Regular reader and Practical Hacks contributor Michael W. of San Francisco sent news of this special, one week promotion from Timbuk2 to me this morning, and I thought I’d pass it along to all of you. Just click on the image below if you’re interested…
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I arrived home today from a 3 day trip (used the Patagonia MLC and it performed admirably; I continue to like the bag and prefer it over my Air Boss when it comes to shorter trips) to find a box full of stuff from the good folks at Tom Bihn that had been delivered while I was gone.
In addition to the Aeronaut (at first glance, an attractive bag with some intriguing features) they sent along a Western Flyer, a combo Packing Cube/Backpack, and a bunch of other packing cubes; I’ve got my hands full!
Look for a First Take on the Aeronaut in a few days; this evening will be devoted to crashing and catching up on some shows I’ve recorded. Plus… I also received a copy of Neil Strauss’s new book “Emergency” while I was gone; I’ll have to begin digging into it later tonight. Tim Ferriss totally got my attention with his post on the book: How to be Jason Bourne: Multiple passports, Swiss banking, and crossing borders
Have a good one…
March 12th, 2009 at 7:08 PM
Sweet! I’d love to hear what your impression of the Western Flyer is.
I’ve been thinking about getting that book, as well. It sounds quite interesting. :)
Here’s another book on a similar topic I’ve been considering:
http://www.amazon.com/Survivor.....038;sr=8-1
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March 13th, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Man you are busy.
I keep checking in for an update on your Asus Netbook (I convinced my kids to want one to try to open a wedge with my wife to let me get one which would quickly be appropriated back from the kids) and want to know if I should wait for the upcoming new, improved netbooks with better video support (better integrated graphics chip), for stutter free video and the inevitable progression to 720p “high def.”
Plus I want to find out if the Patagonia MLC is any good – like you I was bummed to find out it isn’t, technically, really “MLC” or “maximum legal carryon” size, but after hauling TOO MUCH STUFF onto flights, I want to find out if smaller might actually be better. Unlike you, I haven’t sunk the dinero into getting one to give it a real test, so your thoughts on the bag are eagerly awaited.
And of course the Bihn bags are a big question and its going to be good to learn what a perceptive independent reviewer thinks about them. I like the idea that they are made in Seattle, that means a lot more to me than it might have 6 months ago.
Finally, if you take requests, my wife tried some cheese at a party and though she knows nothing about cheeses (she’s Thai, they aren’t big on dairy products) she fell in love with what she tried and wants me to get her some. I don’t have a clue what they served, and have been lobbing various cheeses over the transom to see what she likes. So far, feta no! (I now have a useless tub of crumbled feta – want it?); brie, yes! BUT that’s not the one she is searching for. So if you ever feel like branching out from wines to things that go good with wines, well, a primer on good cheeses, hopefully ones that are available from TJ’s on the cheap, would be great.
In the mean time keep up the good work. While I don’t always see articles on my primary (and admittedly narrow) fields of interest, I almost always coming away learning something interesting or just chuckling.
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March 13th, 2009 at 4:39 PM
@Michael:
You need to talk to The Boss about the Asus – I can’t pry it out of her hands. We love the thing. My only issue is the right shift key and I’ve been unable / incapable of finding some simple program to allow me to remap the keys. There is nothing else about it that’s been an issue. The wireless is terrific and the display bright with excellent saturation. I’m rambling… I’ll do a follow-up at some point but bottom line, we’re very happy with it.
I like the MLC just fine. It’s GREAT for 2-4 day trips, and I imagine with a little cleverness and discipline when it comes to packing it’d be fine for longer trips. One weird thing – the Bihn Aeronaut also uses waterproof YKK zippers, but those on the MLC are stiffer / much harder to operate. The backpack straps on the MLC (I know this isn’t your favorite configuration) are VERY comfortable. It’s a nice bag. The harshness of my “First Take” was mostly the result of my reaction to two things: the utterly crappy, worthy of a Yugo zipper pulls and my absolute disbelief that the dimensions in their specs were way off. I’ve told their PR guy about that, BTW.
One other thing about the Aeronaut – I don’t think it’ll work well for bundle packing. The opening to the main compartment is small. We’ll see…
Cheese? Love it. Unfortunately you could put everything I know about cheese on the head of a pin and have real estate left over. TJ’s? Trader Joe’s??? Surely you jest; you forget where I live. I’ll give the post idea some thought, though… was the cheese she liked hard or soft? Color? Go to igourmet.com with her and look at the cheese pictures… ??? (Call the party hostess and ask???)
Thanks for your kind words…
@Greg: I’ll give the Aeronaut and Western Flyer a good look-over this weekend. The book is uh, er, interesting… especially if you think the apocalypse is imminent! The first 20 pages feature, among other things, an illustrated guide to turning a credit card into a lethal knife. Fun stuff and sure to be a hit at the office! All seriousness aside, it’s an entertaining read.
Thanks for being here…
kc
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March 16th, 2009 at 10:18 PM
Michael, for cheeses try Gouda, it is smoked and delicious. Also, it seems like Rick Steves and Ebags are both in on the green discount thing. As they both have bags that are carry-on size and green that are on discount or clearance(Backpack and Weekender convertible, respectively). This of course could easily be my false correlation.
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