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Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Self-Initiative Project Podcast.

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I’m your host, Jim O’Brien.

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Hey, hey, and welcome back to another episode. Today, I have my special guest

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and actually my neighbor, Maxon, joins us and we want to talk about neighborhood

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safety with neighbors. How are you, Max?

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Doing well, doing well. How are you doing, man? I’m good, man.

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Chilling on the weekend.

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It’s good. It’s a beautiful day out for sure. And the fall weather’s here.

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It’s a gorgeous day in Georgia.

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Totally. Love it here. For sure. I appreciate you hopping on and doing this.

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I know we’ve had some driveway conversations, as I think a lot of neighbors do around and about.

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And, you know, I think it’s safe to say that you and I have this topic of personal

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safety and preparedness and personal responsibility relative to those topics

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in common with each other, just based on the few conversations that we’ve had.

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And I decided to ask Max if he’d like to do this with us.

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So appreciate you taking time

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out of your weekend and away from the fam to talk to us for a little bit.

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Yeah, right on, man. Definitely to that same point.

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You never know until you know when you talk to people about things you might

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have similar interests or things you might want to broach that you never thought

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you would talk to. to your neighbor about that are right in line with how you’re thinking.

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So, community is an important thing. We say it a lot, but actively living it is a whole other thing.

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I think it’s important to always keep that in mind as you think about even topics

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about where you’re living.

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Because you’re never that isolated, as much as sometimes people think they are.

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You know, and before we get started touching on it, you said the word community, I think, you know.

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I think it’s important to try to get back some of that feeling of community.

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And that’s why I enjoy our driveway conversations when we do have them.

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But, you know, I was thinking about that yesterday is, you know,

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since I was a kid, which, you know, I won’t date myself here,

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but once I was a kid, it seems like nowadays community is eroded.

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And I know, you know, the positive is that it seems like in times of crisis

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or whatever, it seems like people are still willing to step up and come together to help one another.

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But just in general, when you’re thinking about being in the hood.

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You know, it seems like, at least comparatively speaking, community is eroded today some.

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And I think it’s important that, you know, you have those driveway conversations

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and whatever else to kind of bring back that vibe again.

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No, no. Amen. And, and, you know, as you even use the terminology,

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you know, in the hood, whether it’s a hood hood or even your good old neighborhood,

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it’s eroded everywhere.

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And that’s the scary part. That’s this new kind of backdrop in America where

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people don’t talk to each other. I actively challenge it.

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You know, my history, a little bit about me, you know, I grew up in New York

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city, born and raised in Queens. And as a teenager, I was in South Florida,

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Fort Lauderdale, which is a whole different vibe, other big city areas.

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And I remember just being in a hurricane. I think it was Hurricane Wilma back

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around the early 2000s in Fort Lauderdale.

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And man, we were out of power for nine days.

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And you saw some of the ugly sides of community. I’m talking about fist fights

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and guns getting pulled out of gas stations. people having to tone it down.

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You know, just people acting like it’s a Mad Max Fury Road situation.

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But on the other side, in the actual community where my parents were,

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people did come together and people, you know, the food was going to go back

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in the fridge. So go bad in the fridge, excuse me.

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So go ahead and then let’s grill it up. And then let’s, you know,

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feed everybody and do something with this food.

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And remember that we’re living next to each other. And I think it’s really important

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because the only way you’re going to protect yourself wholly,

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because no man, woman is an island, you know, even in this, you know,

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society where people become so non-realistically social, it’s all virtual now.

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It is important to know your surroundings and have situational awareness, especially at home.

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Absolutely. And I think you said it best, which is a great segue to get us started.

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You said it best, you know, no man or woman is an island. And I think that’s

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the importance of community or trying to bring back community.

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And it’s why we’re here today talking about neighborhood safety with your neighbors.

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So again, happy to have you. So before we do a deep dive, I know you said you

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were born and raised in Queens and then spent some time in Fort Lauderdale, but tell us about you,

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you know, kind of your background in general, where you’re from and,

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you know, most importantly,

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what or why or when is it that you decided that your personal safety was worth

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investing some time and energy into it? Yeah.

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Wow, great question. So yeah, I mean, you know, so much.

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I mean, just even to get to the crux of it, the personal safety one,

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that’s the one that hits me in the head.

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You know, my experience in life has been on all sides of it.

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That’s to say I’ve lived portions in my life in some of the toughest neighborhoods,

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you know, you’d want to live in.

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Not even sometimes haven’t been from there, but just life moving me in situations

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where I was there, where, you know, personal safety was tantamount to getting home safe.

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But, hey, you might be in a state where you can’t really personally conceal

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anything and protect yourself other than having a screwdriver in your pocket

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or in your bag or carrying something concealed that you shouldn’t,

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which is very safe because it’s illegal.

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We don’t want to be walking around doing illegal things.

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So needless to say, personal safety, I think, took an even more heightened level

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in my life once my children came into play.

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You know, me and my wife started having children and things just,

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to put it succinctly, kids kind of take over.

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And the prism through which I view anything now is seen through a lens of,

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all right, well, these young children I have to provide for,

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along with my wife, of course.

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So the safety of my tribe, per se, the tribe of my home, you know, cave, if you will.

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What must I do to increase that safety? So everything is seen through a different lens at that point.

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How my garage door is open, whether or not I’m just willy-nilly leaving my house

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open and vulnerable to a, God forbid, although highly unlikely,

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home invasion scenario, right?

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That doesn’t happen all the time, but it does happen.

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If it can happen, that means it might happen.

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So, you know, be prepared, you know? yeah so

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i i think that that’s when it really took a heightened effect but

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you know in terms of personal safety and self-defense

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i would say i was blessed from an early age

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of you know always having family and friends whether or

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not it was through martial arts or i would even say family that were in the

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military that just gave you know a tough little you know bump on the shoulder

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to kind of show you what is and what isn’t now to teach you the right ways you

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know i’ve always been blessed with great people in my life and family to kind of, you know,

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put me in a mindset of, hey, always be aware of your personal safety and protect yourself.

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So, yeah, man, I’m sorry, I’m taking over.

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No, no, that’s great. No, I asked the question, you’re answering. It’s all good.

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We want to know. I think you bring up a couple of great points that I don’t

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know that I’ve said before, and that is…

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I try to ask everyone on the show, and I’ll probably ask you two at a point,

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but I ask everyone, what do you think it’ll take to get more people invested

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in their own personal safety? So we’ll circle back around to that one, hopefully.

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But, you know, some of the answers I’ve got besides, I don’t know,

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and that’s the $64 million question is one guest I had on some time ago.

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And the more I thought about it, the more he might have been right is I think

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it takes bad things happening, unfortunately, before light bulbs go off for folks, right?

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It’s not until you’ve been beat up in the streets or your home’s been broken

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into and you’ve had literally everything taken out of your house except the

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couch or similar that people may not, before that,

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may not take their personal safety as seriously as they might should.

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But I think you touched on a point, two points that I want to circle back on.

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One is I do think kids is a good switch flip, right?

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Like, if you haven’t thought about that before, when you start having kids,

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that’s probably a point where you’re going to give it at least a little bit

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of thought that you might have before.

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You might not have previously, you know, before.

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And then the other thing is, I think, you know, being around folks.

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Active military, former military, law enforcement, whatever,

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folks that already do take personal safety and or preparedness seriously,

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I think they can help create a mindset in individuals that if they weren’t around

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those people, they might not have or it might take them longer to develop,

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but in their own time. You know what I mean?

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Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, it’s kind of like,

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you know, for me personally, I…

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Early, you know, right when I was getting ready to graduate out of high school,

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you know, the recruiter guys came by, you know, all the different branches of

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the military trying to find people.

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And I was thinking about going that way. I actually went to a Marine Corps recruiter,

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Staff Sergeant Smith. I’ll never forget him.

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And, you know, he sat down and he sat with me at the recruitment office.

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And these guys, I mean, they’re out there to try to, you know,

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get more meat for the grind, to get more boots on the ground is what it is. Right.

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And he actually sat down with me after listening to my life story and what I

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wanted to do and hey, in college, and this is my grades and listening to everything.

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He actually took me to the side. Like, listen, man, I’m going to tell you what.

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I’m here to make Marines and I think you might make a great one.

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But you know what? At the same time, I think this might not be the place for you.

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I think you need to go to college, I think you have a great future.” It was

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funny, it kind of felt like a stomach clump, it was like, oh,

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you don’t want me on your team.

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But it was probably the best advice a guy could give me, because as I look at

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my family who do serve, and some are active, some are retired,

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and just over time and over years, and just, you know, you know yourself a little

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more at my age, I don’t date myself.

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But it kind of shows that it’s not for everybody and it’s okay that it’s not for everybody.

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That being said, the skills and the knowledge that you could learn from having

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even just a touch of military training or even paramilitary training, so to speak,

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from somebody who was in the service that just brings it back home to the farm, if you will.

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To just know how to, you know, how to step the right way, how to camp the right

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way, how to know what to eat and not to eat in the wild, how to, you know,

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know how to read nature, even just minimally to put yourself in a situation

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where you might not spend an extra day out in the wilderness because you’re,

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you’re trying to find where the water is.

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You’re trying to use cues that, that nature’s giving you, but you may not know.

