SQL Business Intelligence Professional

Checking out the Wimbledon coverage on the Tennis Channel, I noticed an interesting segment of sixty seconds or so.  Called “Bag Check”, it consisted of a micro-interview of a pro, while they emptied the contents of their racket (or racquet) bag narrating the point of the contents.  Though I cannot recall the name of the pro, it was amusing hearing him explain why he carried a laptop, clean underwear and a DVD copy of “Platoon”.

The segment spurred my thinking for a quick blog post on the contents of my laptop bag.  As both my speaking engagements in addition to my “day job” have me traveling a bit, I believe in 13 short years of this work, I have nearly perfected living the Boy Scout Motto of “Be Prepared”.

That said, below is a shot of the contents of my current bag of choice, a North Face Surge.  Additionally, I have added a bulleted list of all the items (roughly left to right) and a short rationale for their inclusion.

• Pens, including a Tide Pen for the occassional coffee spill
• External Hard Drive Case containing - USB Cable and Drive
• HP Laptop with External Battery (when the battery is dead, the fun is done)
• AC Adapters for Laptop and HP Mini
• Motorola H12 Bluetooth Headset
• External VGA Adapter Cable for HP Mini
• Belkin Cable Kit with - Ethernet, Ethernet Crossover and USB A/B Configurations
• iPhone Sync/Charge Cable
• Mini USB Cable for Charging my company-issued HTC Dash
• Apple Airport Express (for archaic hotels and the occassional client)
• Microsoft Notebook Mouse
• Sony ICD-UX70 MP3 Recorder. (Great for recording user interviews)
• Gerber Infinity Ultra LED Flashlight
• Business Cards
• Belkin BZ103050vTVL Mini Surge Protector/Dual USB Charger (so I can charge USB devices without my laptop)
• Passport and travel case with affinity membership credentials
• HP Mini 1000 – (A. There is no airline seat devised that will prevent me from working, B. Great for augmenting client interviews via OneNote)
• Corsair Flash Voyager keychain drive 16GB (you can’t always count on wifi or cellular data to exchange files)
• Advil (I am a consultant)
• iPod Video (thing holds everything that I leave off my iPhone)
• Nikon Coolpix 5100 (turns every whiteboard into an ‘electronic’ whiteboard)