Well, we've all been waiting for this at work. They finally cut all non-essential, non-management employees at work. Since we move things, and not people, our airline has outlasted most, but the end is in sight now. It can't be too long before I am on the chopping block myself. I've signed up to go back to college to begin working on a Pharmacy degree. My wife is a highschool math teacher, so I think she will be able to weather this storm for some time. My computer engineering degree is just not going to cut it though, which is why I'm going back for something related to healthcare.
The police here in Shepherdsville has begun blocking access to gas stations for anyone not living in the city, as they discussed two weeks ago. They have also decided to block access to grocery stores, after seeing the panic in other cities caused by rationing. We'll see how long it takes for a major clash to occur.
I've not seen any of the relocation camps around Louisville, but I did see an entire block on low income housing that had been burnt down. I may try to get some video of the area now on my way to pick up fallingintosin's drop.

Current Location: Shepherdsville

This is my first online post, but as I have time, I will try to go back and fill in from the beginning.

PREPARATIONS:
Gas is now $7, which equals about $860 a month, for what used to cost $340 a month. While it has been difficult, I have managed to continue making double mortgage payments each month. If I can continue this until June of next year, we will be completely debt free! I think that fact might turn out to be a real life saver.

In order to continue doing this, we have had to make severe cutbacks, including canceling cable tv and hooking up our old antennae to get local channels. We used to eat out twice a week, and attend a church across town. Now, we never eat out, and we attend a church closer to home, but still keep in touch with friends from our old church via the Internet.

When I went to the gas station this week, and realized that they would no longer take my credit card, I began to really realize how bad this is, and how much worse it is going to become. Luckily, I had already sold my stocks when the crisis began, and used it to buy silver, which will hold its value through the inflation that is going to rip through the system very soon. With this credit crisis though, I am now forced to hold some of my wealth in paper money, just to buy gas. It also means that I must suffer the raised prices immediately rather than having time to plan for when the credit card bill becomes due.

Also, with the realization came a feeling that I needed to go ahead and make all the preparations that I had been meaning to take. Its now or never time. I am going to purchase:
-a new wood burning fireplace that is highly efficient to replace my old decorative fireplace
-two barrels of water along with chemicals to make it last
-a new m1 garand made by springfield, along with ammo and clips both for the rifle as well as the pistol and shotgun that I already own
-Wheat and salt

I would really like to get a pv array large enough to power my freezer, which holds a years worth of meat, but that it very expensive, I will have to hold off until the house it paid for. In the meantime, I am going to purchase salt and learn how to store meat by salting it.

Also, I have contacted the local farmers, from whom I have been buying meat from for several years and asked about a contract to secure a source of meat for me. For vegetables, I have already started my first garden, and I will post pics soon. Since wheat is not often grown around here, I plan to purchase a years worth as well as a mill that can function both with electricity and by hand.

LIFE IN SHEPHERDSVILLE (just S of Louisville):
I attend a recent city meeting, the first that I have ever been to. Most of the people in Shepherdsville are roughnecks that have no appreciation for college studies, the government, or anyone who tries to tell them how to live. Most believe that the mideast is antagonizing us, and they want the US government to respond with a war! I'm afraid that they may get their way. As a local response to the limited gasoline

Current Mood: determined

With these blackouts on both coasts, I am getting worried about my retirement accounts. I have known that peak oil was going to come at some point, but I've been trying my best to keep believing that this wasn't the real deal yet, that this was just some birthing pains before the real misery started. I am beginning to change my mind. Still, if I cash in these retirement accounts for physical silver, I will loose a lot of money in penalties. I have been lucky so far, in that I got most of my money out of the market soon after gas hit $4, so most of it is still in tact. I will hold my money in these accounts for two more weeks, then make a decision.

Life has actually continued to be fairly normal for my wife and I. We have cut back on our spending and driving of course, but we both continue to make it to work everyday, and though we have seen several gas stations go dry, we have two spare cars that we use as storage tanks. I do worry about people stealing the gas, but the crime rate in my county is among the lowest in Kentucky; I believe this is because we also have the highest gun to people ratio.

Despite life being fairly unchanged for us, we are not unaware of what is happening. My wife sees out of gas cars on the expressway everyday now, the nightly news shows that the poor part of town now has nightly shootings over gas, many of my wife's students are from the poor part of town and they longer come to school, and we've seen more bikes than ever.

I know that our lives will not be able to continue unchanged forever, and I know that I need to begin to change, but I'm not sure what I need to do, because I don't know exactly how this will play out. Will I lose my job at UPS airlines? Will my wife lose her job as a teacher? Will the government try to draft my into a war with Canada or the Mideast?

Current Location: Shepherdsville
Current Mood: confused