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And you’re only as good as what you know, right? Yeah.

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How they used to say in G.I. Joe, no one’s half to battle. Right.

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Yeah, very true. And they said the other half is violence, though.

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But that’s a whole other story. You know, war’s war. Let me stop. Yeah, yeah.

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Now I hear you. But he was to say, yeah, you know, it’s important for people

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to, you know, not be la-dee-da about their safety, if you will.

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Yeah. That’s not to say, you know, some people, I know from my wife,

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for instance. And she’s very much, I wouldn’t say she’s not about her firearm safety and security.

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You know, she knows enough, but she’s not too gung ho about,

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you know, talking about it or she’s not a gun person. I’d say that’s fine.

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That’s her prerogative, you know, and a lot of people, they don’t know maybe

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how to feel comfortable about maybe learning about how to protect themselves. and firearm safety.

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Maybe they’ve experienced something in life that makes firearms just anathema to their being.

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And it’s such a nuanced kind of argument because at the end of the day,

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your safety is everything.

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That’s how you take care of your family. That’s how you come home at the end of the day.

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And we do live in a violent world. It’s not as violent as it’s ever been here

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in the States, but same time, whether it be social media that shows us a lot

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more of it nowadays because everyone’s got a camera.

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You know, stuff happens and you want to be safe and protect yourself by all

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means. I believe in that. So…

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It behooves people to maybe challenge their boundaries on what they would be

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willing to do and learn in the aspect of protecting themselves.

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And also, even on the other side of it, to understand that people may need to

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be slowly or smoothly brought into defending themselves with firearms or any

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type of weapon, even mace.

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You know for instance you know you get your

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wife a can of mace you think it’s gonna keep her safe hey put this

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in your purse but if you’ve never used it before or never practiced with it

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you don’t even know that it might have you know a two-step mechanism before

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you can actually spray and in the heat of a moment situation now you’re fiddling

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around you drop the can it didn’t even matter that you had the mace it didn’t

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matter so it’s really about just you know it’s about being prepared.

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And I think that starts just from having a mentality of it’s,

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it’s okay to want to protect myself.

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It’s, it’s okay to want to be able to defend me and my family from the worst situation.

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God forbid, you hope it doesn’t happen. And, and you have to start somewhere

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within yourself to see that your, your defense of your home,

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your community to bring that back to it is that’s the whole point.

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I mean, what else are we doing then here? You know, and I think,

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yeah, I mean, just to circle back, you know, I think it starts with mindset, right?

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Like, and again, going back to what I was saying, you know, having folks in

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your life that may already have a similar sort of mindset might help you,

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you know, might trigger that for you.

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So the first thing is being open to changing your mindset and viewing personal

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safety and preparedness as being something that you value and take seriously

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and that is important for you.

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And then start doing little things along the way to…

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That are safety conscious and, you know, doing more than what you may have in

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the past relative to your personal safety and preparedness.

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So you got to start with baby steps somewhere. And I think that’s important to note.

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It’s, it’s like you said, you know, some people need to ease into it,

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especially those that don’t have someone that’s had the mindset and bringing

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them along all throughout their lives.

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Right. Or have had bad things happen where they are like, all right,

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I’m not going to ever let that happen again.

00:16:00.306 –> 00:16:03.886
You know, others need a little nudge, but it starts with that mindset and it

00:16:03.886 –> 00:16:09.006
just starts with the willingness to start thinking about ahead of time what

00:16:09.006 –> 00:16:11.826
might could happen and then getting ready and prepared for it.

00:16:12.326 –> 00:16:16.526
So, you know, back to the community and neighbors, which is why we’re talking

00:16:16.526 –> 00:16:20.586
today, you know, we wanted to talk about some stuff that we think about in the

00:16:20.586 –> 00:16:23.326
neighborhood, in the hood, so to speak.

00:16:23.586 –> 00:16:27.446
And, you know, something that you and I have talked about at least a couple

00:16:27.446 –> 00:16:32.146
of times over our driveway conversations is just basic stuff, man.

00:16:32.286 –> 00:16:36.926
Like personal safety doesn’t have to be about black belt martial arts or whatever.

00:16:37.006 –> 00:16:42.626
It’s just the basics. And, you know, we talk about it a lot is just keeping

00:16:42.626 –> 00:16:44.926
an eye out in the neighborhood, right?

00:16:45.246 –> 00:16:48.086
When you go out in the morning to water your grass or whatever,

00:16:48.446 –> 00:16:51.866
just paying attention to what’s going on in your section in the neighborhood

00:16:51.866 –> 00:16:53.226
is a great place to start.

00:16:54.540 –> 00:16:57.460
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. I couldn’t agree more.

00:16:57.640 –> 00:17:05.060
And it’s really important to be aware of your surroundings, you know, not to sound cliche,

00:17:05.400 –> 00:17:10.040
say situational awareness, but to say the least, you know, some people don’t

00:17:10.040 –> 00:17:12.940
have the benefit, their neighborhood may be on a main strip.

00:17:13.160 –> 00:17:18.580
So, you know, any and every car is going to go through and you never know who, same time.

00:17:18.720 –> 00:17:22.280
Yeah. You still got to pay attention for what’s going on, but yeah,

00:17:22.520 –> 00:17:25.180
a lot of our smaller neighborhoods you know

00:17:25.180 –> 00:17:28.820
they’ll land in cul-de-sacs and there’s only so much access so

00:17:28.820 –> 00:17:31.620
you’re only going to have certain foot traffic and and

00:17:31.620 –> 00:17:35.820
drive traffic coming through and it’s

00:17:35.820 –> 00:17:40.180
not to say you need to just be scoping out and eyeing every single moment of

00:17:40.180 –> 00:17:44.280
everybody driving out peeking through your windows like some weirdo from that

00:17:44.280 –> 00:17:48.620
movie the birds you know that was a great movie from the 80s uh-oh dating myself

00:17:48.620 –> 00:17:52.320
again one of the greatest movies of all time If you haven’t seen it, go get it.

00:17:53.240 –> 00:17:57.220
But needless to say, you need to just pay attention because,

00:17:57.460 –> 00:18:01.440
listen, you know, Atlanta, Georgia, you know.

00:18:02.390 –> 00:18:07.990
New York City, Miami, Houston, Texas, all of these major cities,

00:18:08.790 –> 00:18:12.170
you have situations of people getting kidnapped.

00:18:12.410 –> 00:18:15.430
This is a real thing. You know, what do they call it? Human trafficking.

00:18:15.770 –> 00:18:20.130
You know, it’s not just people from outside getting pulled in or inside getting sent out.

00:18:20.710 –> 00:18:24.250
There’s all kind of aspects to it. And everyone is ugly.

00:18:24.250 –> 00:18:27.310
Week and sometimes just being aware and paying attention

00:18:27.310 –> 00:18:30.430
and you know being that neighbor that you know

00:18:30.430 –> 00:18:34.110
stands and and while you’re outside you know let people

00:18:34.110 –> 00:18:37.850
see you and you look them in the eye why not you live around me why wouldn’t

00:18:37.850 –> 00:18:42.130
i want to look in your eye you know what i mean so that’s how you notice the

00:18:42.130 –> 00:18:44.970
different car and that’s how the different cars like oh they pay attention in

00:18:44.970 –> 00:18:49.270
this neighborhood let me go into the next one yeah and and that’s that’s how

00:18:49.270 –> 00:18:51.970
you get a broader sense of you look out for me,

00:18:52.030 –> 00:18:54.390
I look out for you. I don’t need to know your politics.

00:18:54.810 –> 00:18:58.010
I don’t need to know what you want to eat. I don’t need to know where you pray,

00:18:58.190 –> 00:19:00.830
which side of direction of the sun you look at. I don’t care.

00:19:01.050 –> 00:19:04.130
End of the day, you got kids here. I got kids here. You live here.

00:19:04.210 –> 00:19:06.850
I live here. Why wouldn’t we want to protect each other?

00:19:07.110 –> 00:19:10.530
Yeah. Tying it back into the whole neighbor and community thing. Yeah.

00:19:10.590 –> 00:19:16.790
I think keeping an eye out is just the most basic thing that anyone can do in their neighborhood,

00:19:17.110 –> 00:19:20.910
you know, regardless if there on a busy thoroughfare or back in the back of

00:19:20.910 –> 00:19:24.370
a cul-de-sac, you know, just, you know, like the other day, well,

00:19:24.530 –> 00:19:27.490
I guess it was yesterday. In fact, time gets away from me.

00:19:28.310 –> 00:19:35.110
Yesterday, I got alerted that someone was on my front stoop and I got home and

00:19:35.110 –> 00:19:37.310
it was just a political flyer, right?

00:19:37.510 –> 00:19:43.130
But when I came back into the neighborhood, I saw the individual on the sidewalk.

00:19:43.450 –> 00:19:47.830
And the reason why I knew it was them is because, A, he had a handful of political

00:19:47.830 –> 00:19:51.610
brochures, but I also had a picture of him, right? So I knew.

00:19:51.890 –> 00:19:56.650
So right out of the gate, recognize someone out of place, you know,

00:19:56.790 –> 00:19:59.470
obviously, well, hopefully harmless enough to.

