I have a Day Job (Tealium) and then I have my own life. As a geek that means 2 computers… correction, as a PARANOID geek, that means 2 computers. Sadly that also means 2 phones, and so far only 1 tablet (but that’s just for video, shopping, and browsing). I like a nice healthy separation of “church and state”. Not too bad when you sit at a desk, but I travel basically every other week (if not every) for my job. This means if I’m gone for a week and want to do my own stuff at night, that I have to lug both with me.

Current Equipment

Right now I have a 2014 15” MacBook Pro for work, and the 2016 15” MacBook Pro for personal. We are talking 4.46 pounds for work (https://support.apple.com/kb/sp704?locale=en_US), and 4.02 pounds for personal (https://support.apple.com/kb/SP749?locale=en_US). My iPad 4 Mini is about 0.65 pound (https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini-4/specs/). And even 0.375 pounds per iPhone 6 Plus (https://support.apple.com/kb/sp706?locale=en_US), so that’s 0.75 pounds just on phones. That is a whopping 9.88 pounds of equipment. Now throw in 2 power bricks (since they are different models), a power adaptor for the iPad, 1-2 cubes for the iPhones, cables and adapters. I’ll say that’s at least an extra pound. So just about 11 pounds of equipment.
Did I mention I’m a photographer? My Nikon D750 comes in at 1.85 pounds (http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d750/spec.htm) without lens. Add in my 24-120mm (http://amzn.to/2zdAqx1) and my 70-300mm (http://amzn.to/2BNxx9e) lenses, and you get about 1.57 and 1.69 pounds, respectively. So that is 5.11 pounds, and throw in the 6 extra batteries, travel charger, gorilla-pod-like tabletop tripod, and filters, and you are adding another pound’ish… so about 6 pounds of camera equipment.
We are at 15.88 pounds of equipment. We haven’t included note books (which of course I have 2… and a pocket one too), passport, sunglasses, mini first aid kit (yes, I’m a Boy Scout so “Be Prepared”), a bunch of pencils and pens to write/draw with, a small paperback book, emergency toiletries, power bank, business cards, wallet, keys, headphones, umbrella, and my pharmacy bag (you are exposed to LOTS of germs traveling as much as I do). That’s easily another 3-6 pounds. We are talking 20+ or so pounds I carry… and then the actual bag to carry it in (that’s a separate post). I’m pretty certain that I’m missing quite a lot of things on that list, as it feels like my bag weighs more like 30-40 pounds. Carry that around the airport, between offices I’m visiting, and any walking around I do sight-seeing.
“That all amounts to a lot of back/shoulder pain.”
As a Geek and a Survivalist, I hate to NOT have the right equipment, and also not to have my “toys”. So the Geek in me says “Lets make a project(s) to solve each problem”.

A New Project Is Born

Lets lay out the things I need to solve:
  • My Equipment List
    • Starting roster, and iterations
  • Minimize Computer needs
    • Setting up a “Travel Computer” – Research
    • iPad as my Travel “Computer” – Part 2
  • Minimize Photography needs
    • The hunt for a new Camera?
    • The hunt for a travel tripod
    • Different Lenses?
  • Minimize Phone needs
    • Consolidating Personal and Work phones
  • Minimize my “Extras”
    • Packing Systems and Multi-purpose Items
  • Something to carry it in
    • Backpack Fetish and the Eternal Hunt for the “Perfect” Bag
I’ll start off with the above list, and links to posts as I “complete” them, and/or add more… but I see this as a never-ending journey. One of the Pro’s/Con’s of being a Geek is the constant desire to Optimize things and make them “better”. Sadly it leads to a lot of money and time spent, and a lot of indecisiveness from also being a Miser. One problem though is that I’m insanely busy with work. Since I run a Global team, this means LOOONG days, and am absolutely EXHAUSTED and have little/no time to work on this project in long stints, and certainly no time to document it. So I’m taking advantage of my holiday time at the end of the year to catch up to where I am to date, and then hopefully to continue to chronicle the rest with a new role change (another post).
I’d love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and maybe even similar journeys, along the way.