So, I traveled a bit late last week, and traveling is always an interesting ritual for me, especially if I'm flying.
The problem is that a very nerdy, troll-ish part of my brain refuses to be inconvenienced by travel. My travel bag seems to get heavier each trip. It has begun to bloat like all those stupid-ass 'cross-over' vehicles that are so popular now.
To give you an idea of what I'm talking, here's what was packed in my carry-on this last trip:
- work laptop (HP Elitebook 8440P)
- iPad
- iPod Classic
- iPhone 4S (work)
- Windows Phone (personal)
- hi-def video camera
- PlayStation Vita
- Nintendo DS + case for system & games
- Nook Color
- mobile WiFi hotspot
- e-cigarette + extra cartomizers
- 4-to-1 USB-to-AC hub
- USB connectors for all of the above
- power cables for each of the above
- two gaming magazines
Also, I sometimes travel with my 19-inch gaming laptop, but took a very big step and didn't bring it this time because I didn't think I'd have time for proper gaming. I sometimes also pack a personal netbook, depending on the type of trip.
This last trip, I think I finally had it. I need to pare this down and collapse some functionality into fewer devices. Part of this was brought on by, yet again, freaking out the TSA with my carry-on, but also, I'm just tired of carrying all this shit around all the time.
Part of the issue, I think, is that I pack like the revolution could come at any moment, and I need to be able leap into action, for a sustained period, by playing another character in Mass Effect (of course, you really can't get the best ending in the third installment unless EA's multiplayer servers are accessible, so if the country's infrastructure shits the bed, oh well ... you just fucked Earth.)
I've been considering thinking like a sane person when approaching how I pack for travel, and have even given thought to not only taking vacations from work, but also from my normal lifestyle. I've been told, repeatedly, about the advantages of maintaining a persistent avatar in the meatspace, and may endeavor to engage myself thus.
So, yeah, I may collapse the Nook functionality into the iPad when traveling, and may be condensing my phones and mobile WiFi into a single device, but we'll see.
Any other techies out there have interesting travel setups? Any suggestions for how to condense my travel setup further?
-Blaine
Buy my book!
Showing posts with label iphone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iphone. Show all posts
20120529
20120508
Apple & the Original IT Sin
Welcome to my technology blog!
For those of you who haven't already read my work in other places, I'm a writer and IT pro, and decided it's long past due that I start blogging about technology.
I work mostly with servers, but I'll probably skew, in terms content, more toward consumer technologies, from phones to desktop operating systems, to applications, etc.
This will be a work in progress, and may slowly change form as it evolves. Your feedback here is crucial and appreciated. The plan is to try and post here every Tuesday.
Apple & the Original IT Sin
I have a very twisted relationship with Apple. Specifically, I dislike closed architecture, but my disdain for Apple goes beyond that.
If one were to penetrate the core of my Apple-based psychosis, they would find that my annoyance with Apple is totally misplaced, and is derived almost solely from their fans, who work very hard to breathe fire and defend their need to never be able to customize their computers or operating systems. Apple's screeching sycophants are a very vocal and pretentious minority, and actually scare a fair number of tech-savvy users away, for fear of being associated with the Apple apologists.
You see, Apple interfaces are designed around the premise that you are a total idiot, and have no need to peek under the OS's skirt or be able to customize much of anything. Apple locks you out of the hardware and operating system, and every time you start to question this, they throw something sleek and shiny at you, ensuring that their lock on 'cool' is never interrupted.
Users then become trained to adopt Apple's prescribed interface solution, rather than demanding more from their devices. Much like a sleek, sexy dictatorship, the very fiber of humanity is worn thin as we're told that we must tap and tap and tap forever, just to find out that Joel likes our status update (whereas on Windows Phone, it just shows this on the tile.)
Oh, and good luck sifting through magazine categories in the iTunes/Newsstand store.
The users stop questioning. Downtrodden, their senses overloaded with all the slick marketing, they hang their heads and just accept that the iPhone (or Mac, if you've really sunk that far) is master.
Apple, thereby, is aiding in the continued dumbing-down of society (along with reality TV and Fox News), and should be held accountable. Or something.
Anyway, I own an iPhone (for work), an iPad (for play), two AppleTVs, and my wife and I each own an iPod Classic. Yup. I'm so annoyed with them that I've thrown nearly a couple thousand dollars at them.
Oh, and I signed up for iTunes Match and totally love it.
I'll be honest. It got too hard to work around the fact that they have the richest ecosystem in terms of applications, movies, and music. I just didn't have the time to keep maintaining my own Linux-based solutions. And I hated my work Blackberry and my company doesn't (yet) support Windows Phone (which is the best phone OS out there, for real. But that's a different post.)