00:19:59.897 –> 00:20:03.657
You know, delivering their propaganda or whatever. But, you know,

00:20:03.757 –> 00:20:07.557
just paying attention and noting those sorts of things.

00:20:07.817 –> 00:20:12.497
You know, we’ve got some regular walkers through the neighborhood,

00:20:12.497 –> 00:20:17.437
and then we’ve had some people even with dogs come through that I don’t see

00:20:17.437 –> 00:20:20.737
all the time, you know. So, and cars is another one.

00:20:20.977 –> 00:20:24.977
It helps if you’re home all the time because you get to see a whole lot more

00:20:24.977 –> 00:20:26.457
when you’re here during the day.

00:20:26.717 –> 00:20:31.337
But just paying attention enough, If you pay attention enough at all,

00:20:31.537 –> 00:20:35.757
you will notice an anomaly. You will notice the things out of place,

00:20:35.917 –> 00:20:40.417
the cars that don’t seem quite right or that you haven’t noticed before.

00:20:40.717 –> 00:20:44.997
A lot of delivery services these days, I get all that. But the point is,

00:20:45.037 –> 00:20:47.577
is that you’re aware when they’re here if you’re paying attention.

00:20:47.797 –> 00:20:52.337
And the other thing that, you know, is talked about in the community is these

00:20:52.337 –> 00:20:56.977
color codes of heightened sense of alertness, right? There’s white,

00:20:57.137 –> 00:20:59.697
there’s yellow, there’s orange, there’s red, and there’s black.

00:21:00.617 –> 00:21:04.697
And, you know, when you’re home, you’re supposed to be white,

00:21:04.897 –> 00:21:08.577
you know, calm, cool. You’re not worried about anything. And then when you go

00:21:08.577 –> 00:21:12.717
out somewhere, you should be in yellow all the time. You should be alert,

00:21:13.037 –> 00:21:14.257
in alert mode all the time.

00:21:14.377 –> 00:21:16.197
It doesn’t mean you’re looking over your shoulder and paranoid,

00:21:16.197 –> 00:21:20.417
but it just means that you’re alert and paying attention and situationally aware, as you said.

00:21:21.117 –> 00:21:26.657
But I think when you’re home, you shouldn’t have to be that way all the time.

00:21:27.177 –> 00:21:31.297
So in my mind, I kind of work it out. There’s a difference between being on

00:21:31.297 –> 00:21:35.657
alert, like when you’re out in public somewhere, and just paying attention.

00:21:35.657 –> 00:21:39.937
And you need to be paying attention even when you’re home with that garage door open.

00:21:40.569 –> 00:21:44.569
With your headphones on while you’re mowing the grass, you still need to keep

00:21:44.569 –> 00:21:47.649
your head on a swivel and be paying attention to your surroundings.

00:21:47.649 –> 00:21:52.089
But you don’t have to do it to the point of being paranoid or looking over your

00:21:52.089 –> 00:21:54.389
shoulder every five minutes. That’s not what it’s about.

00:21:54.549 –> 00:21:59.169
But it is about paying attention enough to notice when things seem out of place.

00:21:59.349 –> 00:22:00.989
And that’s a great first step.

00:22:01.329 –> 00:22:05.169
Yeah, you know, you really said it well, because even to that same point about

00:22:05.169 –> 00:22:10.149
it’s not about being paranoid because it could even be possibly people are just

00:22:10.149 –> 00:22:15.009
taking an extra long walk and they walk into the next neighborhood versus the one they usually do.

00:22:15.229 –> 00:22:18.989
It could be that innocent, you know? And so it’s, it’s really about looking

00:22:18.989 –> 00:22:22.349
at patterns, really using your spidey senses.

00:22:22.529 –> 00:22:26.189
I call it, you know, your vibe on things. You kind of, you know,

00:22:26.489 –> 00:22:30.529
when things look uneasy, people kind of, even if they, you know,

00:22:30.589 –> 00:22:33.569
when people wave and it feels funny and you know, when people waved and it felt

00:22:33.569 –> 00:22:35.809
like, all right, amen, right on. Have a good day.

00:22:36.349 –> 00:22:40.049
It’s just, but you’re only going to know by being there to your point.

00:22:40.609 –> 00:22:43.589
It’s not like you can just always be looking at every single moment,

00:22:43.589 –> 00:22:45.949
but you know, needless to say,

00:22:46.169 –> 00:22:52.969
we do have technology that kind of facilitates or eases our ability to kind

00:22:52.969 –> 00:22:59.809
of really hone in on any very particular type of, potential threats.

00:23:00.069 –> 00:23:05.189
For instance, having your, oh yeah, you know, having, you know,

00:23:05.249 –> 00:23:07.989
most people, a lot of people have a ring camera in front of their house.

00:23:08.109 –> 00:23:11.109
So for all intents and purposes, you’ve got a closed circuit TV,

00:23:11.229 –> 00:23:13.229
always look in front of your house. I think it’s a great idea.

00:23:13.609 –> 00:23:17.009
I don’t know if I’d have one in my house, but looking out front, I’m fine.

00:23:17.529 –> 00:23:22.189
But needless to say, even something, because one thing that,

00:23:22.189 –> 00:23:27.589
you know, the prowler or the person coming around, they may be coming during

00:23:27.589 –> 00:23:30.229
the day to scope out what’s going on.

00:23:30.329 –> 00:23:32.549
And then it’s night when they’re going to come do their thing.

00:23:33.449 –> 00:23:38.989
So that being said, oh man, a lot of times the simplest things to protect your

00:23:38.989 –> 00:23:43.989
home, you know, even, and I’m probably going on a tangent here, but in terms of.

00:23:45.304 –> 00:23:49.684
At being well lit and having some kind of security lighting,

00:23:50.044 –> 00:23:57.264
I can’t explain to you how important that is to having the would-be prowler

00:23:57.264 –> 00:24:00.084
kind of just turn around and say, oh, not this one.

00:24:00.664 –> 00:24:04.384
You know, having dogs is great, but there’s levels to that.

00:24:04.844 –> 00:24:10.844
But needless to say, even just making sure that your homestead is almost alert

00:24:10.844 –> 00:24:15.604
while you’re sleeping, so to speak. Because one thing a prowler wants is quiet.

00:24:15.784 –> 00:24:18.804
He doesn’t want to attract attention. He doesn’t want lights.

00:24:18.964 –> 00:24:22.444
He wants to be as ninja as he can be or she, you never know.

00:24:22.724 –> 00:24:28.064
So even having some security lights, whether you have some fancy ones that are

00:24:28.064 –> 00:24:32.304
wired into your, to your power box, or you get the battery power ones that you

00:24:32.304 –> 00:24:34.484
get at Home Depot that work just as fine.

00:24:34.684 –> 00:24:38.584
So that in, in those little dark areas where somebody might want to be creeping

00:24:38.584 –> 00:24:44.124
around to look for a window that’s open, once again, very rarely happens, but it happens.

00:24:44.384 –> 00:24:49.444
So you’re only as safe as you want to be. Your safety is your own responsibility.

00:24:50.024 –> 00:24:52.784
So in that same vein of.

00:24:53.614 –> 00:24:58.914
Not being too paranoid, you should always make sure that at least the base,

00:24:59.154 –> 00:25:05.494
so to speak, is secure almost without you having to do too much.

00:25:05.594 –> 00:25:10.594
It’s sentient of its own right to an effect. We have technology now that provides for that.

00:25:10.714 –> 00:25:15.774
And I can’t stress enough to make sure that your house is in some way or form

00:25:15.774 –> 00:25:22.534
connected to your computer in a box that’s in your pocket so that In this day and age,

00:25:22.674 –> 00:25:28.014
you have the ability to really monitor and heighten the security of your homestead

00:25:28.014 –> 00:25:32.554
that you didn’t before you had a TV in your pocket, if you will.

00:25:33.014 –> 00:25:37.254
Yep. No, I think you make great points. Well, I know you make great points.

00:25:37.434 –> 00:25:42.234
And, you know, lighting is just the basics. If you’re looking for a place to

00:25:42.234 –> 00:25:46.974
get started with making your home a harder target, as they say.

00:25:47.974 –> 00:25:53.134
Aside from making the place look kept up, putting up lights. Yeah.

00:25:53.694 –> 00:25:59.394
Putting up lights is just like the most basic thing that you can do to get started

00:25:59.394 –> 00:26:05.194
to automagically make your home safer and more secure because you’re right.

00:26:05.354 –> 00:26:09.634
Like the bad guys don’t want to get lit up. and, you know, having those motion

00:26:09.634 –> 00:26:13.514
detectors, heat sensors, whatever they are, you know, you don’t have to spend

00:26:13.514 –> 00:26:15.094
a lot of money for basics.

00:26:15.294 –> 00:26:20.614
You know, we get started 2025 bucks to put up floodlights in areas that are

00:26:20.614 –> 00:26:24.014
dark or main points of entry and exit.

00:26:24.294 –> 00:26:29.034
So you’ve got some light on the subject after dark and that’s just the basics of things.

00:26:29.174 –> 00:26:34.374
And then to your point to, you know, security cameras, security systems have

00:26:34.374 –> 00:26:39.174
gotten so sophisticated now that there’s no reason why you can’t have access

00:26:39.174 –> 00:26:43.114
to those things on your smartphone. It just makes it that much easier to control.

