backpacks are so fucking ugly

Plus to gr80's point re: not wanting to be wasteful, even if you didn't give a shit about generating a lot of trash, not carrying a water bottle/your own coffee/lunch gets insanely expensive if you aren't lucky enough to work somewhere fancy that provides coffee and water.

or what c sharp major said!

make yr lunch at home every morning and upload it to the cloud; download it on yr smartphone when u get hungry

whoa people. i was not talking about men only!! i'm talking about everybody!

gr8080 i want to be your personal feng shui decluttering guru. let me take your points in turn.

- having your "own" computer for work is already sooooooo last decade. sit down at any desk, login, there is everything you've been working on. your profile is synced. if your office IT system can't do this now i'd be surprised but it'll happen soon if not

- water. use the faucet/water cooler at work, or wherever

- coffee. my answer to this is that i have an aeropress of my own at work, and a mug at work, and a bag of ground beans at work.

- cameras, i can't help you there. it's true, specialized equipment needs protection. if you're a shutterbug i guess you can't just have it freeballin. hmm. maybe a camera case?

- scarf. wear it.

- umbrella. hold this. if small enough stick in back pocket.

- ipad. gtfo

- change of clothes. you scamp.

.. honestly the only real dealbreakers here that require some sort of bag are the ipad and the cameras, and possibly the umbrella. part of my argument is that you do not need the cameras on your commute, and you do not need your ipad on your commute either. (i use my phone for reading material). YOU CAN DO THIS.

i bring my lunch to work in a paper bag that i carry in my hand.

o_o

whoa people. i was not talking about men only!! i'm talking about everybody!

lol sure

...? idgi

i don't get what's so great about not carrying things around

buy more stuff and get a separate coffee brew set-up for each office location

declutter your life

Your umbrella solution assumes the existence of back pockets, for one. Women's clothes do not come with usable pockets, as a rule. xp

lol elmo

- having your "own" computer for work is already sooooooo last decade. sit down at any desk, login, there is everything you've been working on. your profile is synced. if your office IT system can't do this now i'd be surprised but it'll happen soon if not

Also this assumes that anywhere you would be working will have a computer there ready and waiting for you.

tracer i'm not going to get in to the details of how my job works but trust me that i need to have my own laptop, do not have space for/access to a drinking fountain or coffee maker

also full disclosure today my umbrella is technically strapped to the exterior of my backpack and not tucked inside

also are you that clueless as to how a scarf works in relation to changes in temperature throughout the day?

i fully admit that if i commuted with a car to a single office then yes, i could buck up and live a glorious backpack-free lyfestyle

This conversation is infuriating because it exemplifies one of my biggest irritations: when one person (that's you, Tracer) assumes that what works for him MUST work for everybody else.

I don't carry a bag because when I do I wind up filling it with shit I don't actually need to be carrying around. 95% of days the most I actually need is food, one book, and maybe one or two documents from work, all of which can fit in a plastic or paper shopping bag, which may not be the greatest style move but at least it prevents me from taking more than I need.

but yeah I have an office, no need for a laptop, etc.

if i need a scarf in the morning for work i generally need it when i'm going home..?

buy more stuff and get a separate coffee brew set-up for each office location

declutter your life

haha ok, you got me here. still though. i looove never buying cups of coffee or carrying a thermos or w/e

xpost need i remind you what board this thread is on, get one tote bag

when one person (that's you, Tracer) assumes that what works for him MUST work for everybody else

i think we're going to have to agree to, well, not necessarily disagree, but that i am completely right and that everyone else is completely wrong

all of which can fit in a plastic or paper shopping bag

hurting, are you my step dad, wth

someone do a NYer cartoon of tracer lecturing to a homeless person

here you go:

http://i.imgur.com/MOCkLp3.png

why would i be lecturing to a homeless person??

are you that dense

ohhhh... cause homeless people have to carry their possessions with them! boy, would my advice be inappropriate for them!!!!

man, i have learned something today though. when you question the backpack, you reap the whirlwind.

take the L gracefully

I actually do keep a separate coffee "station" at work -- a mug and a hario one-cup dripper and some beans that I split with a co-worker. It's really not that hard.

basically i am equating my plight to that of a homeless person here, yes

has anyone solved the camera-bag-that-can-be-worn-with-a-suit problem for under $200?

