Minimalist Gear-Head Go Bag
Maybe it started here before here, and since I’m not doing anything longer than an airport concourse for humping a ruck, I’m not worried about shoulder strain. Back to the single strap shoulder bags. Almost daily carry. At least once or twice a week, these days.
The minimalist gear-head go bag, to start with, it doesn’t require a laptop. For a while, I was thinking of dragging out my favorite briefcase, which, in most iterations and its heaviest use, was just an undergraduate book-bag. Still, the saddle-leather briefcase is older than the stand-up desk.
The old briefcase doesn’t have room for clothing, which is why the original Timbuk2 canvas laptop bag is still quite useable, even more desirable than its recent family mates. Except for this one, the minimalist I use from time to time, like over nights and fishing trips when a laptop isn’t required.
Because of the success with the original canvas bag, I opted for the same outer covering, with a bright inside. Then, an “airplane ticket” wallet plus a small wire bag for the loose ends, and I’m set.
Things to always include? A stereo to stereo jumper cable. That one is pink, cost two dollars, and is quite useful for plugging into rent cars as well as friends’ cars, when there’s that, “Dude, dude, you just have to hear this (band, music, opera, audio, &c.)”
A small assortment of pills, laxatives, anti-diarrhea, antihistamine, expectorant, never an tell what’s required. I try not to have any more of those “I don’t know what this pill is” situations. Those can go badly — see this Pisces Horoscope.
Part of the gear I like to carry everywhere? It includes a bottle opener, and most recently, I discovered the “Mexican” colas and waters generally don’t have twist-off tops. That and some phone charging cords, whatever flavor of phone.
As of now, I make sure I carry a ten — or 12 — watt Apple i-thing charger. Leftover from the battery-draining iPad Three I carried for a spell. One place I stayed, the little power strip wasn’t on and I discovered that it’s hard to process credit cards with a dead battery.
The minimalist approach changed with my own, gradual acceptance of eBooks over regular books. Sure, my first iPhone carried around an app with the combined works of Shakespeare, but I still relied on paperback copies of some texts. Not so much, not anymore.
While this Shakespeare Pro app is much improved over the original iPhone version, the tiniest problem with an otherwise excellent collection — the collected works plus apocrypha — the search function is weak in that it only searches in one scene at time. I’d prefer it to search the whole act, but that’s a tiny problem in an otherwise wonderful way to carry digital Shakespeare everywhere.
It’s hard — for me — to fact check quotes on the iPhone version. However, the iPad app is excellent with the right amount of summary matched with easy-to-read linear texts, with a slightly hampered copy function. I wish it would grab line numbers, at least, in addition to the highlighted text. Again, so minor in imperfection, otherwise, a huge boon to my studies and ramblings. Part of why that minimalist Go Bag doesn’t have to include texts anymore, just an odd magazine or novel.
Minimalist Gear-Head Go Bag