00:26:43.981 –> 00:26:47.881
And it makes it that much easier to see what’s going on when you get those alerts.

00:26:50.121 –> 00:26:56.261
And, you know, I have to say, going back to making your home a hard target,

00:26:56.501 –> 00:27:03.861
you know, taking care of your lawn goes a long way towards making yourself a harder target.

00:27:03.861 –> 00:27:08.921
And it’s because when you take care of your place, it makes it seem like someone’s

00:27:08.921 –> 00:27:10.201
home and paying attention.

00:27:10.201 –> 00:27:15.021
And I know you keep your lawn immaculate, Max, so that’s why I’m making it a

00:27:15.021 –> 00:27:19.581
special point to mention taking care of your place.

00:27:20.241 –> 00:27:23.101
Thank you very much. Sorry, we’re going to work a little bit for us.

00:27:23.161 –> 00:27:26.381
It sounds very kind of to say yours doesn’t look bad as well as I make it.

00:27:26.401 –> 00:27:27.341
Well, thank you. Thank you.

00:27:27.841 –> 00:27:31.461
I don’t put nearly the effort in mind that you apparently do yours.

00:27:31.461 –> 00:27:36.321
But, you know, the point is, is that just making it seem like someone’s home

00:27:36.321 –> 00:27:42.961
and cares goes a long way to thwarting potential bad things that might happen

00:27:42.961 –> 00:27:46.261
to the property, whether it’s burglarization, home invasion,

00:27:46.661 –> 00:27:50.541
you know, taking something out of the car in the driveway, whatever it is,

00:27:50.641 –> 00:27:56.241
goes a long way because it indicates a not only that someone’s home,

00:27:56.421 –> 00:28:01.441
but that someone’s meticulous enough and thinks enough about their stuff to keep it up.

00:28:01.461 –> 00:28:08.141
Which might come off as being this person’s paying attention to what’s up and what’s going on, right?

00:28:08.961 –> 00:28:13.141
And I think that’s an important piece of just maintaining the property in and of itself.

00:28:14.076 –> 00:28:17.056
No, no, that’s, that’s huge. You said a huge thing there. And,

00:28:17.176 –> 00:28:25.516
and, you know, it’s when a property is left disheveled, whether it be from having

00:28:25.516 –> 00:28:27.476
your mailbox be too full of mail.

00:28:27.636 –> 00:28:31.196
And, and sometimes that, sometimes that happens. You get busy,

00:28:31.336 –> 00:28:32.436
you spend a couple of days.

00:28:32.716 –> 00:28:36.216
You don’t even want to look in the mail because it’s just going to be bills anyway. so

00:28:36.216 –> 00:28:38.856
you know sometimes it’s it’s a

00:28:38.856 –> 00:28:41.696
bad thing though you you never want to have your mailbox looking

00:28:41.696 –> 00:28:44.576
a certain way even something as simple as the

00:28:44.576 –> 00:28:47.656
the newspapers that the paper boys or

00:28:47.656 –> 00:28:50.616
or whatever it is nowadays you’re thrown thrown

00:28:50.616 –> 00:28:53.396
out in front of your house letting those accumulate it just

00:28:53.396 –> 00:28:56.796
gives a disheveled look to your your curbside

00:28:56.796 –> 00:29:02.036
and that’s going to attract the that that would be probably because the way

00:29:02.036 –> 00:29:05.656
to keep yourself from being a target is just not being attractive because there’s

00:29:05.656 –> 00:29:12.576
never a random there’s never a random target with with with the true steve burglar

00:29:12.576 –> 00:29:16.176
who’s trying to come get something it doesn’t mean that they know you have the the.

00:29:16.536 –> 00:29:19.636
Gems of you know some ancient you know king

00:29:19.636 –> 00:29:22.596
in your house that you’re hiding but they they

00:29:22.596 –> 00:29:25.876
scope out situations first these guys and and

00:29:25.876 –> 00:29:28.976
they’re going to try to see what’s going to be the easiest target

00:29:28.976 –> 00:29:31.916
which house doesn’t have a little yippity snippety dog

00:29:31.916 –> 00:29:34.756
sometimes the little dog is better than even a big dog because

00:29:34.756 –> 00:29:37.576
sometimes those little chihuahuas are mean they’re not even going to take a

00:29:37.576 –> 00:29:41.576
treat from you yeah yeah some dogs are so sweet you can rob a house with a chicken

00:29:41.576 –> 00:29:46.656
mcnugget if you find them at the right time you know yeah so it’s it’s how well

00:29:46.656 –> 00:29:50.076
is your dog trained to to respond to you know there’s a level to that that’s

00:29:50.076 –> 00:29:53.656
why i was getting i said dogs is a whole other episode but um.

00:29:54.271 –> 00:29:58.091
You know, needless to say, there’s so many little things you can do to your point, Jim,

00:29:58.291 –> 00:30:03.251
that will remove you from being that, you know,

00:30:03.451 –> 00:30:09.751
welcoming target for that would-be thief who’s going to come later on because

00:30:09.751 –> 00:30:14.031
you happen to put on your public Facebook display that you’re going to your

00:30:14.031 –> 00:30:16.071
trip to Montana and you can’t wait.

00:30:16.071 –> 00:30:19.431
Oh, that’s such a great point. And now they know that, you know,

00:30:19.551 –> 00:30:20.691
now they know you’re gone.

00:30:20.951 –> 00:30:23.411
They’ve been scoping you for long enough that they know your name.

00:30:23.531 –> 00:30:27.791
They know this, they know that is that there’s sophistication to this stuff.

00:30:28.011 –> 00:30:33.071
Now, you know, I think what happens is a lot of people out there who aren’t

00:30:33.071 –> 00:30:38.171
as versed in maybe some of the newer technology to social media, all of that.

00:30:38.291 –> 00:30:43.731
And, and they delve in it, not understanding all of these loopholes and dangers

00:30:43.731 –> 00:30:45.831
they could put themselves in your parents, for instance,

00:30:46.071 –> 00:30:49.651
You know, on Facebook, putting up all the pictures of the grandkids and this

00:30:49.651 –> 00:30:54.631
and that and inadvertently putting themselves vulnerable to somebody who lives

00:30:54.631 –> 00:30:57.671
down the street and figured out, oh, yeah, there she is.

00:30:57.771 –> 00:31:01.691
That’s cat and mouse, you know, at gmail.com or whatever, you know, the name is.

00:31:01.811 –> 00:31:04.771
And before you know it, you’re a target for identity theft.

00:31:04.991 –> 00:31:12.011
It’s not something as bad as being robbed physically from your house.

00:31:12.231 –> 00:31:16.111
So many little steps you can do. No, completely agree.

00:31:16.291 –> 00:31:19.631
And you know, you bring up an excellent point and it’s kind of beyond the scope

00:31:19.631 –> 00:31:23.531
of this particular podcast. And it’s something we’ve talked about in the past,

00:31:23.551 –> 00:31:25.851
but I’m just going to mention it because you brought it up.

00:31:26.211 –> 00:31:30.031
Circle back to it, I should say. And that’s social media.

00:31:30.311 –> 00:31:36.631
One of the best things that you can do to keep your home safer is keep your

00:31:36.631 –> 00:31:38.911
bizwax out of the public eye.

00:31:38.911 –> 00:31:45.451
And so just in the context of this conversation, just three pointers to remind

00:31:45.451 –> 00:31:48.051
folks when it comes to social media.

00:31:49.091 –> 00:31:50.731
One is…

00:31:51.229 –> 00:31:57.269
Be pretty darn certain of who you connect with on social media,

00:31:57.269 –> 00:32:00.289
if it’s your personal account and your business account, too, for that matter.

00:32:00.429 –> 00:32:06.189
But certainly with your personal account, do you really know the people that

00:32:06.189 –> 00:32:10.489
you connect with on social media or are you connecting with every Tom,

00:32:10.629 –> 00:32:12.969
Dick and Harry out there? That’s first and foremost.

00:32:13.149 –> 00:32:18.709
And if you are, I would recommend not doing that because you don’t know if you’re

00:32:18.709 –> 00:32:21.389
doing that, you don’t know who you’re connected with, plain and simple.

00:32:22.089 –> 00:32:26.669
Secondly, I would make it a point to lock down your account where they’re not

00:32:26.669 –> 00:32:31.529
publicly accessible so that not every Tom, Dick and Harry is trying to connect

00:32:31.529 –> 00:32:33.409
with you, is looking at your children.

00:32:33.409 –> 00:32:37.209
And that’s a whole different episode to whatever it might be.

00:32:37.209 –> 00:32:40.469
Lock down those accounts where they’re not publicly searched.

00:32:40.649 –> 00:32:44.849
They’re not public. You know, your account posts are not publicly posted.

00:32:45.529 –> 00:32:48.969
And then the last bit of advice, and I’m sure there’s much, much more,

00:32:49.089 –> 00:32:50.409
but these three I think are key.

00:32:50.569 –> 00:32:54.449
The last one, the third one is don’t go posting posts,

00:32:55.064 –> 00:33:00.764
making posts, making updates about things you’re doing or things you’re about to do.

