Going through undergrad commencement this weekend had me thinking about my time in undergrad and more specifically, those things I chose to carry with me almost every day. I compiled a list with links to where you could find these items on Amazon.
What I Carry
Starting from the upper right hand corner and working my way around in clockwise direction.
Pens – 3 Disposable Bic pens – When it comes to pens I leave them everywhere. I leave them in class, the lab, the machine shop, etc. Because of this I buy them in bulk and then just carry a bunch of disposable pens with me. They are cheap so if I lose one or someone asks to borrow one I don’t worry about getting them back. I like these pens because I find they are comfortable to write with, wont break from me carrying them around or treating them like shit, and have a pen cap to prevent them from making a mess in my pocket. Why no pencils? I haven’t found a mechanical pencil that is both cheap and will survive in my pocket. If you know of one that fits those two requirements let me know in the comments!
Highlighter – Used for marking up academic papers I am reading. I’ll usually carry one or two with me but I keep several different colors at home for heavy markup. The colors I like carrying on me are odd colors, not yellow, like green and pink because they let my markups stand out from other peoples markups.
Sharpie – Used for marking up things that pens and highlighters can’t like metal, ceramics, and sleeping lab mates.
USB Drive – I don’t use it all that often thanks to free services like Google Drive and Dropbox but everyone in a while when you don’t have access to other options these can really save you. For example like when you need to print out a final report that’s due in 15 minutes and the internet is down. (That example definitely hasn’t happened to me)
Letherman Skeletool – The Skeletool is a good all around multi-tool. It has a knife, pliers, wire cutters,/strippers, screwdriver (both flat an Philips), and a bottle opener. It’s slim so its easy to carry without giving up a lot of functionality.
Timex Weekender Chrono – Useful for telling time if durring both meetings and tests when you cant check your phone. Taking a peek at your watch durring a meeting is unnoticeable unlike when you check your phone which can be considered rude.
TI-84 – The second most useful tool in my entire engineering education after a pen. I’ll often use the calculator instead of Matlab or Wolfram Alpha for doing homework that require simple computations just because I’m so familiar with it that I can operate it extremely quickly just from muscle memory.
Planner – It’s useful for writing down assignment due dates and meetings. Everyone has a different way of organizing events/work an I find havving a written copy helps me visualize where everything is.
Muji Recycle Paper Bind Notebook – Useful for taking notes in meetings and they can fit in my back pocket
Allett Slim Bifold Wallet – It’s an ultra thin bifold wallet that I love. It’s so thin I never even notice it in my pocket. I can sit on it all day without being uncomfortable. My last one became worn out after two years and I bought another one immediately. I highly recommend them!
Keys – For opening doors/stuff. Note: I just grabbed some unused keys for this pic and put them on a carabiner.
Google Pixel – It’s taking the photo. Lately its mostly been used for snap chat
How I carry it
I carry my wallet, keys, phone, and pens in my pockets. Everything else gets carried in my backpack, an older version of the Pacsafe Metrosafe. It’s small, unassuming, and looks just like a normal backpack. I like that it’s slim so it stops me from carrying too much whit me. It’s $85 normally but I found mine at a garage sale for about $20. It’s lasted me 5 years with only minimal wear.
What I would change
If I would change anything I would probably get a a new backpack. I’ve been eyeing the GoRuck Echo Rucksack because it has a bit more room but at $200 its not for me. Note: I’ve specifically left out
Want more Gereshes?
There are new Gereshes post every week! If you want to receive the weekly Gereshes blog post directly to your email every Monday morning you can sign up for the newsletter here!
If you can’t wait for next weeks post and want some more Gereshes I suggest