Ask HN: What do you take with you?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1507246

by jason_tko • 16 years ago

24 56 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Whats in your utility belt when you leave home? Back in the day, I used to sport an SCOTTeVEST loaded with all sorts of PDAs, gadgets, and tools.

These days, I've consolidated to a cashclip, an iPhone 4, and a key chain (with an innocuous 19-in-one tool set).

How about you?

ambulatorybird• 16 years ago

Wallet, keys, a few kleenexes, and a wristwatch. Sometimes coins, if I expect to need them.

JacobAldridge• 16 years ago

I have my power-three: money clip, phone, keys. When my wife drives (and leaves the keys in her handbag) I realise just how often I subconsciously check myself for all three when out and about.

I like a clean handkerchief - useful for everything from an acute bout of the common cold to the acutely embarrasing spillage of a colleagues coffee cup while on the phone.

As a boy, I always wanted to be the one with the string and the buttons and the matchbox full of interesting odds and ends in my pockets. It never happened, so the fixation remains. Perhaps a smartphone will solve that for me - Twine? They have an app for that!

trouble• 16 years ago

Wallet, keys, phone, pocketknife and lip balm in my bag or pockets. Notebook (the paper kind) and MBP if I'm going to uni. I don't own a utility belt (although I would very much like to some days) because I keep my tools at work or in the car.

andrewtj• 16 years ago

Cash, phone and keys with high odds of a camera or leatherman.

dotBen• 16 years ago

In my pockets: Wallet, keys (inc utili-knife key), HTC EVO, gerber pocket knife, leatherman skeletool (carbon fiber edition), antihistamine tablets (due to severe allergies).

In the bag: MBP, power adaptor, 20' extension cable with several sockets at the end, belkin travel surge protector, spare battery (I have an old-gen MBP), beats-by-dre studio headphones in protective case, two pairs of v-moda bassfreq headphones, iPad, iPhone USB cable (for iPad), (paper) notebook + pen, DVI-to-VGA adaptor, epi-pen + antihistamine drugs, emergency Cliff bar for energy drops, business cards,.

philwelch3• 16 years ago

Wallet, phone, knife, keychain with mini-maglite. A mini-maglite is an eminently practical thing to have around--just as durable as a full sized maglite, powerful enough for most uses, and easy to carry around. It also makes a nice big keychain handle.

My bag traditionally carries more stuff: water bottle, MacBook, caffeine pills, pens, note cards, power adapter, highlighter, calculators, post-it notes, whatever paper I have accumulated since I last garbage-collected.

c1sc04• 16 years ago

Caffeine pills? Please educate me on that.

rdl10• 16 years ago

OTC caffeine pills: 250-500mg caffeine (about 3-6 cups of coffee equivalent), with the difference being it's much cheaper than coffee, and more deleterious to your stomach. Less liquid, so it's much easier to dehydrate yourself, or get to dangerous (2-3g) caffeine levels. You might actually notice minor-league OD symptoms off 2 pills (500mg), and definitely at 1g.

Really, a bad idea. Modafinil (provigil) or ritalin (methylphenidate) or adderall (d-amphetamine salts) are probably safer physically than caffeine pills, but potentially more addictive.

thomas11• 16 years ago

I make sure to always have a paper notebook with me. I use it for anything from to-do lists to scribbling software designs and ideas. Often, I open it on the bus and don't even write anything in it. It has become a kind of token or reminder in that it makes me focus on ideas or planning my day instead of just getting lost in random thoughts. Although the latter is also important from time to time!

Also, the current Economist. It's small and light and ensures I always have some good reading available.

jason_tko2• 16 years ago

No one is carrying around an iPad?

rdl10• 16 years ago

I have an iPad and carry it frequently, although usually also in the same bag with a kindle dx and 15 inch mbp. iPad is better for use waiting for flights for casual web browsing, or kindle app in unlit rooms.

c1sc04• 16 years ago

Agree on the iPad for airport use. Most of the time my MBPro stays packed in my bag & I just use the iPads on planes these days. One thing that is a bit silly though is when you're reading an eBook & then during take-off/landing you sit around twiddling your fingers while everyone else continues reading their paper books.

rdl10• 16 years ago

Glock 19, 2 extra mags with floor plate extension. Kershaw ao knife, novatac edc 120 lumen flashlight. Blackberry 9700 with bes and free data roaming, nexus one w local sim. Keys w led flashlight. Identity card holder w 4 id cards and credit card and eagle cash card. Wristwatch. Hat w 100 bill inside, sunglasses.