00:33:01.004 –> 00:33:06.084
If you’ve got to make those sorts of posts, especially if you’re public or especially

00:33:06.084 –> 00:33:09.304
if you’re connected with a lot more people than who you actually know,

00:33:09.464 –> 00:33:11.924
do it after you get back home again.

00:33:12.124 –> 00:33:17.844
No one needs to see that sunset beach, that beach sunset as quickly as you’re

00:33:17.844 –> 00:33:19.764
seeing it. It can wait, right?

00:33:20.004 –> 00:33:23.944
Don’t give away, don’t give away your game plan ahead of time.

00:33:23.944 –> 00:33:25.144
Wait until you’re home again.

00:33:26.424 –> 00:33:31.604
I think those three tips relative to social media keep you safer than not most of the time.

00:33:31.884 –> 00:33:34.624
Unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of people do that.

00:33:35.024 –> 00:33:39.564
Now, amen. Amen. That was hilarious, that point about the sunset beach,

00:33:39.744 –> 00:33:44.464
you know, hitting the glass together, you know, on the chairs like the Corona commercial.

00:33:44.704 –> 00:33:47.344
Right. Don’t do it. Wait till you get home. Wait till you get home.

00:33:47.764 –> 00:33:52.904
Nobody needs to see that before, you know, in real time, so to speak.

00:33:52.904 –> 00:33:57.804
Be conscious of who you connect with, keep your accounts out of the public eye,

00:33:57.844 –> 00:34:02.664
and don’t post information until after it’s over with.

00:34:03.517 –> 00:34:09.417
Yeah, that last one is the kicker because we live in such an instant gratification.

00:34:09.697 –> 00:34:11.957
Got to do it now. Got to send it now.

00:34:12.317 –> 00:34:15.857
You got to see the sandwich that I just made myself and I’m eating. Do I?

00:34:16.157 –> 00:34:21.837
Do I really? So we live in a society where people just have to just do things

00:34:21.837 –> 00:34:25.877
at the moment, whether it be shopping or uploading. So you make a great point.

00:34:26.077 –> 00:34:30.817
You know, just think before you step. You know, what’s the matter if you wait

00:34:30.817 –> 00:34:31.997
a day before you send them?

00:34:31.997 –> 00:34:35.717
Because because somebody’s watching somebody’s always

00:34:35.717 –> 00:34:38.817
watching there’s not a moment you’re outside of your house that

00:34:38.817 –> 00:34:43.657
you’re probably not on a camera somewhere you’d be you’d be hard pressed to

00:34:43.657 –> 00:34:49.077
find a place even in even in suburbia where you’re not on camera at some point

00:34:49.077 –> 00:34:54.357
yeah you got to be careful on what you put out there how how out there you are

00:34:54.357 –> 00:34:56.757
with with your family with pictures,

00:34:56.997 –> 00:34:59.317
with information, you know,

00:34:59.757 –> 00:35:01.957
and it, and it stinks, right?

00:35:02.057 –> 00:35:05.437
Because, you know, most people who are doing that, they’re doing it of,

00:35:05.477 –> 00:35:07.957
of, of, of a good nature. They want to share.

00:35:08.277 –> 00:35:11.457
They, they, they, you know, I’m not saying you got to go hide away.

00:35:11.737 –> 00:35:15.017
You know, me personally, I don’t do social media, but you know,

00:35:15.117 –> 00:35:16.737
used to, that’s a whole other story.

00:35:17.426 –> 00:35:20.846
But needless to say, you know, I get it. People want to share and express and

00:35:20.846 –> 00:35:25.086
it’s all it’s all done from goodwill. But there are bad actors out there.

00:35:25.446 –> 00:35:29.646
And you’re only as good as what you know. And you’re only safe is it’s where

00:35:29.646 –> 00:35:32.306
you put yourself in terms of protecting yourself from that.

00:35:32.626 –> 00:35:37.466
So that that’s a yeah, the social media thing. That’s that’s an episode in itself. to say the least.

00:35:37.726 –> 00:35:44.186
Yeah. But you know, you hit on another good point, Max, and people want to live

00:35:44.186 –> 00:35:49.166
the way they want to live, the way they think they should be able to live and

00:35:49.166 –> 00:35:51.946
not have to think about these sorts of things.

00:35:52.866 –> 00:35:56.706
And I think that is the one negative

00:35:56.706 –> 00:36:03.486
downside to being more conscientious about your personal safety overall is that

00:36:03.486 –> 00:36:09.086
it means you can’t live the way you want to live 100% of the time or the way

00:36:09.086 –> 00:36:14.986
you think that you’re entitled or should be able to live because that’s not reality.

00:36:15.326 –> 00:36:20.186
The reality of it is, is that the world to your point you made earlier is not a safe place.

00:36:20.826 –> 00:36:22.726
Bad things happen. We’re only

00:36:22.726 –> 00:36:26.466
lucky that they don’t happen with greater frequency than what they do.

00:36:27.186 –> 00:36:30.906
So, you know, while that’s the downside, that’s just the reality.

00:36:30.906 –> 00:36:35.326
But I think once you adjust to that, you know, you’re better for it and you’re

00:36:35.326 –> 00:36:39.326
better able to think about personal safety and preparedness in general.

00:36:40.301 –> 00:36:44.741
Yeah, amen. Once the genie’s out the bottle, you kind of can’t act like it’s not anymore.

00:36:44.961 –> 00:36:49.261
And you made the point earlier in the show when you had stated,

00:36:49.601 –> 00:36:53.461
people who had been on before had stated, it’s not until something bad happens

00:36:53.461 –> 00:36:59.801
that that switch flips on or that need to go there with it kind of,

00:36:59.841 –> 00:37:03.901
you know, is in the background, you know, secondhand nature.

00:37:04.121 –> 00:37:08.281
And sadly, that comes sometimes out of traumatic, terrible, oh my God,

00:37:08.361 –> 00:37:09.801
I can’t believe this happened experience.

00:37:09.801 –> 00:37:12.721
So you know that that

00:37:12.721 –> 00:37:15.581
that’s the thing is to prevent yourself from

00:37:15.581 –> 00:37:18.641
having to be the person who has that

00:37:18.641 –> 00:37:21.701
terrible you know tragic moment that

00:37:21.701 –> 00:37:24.581
puts them into go mode to kind of realize oh wow

00:37:24.581 –> 00:37:27.481
it’s not roses out here you know take take

00:37:27.481 –> 00:37:30.581
small steps to increase your safety

00:37:30.581 –> 00:37:33.601
profile not just online but

00:37:33.601 –> 00:37:36.861
at home and even in just in your in your everyday you

00:37:36.861 –> 00:37:39.741
know movements yeah you know and do it aware of

00:37:39.741 –> 00:37:43.041
your surroundings yeah and do it ahead of time be proactive

00:37:43.041 –> 00:37:45.901
about it so you’re not caught off guard so it’s not

00:37:45.901 –> 00:37:49.461
an afterthought it’s not reactive so we’ve

00:37:49.461 –> 00:37:54.681
talked about you know just you know neighborhood safety with neighbors you know

00:37:54.681 –> 00:38:00.221
keeping an eye out in the neighborhood for what’s going on anomalies cars people

00:38:00.221 –> 00:38:08.781
things out of place recognizing things when they’re not as they normally would be over time.

00:38:09.101 –> 00:38:12.461
Keeping an eye out for your neighbor’s place when they’re out of town,

00:38:12.661 –> 00:38:13.521
you know, whatever like that.

00:38:13.621 –> 00:38:17.421
We’ve talked a little bit about the importance of social media.

00:38:17.501 –> 00:38:23.241
We’ve talked about a few things that you can do to make your home a harder target

00:38:23.241 –> 00:38:28.781
for the bad guys or less of a target for the bad guys.

00:38:28.801 –> 00:38:34.461
I know you wanted to talk about the importance of fire equipment on site and

00:38:34.461 –> 00:38:38.441
having a game plan and knowing what to do with that fire equipment in the home.

00:38:39.381 –> 00:38:40.821
Let’s talk about that for a minute.

00:38:41.651 –> 00:38:45.751
Yeah. Yeah. And, and you know what, that’s not born out of anything,

00:38:45.751 –> 00:38:47.791
but maybe a bad kitchen accident.

00:38:48.171 –> 00:38:52.131
Uh, thank goodness. Uh, you know, you’re frying something up and stepping away,

00:38:52.171 –> 00:38:56.011
but I mean, uh, not even making short of that cause that’s how fires can start,

00:38:56.171 –> 00:38:58.031
but that’s how fires can start.

00:38:58.171 –> 00:39:03.211
It can be something as simple as you didn’t realize that that water was going

00:39:03.211 –> 00:39:05.371
to pop and that oil was going to do what it did.

00:39:05.791 –> 00:39:11.771
Or it could be something as sinister is bad wiring behind your wall.

00:39:11.991 –> 00:39:15.891
That guy that you had paid on the cheap to do that connection didn’t do well.

00:39:16.011 –> 00:39:17.331
We made your house a fire hazard.

00:39:17.611 –> 00:39:22.091
My mother was dealing with that in Florida. So that’s to say,

00:39:22.211 –> 00:39:26.971
sometimes there’s threats to your homestead that you might not even,

00:39:27.271 –> 00:39:33.371
not to say be aware of or can’t protect against, as in not using too many extension cords.

