It's that time of year again

Sometimes, you get to go places! And other times, you "get" to go places. Over the next two weekends, I "get" to go to some conferences. I leave for the first one tomorrow and will be getting back Sunday; I leave for the second one on the following Friday and will get back on the Sunday.

For conference #1, which is in California, I'm taking my Aeronaut. It's lightly packed, but I have more stuff than will fit comfortably in my Western Flyer (solution: Tri-Star, I know). I'm also carrying my Synapse. Here's what I'm taking:

Clothes: dress pants, 2x dress shirts, a tie (because I'm upping my sartorial game), two light sweaters, a bunch of T-shirts for casual wear, 2x shorts, unmentionables and socks, a pair of casual shoes, and toiletries.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/--.../IMG_00066.jpg https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-L.../IMG_00068.jpg

And check it, guys: Gangnam Style t-shirt, courtesy of someone awesome (i.e., Katy):

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t.../IMG_00065.jpg

In my Synapse, I'm taking the usual suspects. My MBP, headphones, notebooks, Clif Bars, a water bottle and sunglasses. Chargers and some odds and sods in the dyneema Organizer Pouches. I'll pick up a ton of paper at the conference, so I'll probably take an empty Large Organizer Pouch to corral everything.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-t.../IMG_00067.jpg

Stay tuned for the next installment! And here's a gratuitous picture of the corgis frolicking in the sand pit at the dog park (wearing Iowa kerchiefs because, you know, they're fans):

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_.../IMG_00069.jpg

Is that Psy on your T-shirt?

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Originally Posted by pw1224

Is that Psy on your T-shirt?

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Hell yes. Haha.

Is that a silver Pilot G2 I see in your photo? Those are pretty hard to come by these days. Hang onto it, even if the ink dries out!

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Originally Posted by Lani

Is that a silver Pilot G2 I see in your photo? Those are pretty hard to come by these days. Hang onto it, even if the ink dries out!

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It is indeed. Got it from jetpens.com! I refill with black, .3 tip.

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Originally Posted by Lani

Is that a silver Pilot G2 I see in your photo? Those are pretty hard to come by these days. Hang onto it, even if the ink dries out!

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Love these pens! I have about 3!!

@badger, can I have all your stuff? It would go very well with my stuff. :-D

Those limited edition Pilot G2 are refillable, they even have purple refills and of course black, blue, red and green.

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Originally Posted by Janine

@badger, can I have all your stuff? It would go very well with my stuff. :-D

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@Janine consider that this is the guy who said:

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Originally Posted by Badger

Medium Café Bags are kind of like underwear, in that I'll loan you mine in a pinch, but it's weird if you end up wanting to hang onto it forever.

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I would take that as a "No". Besides, the t-shirts, dress pants, shorts, socks etc. might not fit you – I guess you're thinking of the pen, laptop,, Field Notebook, and Corgis. LOL.

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Originally Posted by Janine

@badger, can I have all your stuff? It would go very well with my stuff. :-D

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She might not go for that... but I totally get where you're coming from, that Gangnam Style T-shirt is insanely awesome.

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Originally Posted by Katy

She might not go for that... but I totally get where you're coming from, that Gangnam Style T-shirt is insanely awesome.

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I know, right? Almost as awesome as the person who gifted it! :-D

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Originally Posted by moriond

@Janine consider that this is the guy who said:

I would take that as a "No". Besides, the t-shirts, dress pants, shorts, socks etc. might not fit you – I guess you're thinking of the pen, laptop,, Field Notebook, and Corgis. LOL.

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Points taken, especially about the underwear!

And yes - the pen, laptop, Field Notebook, and Corgis are welcome at my house anytime. :-)

ETA: I could do with a Clif bar right about now. Nom.

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Originally Posted by backpack

Those limited edition Pilot G2 are refillable, they even have purple refills and of course black, blue, red and green.

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I love all the talk of paper and notebooks and pens as well as the TB swag on these forums. **Sighs happily** I've found my tribe :)

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Originally Posted by Janine

@badger, can I have all your stuff? It would go very well with my stuff. :-D

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You can have some of it. I bequeath unto thee the following:
1. Pilot G2 .38 refill, black (empty)
2. 2.4 kilos corgi (hair, in plastic Hy-Vee bag)
3. 1 box of Suddenly SALAD, Bacon and Ranch "Flavor"
4. Kiddo
5. 6 packets Italian kleenex, "Clever" brand

So, I survived Conference #1. The Aeronaut-Synapse combo proved true, and I was able to haul all of my stuff with no problem. I misplaced my absolute strap and had to carry the Aeronaut by its handles the whole time, but that wasn't so bad, not even when our plane from Iowa arrived really, really late in MSP and we had to traverse the whole freaking airport to get our connecting flight to SAN. They kindly held the plane for us, or so we thought; really, they held it for the guy with the oxygen.

San Diego was amazing: beautiful weather and good times. I had to work during most of the conference and wasn't able to really get out until Saturday, but I did get to poke around Balboa Park:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-b.../IMG_00070.jpg

This was also the first conference I've been to where we didn't go out for some crazy fancy dinner. Most of my meals clocked in around $5. So many burritos. My colleague had her first.burrito.ever. We also visited a place called "Yogurtland," which is not quite as magical as its name would seem to suggest.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-s.../IMG_00071.jpg

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for Conference #2, coming up this weekend! Wheee! (God, I'm exhausted.)