Lets do a little preachin

Something keeps getting brought up in comments.

WARNING! I am holding nothing back, if you are easily offended by truth, go away now.

Warranties.

I have really only one question to ask when this gets brought up: well, Okay, maybe a couple but they all point in the same direction.
1) Look around you, at the markets, especially the Muni's and Derivatives market. Do you see ANY company being stable 20 years down the road? Yes or no answers only please.
2) IF there are any companies that are still stable (or even in existence) 20 years from now, do you see anyway that they will be able to honor a warranty without shafting you for 'upgrades'? Again, yes or no only.
3) IF they are able to warranty said item/object/service, is it really worth it?

The reasons I ask this should be painfully simple to see. If they aren't, well, you have more of an education coming your way than I can prepare you for.

I don't look for warranties on anything that I have purchased for my house since I am the one building it, the one that will maintain it, and the one that will be there at 3am when the tree comes crashing through the roof. Not some company that may or may not be available at any given timeline over the next 20 years. I may have insurance on said house, but it will only go so far to 'ease' issues AND, I must stress this part, I have little confidence that when/if I need to collect on said insurance that it will be worth squat due to the above #1 question. Now, thats not to say that I don't expect warranties on certain items. I have one on my Iphone and even went so far as to get the extended warranty on it. (2 years) Will I need it? Prolly not. Why didn't I get a longer warranty? Simply put, I don't expect to need a phone in 2 years: you can take that however you want to. If it all falls apart, phone is toast. If it doesn't and my plans start to come to fruition, phone is toast. Either way, no phone. (and Dio breathes a sigh of relief.)

I was one of the first ones to jump on Cellular service when it really kicked off in the early 90's. I loved being able to be reached, at any time, at any place. Guess you might say that I have had an evolution in mentality since then. Now, if I can get away with leaving my phone on a charger at home, I usually do. I really hate being bothered most times. It has become quite frustrating to be disturbed when I am in deep thought or right in the middle of a critical cut on the lathe. (and I won't even have it near me if I am casting. Really bad mojo in that case.) Take a bubble for instance: its rather fragile, easily popped. When I am 'inspired', I am that bubble. My entire existence at that point is within that bubble of creativity. One ring of a phone and the whole thing goes 'pop!' and my level of frustration goes up a notch or two. Those of you that work with your hands (and your minds) probably have a good idea of what I am talking about.
Now, when/if my plans come to fruition, I will only be able to be reached by people coming to me. I fully intend on being the 'goto guy' at that point. Yes, people will be able to pop my bubble, yet, it won't be nearly as easy as punching a couple of buttons on a phone and being out of retaliation range. It will also be easier to 'close and bar the door' when I really need to be left alone on some task. I also intend to train the dogs to "keep em away" when I give that command.

Sorry, I digress.

Back to the warranty issue. Looking back at comments too. There was the point made of freezing food. Talk about a complete waste of precious battery life. There are other ways of keeping food. Yes, there may be need to freeze somethings, yes a full freezer is easier to keep cold than a partially full one. Either way though, the total KW needed to do so will eat up massive amounts of sunlight that I will better be able to use elsewhere. Especially since I plan on canning most of my Veggies, some meats, and smoking what I don't can. Yes, it takes energy to can foods; the difference being, I can choose what I want to use at the time. Fire on the stove or fire in a pit/BBQ The cans don't care if they are in a 12qt pan on the stove or a 5 gal washtub on a firepit. Really, they could care less. The food within them doesn't give a hoot either. It reallly boils down to whims and weather. Nothing else. Keeping them is even easier. There is a root-cellar going in under the house that will keep canned foods quite nicely. It will also serve as a storm cellar in those times as needed. Properly built, it will also store my onions and potatoes for the next years planting and on as needed basis for cooking. (among other plantstuffs)

Heres the gist of the whole mess. Being self sufficient is work. There is no way around that. You will work to get that way, you will work to stay that way, you will teach your offspring the same (read: work) and if you have done your job correctly, they will be taking care of you while you teach their offspring. And even then, it will be work. Are you seeing the bigger picture here? If not, its called WORK.

BUT!!!!!!!!! There is a benefit to it all. Really, there is. ( I am not trying to sound condescending here even if I am coming off that way. If you are taking offense, best look at the opening warning again.)

The Benefit. and its a doozie. IF you are able to do all of this: get yourself weaned off the monkeys, get self sufficient, get off the grid, become a staple of your local community (IE a commodity that no one can do without) You will be completely FREE. There is a catch to it though. In todays world, there are far too many monkey rules to evade, too many monkeys themselves that "won't understand", Too many monkeys that will "see something-say something" etc, etc. If you want this; Really, Truly, WANT this, you are going to have to make sacrifices in your current lifestyle, above and beyond the aforementioned. Well above and beyond.

Remember this though. You are your world, not the clothes on your back, the car you drive or the house you live in. YOU. Your family is even just a part of what you call your world albeit a very important part. But YOU and only YOU are responsible for YOU when the day closes and its time to talk to your maker about your day. It may seem rather solipsist in philosophy, yet try to argue it away and see how far you get.

And that's really where the problems lie isn't it? 99.999997% of this world has little responsibility to themselves. Yeah, they get up, get showered, fed, dressed, and go to the work thingy or whatever. But how many would be able to actually accomplish something that didn't require a major infrastructure to support them? I know that there are many out there that don't fall into that trap, I know many that think they don't but are in for a rude awakening. (and I freely admit, I may fit in that last category: Please don't think that I am picking on anyone. )

Facts are, we have a major exam coming up soon. How much have you crammed for it? Are you ready? I am trying to get as much cram time in as I can and I KNOW that the clock is ticking. The buzzer may go off long before I, hell, most of us, are truly ready. But if we aren't at least trying to get a passing grade, the remaining options are pretty grim.