So the fine folks at MeFi have awoken me to the existence of Moleskine notebooks. I’m the sort of person that likes to be able to just jot things down randomly, so I figure I’ll give these a try.
But I’m also going to get one of their weekly planners. I’ve essentially stopped using my Palm, but I need a bit more organization in my life, and I can’t bear to carry around a Filofax, so we’ll see how this works out. The Palm’s just a bit too impersonal, I think, and having a planner with the same general features as my closely-guarded notebook will hopefully get me using it again.
So this got me thinking about all the crap I tend to carry around, so it’s time for yet another round of What’s In Yer Bag. I carry a messenger-style bag everywhere, so there’s an important balance between weight and convenience. (Shut up. It’s not a purse, ok?)
So, this is What’s In My Bag:
- House keys, car keys, on separate rings
- Wallet-like thing that holds cards in a pocket and has a money clip on the back, but which does not fold
- ID badge for work
- Pack of cherry Halls
- Bottle of Tylenol Cold
- Pocket-size pack of Kleenex (I see a pattern!)
- Sunglasses
- Generic dogeared notebook
- Lamy fountain pen, Pilot G-2 ballpoint, lead holder
- Phone
- Handsfree earphone thingie for phone
- Linuxcare bootable business card CD
- SME Server 5.5GPL CD
- Epitaph Records Punk-o-rama 7 CD
- Blackberry (which is what I use as a pager for work)
- Palm complaining about low batteries (always, it seems)
- Two books which change week to week or so; right now, Freeman Dyson’s autobiography and John Ralston Saul’s Reflections of a Siamese Twin
- Jar of Black and White pomade
- Swiffer sheet to leave in the car, if I ever remember
- Current Spin and Atlantic Monthly magazine
- Disposable camera
- Extra car key
- Four paper bookmarks, not counting the two in books
- Carefully-folded plastic bag
- Corkscrew (this was handier in Quebec in the summer)
- Disposable razor
Holy cow. Even I’m boggling at that. No wonder it gets a bit heavy sometimes.
Ok, your turn now. What’s In Yer Bag? (Post in a comment, or in your own journal, or whatever.)
22 responses to “Organization, bag detritus”
I just bought one of those a few weeks ago. They’re neato, in a pretentious beret-at-angle kind of way, and also very well-made.
In ze bag:
It should probably be mentioned that the man-bag lives in my car, and it follows me from there to the coffeeshop and back. That’s really about it. Sometimes from the car to work and back, to fetch or deposit a laptop (It has a nice padded claspable area for that; I think you’ve seen this bag), but not very often. Oh, and it goes on trips as cary-on usually.
And guys dare to make fun of what’s in women’s purses…
In a “going out” bag, for a nice dinner, I put in a lipstick and an eyeliner and my keys and interac card.
In a normal walking bag, I have lots of teeny plastic bags for dog poop, my keys, a lot of crunched up dog treats, and my interac card.
In a doctor bag I have my keys, a puzzle book, and my interac card. Maybe a book.
Usually I don’t carry a bag at all though, I just cram my cellphone & keys & dog bags & treats & interac card into my jacket and go. =)
Well, I’m looking at their site, and I can’t say I get the point. My scratch notebook, for at least the past 5 years, has been a Mead 5-subject college-ruled spiral-bound with cardboard covers, which cost me $2.49 USD. It’s got about a third more paper than their largest book, and it’s still in one piece even after being hauled around in my backpack almost every day for all these years. I’ve got nothing against nice blank books, but… $16 USD plus shipping seems like a rather silly price to pay just to have a European-Intellectual-Cetified ™ notebook.
Hmmm. Maybe if it was refillable, I’d understand.
Alas, I cannot participate in the “What’s In Your Bag?” poll, as I am congenitally incapable of answering that question without a) giving into the temptation of the obvious innuendo, and b) using the word “rhinoceros”. My sense of propriety bids me keep silent.
As for journals, I got HJ and fimm journals from here, each with a different design. They’re pretty nifty! The paper inside you write in and take out of the leather case, and just replace with refills. Nifty. =)
Alas I carry no bag. Just my recycled rubber wallet and my hand-tooled leather journal with my Rotring 600 fountain pen clipped to the leather strap. Most of that is stimps’ fault. Without her I’d probably just run around in a loin cloth with my money tied into my hair.
Ooh, I like those, although they’re not really my style. Also, I just finished catching up on bOINGbOING, and I’m considering grabbing one of these ex-book notebooks instead,
just for camp value. :) Maybe
this one
or this one, although I’m not a huge fan of the spiral binding.
What I really need is a Moleskine that isn’t a Moleskine. I don’t particularly
care that I’m using the same notebook as Hemingway, but the devil is in the details,
and the lay-flat sewn binding, perfect size, little elastic strap, bookmark ribbon,
good paper, and little cloth/elastic inward-facing pocket in the back just make
them right. A bit expensive, yeah, but a notebook lasts me a while at my normal level of verbosity.
