I’m currently ‘on-call’ again; i.e. my workplace burns down, some sewer rips open, electric fails, I am the man to call the shots. I’m the guy they call to make the emergency decisions until the next day.
Along with this dubious title/duty is a big-assed binder with a pager. However, I’ve told the on-duty people to call me on my cellphone. But, being in North Dakota, my personal cellphone may not work everywhere I’m supposed to be tomorrow. So, I carry my shop’s cellphone, which has been indicated to go anywhere in the state and can still get reception.
So, tomorrow, as I carry help Webelos learn archery at a day camp, I will carry two cellphones, one beeper, one ‘airfield operations’ radio, and one more ‘civil engineering’ radio (Scope Shield).
I think I’m geeked out. Doesn’t anyone else carry more than this? Why am I reminded of that one particular Dilbert cartoon?
Let’s see. Pager, cell phone, two way radio, digital camera, CD player. You’ve got me beat. But that’s my everyday load that I ride around with on a bicycle, not an aberration.
Lessee … standard workday beltline/pocket load equals:
• cell phone
• pager (sometimes two)
• Palm Pilot
• flashlight
• Leatherman Crunch
• reversible 2-n-1 pocket screwdriver
• Gerber E-Z Out thumb-opening knife
• hemostats
• magnetic ID badge
• remote-entry key fob for car (w/keys, duh)
• sharp-ass scissors (latest addition)
plus assorted other sundries. I have been known to go so far as to add a hand control for a hydraulic surgical table to all this. That gets some interesting looks.
I say “beltline” because I haven’t yet found a pair of scrubs with actual belt loops. Give me time.
Compared to what? A 15th century peasant? Everything I’m wearing right down to my aftershave.
If you mean electronic gadgets, that would be (right now, at work) a short-range radio, digital cell phone, two-way alphanumeric pager, Palm Pilot, keyless entry key fob and windproof cigarette lighter.
Laptop, Handspring Visor with Targus folding keyboard, Archos Jukebox (5 gig portable hard drive/mp3 player), cellphone… other stuff like my Leatherman I don’t think of as technology.
Let’s see… at one time:
[ul]
[li]Handheld Amateur Radio (I’m KC2IBN)[/li][li]Palm with folding keyboard[/li][li]CD Player[/li][li]Digital Camera[/li][li]Calculator[/li][li]CD folder (93 CDs)[/li][li]CD/MP3 player[/li][li]Digital Watch[/li][li]Leatherman Pulse[/li]li a small bendible antenna for my Ham radio, if I’m wearing my coat goes in the sleeve[/li][li]Cell phone[/li][li]FM radio[/li][/ul]
I am looking for electronic devices, but I guess anything will do.
So I made it to the Camporee today. I go back tomorrow. Here’s what I carried:
[ul]
[li] Two Motorola Cellphones (one personal LMT, the other was the shop’s)[/li][li] One Pager[/li][li] One GPS reciever[/li][li] One Palm Pilot (not mine)[/li][li] One Scope Shield ‘CE’ Radio (way the hell outta range)[/li][li] One ‘Airfield Ops’ UHF Radio (also way the hell outta range)[/li][li] One Cobra FRS Handheld Radio (local camp stuff)[/li][/ul]
Yes, this is the most ‘technology’ I’ve carried on one belt loop, completely disregarding my rifles/weapons.
Tripler
My rifle has more technology than the current Space Shuttle.
My “Batman Factor” was certainly up there a couple years ago. These days, I carry only a laptop and cell phone, but back then, I was regularly carrying a 2-way pager, cell phone, MP3 player, Palm Pilot, digital camera and a small voice recorder.
I’m still waiting for that all-in-one device. Damn convergence is always slower than everyone wants it to be.
Personal organizer, digital camera (not mine; Yearbook staff’s) and mechanical pencils and pens of all denominations and creeds. Me not afraid of technology. Now I worship Moon and drag woolly mammoth carcass into hovel.
cell phone
palm V
cable to connect the 2
walkman
1 red led ‘flashlight’
1 white headlamp LED ‘flashlight’
1 keychain LEd white instant on flashlight
1 backup convention flashlight
2 telephone test sets
2 line toners, 1 probe
1 meter
sometimes
gps
sharper image personal cooler
Palm V modem
laptop
I’m, sure there is more but that’s all I got right now
::AHunter3 empties out Targus bag and examines contents::
• One Mac PowerBook (WallStreet), upgraded to 512 MB / 500 MHz / 60 GB
• One laptop battery in expansion bay 1, one CD/RW drive in expansion bay 2
• One spare battery
• One floppy drive module
• One Zip drive module
• Two expansion bay hard drives (18 GB and 8 GB)
• One Apple DVD-ROM expansion bay drive
• One PowerPrint serial-to-parallel adapter + CD with drivers
• One low-end CapSure video digitizing CardBus card
• One ixmicro Road Rocket 2nd-monitor card with VGA and Mac monitor adapters
• One Orange Micro dual Firewire CardBus card
• One PowerUser USB CardBus card
• One Apple MPEG digital video decoding/decompressing CardBus card
• One HDI to DB-25 SCSI adapter / SCSI Disk Mode adapter
• One HDI to Centronix 50 SCSI cable
• One SCSI 50-pin terminator
• One S-video to RCA video adapter
• Two Dual-RCA-to-stereo-minijack adapters
• One long twin cable with RCA jacks on both ends
• One stereo minijack to mono minijack adapter
• One rather elderly Connectix QuickCam serial port video camera
• One Apple ADB mouse
• One ethernet crossover cable
• One Cat-5 ethernet cable
• One Macintosh serial printer cable
• One 3COM Megahertz CardBus modem
• One 3COM-card-to-Nokia-cellular-phone adapter
• One Nokia cellular phone
• One short modular analog telephone cord
• One VGA to Mac DB-15 monitor adapter
• One AC adapter with associated cable to laptop power-in
• Two American AC wall to AC adapter cords (one short one long)
• CD wallet containing ~1300 mins’ worth of MP3s + various s/w installers
That’s a bit more than I regularly carry around with me on a daily basis. Usually I don’t have more than about 3/4 of that stuff in the bag!
