Monthly Archives: December 2013

As a warning I have a terrible track record at this, I should stick to predicting economics and government action where I have a far better track record.  Who knows though, may be this year I will pull it off.   In any event based on my tack record in picking football games, if you are a betting man, I would not use my predictions if you value your money!  You have been warned.

Oh if you don’t like football or think it is pointless or whatever, no bitching about this post, just ignore it.  LOL

Okay first round next week

• Chargers vs. Bengals – I say the chargers are tiger fodder they almost got their butts handed to them by a bunch of second and third tier players from Kansas City.  Bengals win solid.  As a Steelers fan this is hard for me to say but the Bengals are playing some of the best football they ever have, takes me back to the days of Boomer Esiason when they made the playoffs frequently in the 80s and even took two trips to the big game, only to run into the juggernaut of the 49ers 80s football dynasty.  While I am picking them here, I say next round they run into the Broncos and will spend the rest of their season watching the playoffs on TV.

• Chiefs vs. Colts – The Chiefs are playing great football and in most divisions would be division champs at 11-5.  They are a wild card only due to the amazing season Manning and the Broncos are having.  They just smacked around a really good Chargers team with second and third tier players in a game that didn’t mean anything.  Unless Andy Reid does something stupid (and sadly it happens a lot, just ask an Eagles fan) the Chiefs should win this one solid, the Colts have been winning in spite of themselves, that generally doesn’t carry over into the playoffs well.

• Saints vs. Eagles – I will be jaded a bit in this one because many don’t know this but I am also an Eagles fan, Steelers first and Eagles second.  My son is a huge Eagles fan as well.  But I am picking the Birds over the Saints here.  The Eagles are really finding their offensive grove and a great offense is getting even better.  Dallas had some success against them last night but what you saw was the Dallas Defense ready to physically collapse by the end of the game.  New Orleans has a great offense and is pretty good on defense with the 13th highest ranked defense in the league.  But the hard charging Eagles offense has just been wearing defenses down.  Playoff games generally go down to the 4th quarter and are a battle of endurance.  I see the Eagles and Saints as a very even battle but think in the end, endurance will give the Eagles the edge.

• Packers vs. 49’ers – My weakness here is the opposite of the Eagles game, the fact is this is the game I care the least about in regard to individual teams.  I haven’t cared what the niners have done since Montana became a Chief.  As for the Bears, well I just don’t really pay attention to them at all.  Thing is both teams played really hard and tough games this week and were impressive.  The Bears and Packers game must have been one hell of a game if you are a fan of either team.   Hell I enjoyed it and I don’t even care about either team.   I am going with the 49’ers though, I think they have an offense that will pick apart the Packers D, which was exceptional yesterday.

Last year I think I got one right in the first round, we will see how it works out this year.  Now back to vacation.

I am off, done, finished, NOT DOING MUCH OF ANYTHING for the next week and a half.  TSP is officially shut down until Wednesday, January 1st, 2014.

What does this mean?

It means I am not working,  I not spending time doing much of anything at all related to business or work.  It means if you email me a long question, a proposal or much of anything at all during this shutdown you are likely wasting your time.  A week long shut down will create a huge back log of such things so MOST of it will just be deleted.  If you want to communicate with me on a meaningful level for anything other than an emergency, it will keep until January.

What it does not mean?

It doesn’t mean that actual customer service will be ignored.  Once a day when I am deleting a ton of email from people that think I don’t actually mean I am shut down I will also scan for any actual customer service.  Like I can’t log in to the MSB or something like that.  Or I need to cancel my renewal or I need the Safecastle Discount code or the Service Discount.

That type of thing can be done in a few minutes a day.  So I will provide that type of service during the shut down.  Everything else, well it will mostly be like it never happened.

We all need time off and this year I really need it.  I now belong to my wife, the rest of my family and my close personal friends.  I will see you in 2014 and wish you the very best Christmas and New Years possible.

Just a heads up that the dec3013 Christmas sale expires tonight.  That means midnight central standard time, it DOES NOT mean you can email me in the morning and still get the discount.  It DOES NOT mean that if you explain how your nephew’s dog ate your MSB print out or that you really wanted it but forgot or what ever that I will give you the discount tomorrow.

