Evolution

Several years ago, my wife surprised with an ipod for my birthday. I was the first one in the family to get one. They were nowhere near as popular then. I had to explain to a surprising number of people that yes, ALL of the music I owned was on it. I had a home dock, a connector for the car and cable to connect at the office.

Then, in the fall of 05, at the suggestion of my wife, my mom got me a Sirius radio for my birthday. I was good and ready for 1-9-06 (Stern debut) and ended up getting a second docking cradle to go with the home and auto ones that came with the radio. Then I could take it with me to listen at home, in the car and at work.

Last fall my wife hit another home run on my birthday, getting me a Garmin GPS. You never really appreciate how much you'll use it until you have one. Mapquest, schmapquest.

And because the thriftiness that led me to pack a lunch daily met up with my new found green-ness which made feel guilty for using all those plastic shopping bags to bring my lunch to work, she got me a soft-sided insulated Red Sox lunch box for my birthday last fall, as well. (I bought reusable shopping bags for both of us)

So when I got the GPS, I needed something to tote my electronics. So I took my iPod, Sirius and GPS to Best Buy and found a nifty padded camera bag that fit them all nice and snugly.

But I've been carrying the camera bag, lunch box and coffee to work and back everyday, making me look like I'm ready to juggle.

So with the see-it-in-person assitance of the local ems store and the power of online searches, I was able to find a messanger style bag from Osprey that will hold my lunchbox, camera bag full of electronics a laptop and other various things I need to transport from time to time.

Campmor was the site where I found it on sale...then even cheaper a day later. Ordered it wednesday night and got an email this morning saying it had been shipped. Then before 10 am it arrived.

Merry Christmas to me!