Usually also either a vest or one of two shoulder bags with first aid and mags, sat phone, laptop and or iPad or kindle dx, some snacks, cisco console cable. Bigger bag (3 day assault pack or one size bigger) for trips, and spares in my car or the truck, and my trailer. I have a good point and shoot in most bags or on armor, and I have etymotics or ultimate ears canal phones. I also sometimes carry a canon in a dedicated d slr bag.

In civilization, largely the same, except sometimes ruger LCR 38 and or a sig mix and match with the g19 in some combination, or just knife and flashlight if carry is unadvised. Also I carry a wallet instead of ID holder.

jason_tko2• 16 years ago

From your bio : "Currently doing defense IT/medical contracting in the middle east."

Holy crap.

Have you been in any firefights ?

rdl10• 16 years ago

Aside from people ineffectually shooting at my aircraft, not in years. I have had mortars land vaguely nearby though.

Almost involved in 3 possibly fatal car accidents in Kuwait earlier this year though, but luckily I am a fairly competent driver and swerved around or braked ... Riding a motorcycle in the USA would he great preparation for driving a car here.

JoeAltmaier2• 16 years ago

Could be hard to get into the grocery store/movies/mall with that stuff. Coffee shop, not so hard depending :)

rdl10• 16 years ago

I think my concealed carry permits in the US are good in about 40 states (WA NH NV UT FL NH OR ME MA). Aside from CA and NY, I basically avoid the others (IL WI IA NJ mainly).

It is slightly crazy, but I think I am going to Strongly Encourage that everyone in my next startup get concealed carry permits, plus own firearms, even though it is not at all core to the business -- mainly because friday afternoon at the range once or twice a month might be a fun team-building exercise.

robertgaal• 16 years ago

Be short to post pics too. My daily stuff is here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueace/3517491753/

pclark• 16 years ago

in pocket: iPhone 4, keyring (2 keys + office door tag), suit wallet, business cards.

in briefcase:

squared paper moleskine, car keys, pencil case (various 0.4mm pens, toothbrush, felt pen, lighter), wayfarer sunglasses, passport, business cards, 15" MBP & display port to vga adapter.

catch404• 16 years ago

Bike lock, clip on red bike light, camera (digital point and shoot) ipod, ipod cable, headphones every now and then. Pen and notepad. Bike stuff just stays in bag even though I commute by car/ walk to work.

harisenbon• 16 years ago

I'm apparently pretty boring: Ipod Touch, 2 Cellphones (work, personal), Thermos, lunchbox, and a bunch of papers for work. Small folding fan, three train passes and my business cards. Used to carry a pocket electronic dictionary with me until the clasp broke last week.

If I'm not going to work, I'm down to: Wallet, 1 cellphone, car keys. The ipod comes if I'm going somewhere with internet, or I think I might be bored.

mrlyc• 16 years ago

Wallet, keys, gym membership key fob, unironed handkerchief, coins, engine immobiliser remote control, five year old Nokia 3315 phone and a PDA. The PDA is usually a four year old Palm Pilot Tungsten E2 with a 1 Gig SD card full of author intervews, biographies and management podcasts. I also take a spare 1 Gig card wth more podcasts in case the first one runs out. Occasionally the PDA is a six year old Palm Pilot Tungsten E with music on its SD card.

Perhaps I'd better explain about the handkerchief. I discovered that, if I fold an unironed one, put it in my pocket and pull it out later, it looks like it's been ironed and is getting a bit crumpled whereas the truth is that it started out really crumpled and is getting flatter. Saves ironing and ends up looking the same.

olalonde• 16 years ago

Wallet, small phone, cigarettes, lighter.

edanm• 16 years ago

If you're really interested in this, the best place I've found is the "Everyday Carry Forums", where they talk about this all day long: http://edcforums.com/. Here's my list:

In pockets:

* Wallet. I looked around for a looong time for the perfect wallet, then I found these guys: http://www.all-ett.com/. I use one with leather lining, and it's an amazingly thin wallet, but which looks like a regular one. Has space for all my cards (not that many), plus some money.