For ladies, there are some beautiful purse camera bags (different than reg purse in that they are more heavy duty, specialized inner dividers for camera, lens, misc purse items.

A backpack is basically a large paper bag you can use every day without throwing it out. Feeling gr80's plight here, happy to have a purse to carry my smoothie, coffee, lunch, sunglasses, wallet, gloves.

I use my camera bag as my bag-bag as well, for sunglasses, pen and paper, headphones, etc. but it's kinda worn and rough so I can't imagine it working well with a suit.
and of course I need a camera bag everywhere... get outta here with that.

i will grudgingly admit that in sunnier weather my lack of a bag can be somewhat, uh, challenging. and by challenging i mean i look like i'm smuggling lego sets in my pockets.

Unless I'm wearing jeans, like CA said, no pockets in most of my outfits. My husband only carries a briefcase to work if he's bringing lunch, pockets otherwise, but his job doesn't require technology & he's not a photographer. He has a locker to store his coat/scarf/etc.

I have an office and my employer provides coffee and water (and tea and ice) and all our work stuff is ~~in the cloud~~ but I still bring a bag because 1) I work remotely two or three days/week and while I sometimes work from home, I sometimes work from other exotic locales like my couch or a coffee shop and no matter how adamantly I insist, Starbucks won't keep a computer there for me to use so I take my laptop home with me most of the time and 2) I bring lunch/snacks most days and it's actually easier to throw everything in a cross-body bag (one of these - http://www.queenbee-creations.com/items?category_id=38) and have my hands free than it is to bother with a grocery bag. Plus also no pockets and the need to carry an umbrella, reading material, wallet, phone, house keys, sunglasses, etc.

has anyone solved the camera-bag-that-can-be-worn-with-a-suit problem for under $200?

― chinavision!, Thursday, May 2, 2013 11:11 AM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark

i think the domkes made out of ballistic nylon (iirc domkes use the good kind) are nice, all the reviews say it's really hard to make them look beat up

http://www.amazon.com/Domke-701-J83-J-803-Satchel-Black/dp/B0009PAU06

i will grudgingly admit that in sunnier weather my lack of a bag can be somewhat, uh, challenging. and by challenging i mean i look like i'm smuggling lego sets in my pockets.

ah, the truth comes out

in london that's only 2 days out of the year, tbf, once in late april/early may and once more in september

itt tracer teaches you how to be a man.

(on weekends and in evenings sometimes I can get it together enough to not take a bag with me. walking around the city without one feels goddamn luxurious.)

idk I just feel like when the apocalypse comes or aliums attack or the rain of toads happens, I'll be happy that I have my bag full of stuff that everyone thinks is so 'useless' or 'nonessential' or 'ugly'

good luck with yr pockets tracer

:)

whenever I do carry a real bag, I just wind up with, like, four books that I'm not even reading, a bunch of papers I'm not working on, random crumpled up papers and receipts, an umbrella when it's not raining, etc. I guess I could just clean out my bag more often, but no, fuck you.

yeah I'm kind of a 'what if I need this' packrat

every now and then I'll simply things and pare down my purse to only the essentials and then a week later I'm back to a halfton load again

*simply = simplify

has anyone solved the camera-bag-that-can-be-worn-with-a-suit problem for under $200?

― chinavision!, Thursday, May 2, 2013 10:11 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

do it weggles-style
http://www.topphotographyfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/William-Eggleston.jpg

(i assume that's just a case on his shoulder)

brb buying 'architect glasses'

http://www.trakke.co.uk/product/bairn

this could work as a camera bag, but it's pretty expensive. could just also make one?

this is a p cool backpack, too, but hella big http://www.trakke.co.uk/product/krukke

just noticed ol' bill isn't even using a camera strap at all. I would be guaranteed to drop the camera at some point using that method.

is that an x100

XD