Yes, folks, I too fell under their spell. Apple products induce an intellectual coma in their users, and to be honest, it can be kinda nice. It's sorta like paying someone else to cut your lawn, or paying for the privelege to drink water out of a disposable plastic bottle. This is the society that we've demanded to become.
The worst part is the needling I get from buddies that also work in IT. They harang endlessly about how I've integrated Apple products into my home infrastructure, while they all have elaborate solutions like I used to have.
Of course, they're all developers and project managers, not sysadmins. They have endless amounts of free time and are paid like Saudi oil princes.
So, in closing, if you're a Linux/Windows guy, but use Apple products for entertainment, it's okay. It's not your fault. It's time to let the guilt go, and let the healing start. You can come out of the closet. Sure, everyone will judge you, but that's okay. They're all dicks, anyway.
Apple products are not perfect solutions, but don't let their small, screaming legion of fans scare you off, either. They're actually pretty solid for entertainment purposes.
Now, what would be nice is if I could get Siri to start deploying servers for me at work.
-Blaine
Buy my book!
For those of you who haven't already read my work in other places, I'm a writer and IT pro, and decided it's long past due that I start blogging about technology.
I work mostly with servers, but I'll probably skew, in terms content, more toward consumer technologies, from phones to desktop operating systems, to applications, etc.
This will be a work in progress, and may slowly change form as it evolves. Your feedback here is crucial and appreciated. The plan is to try and post here every Tuesday.
Apple & the Original IT Sin
I have a very twisted relationship with Apple. Specifically, I dislike closed architecture, but my disdain for Apple goes beyond that.
If one were to penetrate the core of my Apple-based psychosis, they would find that my annoyance with Apple is totally misplaced, and is derived almost solely from their fans, who work very hard to breathe fire and defend their need to never be able to customize their computers or operating systems. Apple's screeching sycophants are a very vocal and pretentious minority, and actually scare a fair number of tech-savvy users away, for fear of being associated with the Apple apologists.
You see, Apple interfaces are designed around the premise that you are a total idiot, and have no need to peek under the OS's skirt or be able to customize much of anything. Apple locks you out of the hardware and operating system, and every time you start to question this, they throw something sleek and shiny at you, ensuring that their lock on 'cool' is never interrupted.
Users then become trained to adopt Apple's prescribed interface solution, rather than demanding more from their devices. Much like a sleek, sexy dictatorship, the very fiber of humanity is worn thin as we're told that we must tap and tap and tap forever, just to find out that Joel likes our status update (whereas on Windows Phone, it just shows this on the tile.)
Oh, and good luck sifting through magazine categories in the iTunes/Newsstand store.
The users stop questioning. Downtrodden, their senses overloaded with all the slick marketing, they hang their heads and just accept that the iPhone (or Mac, if you've really sunk that far) is master.
Apple, thereby, is aiding in the continued dumbing-down of society (along with reality TV and Fox News), and should be held accountable. Or something.
Anyway, I own an iPhone (for work), an iPad (for play), two AppleTVs, and my wife and I each own an iPod Classic. Yup. I'm so annoyed with them that I've thrown nearly a couple thousand dollars at them.
Oh, and I signed up for iTunes Match and totally love it.
I'll be honest. It got too hard to work around the fact that they have the richest ecosystem in terms of applications, movies, and music. I just didn't have the time to keep maintaining my own Linux-based solutions. And I hated my work Blackberry and my company doesn't (yet) support Windows Phone (which is the best phone OS out there, for real. But that's a different post.)
Yes, folks, I too fell under their spell. Apple products induce an intellectual coma in their users, and to be honest, it can be kinda nice. It's sorta like paying someone else to cut your lawn, or paying for the privelege to drink water out of a disposable plastic bottle. This is the society that we've demanded to become.
The worst part is the needling I get from buddies that also work in IT. They harang endlessly about how I've integrated Apple products into my home infrastructure, while they all have elaborate solutions like I used to have.
Of course, they're all developers and project managers, not sysadmins. They have endless amounts of free time and are paid like Saudi oil princes.
So, in closing, if you're a Linux/Windows guy, but use Apple products for entertainment, it's okay. It's not your fault. It's time to let the guilt go, and let the healing start. You can come out of the closet. Sure, everyone will judge you, but that's okay. They're all dicks, anyway.
Apple products are not perfect solutions, but don't let their small, screaming legion of fans scare you off, either. They're actually pretty solid for entertainment purposes.
Now, what would be nice is if I could get Siri to start deploying servers for me at work.
-Blaine
Buy my book!
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