* Cellphone (Samsung Touch, a terrible phone I'm stuck with)

* Keychain - An openable metal ring for easy removal of stuff, which right now include: Car keys, house keys, 8gb flash disk, and an old CPLD chip from my former job with a hole in the middle.

In back pockets:

* Coins, rarely. I almost never keep coins on me, but sometimes you get stuck with them after cash transactions (I prefer credit cards any chance I can use them).

* Extra keys, if I need (taking a different car than my regular one, etc.).

Used to have or want:

* Used to carry a small LED flashlight (don't remember which), but it lost its battery and hasn't been replaced (sadly).

* Wish I had a small pen.

* Have a Leatherman Squirt pocket everything, but don't usually carry it around.

almost• 16 years ago

Thanks! That wallet looks like just what I've been looking for.

eBay would appear to be the place to get them. Cheaper and, more importantly for me, international shipping.

chunkbot2• 16 years ago

I noticed that everyone here is using a MacBook Pro 15" laptop. Why is that?

kngspook• 16 years ago

Can't speak for everyone else, but personally:

The 2" of extra screen real-estate doesn't give me a huge benefit usually (not enough to put two windows side-by-side); but it does widen the laptop enough to make it harder to use in tight spaces (ie. airplanes), and it does make the laptop heavier.

On the other hand, at the time I bought my MBP, the 13" MacBook Pro was not a Pro. I'm honestly not sure what I would get these days. I might go for the 13", and get a bunch of external stuff (display, mouse, keyboard, but mostly the display).

rdl10• 16 years ago

I have a "seriously tore up" 15" MBP from spring 2008 which I carry with me for really mobile use, and a 17" 2010 MBP which sits in my "base" location for weeks at a time. I went that route, vs. the 15" HD, because I can't easily have an external monitor while being mobile -- otherwise, the 15" HD seems to be the best, coupled with an external 24, 27, or 30.

I am considering getting a 13" MBP or maybe an x301 or panasonic s9 whenever they next get bumped. I don't care for netbooks (too weak), but a long battery life small laptop would be a nice tool. The lack of a keyboard on the ipad cripples me; often, the blackberry is more useful.

philwelch3• 16 years ago

I have a 13" aluminum MacBook with external display, keyboard, and mouse, and highly recommend that setup. I downsized from a 15" PowerBook to 13" MacBooks long ago, and with the aluminum ones ("Pro" or not) they are fantastic machines.

chunkbot2• 16 years ago

I mean, why Macs in general? I thought most people here were using some form of Linux, but I guess not?

rdl10• 16 years ago

Apple makes better hardware than most of the PC manufacturers. The only mon-Mac laptops I like as hardware are the Lenovo T, W, and X series. I have some IBM/lenovo laptops too. Some of the Panasonic business-rugged laptops (W, T, S series) are also nice, but driver support is often weak.

Linux itself on laptops sucks more than on any other platform -- driver support, ACPI/APM support, etc. all suffer vs. Mac. OSX is a pretty decent Unix OS (although since I use ubuntu for most of my servers, the slight syntax variation vs. linux gets annoying). I also really like having Keynote, Pages, and Numbers available -- OpenOffice just doesn't do it for me. And, I use Adobe CS4 (mainly Illustrator and Photoshop). And for a gui text editor, TextMate is nice. And OmniGraffle.

Basically, Mac commercial software is a big plus, but fundamentally it's about having a great working Unix laptop which requires minimal tweaking out of the box.

lukeqsee• 16 years ago

Linux is for computer specific hackers.

Mac is for hackers in general.

