I can't bring myself to watch the news from London. As most of our regulars know, I was trapped in the subway on 9/11, and still suffer from PTSD effects.

One way to mitigate those effects is to try and organize against them. Mentally, this make me feel less anxious, and in the (hopefully) unlikely event that I need something, I'll be (hopefully) prepared. I ask my shrink if carrying all this crap around makes me paranoid, and he assures me that these days, it's merely prudent. "Even paranoids have real enemies" (which I thought was a Woody Allen quote but is really Delmore Schwartz.) And of course reading what other people carry around assures me that it's all relative.

We of course have the family emergency package at home, and other stuff in the car. But today I'm enumerating what I carry in my "go bag." This is a small bag that I carry with me, usually in what ever other bag I'm carrying. By having it all in the go bag, I can easily switch from satchel to backback to diaper bag to suitcase to briefcase, without transferring handfuls of stuff from one to the other. I can also use it as an impromptu day pack as needed. The bag I'm using is an Eagle Creek camera bag I picked up at B&H (where I will never! shop! again!). Can't find the bag online now (discontinued?) but the Columbia Departure Bag looks pretty similar. (Note, all product links are to Amazon, but you can probably find cheaper elsewhere if you Froogle.) The stuff in the bag is a mix of Emergency Prep and General Stuff I Might Need.

Main pocket:

• I picked up a Victorinox SwissTool at a stoop sale a while ago and it's a great multitool. The main advantage is that the blades / tools swing out from the handle, so you don't have to open up the pliers to use them, and that the tools lock once they swing into place.
  
• Palm.
  
• Moleskine notebook. The plain black pocket version. For journaling -- I use the Cahier pocket for notes, lists, etc.
  
• Dover farm animals coloring book. One emergency I actually do have to deal with is bored children. A small coloring book has bought me precious minutes of conversation time at restaurants.
  
• Strap for the bag, secured by a rubber band which can also come in handy.
  
• Headset for my cordless phone.
  
• Pak-lite flashlight. I saw this on Cool Tools and had to get it (thanks, Debbie!) -- it's basically an LED flashlight that uses a 9 volt battery for both power source and handle. More info at the manufacturer's site.
  

Inside zippered pocket:

• Pocket survival kit. Clearly the most paranoid item I've got -- now I'm ready to survive for several days in the woods, should the subway get drastically rerouted. More info here.
  
• Matches.
  
• $20 + spare check, clipped together.
  
• 3M respirator mask. Will I ever need to avoid smoke inhalation again? Hope not, but won't bet that the answer's no.
  
• Utility knife. Pretty much like this one. More rural survival than urban, unless I'm planning on fighting the Sharks or the Jets or something. But occasionally useful to have a pocket knife that's not the size and weight of the multitool. With a yellow handle, which is supposedly for "visibility" if you drop it, but I chose because it's less criminal-looking than the black-handled kind.
  
• Phone wire, trimmed to a length of 1 foot. Insta-ruler. Also can tie stuff together.
  
• Clip for my Photon Freedom Micro Light. This (very! cool!) LED is my keychain -- unlike most keychain LEDs, this one 1) stays on when you turn it on, no constant squeezing, 2) has a variable intensity, and 3) blinks. Mine is red, the better for reading in the dark.
  

Outside pockets:

• Pens
  
• Cheap spare sunglasses
  
• 3x5 cards, clipped together
  
• Clipped together: Extra business cards, AAA membership card, Barnes & Noble gift card, extra MTA card.
  

Small zippered pocket:

• Swiss USB drive, "flight safe". A present from Chris, this USB drive also packs a red LED light and a pen. Neat! Apart from general data transfer use, I've got some utilities on there I've picked up from Portable Freeware, including an MP3 player, text editor, FTP program, encryption, PDF maker, unit converter, password generator, and of course Tetris. (Will post full list if anyone's interested, also am open to suggestions.) Speaking of flight safe, I do have two blades in the bag. It's never stopped me in any building security. I'd have to shed the knives before going through any x-rays, like going to City Hall or flying.
  
• Balloons. For the entertainment of toddlers.
  
• Crayons. See "coloring book" above.
  
• Sharpie Mini. These are great -- a tiny Sharpie!
  
• Listerine PocketPak. In a fresh-breath-obsessed culture, a necessary.
  
• Band-aid. There's precious little medical supply in my go bag, but we've got that covered in the family bags, diaper bag, etc.
  

So that's it -- I have three light sources, two sources of fire, two blades, and slightly more peace of mind.

Total weight: 2 lbs 14 oz. Not light, but not back-breaking either.
Size: 9" x 5" x 4"

Name:

Email Address (required but not displayed or shared):

URL (optional):

Remember personal info?

Comments (you may use HTML tags for style):

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.