A post about my work bag.

And all of the stuff in it.  The only reason I have such a bag is so that I can carry the stuff I need to meetings and to the IT building (across the street).  This is a Swiss Gear laptop backpack with a special laptop compartment.  This thing is huge!

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This is what’s in the bag.  Please click on the gallery to see all the details.  I keep my purse (the small black bag) in the backpack because I can just take it out if we go out for lunch and I won’t have to fill my pockets with all my stuff.  I’ve got, from the bottom left:

• My quad-rule steno pad and my work badge
• Keys
• Purse
• Sansa Sandisk 4 gb + 2 gb microsd card
• Book that I’m reading (right now it’s The Great Gatsby); I hope to replace this with my Nook if I ever get it back from my brother!
• 5-Star notebook that I’m supposed to be drafting NaNo stuff in.  I’m not.  Ooops.
• Work laptop charger (no laptop as I don’t want to bring it home with me)
• Hotel card (I can hardly wait til I get to my apartment!!)
• Carmax chapstick
• Watch
• Pen (actually this pen is one that I keep at the hotel/home because I found that I needed to write things here.)
• (Not shown) LG Optimus V Android Phone (with 8 gb microsd card); used to take photo

See the full gallery on Posterous

And this is the backpack.  I’ve decided that I love it.  There are plenty of pockets and I love the bottle carriers on the side.  I usually have a water bottle in one and a gatorade bottle in the other.

If I had a bike, I’d be riding it every day to work; I’d be able to tie my bike up closer to the door and not have to walk so far to my desk!

Bag Musings

I’ve been meaning to put together a tech bag/urban assault bag/art bag for awhile now, and I found the perfect bag for it: a Swiss Gear small messenger bag. I can’t seem to find any pictures on the web for it, so I suspect that it’s a discontinued model, which is fine because I got it at Meijer for about $25.

This bag has padding in both of its sections, and the main compartment is expandable with a zipper to accommodate the extra room. I can easily carry my netbook, a regular book or my Nook, my sketchbook, and other things.

So, let’s see what I might carry for what applications.

Always Carried:

• cell phone
• pen
• wallet
• misc. bag (contains some meds, tissues, my dues cards for OES and Nile, chapstick, etc)
• my version of the “hipster PDA”: a moleskine calendar and a moleskine small lined book, held together with the stretchy cord of the calendar
• Walkman MP3 player
• keys
• book I’m reading

Art Bag:

• sketchbook
• pencils
• pastel crayons
• drawing ink pen
• small canvases if they fit

Tech Bag:

• netbook
• usb key (holds some of my most important files)
• charger for my netbook (if I’m going to be out or travelling)
• Ubuntu LiveCD (for fixing other people’s computers; happens more than you think!)
• moleskine cashier for notes, even though I use Tomboy Notes for most everything

Other Applications:

• library bag, with Nook and library books
• bag to hold my stuff for Nile; actually this will work; as it holds everything but the charitable giving notebook, but I can carry that in my hands

I don’t know. This bag is very versatile, and I’m hoping to use it for one of these applications. I’m almost keen on replacing my purse with it, but I feel that it’d be too heavy for regular purse use. Also, I have a tendency to load up my bags with too much stuff; this is why I carry a relatively small purse. If I didn’t have a small purse, I’d probably load it up with everything but the kitchen sink and have major back pain as a result.