Sometime last year I wrote up what I kept in my bag and carried around with me.  With 2009 coming to an end soon, I thought it would be interesting to go back and see what’s in my bag now, and observe how this has changed and how it’s remained the same.  Importantly, I am no longer a student, having graduated and attained my B.S. in Computer Science, and now hold a regular old job instead.

The Bag Itself

As much as I love my good old Tom Bihn “Empire Builder,” I found it to be a might too large for my everyday haul to work and around with friends.  I picked up this single-strap messenger bag for cheap, and it’s working out just fine so far.

The Buttons

Recently, I’ve expanded upon the buttons pinned to my bag.  On top you’ll see buttons related to some bands I like:  (left to right) Bad Religion, Streetlight Manifesto, The Aquabats, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.  And above that a Bowser pin I’ve had for as long as I can remember.  I would probably have more band pins, except it seems that pretty much punk and ska bands are the only ones that reliably sell official pins, and I’m all about supporting the bands I think really deserve it.

Below, you can see (again, left to right): a Franklin Badge (item found in the Mother/Earthbound series of games, a Slurm pin (the iconic drink from Futurama), a Miskatonic University pin (the institution of higher learning from H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos), and finally an Awesome Face (if you don’t get it, I’m not explaining it).

The Bag Stuff

1. Composition Notebooks – I love these things.  The covers are sturdy, they’re a great size, and it’s paper.  What do I have to say about paper to convince you?
2. Eee PC 901 – Still carrying this around.  Running the latest Eeebuntu distro.  I have it installed with a full LAMP stack so I can demo websites I’m working on without needing internet access.
3. Moleskine Lined Pocket – I like to think of myself as an idea man.  At the same time, I also tend to lose grasp of the really great ideas soon after having them.  The Moleskine is great for just jotting down quick notes or sketches and save them for later.
4. Travel Aspirin – Not so much for me, as the fact I’m constantly encountering friends asking for something for a headache.  I like being helpful.
5. iMetal Earbuds – 10 bucks for a fairly nice set of earbuds off woot.com.  These are my secondary earphones in case I somehow forget my bluetooth headset.
6. Altoids Gum tin with original iPod earbuds – backup backup earphones.
7. Altoids tin with actual Altoids – Have to do something with the altoids if you want the tin!
8. Belkin Mini-Surge – A *great* little power bar. Not only does it expand a single outlet into three on the go, but it has two USB plugs built in for charging USB devices.  Allowed me to leave the old iPod charger at home.
9. Altoids tin with pencil supplies – 0.5mm lead and erasers for my mechanical pencils.
10. Altoids tin with little adapters – Contains a CAT-6 barrel connector, SD to USB adapter, and Micro SD to SD adapter.
11. Ethernet cable – I don’t even need this that often.  Can usually pick up wi-fi just about anywhere.
12. USB Cables – One A to Micro-B for my camera, and one A to Mini-B for nearly everything else.
13. USB Extender Cable – A male to female.  Especially great for my Flip Mino.
14. iPod cable – Have to charge the iPhone somehow.
15. Small round things – 0.5mm Pentel side click mechanical pencils, thin Sharpie, mini tripod.
16. Deck of Cards – Always good to carry a deck of cards.  Never know when you may need to kill some time with friends.

The Held Stuff

Besides what I carry in my bag, I have also taken to keeping my pockets full of a set of standardized items, so I always have them when they’re needed, and I know to always check for them so I don’t lose them.

Here you can see my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS15 (nice little point & shoot I picked up from Costco with a coupon), Flip Mino HD video camera (birthday present, and great device for what it does), iphone 3Gs (no idea what I was doing in life before I had an iPhone), Reef slimline wallet (present from my cousin who used to work for Reef), Jabra BT-620s stereo bluetooth headset (even though I love my music, I’m not exactly a hardcore audiophile, so bluetooth streaming of mp3s from my iPhone is enough for me), and finally iTrip FM broadcaster (so I can listen to music in my car).

The biggest change, I think, is that I no longer carry my tablet PC with me everywhere.  Although I still love it, its purpose has lessened since I’ve left school, giving way to using my netbook more.  I’ve also come to stop carrying my DS and games with me.  When I rode the trolley to SDSU, I had some time on my way to school and back, and between classes to do a little portable gaming.  With my current job, however, my gaming has been relegated entirely to free time at home.  The addition of the Belkin mini-surge has been a great boon as well.  It’s a very handy little power device and I highly recommend it.