A while ago The Web Squeeze’s magazine had a feature called “What’s in the Bag” where they asked web “celebrities”, or well known Web Designers & Developers, to tell the world everything that was in a bag - one they might typically take out to a meeting with friends, or to the local Coffee shop to do some work. Or perhaps, the bag that would grace them at a Bar Camp. Most of the items inside were pretty obvious - laptop of some form, mostly Macbooks it has to be said, some notepads, some pens/pencils, maybe a mouse of some sort. So today I decided to post what’s in my bag, having just spent a week away and having to pack such a bag for the first time in a while!
So, into my bag of geeky goodness goes:
1) Macbook + Charger. Couldn’t live without this - vital piece of kit and follows me everywhere. I take the power charger for pretty obvious reasons I think. Most places I visit have Wi-Fi so I’ll usually allow myself some time to catch up on the latest posts in my RSS, browse Twitter or check emails.
2) iPod Touch + Headphones. I could not live without music and although my iTunes library is of course on my laptop it’s a little tricky to just quickly listen to, so everything goes on the iPod. I’m addicted to the BoagWorld podcasts, they make my journeys a little more easy. I went for the iPod Touch for the games and I’m hooked currently on Angry Birds and Football Manager Handheld. I also use the Taskpaper app to sync my to-do list between laptop and iPod, and my schedules are synced via iCal. The headphones are a pair of Skull Candy in-ear ones, not the best but very reasonable considering how skimpy I was when it came to paying for them.
3) A4 Notepad, Pens + Pencils. Pretty obvious - right now I’m revising for exams, all the revision stuff is loaded on the laptop and then when I’m revising I usually write down whatever I need to in the notepad. Also doubles as an ideas book as well. I use pencils for initial ideas and then bold lines with pen when I’m decided on them.
4) Phone (LG Cookie) and Charger. It’s a crap phone but I got it dirt cheap and I like texting people. Not much more to say!
5) Magazines and/or books. I tend to carry any unread copies of .Net around, I’m subscribed but tend to save them up for long journeys as reading material. I buy other magazines occasionally so any I do and don’t read straight away will end up in my bag for consumption when I’m horribly bored or looking for something to do.
6) 8GB Santech USB. Really boring, but you never know when you might need to transfer some files or anything, so I always take this with me just on the off chance.
And that’s it. The bag itself is a rucksack, a Swiss Army bag from the same guys who make those knives people keep raving about, with a built in laptop pouch. I’ve also got a sleeve for the laptop to sit in, I guess I’m overly protective of it!
