Some people collect shoes. Some people collect hats. I, apparently, am a collector of moderately priced computer bags, day bags and man-purses.
Or, I should say, a recovering collector of those things. My purchasing habits have slowed drastically over the years.
However, I bought a new computer bag for an upcoming trip. It’s a Timbuk2 Authority Laptop Backpack Deluxe.
I have a peculiar relationship with computer bags because I work from home. So mostly the bags just sit in a corner. But some of the time I’m traveling for business, and on those occasions, I live out of the bag 12+ hours per day.
During the 2010s I used a fantastic Timbuk2 Command messenger-style bag that I loved. I even took it on our African safari.
In 2020 I temporarily switched career tracks, and my new role did not involve travel. I was hired full-time at Oracle, and as part of my welcome package, they sent me a computer backpack, which was a bit of dark comedy because this was June 2020 and nobody was going anywhere.
I returned to tech journalism and the conference round-robin two years ago, and soon I began to fear the Timbuk2 messenger bag was an invitation to a permanent back injury.
For a while, I used the Oracle backpack, but it did not have enough pockets. Everything swam around inside the great cavern and I spent far too much time rooting around looking for sucking candies or whatever. Also, the bag did not have an outside pocket suitable for holding my phone, wallet, Airpods and Apple Watch when going through airport security.
Still, I resisted the temptation to commit a new bag, and switched off between the Oracle bag and the Timbuk2 messenger for a while. I bought an $8 cross-body strap in an attempt to make the Timbuk2 more ergonomic, but that didn’t work out.
At a conference earlier this year, I met a man who also had the same Timbuk2 bag and we bonded over bag nerdery. He had even had his bag modified to permit cord pass-throughs.
Friday, I finally broke down and bought the new Authority backpack. From Timbuk2 again, because that is a brand that has served me well.
The bag was supposed to arrive today but it’s been delayed to tomorrow. I leave for my trip on Tuesday. I hope the bag is not delayed again. Yipes!
In other bag news, Facebook has been tempting me with ads for this Lochby Field Sling. I don’t need it but it is a nice bag and at $59 it isn’t all that expensive, is it? I have been using this lumbar pack that converts to a sling bag, from Mountainsmith, as my daybag when I need a little more pocket space. But that Field Sling is nicer. It has a rotating strap that moves with you! A one-handed hook for easy access! A quick-adjust strap for perfect fit! And it pairs well with the Lochby Mini Pocket Journal, so if I buy the bag and the journal, I will become the sort of person pictured in the ads, who goes out into the woods for adventures and journals about them.
I think we’re going to need to add an extra room to the house for all my bags.