00:39:33.471 –> 00:39:38.691
We all know all the old tropes, But I mean, that stuff does happen.

00:39:38.891 –> 00:39:44.731
And the best thing you can do is have a fire extinguisher in each and every

00:39:44.731 –> 00:39:47.351
room of the house, in the kitchen.

00:39:48.124 –> 00:39:50.904
Maybe the bathroom. I mean, that’s a different type of fire.

00:39:51.084 –> 00:39:52.724
You know what I mean? Luckily, there’s water there.

00:39:54.084 –> 00:39:59.464
But needless to say, you know, tip your waitress. Exactly.

00:40:00.164 –> 00:40:05.404
No, but yes, just to be able to know in the event, God forbid,

00:40:05.944 –> 00:40:10.324
that fire alarm, which is another thing, make sure your fire alarm,

00:40:10.724 –> 00:40:12.084
that you’re changing those batteries.

00:40:12.724 –> 00:40:16.604
That nine volts been in there since 2005. It might need to be changed.

00:40:16.744 –> 00:40:20.944
When’s the last time you climbed up and gave it a little push to make sure that it’s working?

00:40:21.184 –> 00:40:28.024
You know, is your fire alarm super basic or is it a better alarm that also smells

00:40:28.024 –> 00:40:31.844
for smoke as well as, you know, other types of burning chemical smells?

00:40:32.144 –> 00:40:39.144
You know, there’s so many different aspects to how you can increase your home’s

00:40:39.144 –> 00:40:44.104
safety against a fire because a fire will devastate your home.

00:40:44.324 –> 00:40:51.684
It will gut you out. And having fire safety equipment within range can stop

00:40:51.684 –> 00:40:55.984
you from a terrible loss of your biggest investment, to say the least.

00:40:56.844 –> 00:41:00.084
Yeah. And fires is something that we’ve talked about in the past.

00:41:00.204 –> 00:41:04.924
And in fact, I was a guest on Another Gentleman’s podcast recently,

00:41:04.924 –> 00:41:08.484
and we talked specifically about being prepared for fires.

00:41:08.744 –> 00:41:12.644
And just to piggyback on what you’re saying, Max, and I couldn’t agree more, but…

00:41:13.529 –> 00:41:16.309
In addition to having the equipment and being

00:41:16.309 –> 00:41:19.089
prepared and making sure those batteries are fresh and

00:41:19.089 –> 00:41:22.089
making sure you’ve got fire extinguishers where it makes

00:41:22.089 –> 00:41:26.889
sense for you and your family and your home as knowing how to use them right

00:41:26.889 –> 00:41:31.869
and having a plan and then making sure the family knows what that plan is right

00:41:31.869 –> 00:41:36.569
and everyone has a role or not at least they know what to do right so you know

00:41:36.569 –> 00:41:41.929
how to pull that pin you know to aim for the base of the fire you know how to sweep back and forth.

00:41:42.189 –> 00:41:47.269
You know, when it gets too big or the kids need to be doing their own thing

00:41:47.269 –> 00:41:52.169
that they have a place, a designated place outside the home to get to if there is a fire.

00:41:52.409 –> 00:41:58.149
You know that if you can’t get that fire out in the time that that fire extinguisher

00:41:58.149 –> 00:42:04.009
is working, it’s time for you to get out because a fire can double in size every 30 seconds.

00:42:04.509 –> 00:42:07.909
And in fact, I was talking about it recently again.

00:42:08.909 –> 00:42:14.389
If the fire is bigger than a beach ball, if the fire is bigger than,

00:42:14.509 –> 00:42:18.969
you know, say the size of an office trash can and you can’t get it out with

00:42:18.969 –> 00:42:21.709
that extinguisher, you just need to get out.

00:42:22.709 –> 00:42:26.609
Additionally, you know, you never turn your back on a fire. You always want

00:42:26.609 –> 00:42:29.929
to keep the exit in your line of sight.

00:42:30.509 –> 00:42:34.929
And, you know, you don’t want to fight that fire beyond that fire extinguisher.

00:42:35.029 –> 00:42:38.529
And here’s the thing about some of these home fire extinguishers,

00:42:38.689 –> 00:42:43.549
the little guys, they’re good for about 30 seconds of firefighting and that’s it.

00:42:44.129 –> 00:42:49.649
So if you can’t get that fire under control, the key is to get out, right?

00:42:49.829 –> 00:42:54.209
And hopefully some part of your plan has a family member that’s already dialed

00:42:54.209 –> 00:42:59.349
911 just in case, but if not, you definitely need to be dialing 911 one there at the time.

00:42:59.569 –> 00:43:04.849
So, you know, have the equipment, but also know how to use it and have a plan

00:43:04.849 –> 00:43:09.169
in place and don’t try to be the hero because fires will eat you up in a hurry.

00:43:09.269 –> 00:43:12.429
And a lot of people don’t realize that. Wow.

00:43:13.160 –> 00:43:20.480
No, you said some huge stuff. And as you’re stating something that’s so important,

00:43:20.500 –> 00:43:24.140
but maybe you didn’t think of, that plan,

00:43:24.460 –> 00:43:29.660
that escape drop, that egress from where you are to where you can get out of

00:43:29.660 –> 00:43:33.480
the building or out of your residence safely.

00:43:34.720 –> 00:43:38.460
It’s not so much knowing it, but we’ve all done it since we were kids.

00:43:38.720 –> 00:43:43.060
Doing the actual drill once or twice a year. Make sure people know their role.

00:43:43.160 –> 00:43:46.100
Play acted and kids will love it you know

00:43:46.100 –> 00:43:48.940
and and and i say that to say i haven’t even done

00:43:48.940 –> 00:43:51.700
that yet and i’m just thinking that you’re bringing up it’s like yeah you

00:43:51.700 –> 00:43:54.480
got the plan but you know when’s the

00:43:54.480 –> 00:43:57.420
last time that you drilled it out you know when’s the last time that you actually

00:43:57.420 –> 00:44:01.900
went into it because when it happens it’s too late and and these are things

00:44:01.900 –> 00:44:05.000
that most of the time they’re not going to happen you’re you’re praying hope

00:44:05.000 –> 00:44:10.340
they never do but when they do as as for so many things in life better to know

00:44:10.340 –> 00:44:14.360
it and not need it and to need it and not know it you know, different version of that.

00:44:14.760 –> 00:44:18.560
Yeah. And to piggyback on that, the two things that I think are important,

00:44:18.780 –> 00:44:24.220
whether it’s fire or, you know, anything that involves equipment or a plan, right?

00:44:24.380 –> 00:44:27.980
Like you may not always, there may not always be equipment involved,

00:44:28.220 –> 00:44:31.940
but there will likely always be a need to have a plan involved, right?

00:44:32.020 –> 00:44:37.820
And so if there is equipment involved, you need to know how to use that equipment

00:44:37.820 –> 00:44:40.280
and you need to know how to use it ahead of time.

00:44:40.880 –> 00:44:45.820
So in the case of fire extinguishers, for example, and I’m not saying to throw

00:44:45.820 –> 00:44:51.120
them out when they expire, but supposedly fire extinguishers expire every five years.

00:44:52.640 –> 00:44:58.220
I can tell you that some that I’ve had still show in the green after five years.

00:44:58.400 –> 00:45:02.600
So do I throw them out? Eh, probably should, but that’s a different story for a different day.

00:45:02.720 –> 00:45:07.420
But if you have an old fire extinguisher, nothing says that you can’t go outside

00:45:07.420 –> 00:45:09.960
to your fire pit in the backyard and,

00:45:10.675 –> 00:45:16.915
Have your wife, have your kids, or even you practice using one of those expired fire extinguishers.

00:45:17.015 –> 00:45:20.115
And this is something that we talked about in this other podcast I did just

00:45:20.115 –> 00:45:22.655
recently, which is the only reason why it’s top of mind.

00:45:22.995 –> 00:45:27.675
Why not use one of those expired fire extinguishers to figure out how to use

00:45:27.675 –> 00:45:31.635
them and where to aim them and make sure everybody that’s responsible for getting

00:45:31.635 –> 00:45:33.955
to one and using one knows how to do it.

00:45:34.755 –> 00:45:37.355
So that’s first, and that’s true of Mace too, right? Right.

00:45:38.015 –> 00:45:41.455
Don’t buy just one. Buy two and practice with one. Right.

00:45:41.675 –> 00:45:46.835
Otherwise, when the time comes to need it, you probably aren’t going to know what to do. Right.

00:45:47.415 –> 00:45:50.595
And then my other and then my other point that I want to make,

00:45:50.775 –> 00:45:54.235
because it all ties together, is when there’s equipment involved,

00:45:54.455 –> 00:45:57.995
figure out how to use it and what to do with it ahead of time.

00:45:57.995 –> 00:46:02.895
And then relative to plans, and this is a podcast we’ve done in the past as

00:46:02.895 –> 00:46:04.855
well, is thinking through scenarios.