Every time I run a sale I get people from a day to a week later that want the discount and want me to make an exception.   In spite of the fact that I can be an asshole the truth is I am actually a very nice guy, as those who have met me will tell you.  So the nice guy in me always wants to say yes, something prevents it though, that is integrity.

You see I watch all the slick internet marketing going on in the prepper world today and mostly it sickens me.  Bundles of this, the world is ending that, horde this before the zombies come.  Stupid shit like “Google banned this video, see why”, when Google never banned a damn thing!  “Only 5 days left to get this special information before it is gone forever”.  10 days later the same pile of crap is hitting your inbox.  Or how about a promise that something that cost 2 grand will let you live off the gird when the damn product can only run a simple refrigerator for about 40 minutes on its best day?

This is the world that have sprung up around prepping as the niche has become “hot” as turd ball after turd ball tosses a lure into the water to make a quick buck while the school is biting.  These people get no respect from me, I consider them sleaze because they break their word, flat our lie and never mean what they say.  All they want is to make a buck and move on, selling how to beat the blackjack table yesterday, how to prep for the zombies today and tomorrow likely how to speak Chinese in only 2 weeks, none of which will work by the way.

Well, I didn’t get into this when it was “hot”, I started this journey in 2008 when there were no prepper shows on TV, no podcasts on prepping, etc.  I did it because I love teaching, I know what we have lost in America and I wanted to help people.  It grew into a business but a unique one, one run by a man you might often disagree with but always know you can trust.  A man who will never lie to you and never break his word.  Not to mention one that tells sleaze like those mentioned above to shove their heads up their asses weekly when they try to leverage my business to sell to you.

So when I say, I am running  a sale from X to Y, I mean it.  It isn’t a gimmick or a game or a trick.  It is simply a sale, a sale that provides a great value to a product that already has a great value.  If I then give people the sale price after the announced term, what does that say about my integrity and my word?  What it might look like is I am a nice guy.  What it would really mean is what I said meant nothing, it was just a ploy to get you to buy and that I would sell to anyone at the sale price if they simply asked.  That ain’t me folks.  My word is my bond, simple and frankly in my view the real “American way”.

I have taken a lot of flack for this over the years.  Not for the commitment to sales deadlines, people generally grasp and respect that.  But from people in the industry that seem okay, I work with them and next thing you know they are dragging assclowns from National Geographic into the mix or people like the scum bag that sell the “37 Things You Should Horde” pile of crap.  I then refuse to work with them and they get all out of sorts and angry.  As though I am OBLIGATED to work with them some how.  I just don’t get it.

I’ll put it this way, some day the big wave of hype behind prepping will subside and those riding it will be left high and dry and we will still be here.  We will still be changing lives one person, one family, one community at a time.  And I promise you to never lie to you and when I get something wrong by mistake to admit it and tell you.  I will not hide my mistakes, take down episodes or segments of episodes where I screwed up, I will be a man of honor and speak the truth as I know it, always.  Again, always, not sometimes, not when it is convenient, not when it is profitable, simply always.

So I guess this simple, hey remember the sale ends today post turned into a rant but this has been weighing on me.  I have recently been approached to promote an “online conference” of preppers, and I know it is NOTHING BUT A WAY FOR TWO GUYS TO BUILD A LIST FAST OFF THE BACKS OF OTHERS.   Two good people I deeply care about are being sucked in, and I wish them the best.  I really do.  But Monday I am going to tell you about this thing.

I am going to tell you hell it might be worth attending, then I will tell you how to set up a temporary email to register for it and how to dispose of it after it is over so you are not sold to over and over with spam bullshit junk, which friends and neighbors is ALWAYS the plan when someone just shows up like magic to leverage the work of others.  ALWAYS.

Anyway, with that if you want to get the MSB at the special price, you can do that here

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/msb-christmas-sale-2013

Given that it is a Sunday if you pay by mail I will accept anything post marked tomorrow.  Thanks to all who have made TSP what it is, again I promise above all to always look after this community and to always keep my word to you.