Category: Electronics

Essentials for your laptop bag

I have three basic groups I carry in my laptop bag; aka My Writing Kit:

Dell 3531 Laptop in its cocoon
Dell 3531 Laptop in its cocoon

1. Computer Group.
The laptop, THIS ONE, and the wall charger. I do plan on adding a spare battery.

2. File Group.
Literally files and perhaps a notebook.

3. Goodies Group.
This is the group we’ll focus on here.

So what does the well stocked laptop bag hold within it’s Goodies Group?
The Comfort Kit.
The Charger Kit.
The Food and Drink Kit.

In the Comfort Kit we have:
* Flents ear plugs, purple. 33db noise reduction on these babies.
* One of those thin fleece caps, for those really cold coffee shops lol. A regular baseball cap should hold in enough heat.
* Nose drops, Afrin regular. Much better than desiccating yourself with allergy pills or the like.
* Pack of tissues.
* Headphones. I just have the latest Apple earbuds and figured out how to (re)pack them in that case they come in.
* First Aid kit. Just a little pocket one which has Ibuprofen and a band-aid. Basically one of THESE, plus one or two Alka-Seltzer Plus in Citrus. I think the Cold and Cough version. I just use it in case of over-eating lol.
* A new blush brush. Yep, you read that right. I use it to clean off the keyboard and the screen.
* A Swiss Army Knife, like the Classic, is useful. Jut remember it’s there when flying. I have a SAK Bantam on my keychain.

The Charger Kit:
* Laptop charger
* Portable battery pack with USB out, at least 1 amp. I still have an Eneloop KBC-L2 pack rated at 5,000mAH. It’s roughly the size of a deck of cards.
* USB cable for iPhone
* Wall charger for iPhone. Naturally it will charge through any USB cable.

The Food and Drink Kit:
Just one or two 16oz water bottle and one or two food bars or Snickers. I also sometimes use a 16oz Pilot’s Flask since they are flat-ish and easier to pack.

It all fits into a Targus laptop bag most similar to THIS ONE. This is the only bag I have right now that accommodates this laptop (the Dell is a full 15 inches wide) and as you can see the interior pockets are empty. I don’t want anything to scratch up the laptop or crack the lid.

Not the perfect bag which is why I’m looking at the Netpack Comp Brief I and the Solo Urban 17 😀

Front flap stuff (and things) in the laptop bag
Front flap stuff (and things) in the laptop bag

Some of the laptop bag goodies laid out
Some of the laptop bag goodies laid out

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My Dry Tortugas article has been published

Remember to Twitter and comment, thanks!

Article header, QST Magazine, March 2015
Article header, QST Magazine, March 2015
Alright 😀

Here is a PDF link to the draft version: QST Dry Tortugas article

Three months of prep to get over to Dry Tortugas; specifically Garden Key, home of Fort Jefferson.

My view from the bow of the ferry on approach to Fort Jefferson on Garden Key, Dry Tortugas
My view from the bow of the ferry on approach to Fort Jefferson on Garden Key, Dry Tortugas

Fun fact:
I wrote the article BEFORE heading over. 😀
I used it to create my plan of action in getting to the Key, setting up and operating my ham radio station and developing goals for each day.
Then I edited the article accordingly. I was about 90% on with my article. 😀

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Posing next to the 1/4 wave vertical antenna on the North Coaling Docks at Fort Jefferson, Garden Key, Dry Tortugas
Posing next to the 1/4 wave vertical antenna on the North Coaling Docks at Fort Jefferson, Garden Key, Dry Tortugas
Posing at the entrance to Fort Jefferson on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas
Posing at the entrance to Fort Jefferson on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas

The One Thing I truly despise about my iPhone

It’s just the one, I promise. My Blackberry 8310 had this as well.

The thing that bothers me so much about it on the iPhone though, like my 6 Plus, is due to the way I use the iPhone.

iPhone 6 Plus Dan Passaro

So you’re there on your phone: composing an email, prepping a tweet, editing a photo, taking video … and a text message comes in.

What happens?

Not much. The banner comes down with a preview of the text. Then it goes away.

Unobtrusive.

Same thing with email alerts, app alerts, etc.

No. Big. Deal.

But if the phone rings?

BOOM! YOU ARE COMPLETELY BLOWN OUT OF WHATEVER YOU WERE DOING!

Video gets killed, edits lost on a photo, etc.

I’ve had the iphone since the 3. I still get furious when the ******** thing goes off in my face.

“Well dude, it’s called an i’PHONE’ dude.”

Yeah, but it’s not ‘just’ a phone quite frankly. It never was. The iPhone was always a multi-function tool.

With the Blackberry it wasn’t bad.

What I don’t understand is why the damn iPhone phone function can’t just give a half screen dropdown with the number/label and Decline/Accept right underneath WITHOUT nuking the app you were in.

It really does irritate the hell out of me lol.

Ok, rant off 😀

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