6 Month Check-up

How are you enjoying your new life as a spy?

You may not yet be at the MI-5 level of spyhood but you have taken the first steps to becoming that suave, debonair intelligence agent you aspire to be.

Check out the classics all featuring improvisational techniques that can be useful in the field:
Remington Steele, Mission Impossible (the series and the movies), Burn Notice, McGyver and anything else you can get your hands on.

In order to live the life you need to think the think and walk the walk.

Get out there and start collecting some intel.

Cheerio.

Become a professional

Rent lots of spy movies!

Start with "Leon the Professional" or sometimes under "the Professional"

Here was one character who while being middle aged had a very regimented physical fitness routine.

Understand what it takes for you to get and stay keen and limber and stick with it.

Drink your milk!

Exercise all of your Muscles!

Your chances of becoming a successful spy are linked to your physical well being, and you should begin to ramp up your workouts to ensure peek physical conditioning. (more on this in an upcoming post)

Don't forget to keep your mind sharp and clear!

Keep up on current events at all levels that affect the areas of interest to you. Reading papers, magazines, newsgroups, alternative media, blogs and news feeds.

With information overload, an additional concern is to keep your mind clear. I would recommend a daily routine that includes some combination of yoga, stretching, meditation or time in thought.

Break a mental sweat!

Cheers.

Now who are we watching again?

Now that you have a fake name and a postal box, you need to start gathering information.

Who are we watching? why should we watch someone and not someone else?

Because spies are one-person on the ground researching machines we need to be pointed in the right direction. You don't want to get played by both sides against the middle!

The cold war is over so the American vs Russian polarization is moot.

Finding a reason to spy may be the key to unlocking your inner spy.

Research different causes and governments and lend a hand where you are needed or just stick with your mother country and stand against all who would oppose her.

Don't end up a rebel without a cause!

Paranoia

If you have ever been channel surfing on a lazy saturday anytime in the past 3 years you have undoubtedly seen "Enemy of the State" with Will Smith and "Conspiracy Theory" with Mel Gibson. The paranoia that they jam into these two classics is a lesson to us all.

Don't make a phone call from a public phone!

Don't make a phone call using a "Keyword" ie presedent, bomb, attack....

Don't trust that you are not being followed.

Have an escape plan.

Get friends that are connected.

Keep looking over your shoulder.

Everything you have heard is true.

Stay on the move.

Don't contact your family or friends - they are being monitored.

Run, Run, RUN!

Where Does He get all Those Wonderful Toys?

Batman - He teaches us spies many things but the most glaring is that you need gadgets!

James Bond had Q now all of that weaponry may be a bit out of reach there are still some basic pieces of kit that you will need to collect your information.

• Discrete Camera
• Untraceable Mobile Phone
• Discrete Sound Recording Device
• A place to compile your data aka Batcave computer

Most of these devices have been combined and distributed Via the Apple Corporation: in the iPhone!

One hand held device that can not only be a means of collection of all the data that you need but can also serve as a way to store the information gathered.

We live in a time where the technology is easily available - but what will you use the technology for?

Till Next Time!

Bruce Wayne for apple

Identity Crisis

Take the time this week to not only grow your documentation but also to try and get a post office box with the assumed name.

There is a Very Easy way to do this - get the post office box for a business with an overly generic name. For example throw a consulting on the end and any random noun at the beginning.

eagle consulting

Falcon consulting

vector consulting

it is quite easy - and you don't need to use a bird but you get the idea.

Don't tie the company name on the PO box to yourself.

You need to rent the box from people who don't know you. If the renter knows your real identity then they will give you up as soon as someone comes snooping around.

You will need a box you can check when the office is closed - less chance that you will get id'd by the staff. You are now officially off the reservation.

Try to rent from a different town and never park out front where your plates can be seen in the security footage, always park in larger un-patrolled lots and never park in the same spot twice, never check the box during office hours.

Let the paranoia begin!

Bond, James Bond...

Having a great sounding name that is probably fabricated, yet well documented is the first cornerstone of a great spy!

When choosing a name that you will use as a handle consider 3 things:
1. Your Handle should be common.
The more easily your name can be confused with people that actually exist the better.
Steve Johnson is a super name - there are 12 in our phone book in a city of 80,000 people.
2. Your Handle should be Ethnically appropriate.
I am sure there are tons of John Wongs out there - but I am a 6" white guy, so I will stick with a Smith or a Jones.
3. Your Handle should be easy to pronounce.
The last thing you want to keep doing while "acting all spy like" is giving a spelling/phonics lesson to everyone you are introduced to.

Once you have a common, appropriate easy to pronounce name you will need to start working on getting that name working for you.

The following is for educational purposes only:
see how easy it is for you to get documents corroborating your new moniker.
A library card, a bank account, a passport?
Start small and find out what is required for "leveling up" your paperwork, you will be surprised how far a free email address will go to get you started!

Have fun with this and find out what ID is required, and what people looking to just "move the paperwork on" are willing to trust you on.

Stay Spy'n!
Gerbralter Bortenstinskalov

Spy Research at Blockbuster(r)?

All The research for determining the traits a spy needs will be dictated by the examples set forth in movies.

I have seen a ton of movies in my life and consider myself to be quite observant.

The answers to the questions I have will be found immortalized on celluloid?

I will need to find out.

Let's go back - wayyyyy back to the original - James Bond.

What can James Bond tell us about being a spy?

Let's find out!

Let the Spy Games Begin!

This blog is a journal of all the everyday things that I am working on to become a secret agent.

I will be starting from scratch - I am a 34 year old white male who blends into the crowd - not fit but not fat, just a middle of the road type guy who has always dreamed of being a spy like in the movies.

Join me in my journey to discover what it really takes to be a spy in the modern world.

Do you have what it takes?

Agent 0034 signing off!