Besides, I'll get a MBP (you can't beat the hardware quality) and put Linux on it. So who's to say they don't have Linux on it?

c1sc04• 16 years ago

Because it's a fairly sturdy machine that makes a great portable workstation? For me it's because I'm invested in the platform: whenever I start a new big project I get myself a new one. (Bonus if I can convince someone else to get me one.) I like how there is absolutely zero friction in the purchase decision: I already know what I'll get & I don't have to go through the agonizing process of configuring the machine. (both hardware & software) It's an expendable high-quality tool that gets the job done.

spcmnspff• 16 years ago

N95, EeePC 1005PE, Pilot G207 Black, a wallet containing essential wallet deelies and a towel.

ahlatimer• 16 years ago

iPhone 4, wallet, bag of tobacco, lighter, keys, and a portable HDD.

GiraffeNecktie• 16 years ago

Palm Tungsten C (yes, really!) for reading books and studying Chinese, really crappy Windows phone, Sansa Fuze MP3 player (for listening to Chinese, not music), Canon SD790 pocket camera, small notepad in a nice flip pad with penholder, Harrap's Chinese Pocket Grammar, teeny wallet (basically just a little leather pocket with a zipper), ID badge for work, keys, coins, lint. I really need to either consolidate my electronics into one device or start wearing suspenders.

Naga• 16 years ago

The Palm Tungstens were great machines when they were new.

ams1• 16 years ago

There's a flickr group devoted to this: The Items We Carry http://www.flickr.com/groups/theitemswecarry/pool/

vollmond• 16 years ago

* Keys (car, house x3 [handle/deadbolt/back door], work office, various cards [library/discount])

* Phone (HTC Droid Eris, was great until VZW botched the 2.1 update)

* Wallet (always too full; I tend to accumulate receipts in here)

* Pen (Charcoal black Lamy Safari fountain pen. Never go anywhere without it)

* Moleskine (if it wouldn't look too out of place. I nearly always throw it in the car and take it in to many places)

csomar• 16 years ago

Keys (obviously to get back home), Portfolio (With identity card, driving license, credit card and some cash), Mobile Phone.

That's all, what do I need else? (Sometimes I bring a Usb Flash)

jasonkester• 16 years ago

I'm surprised at how many people carry a phone with them everywhere.

I treat my phone like a phone, and generally leave it at home. It has voicemail, so if you leave a message I'll call you back in a day or so. Unless I'm out of the country in which case you should probably just email me.

I mean sure, if I'm going to be meeting up with people it's nice to have along in case plans change. But for the most part I just don't want people to be able to break my concentration whenever they choose to.

mcknz• 16 years ago

ah, to be single again....

djb_hackernews• 16 years ago

You must not get out very much if it takes a small poll online in 2010 to figure out most people carry a cell phone with them everywhere they go.

elechi• 16 years ago

Lunch bag: California innovations. It's big, so I carry inside that a water bottle, knife for apples, and keys.

Inside pockets: wallet, crappy LG phone, and my ipod so I can ignore others on the train.

I usually get the daily newspaper to occupy my time on the train otherwise.

pavelludiq• 16 years ago

A crappy cell phone i use to talk to other people, and a crappy Chinese mp3 player i use to listen to music. A fancy swiss army knife. A copy of K&R in my back pack(just in case). A pack of cigarettes and a lighter, occasionally matches.

pasbesoin• 16 years ago

I've found a compact camera to be a decent "portable photocopier". I'll have to sign something, or I'll see something I'd like to follow up on. "Snap" -- no problem.

Mine's a bit older but has (for the time) especially good light sensitivity, so that in most settings I can take a decent picture without flash (which would wash out a document): Fuji F31fd. I also had a Canon A640, until it was stolen. Much better lens, but a generation prior to vibration dampening and so the same shots were chancy at best. I guess anything with dampening would suit the purpose, though the Fuji gets 500 odd shots on a single charge.

P.S. If the document has sensitive data, make sure you don't lose the camera! (You might want to pop the storage card and carry it separately.)

Sukotto• 16 years ago

* two-currency wallet

* locking folding knife ($1 from Walmart so I don't care if the TSA steal it)

* Phone

* Car keys

dzlobin• 16 years ago

I'm surprised how much shit people carry.

I keep it limited to a wallet, which has my I'd two credit cards and cash.

My blackberry bold 9000

And my car key. Sometimes a lighter/cigarettes

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