The result of 24 hour CQ Duty and no internet connection. :)

:-/ That is cheating...
Surviving first night by Twitch1:
Find a tree, get minimum 4 logs, turn them into 16 planks, take 12 planks, make a crafting bench and 16 sticks.
Then make a wood pickaxe and find some stone. Harvest 17 cobblestone, make a furnace, 1 stone pickaxe, 1 stone axe, 1 stone sword, 1 stone shovel.
Get 4 coal and make 16 torches. Dig up some dirt or harvest more cobblestone and make a small hut before nightfall. Fight spiders and make a fishing rod with the last 3 sticks. Fish up a few fish for food until daytime.
Play your way.

I'm so gonna try this tonight! Sounds good actually since its all exact. The only variable is coal, but you can just make charcoal

Well to be honest I have a different method. Get the wood for a workbench and then make some wood tools. Get cobble for stone tools and then go hunting for pigs/cows. Kill a bunch and then go back to getting more wood. Make charcoal and then make torches. Then begin the long and fun process of harvesting and building until I have some real epic creations going. Of course I use the zombe pack so that I can make creepers unable to blow up blocks but still kill me. Hate making things and having those guys blow it all up. Well that and I also remove the enderman's ability to pick up blocks..

I'v been working on some high tech security systems in SSP, the cactus wall was my first defense

the only defense i have is 2 doors and an underground railway to my other houses. see what i do is i build a house at an epic place, then i have outposts for getting all the types of wood, for farming, for mining, for sand, for animals, for mobs, etc. then i link them all together by railways underground near the void and voila! epic system!