Episode: 3895
Title: HPR3895: What's in my backpack
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr3895/hpr3895.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-25 07:37:19

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This is Hacker Public Radio Episode 3895 for Friday the 7th of July 2023.
Today's show is entitled What's in My Backpack.
It is part of the series What's in My Toolkit.
It is hosted by Stash AF.
It carries a clean flag.
The summary is, Stack walks through the contents of his work backpack.
Hello Hacker Public Radio, I am your host, Stash AF, and today I am going to walk you
through my backpack and its contents.
This is the backpack that I carry with me every day to work.
So it has quite a bit of techy gear in it.
What I have is a Rush Moab 10-Sling Pack 18-Liter from 5.11.
I like this one because it has Molly straps on it.
Molly stands for Modular Lightweight Load Carrying Equipment.
Basically I can get another piece of Molly equipment and physically attach it to the system
on the bag, which I do have extra things attached to my bag, so it has come in quite handy.
This particular bag is a crossbody sling, which getting up and going makes it really easy
for me.
It features left or right crossbody depending on how you want it configured.
So it is not required to stay in one specific configuration.
Now getting started, there is a pouch on the sling, and I am going to go ahead and open
that, and then inside I have a mini USB to full sized USB cable.
I have that because I have to manage Cisco switches, and they have that mini USB port
in there.
I have a micro USB to full sized USB cable.
I have a full sized USB to USB Type-C, and then I have a flat Ethernet cable, because you
never know what you are going to need.
Next, there is a hydration pouch for a camelback or other type of water bottle system.
That pouch has nothing in it.
Close that back up.
Next directly on the top is a small pouch, which inside I have a small plastic box, which
contains a Raspberry Pico, because projects never want to stop learning.
I have a USB to Ethernet adapter.
I have a micro USB to full sized Ethernet adapter, a micro SD to USB adapter, and a micro SD
card.
Now remember why I put that micro SD card in there.
Continuing on in that particular little pouch, I have a USB hub.
I have a USB-C to USB-C cable, and then I have all manner of USB drives.
Some are storage, some are bootable linux.
One of them is a USB-A and USB-C thumb drive, so that way, if I am not at my desk, I
can download something on my phone, transfer to a thumb drive, and then immediately have
it available on the USB-A side, so that way, I can plug it into a computer if the computer
needs some kind of file.
Now I am moving along to the main compartment.
I have a Lenovo 40, I did have one, so the laptop was just the right purchase at Walmart
for 150 bucks, just for strictly windows, sometimes you need windows, it saddens me to say.
Then I also have my workhorse, which is a Lenovo ThinkPad E15, which is Linux, dual boot,
and I only ever boot into windows once a year, and that is to do the major updates.
I have a mousepad, I have all kinds of notepaper, which I really need to clean up, because I don't
remember what I was doing with some of these notes, put this little one back in, and then
in the fourth pouch, I have another little pouch that contains the charging cables for my
laptops, I have a bag with some chapstick and some hand lotion, because living in the desert,
you dry out very quickly.
I have a wall outlet, USB AC to USB A, I have my reading glasses, I have some wired headphones,
several pens, more notepapers, I have a password managing device that I am actually working
on designing myself, and inside this front pouch is a smaller bag, I have a business card,
okay, shows you how long it's been since I've been in that pocket, and then I wanted to
go back and cover why I wanted this bag that has the moly on it, because on one side, I have a sunglasses holder.
At my job, I either work mornings or I work nights, I do not work days, and the job that I used to do in the
Air Force, I used to sit in a dark box, staring at about a dozen computer screens for eight hours a day,
and the first light of day that I would see would be the first thing in the morning, my eyes got tired, and so I
very much need to have sunglasses, and if I didn't have this pocket on the side of my bag, I would forget,
and I would be driving home in the blinding desert sun, in a substantial amount of pain.
So, this sunglasses container did not come with the bag, but I have added it because, frankly, I needed it,
and there you have it, that is my work backpack, so if you have any questions about why I have what I have,
please feel free to drop a comment. If you want to share what is in your backpack, please record an
episode, Hacker Public Radio is getting directly short of new episodes.
I am going to talk, it has been a while since I have recorded an episode, but I am trying when I can.
Thank you for listening, have a good day, and we will talk next time.
You have been listening to Hacker Public Radio at HackerPublicRadio.org.
Today's show was contributed by a HBR listener like yourself.
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On this advice status, today's show is released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