00:46:05.015 –> 00:46:09.155
But the key to thinking through scenarios is thinking about them ahead of time

00:46:09.155 –> 00:46:15.235
so that when something bad does happen, if you’ve thought through that or something

00:46:15.235 –> 00:46:19.435
similar, you’re better off than the person that hasn’t thought about it ever before.

00:46:19.435 –> 00:46:23.935
And that’s the psychological thing that they say, like anybody that’s thought

00:46:23.935 –> 00:46:28.675
about something ahead of time and has put together, okay, if this such and such

00:46:28.675 –> 00:46:31.475
happens, this is probably what I would do.

00:46:31.575 –> 00:46:34.135
And this is how I go about it. And this is what I would expect,

00:46:34.275 –> 00:46:38.855
you know, whatever it is, thinking through those scenarios and those plans ahead

00:46:38.855 –> 00:46:42.555
of time so that when and if the day comes that you need that plan,

00:46:42.755 –> 00:46:44.035
you’re better prepared for it.

00:46:44.275 –> 00:46:47.155
And that’s true of fire or anything else for that matter.

00:46:47.755 –> 00:46:51.835
Yeah, you bring up a great point right there with, you know,

00:46:52.055 –> 00:46:58.715
the actual play act or the demonstration of said learned, you know.

00:46:59.375 –> 00:47:01.895
Activity for Shethia, for whatever it is.

00:47:01.975 –> 00:47:09.595
You got to play through it. You have to try it out because when that time comes and you have to act.

00:47:10.360 –> 00:47:15.000
You know, experience, which is always the best teacher, is going to always have

00:47:15.000 –> 00:47:16.380
something be a second nature.

00:47:16.640 –> 00:47:22.020
And hopefully you don’t have to experience a house fire ever in your life.

00:47:22.200 –> 00:47:28.340
So just being able to fit into that mock, you know, drill, so to speak,

00:47:28.440 –> 00:47:31.700
that you practice a couple of times looking kind of goofy and,

00:47:31.820 –> 00:47:34.280
you know, laughing it up and almost tripped on that.

00:47:34.660 –> 00:47:37.580
Well, you just realized that you have a tripping hazard in the way of your egress.

00:47:37.580 –> 00:47:42.120
Look at you figuring out ahead of time stuff that you never knew you needed to figure out.

00:47:42.380 –> 00:47:48.420
So you say a really good thing when you say, you know, the plan is one thing,

00:47:48.440 –> 00:47:52.040
but actually seeing the plan, making sure all parties involved know what the

00:47:52.040 –> 00:47:55.480
plan is, and then a demonstration of that plan.

00:47:56.600 –> 00:48:00.520
That’s everything. That’s when it becomes back of your head.

00:48:00.600 –> 00:48:04.560
Hey, God forbid that fire, that smoke’s happening in the middle of the night, 2 a.m.

00:48:04.640 –> 00:48:08.180
All right, girls, it’s the real one. Hey, everybody, do it on my ball roll?

00:48:08.540 –> 00:48:10.380
Yeah, Dad, yeah, Dad, I already called 911.

00:48:10.880 –> 00:48:13.940
Okay, does everyone know they’re all over? We already got the dog,

00:48:14.040 –> 00:48:16.120
ready to go to our place, Dad, ready to walk out.

00:48:16.560 –> 00:48:20.780
You know what I mean? You did it. You did it right. So that’s huge, man.

00:48:20.880 –> 00:48:22.100
Thank you for that because that’s

00:48:22.100 –> 00:48:26.280
something, I didn’t have that in my formula the way it needed to be.

00:48:26.360 –> 00:48:29.620
And speaking on it kind of woke it up in my head. So right on.

00:48:29.900 –> 00:48:34.840
Yeah, man. I know we’re getting close to time here that we wanted to work inside

00:48:34.840 –> 00:48:36.460
this window this afternoon.

00:48:36.720 –> 00:48:41.420
And again, thank you a lot for taking time out at your family time out to do this.

00:48:41.600 –> 00:48:45.060
Just a couple of questions that I wanted to ask you. So I’m going to circle

00:48:45.060 –> 00:48:50.480
back to the question I posed earlier just to get your spin on it.

00:48:50.520 –> 00:48:53.440
And it doesn’t have to be the same as anyone else’s, you know,

00:48:53.620 –> 00:48:56.860
just whatever you think it is. But how do you think we go about,

00:48:57.140 –> 00:49:00.980
you know, like, let’s say we’re talking to other neighbors in the community here.

00:49:01.220 –> 00:49:07.000
How do you think we would go about getting them to take their personal safety more seriously?

00:49:07.894 –> 00:49:11.734
It’s a really great question, and I’m not going to cliche it with that.

00:49:11.954 –> 00:49:19.394
You know, I think because it feels like it deserves that kind of the mystery meat question.

00:49:19.634 –> 00:49:24.954
No, but I personally believe it really comes with engagement,

00:49:24.954 –> 00:49:29.794
almost to that point of awkward engagement.

00:49:30.034 –> 00:49:34.114
Why are you talking to me? I’m just kind of a talk. Let me just walk past you.

00:49:34.574 –> 00:49:39.854
Don’t be creepy now. I don’t offer cookies and stuff. But just, you know.

00:49:40.527 –> 00:49:44.667
The only way I’m going to know my neighbors and care about my neighbors is to

00:49:44.667 –> 00:49:52.167
really know them and God forbid, remember a name. It’s hard.

00:49:52.447 –> 00:49:55.127
I forget some of my family members’ names half of the time.

00:49:55.667 –> 00:50:00.727
But even wanting to try, even giving a care, I don’t know.

00:50:00.887 –> 00:50:06.607
I think that’s the most important thing because the only way the community,

00:50:06.867 –> 00:50:11.207
and I’m going to actually say this here too. You know, a lot of our communities

00:50:11.207 –> 00:50:14.727
over the last two decades have changed, you know.

00:50:14.927 –> 00:50:17.387
And I come from New York City.

00:50:17.647 –> 00:50:24.507
I love a big tent. I think, you know, variety, all the culture here in the U.S. is the spice of life.

00:50:24.687 –> 00:50:28.087
It really is what makes us such an amazing, great country is that,

00:50:28.287 –> 00:50:31.487
you know, you’re not you can get every type of food you want here.

00:50:31.587 –> 00:50:35.207
You know what I mean? You can experience culture. The other aspect of that,

00:50:35.347 –> 00:50:38.967
too, is, you know, we also do have a culture here in the U.S.,

00:50:38.967 –> 00:50:40.387
and that’s beautiful, too.

00:50:40.567 –> 00:50:43.527
So there’s that middle room, and there always has been since,

00:50:43.647 –> 00:50:47.427
you know, the first, you know, both saw the landing here.

00:50:47.587 –> 00:50:52.107
There’s always that place between Native and immigrant, to say the least, you know.

00:50:52.107 –> 00:50:58.407
But it’s important that we always welcome people in our community.

00:50:58.947 –> 00:51:04.307
Invite people, get to know them, let them get to know us so that they don’t

00:51:04.307 –> 00:51:07.667
feel possibly that, hey, why is the guy looking at me?

00:51:07.927 –> 00:51:11.447
Did you have a problem? No. The guy’s looking at me. Now you’re the weirdo.

00:51:12.327 –> 00:51:16.647
Now you’re the weirdo. Put the cookies down. He doesn’t want them. Yeah.

00:51:16.887 –> 00:51:21.327
But to say the least, I think to answer your question in earnest,

00:51:21.747 –> 00:51:27.067
you have to talk with your neighbor and just be yourself.

00:51:27.787 –> 00:51:31.867
A lot of times the best way you can demonstrate the way to be is to be that,

00:51:32.187 –> 00:51:37.787
to be the change you want to see to sound cliche or be the version of what you

00:51:37.787 –> 00:51:40.807
are. sometimes when people see how you regard your house,

00:51:41.626 –> 00:51:47.986
You know, I’ll say this, my new neighbor at one point was not really tending

00:51:47.986 –> 00:51:49.286
to their yard and garden.

00:51:49.486 –> 00:51:55.346
I will cut it there. So at one point I actually had to go out of my way and cut it for them.

00:51:55.566 –> 00:51:58.446
And it wasn’t because I was trying to make them feel crunchy.

00:51:58.646 –> 00:52:00.866
You don’t know somebody’s financial situation.

00:52:01.086 –> 00:52:05.966
It wasn’t because I was trying to, you know, be annoying to them.

00:52:07.046 –> 00:52:10.866
Literally when when when you do let your lawn get out of control now you’re

00:52:10.866 –> 00:52:14.566
you’re creating a place for critters and now that’s going to increase the potential

00:52:14.566 –> 00:52:16.326
of stuff getting around you so,

00:52:16.806 –> 00:52:22.366
i went ahead and did that and i felt the kind of vibe of hey man the hell are

00:52:22.366 –> 00:52:26.746
you doing mowing my lawn but also a vibe of oh man i hate that you had to mow

00:52:26.746 –> 00:52:31.286
my lawn i should have caught it in time And, and, and I,

00:52:31.406 –> 00:52:35.446
and I was aware of that and I cared enough to be aware of that.

