Pockets full of geekery

[greatbear]

Today I came home and as I usually do when I walk in the door from work, I empty my pockets and otherwise relieve myself of the load of items that seem to accompany me everywhere. This time I looked at the resulting heap and started shaking my head:

One keyring (more like 'rings' tangled together) containing 22 keys for my cars, the truck, garage, work keys and tool chests and cabinets among others, plus a remote for one car, a LED flashlight, and a nailclipper

A small carabiner containing the Mini Cooper key (ironically too big to fit on the first set), two 1 gig thumb drives, a WiFi locator and a Fluke VoltLight

Wallet stuffed with all sorts of junk but not much cash

Cell phone

iPod with headphones and a 40 hour auxiliary battery

Sheesh. Seven of these items have batteries in them, a few more are still some sort of electronic device.

On occasions I add to this silicon menagerie a laptop and/or a digital camera. And this is just light travelling. Toss in much more if I end up going somewhere on a kind of technical housecall, install, or working at tuning a late model car.

I seem to carry more electronics on me than the Terminator ever did.

I guess implants arent far behind at this rate.

Comments

Re: Superimpose an "L" over my forehead?

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I was actually hoping for a response like this!

First off, I am, and always have been very comfortable
around technology,
electronic/electric/mechanical/fluidic/etc, with what
some call an amazing feel and aptitude for it. I dont
think much of it, and I am just as comfortable with it
as I am without it. Most of the things I end up with
are there to make life a bit easier, more productive
and/or more fun.

My post was meant not as a boasting of the amount of
gadgets I own, but more of a standing beside it all
and taking it all in, as it were. I felt like Dennis
The Menace unloading his pockets in a seemingly
unending stream. Slingshot, comic books, cap pistol,
bubble gum, bullfrog, chocolate bars, etc, etc, etc. I
then had to stop for a moment and stare at the big
pile I had left on the counter in the same manner. WHY
do I have all this stuff. Is my life so susceptible to
'feature creep' that I dont even notice it? I actually
got a bit concerned. My post allowed me to find that I
am not alone in the amount of technotrinkets I am
carrying, but also that I am not alone in my
suspicions of it all.

I didnt elaborate on the reasons for the various crap
I carry, because I felt it would be obvious. Now that
I think of it, it exists on different levels for
different people. Hell, I know some who would brand
me as a comparitive Luddite for the small
amount of stuff I carry compared to them.

Let's break some of it down:

Cell Phone. Unlike most people you see with them, I
did not get it to be constantly in touch and gabbing
endlessly. I got my original cell phone in the early
90s as I found myself in more situations far from home
and needing a means to keep connected in the face of
emergencies and occasional use. Up until last year,
this original, bulky flip fone was my only phone, used
at most a handful of times during a year. Then mom
found out she had cancer, and I 'modernized' with a
pair of small phones so we could both keep in contact
for obvious reasons. The windfall to this was now I
had a phone that I could use far more often than my
original per minute-charged dinosaur. The phone became
a necessity, and the bonus was convenience and
useability.

The flashlights: Well, my eyes are not what they used
to be, besides, my work often has me with my face in
tight circuitry and dark underhood environments. These
are necessities that have been refined by
technological advances that a nice, rugged and bright
light can tag along on a keychain. The Fluke light is
a bonus where I can check household and industrial
electric wiring for live circuits. Two things in one,
disguised as a tiny flashlight.

Thumb Drives: Pure convenience here. The perfect
replacement for floppies and CDs. I can carry with me
important files, system updates and cool stuff and not
even think about it. I can grab files from work,
friends, etc and not have to deal with a separate disk
that is prone to damage. Here is a case where my work
and hobbies benefit from a cool gadget.

iPod: My refuge from the pathetic excuse of what
passes as music on the radio. I mainly use it at work
and in the car, occasionally when travelling. It's
plugged into speakers more than headphones, because I
dont necessarily want to shut out the world at all
times. It does make boring moments like waiting in
hospitals and on board long flights more bearable. I
go through phases where I have it with me and playing
all the time to where I leave it sit at home and enjoy
the silence. My love of all kinds of music made this
item perfect for me.

Palm Pilots/PDAs: Dont have one. My phone is used as a
notepad/address book occasionally, but as a rule, I
dont impose that level of connectedness and
'organization' on my life. I see people at work
walking down hallways with their Blackberries and PDAs
in their hands, totally oblivious to the world around
them, practically falling into people from their lack
of attention. The restrooms at work are often filled
with the sounds of people poking at their Crackberries
moreso than bodily functions. I draw the line here.
Except in the case where a PDA can be outfitted with
diagnostic software for cars or GPSs, I dont want one.
Which brings me to

(cont'd)