny helped.

Your son or daughter has many funding options for college these days. Paying their own way truly drives home the cost of education, but makes them work that much harder to finish and obtain their goals. Getting scholarships and pell grants, trio grants, student loans, or even multiple part time jobs surely helps, as I can attest to ALL of these.

These three years I have had an average of three part time regular jobs a semester, and multiple one time jobs (video projects, web site design, debugging infected computers, etc) to cover gas and groceries, and we’ve even had funds SOMEHOW available to get hundreds of $$$ in dental repairs done, $1500 to fix the engine last year in our Lincoln Towncar when it blew head gaskets, upgrade computers with new or faster components, replace my wife’s wheelchair, and other tough things…most thru faith and perseverance.

You can apply to all the scholarships in the world, fill out millions of online forms and essays, and visit every college site on the web, but unless you TRULY invest every fiber of your being into a college education through time, sleepless nights doing homework, REAL time in extracurricular college events and activities (BE PART of the college social life…some student organizations, helping in the tutor lab or tv or radio station, ushering at games or plays, etc) and just getting out to meet fellow students EVERY week….well, you might get a degree, but not a fully rounded education.

If you’re going to do it…do it all. You’ll be more successfull than you could ever imagine if you do your best to at least TRY.

In my case, my entire life experience, many years of work developing a website of global importance, my involvement with the community at the school level ( student senator, tutor, most available geek), city (video PSA projects with High School and Police Department), county ( CERT Volunteer and coordinator), and state ( working with Wyoming First Lady Nancy Freudenthal’s WFLI initiative against teen drinking and substance abuse), ALL played a part in my winning this latest scholarship of national importance.

I set my goals high, learned from failures, kept on trying, and never gave up.

Biggest part of all this?

I started college again, along with my entire family, with ZERO savings.

Having moved to Wyoming in 2000, we found ourselves homeless and living in a motel for a few long weeks in 2001, and started over again completely from scratch.

To have gone this far, from that point, to the place we find ourselves now, is utterly mindblowing.

We picked the college closest to us, filled out every page of every financial aid document we could get, talked to everyone we could on campus in registration and financial aid, administration and faculty, and found the best fit we could for our degree programs.

My selling point for this college, Central Wyoming College, was that they had the ONLY web design degree I’d seen to that point, which was MY first goal. What was more helpful, is that they had the best value (tuition, housing, local cost of living rates) I’ve seen YET at a community college.

Students from around the world (Japan, Germany, Ukraine, and many others) have come here for some standard associate degrees because of the low cost here. CWC also has one of THE leading college equine and rodeo programs in the nation, with several national champions starting here.

Parents…help your kids find and develop their passions in their early years. Help them focus in their high school years. Work hard to give them the basic tools for creativity, whether its a GOOD computer, a quality music instrument, a bookshelf of books, or your TIME to show how a good parent/adult/leader SHOULD act, and be like.

Young adults…START EARLY. Do it all…try new things…accept new challenges…HELP YOUR COMMUNITY. Finish what you start. Accept failure as a path to learning how to do things better. Change the world around you. Learn how to lead…and how and when to follow.

Most importantly….NEVER GIVE UP.

Anything is possible. I guarantee it.

Rich

Thank you for your informative website.
Would it be prudent, if money is really tight, to lay plywood in the attic crawlspace of my apartment and then line it with bags of dirt, as a makeshift shelter? Then I could remain in my apartment without having to move alot of furniture around or haul in dirt, and live there until the threat passes?

Selina

Hi Selina,

You could give it a shot, but I’d be wary of overloading it and causing it to collapse. I’d focus on a small area, such as over the bathroom, and cover the space above it. Hopefully, the bathroom is centrally located in the apartment, and not on an outside wall.

The key is having as much mass between you and the outer walls of whereever you shelter. Each wall between you and the outside of the apartment, adds a little bit more mass to slow down Gamma rays…the ones that will make you sick (Gamma kills white blood cells, and in return, you can easily get infections, which get serious very quickly, and result in the deaths that most talk about when nukes go off…if the blast and thermal threat doesn’t get you, the ability to fight simply infections will).

Hope this helps.

Rich

hi my name is jarrah I live in Queensland Australia. I am interested in building a bunker probably 1-2 feet under ground it will be roughly 2m ( 6 feet ) high with 3m by 2m floor space I was wondering if you could recommend some building materials for frame work, water proofing ,walls ( panels ) and insulation. I would also like to know if you have any design drawings or simple instructions for me to follow you can reply to this email at jarrahmay@XXXXXX.com thanks a heap

PS .any useful construction tips would greatly appreciated thanks.

Hi Derek,

For free plans, drawings, and more, visit this page…

http://www.survivalring.org/pdf-index.htm

For building shelter, you need mass…concrete is best and the thicker the better. Use the basic underground shelter plan here…

http://www.survivalring.org/pdf/cw_shelterh121.pdf

to get an idea of what you’re looking at. The plans are fairly complete in details, specs, and how to build.

Not sure what the weather is like where you are, but if it’s mostly dry, with an occasional downpour, you could start digging the first part of summer, and have it done, finished, and livable in a month or two. The key to water proofing is first, good drainage AWAY from the shelter…sump pumps if needed… and then using rubberized waterproofing material with a tar type of glue to seal the seams.

After you get the shelter built, covered, and accessible with a sealing doorway or access port, you can put up 1×2 furring strips with adhesive directly on the inner cement walls, put insulation between them, and then paneling over that..for a nice, cool, and comfortable livable shelter.

I’d plan on at LEAST 10 square feet per occupant, and double that for REAL comfort. Have external and internal power source…batteries, solar panel, etc…external antenna wired into the shelter for communications, radio, news….and at least two weeks of food and water..preferabley as much food and water as you can afford.

Hope this gets you started…

Rich

How to reset your Windows XP Administration Password, when you forget it…

A fellow student here at Central Wyoming College came to my dorm last night with a major issue.

He had JUST received his brand new Dell 9300 laptop computer earlier in the day, and in just a few short hours, had set a password to log into the computer from bootup, and promptly forgotten it.

We tried all variations of his chosen password, to no avail. So, booted up my new Dell 6000, did a few searches, and found some hints on sites such as Experts Exchange.

Tried a few of them, including booting from a WinXP CD, and nuttin’…

Dug a little deeper on the web, and found the answer.

From a cold boot, go into SAFE MODE in WinXP. Do this normally by hitting F8 a few times during the first part of the boot process. Scroll up the selection bar until you have SAFE MODE highlighted on the choice menu, and hit ENTER.

After booting into Windows safe mode, hit START, SETTINGS, CONTROL PANEL, and USER ACCOUNTS. Select an account to CHANGE. A menu comes up that will give you the choice to CHANGE PASSWORD on that account. (By the way, you’ll have ADMIN rights while logged in this way.)

You can also choose to REMOVE PASSWORD from an account while in this section. Now, simply reboot.

Viola!

You have your computer back where you can USE IT again.

While you’re recovering from this near heart attack, take the time to DO A BACKUP, scan for VIRUSES, check for SPYWARE, and send your wife an email telling you how much you love her….

DO IT!

Rich