00:52:35.606 –> 00:52:40.546
And now, you know, months later over time, the guy actually went out of his

00:52:40.546 –> 00:52:42.686
way and he doesn’t speak the best English,

00:52:42.946 –> 00:52:46.546
you know, for what it’s worth, but he actually went to Home Depot and got me

00:52:46.546 –> 00:52:52.146
like this nice timer for my, for my hose outside so I can help water my plants better.

00:52:52.386 –> 00:52:54.926
I’m like, look at this guy, you know, I didn’t ask for that,

00:52:54.986 –> 00:52:57.466
but it was kind of his way of say, Hey, thanks.

00:52:57.626 –> 00:53:00.906
And, you know, and, and that’s how you start, you know, that’s,

00:53:00.966 –> 00:53:03.366
that’s how you, that’s, you gotta, you gotta take those little moments.

00:53:03.446 –> 00:53:08.246
You gotta put yourself out there and then you can bridge those gaps and get

00:53:08.246 –> 00:53:11.546
to a place where you can talk to your neighbor about community and,

00:53:11.666 –> 00:53:16.646
and even having your, your, your house set up the way we described, well-lit, clean,

00:53:17.046 –> 00:53:20.786
well-kept that, that does a tremendous amount too.

00:53:20.906 –> 00:53:24.506
That’s all, that also does a speaking of sorts to your neighbors.

00:53:24.826 –> 00:53:27.126
So I think communication is key, certainly.

00:53:28.226 –> 00:53:33.186
Yeah. You know, you said a lot there. And, you know, going back to the question

00:53:33.186 –> 00:53:39.326
of what can we do to get others thinking more about their personal safety? And I think that…

00:53:39.843 –> 00:53:46.123
Building relationships within your community so that you are better have a opportunity

00:53:46.123 –> 00:53:50.503
to broach the subject with them in the first place is key.

00:53:51.263 –> 00:53:54.763
I think that really is the crux of what you were getting at.

00:53:54.903 –> 00:53:58.843
Like I got, I got to kind of fill you out and get your vibe and get to know

00:53:58.843 –> 00:54:02.703
you a little bit before I can tell you about all this stuff that I think is

00:54:02.703 –> 00:54:06.423
important. And Hey, what about you? And what’s your game plan, right?

00:54:06.543 –> 00:54:08.883
Like getting to know the person on the basic level.

00:54:10.203 –> 00:54:15.943
Is the key starting place to it. My other question, which you probably ironically

00:54:15.943 –> 00:54:18.963
have already answered, but my other question was going to be,

00:54:19.243 –> 00:54:23.423
what can we do better for each other as neighbors in the community?

00:54:23.643 –> 00:54:28.183
And I know that we talked about it maybe briefly, but just keeping an eye out

00:54:28.183 –> 00:54:32.523
for each other’s stuff when we know the other person’s not home,

00:54:32.623 –> 00:54:35.883
or even if they are home, just keeping an eye out in the mornings,

00:54:36.003 –> 00:54:38.203
in the afternoons, whenever we happen to be out.

00:54:38.623 –> 00:54:43.363
But to your point, once you build the relationship in the community,

00:54:43.543 –> 00:54:46.803
because that’s really what it is, then you get to the point where you can say,

00:54:46.883 –> 00:54:49.063
hey, man, I’m going out of town this weekend.

00:54:49.203 –> 00:54:52.623
Do you mind just keeping an eye out? There’s nobody that should be in my driveway

00:54:52.623 –> 00:54:53.883
except for the pet sitter.

00:54:54.043 –> 00:54:58.383
Then you get to the point where you can build that level of protection.

00:54:59.023 –> 00:55:04.363
But the question that I did have is, once you have established the relationship,

00:55:04.763 –> 00:55:09.403
to your point, what are some other things besides keeping an eye out for our

00:55:09.403 –> 00:55:11.563
neighbors do you think we could do as a community?

00:55:12.477 –> 00:55:17.397
You know, I think I already have the answer, and you and me kind of did it.

00:55:18.417 –> 00:55:23.517
It’s, you know, taking pride. I think back to the 4th of July, brother.

00:55:23.797 –> 00:55:28.137
We put on that really cool firework show. It was very impromptu.

00:55:28.157 –> 00:55:29.117
And no one got hurt. Okay?

00:55:30.177 –> 00:55:33.377
No one got hurt. You know, fire extinguishers are out there.

00:55:33.457 –> 00:55:34.497
You know, I had my phones.

00:55:34.717 –> 00:55:39.217
We were kind of one of the first times we actually broached the topic about safety. Yeah.

00:55:40.510 –> 00:55:43.850
You know, we just kind of went out there to have some fun.

00:55:44.330 –> 00:55:47.250
You invited some friends. I know I invited some of my friends.

00:55:47.430 –> 00:55:50.350
The neighbor next to me, she got involved because her daughters wanted to see

00:55:50.350 –> 00:55:52.270
the show. So she got some fireworks.

00:55:52.490 –> 00:55:57.190
I already had a plan to do my own big show. You pretty much put me to shame.

00:55:57.310 –> 00:55:59.630
But, you know, hey, last minute got me. It’s okay.

00:55:59.970 –> 00:56:02.530
Your mistake was telling me what you were doing. And I was like,

00:56:02.610 –> 00:56:04.010
oh, no, I’m going to do that, too.

00:56:05.230 –> 00:56:08.670
Yeah, you had about four more after I was completely tapped out.

00:56:08.770 –> 00:56:11.990
I’m like, oh, man, he got me. The guy ended with the big shebang.

00:56:12.190 –> 00:56:15.790
But the thing is, after it was done, it was really cool. Everybody came around.

00:56:16.050 –> 00:56:19.490
You know, I even saw some of the neighbors across the way. They put their chairs up.

00:56:19.610 –> 00:56:27.310
Because, you know, it was nice to see. And I think we don’t see enough of that, I think, right now.

00:56:27.930 –> 00:56:32.410
Because even growing up in Queens, which, I mean, that’s not anywhere we would

00:56:32.410 –> 00:56:34.710
call suburbia, you know, living in the city.

00:56:35.030 –> 00:56:38.170
You know, you would, I mean, granted, you’re not having fireworks shows in the

00:56:38.170 –> 00:56:39.530
middle of the city, by all means.

00:56:39.950 –> 00:56:43.350
But just having a sense of community, who lived next to you,

00:56:43.430 –> 00:56:46.550
who was on the floor underneath you, who was living upstairs from you,

00:56:46.670 –> 00:56:48.250
who lived in the building across the way.

00:56:48.410 –> 00:56:50.850
You knew them because you’re friends with the kid across the way.

00:56:50.970 –> 00:56:54.250
And you knew that was Tony’s sister, Sylvia, and you had a crush on her.

00:56:54.370 –> 00:56:57.490
And she lived on the stairs from the mean old lady that always yelled at.

00:56:57.690 –> 00:57:00.590
You know, like there was just a sense of knowing who was there.

00:57:00.890 –> 00:57:06.010
And I think we’ve lost a lot of that in our American tapestry.

00:57:06.010 –> 00:57:09.210
And it’s it’s ever so important

00:57:09.210 –> 00:57:12.550
no matter what side of the ideological fence you

00:57:12.550 –> 00:57:15.230
swing yeah there’s got to be

00:57:15.230 –> 00:57:18.070
a little that just got as cheesy as it’s

00:57:18.070 –> 00:57:23.830
a little bit of hope to rekindle a little bit of normalcy because it’s so it’s

00:57:23.830 –> 00:57:29.270
so polarized on each side now i can’t even i can’t do it and i’m exhausted and

00:57:29.270 –> 00:57:33.410
and at the end of the day none of that stuff matters once you turn off the TV

00:57:33.410 –> 00:57:37.150
or your phone or whatever is feeding you all this stuff to be angry about.

00:57:37.370 –> 00:57:39.690
You’re around the people who you live alone.

00:57:40.348 –> 00:57:44.848
And there’s real dangers out there and real things to be considered that have

00:57:44.848 –> 00:57:49.468
nothing but this BS that the media is pitting against everybody.

00:57:49.688 –> 00:57:53.388
Once again, I’m going off on a tangent, but I would imagine most people feel me.

00:57:53.808 –> 00:57:57.468
No, no, no. And I feel you and I know exactly what you’re saying.

00:57:57.468 –> 00:58:02.908
And I think you make a great point is getting back to the question of what can we do?

00:58:03.088 –> 00:58:07.428
What can we be doing more for one another as neighbors in the community?

00:58:07.428 –> 00:58:12.088
And I think, again, your point is, first you have to be a community.

00:58:12.468 –> 00:58:15.228
And then when you get to the point where you’re community again,

00:58:15.468 –> 00:58:17.408
then you can look after your brother’s back.

00:58:17.848 –> 00:58:23.028
And I think that’s a huge, huge takeaway for this podcast, if nothing else.

00:58:25.528 –> 00:58:29.848
Max, I appreciate you coming on, man. Yeah. I appreciate you coming on.

00:58:29.848 –> 00:58:33.468
Thank you. I had a good time. Yeah, yeah. I would love to do it again.

00:58:33.808 –> 00:58:37.748
Really love the topic. I learned a couple things today, and I enjoyed it.

00:58:37.788 –> 00:58:38.928
I’m going to implement it as well.

00:58:39.548 –> 00:58:43.148
And, yeah, by all means, thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks so much. Talk to you soon.