I still need a planner/agenda/organizer thingie, though. I completely fail to
understand why Filofax/Day-Timer type things cost as much as they do. I couldn’t
find anywhere around here that carries the Moleskine ones (which are
reasonably priced in the wacky world of planners), even if they carried the
notebooks.
wow you guys carry a lot! in my purse right now:
1 paper mate comfort mate medium pen
1 wallet with all the regular stuff in it
1 hairbrush
2 tiny tins of necessary medications, 1 prescription (headache and asthma/allergy) and 1 otc (tylenol, allergy)
1 balance bar+ – flavor lemon meringue
my cell phone
my pager
1 tweety bird address book and notebook
2 lipsaver sunscreen lip balms
2 MAC lipsticks, colours sheer plum and touch
1 rescue asthma inhaler
1 emergency otc nasal spray
and that’s all folks!
oh, and a litre bottle of arrowhead water in hand if it doesn’t fit inside my purse. the amount of medications varies seasonally.
Heh, you’ll have to hurry… I ordered five of those notebooks today. =) And the second url you pointed to is gone… which one was it? Maybe I already got it. =D
HJ ordered me a Surly Squid hat from these knitting guys on boingboing last week, too. La la la, squid squid squid! =)
> Well, I’m looking at their site, and I can’t say I get the point.
It’s hard to explain. Someone in the MeFi thread who didn’t get it at first finally got it, and wrote “Oh! It’s like me and my Model M!”. (Since I’m also a Model M fan, that explained a lot to me — your mileage may vary.)
I mentioned the details in my response to stimps — sure, some people buy them because of the names/history associated with them, but I like them because they’re just done so right. They’re a little expensive — I think the small lined one here is $18 — but my glued-binding, won’t-lay-flat, just-paper-and-cover (but slightly larger) notebook was $10.
I suppose what I mean to say is that I agree they’re overpriced, but they’re not injuriously so. I’ll blow the extra eight bucks and get something that I’ll not only enjoy using but quietly admire the construction while doing so. :)
Your rhinocerous etiquette is appreciated, although your karma de maison remains constant, having been offset by the image of Halfjack I unfortunately obtained after reading his comment.
It was The Mystery at Rustler’s Fort. Proxy caching has confused me as to availablity! I think I might keep an eye out at used bookstores for a Tom Swift or Hardy Boys book to have done.
OH! i have two filofaxes. they get too awkward to carry though, even the one smaller size. i only take them on trips because they have the fold out maps i need in them. ;)
…inhalers. I’m supposed to be carrying them around, but I keep forgetting. =/ Bad me!
yes! bad you! go find them and put them in your bag. ;)
Your cats have such great NOSES.
haha thanks! and jiggys makes three. :)
Ingy did that once. He was showing off his dual-usage giant clip, which could tie up his hair or act as a money clip. I pointed out that he couldn’t do both at the same time, so he clipped a hundred-dollar bill into his hair. He kept saying “It’s pimpin’ style, man! Pimpin’!”
This was as we were heading to the Pan Pacific hotel to schmooze with the Perl Whirl cruisegoers. Over the course of the night his reserve dwindled until he only had a forlorn $20 attached to his head. “It’s… ghetto, man…”
I carry close to nothing in my bag. Some loose change and allan keys to fix the bike. One or two books; currently Eco’s Baudolino and my old Oracle Design O’Reilly book. A cheap notebook to record random things at work. Pens. Wrap Zone customer loyalty card.
oh! yes, and my keys. a heart shaped keyring with three cartoon kitty faces engraved on it, one that looks like each one of my cats. i have a house key, a locker key and two sets of car keys. heavy keys do not rule.
I played before I knew it was a game, back when I played “What’s in its pocketsesssss?” as well. Do note that neither of these lists are entirely accurate anymore. I don’t even carry the bag around nowadays, for the most part.
I’ve also had a previous run-in with Moleskine. They truly are lovely, quite so. For my uses, however, they are far overqualified and overpriced. Do note that the much, much cheaper alternative fell apart from being in my back pocket.
It was less than 1/12 the price, though.
sunglasses
small pencil from Ikea
MAC vivaglam red lipstick
gold gel pen
purple pilot pen
aprtment keys, partner’s keys
Trident cinnomen gum
cherry lypsyl
Orthodox Prayer booklet
wallet:
bank card
OHIP card
libray card
phone card
SIN card
Hospital card
buspass
Canaidan Tire money(35 cents)
five dollar bill
5 dollars in change
Bridghead coffee card
Jack purcell gym /pool card
various buissness cards from family,friends resturants ect..
(thats it for the wallet)
Starbucks mints
“Emily” diary
day timer
tampon/pad
hand sanitizer
bottle water
new National Geographic
silver braclet.
Thats whats in my bag…
but lots of pockets. With my jacket on I usually have
I’m toying with pickup up a notebook and reasonably decent pen though…