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Your "Just in Case" kits

Victor FrostVictor Frost
edited October 2008 in Everything Else
A lot of geeks like to plan ahead. We some of us always grab those few things that we bring everywhere, "just in case". We never know exactly what that "just in case" could be, but it feels better to have those things.

I always bring my laptop bag, which contains: My laptop and it's power cord, an a-b retracting usb cable, a 5' network cable, an s-video cable, usb cable for my sansa, a small roll of black duct tape, and a $15 pc repair kit. I keep a leatherman on my belt. I feel I could get out of any bad situation with this.

Do any of you have "kits" like this? Or am I just crazy? ^_^
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Comments

  • RymRym
    Money.
  • kiwi_birdkiwi_bird
    My mobile phone, harmonica, wallet, notebook, some form of literature and sometimes my camera/ iPod.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    I feel I could get out of any bad situation with this.
    There are two fades coming down the corridor, a skulk at the window and your commander has no res left. What do you do?

    I assemble such things from items strewn around my desk.
  • AprecheApreche
    Money.
  • IlmarinenIlmarinen
    Wallet and leatherman.
  • MrRobotoMrRoboto
    Money + diarrhea medicine.
  • csrjjsmpcsrjjsmp
    A second wallet with an expired drivers license, promotional fake/unactivated credit cards, and around 15-20 dollars in small bills is a good thing to keep around if you ever get mugged.
  • GeoGeo
    Why hasn't anyone ever mentioned zombies in this thread yet? Of all the "just in case" kits, zombie kits are essential to everybody.
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    A condom.

    Also, a wallet, with paper and plastic money.
  • RailithRailith
    Money + Cellphone + Gameboy SP with Mario 3 will get you through most issues in 'MURCIA.
  • ΣπεκωσποκΣπεκωσποκ
    $2000 cash, a .45 pistol with 3 clips, 3 complete false identities in various parts of the world, and plane tickets to Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.

    Oh, and a spare duster.
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    Why hasn't anyone ever mentioned zombies in this thread yet? Of all the "just in case" kits, zombie kits are essential to everybody.
    My laptop bag doesn't have enough room for a crowbar, But I do have zombie kit backpack duct taped to the roof of my closet. In my closet is also three computers, a phone jack, an fm radio, a crowbar, a burner phone, and a list of all the free dialup isp's phone numbers in my area.
    I feel I could get out of any bad situation with this.
    There are two fades coming down the corridor, a skulk at the window and your commander has no res left. What do you do?
    Go back to the waiting room and play pile on the cheese.
  • AndrewAndrew
    Money.
  • Mr. EricMr. Eric
    If money is your only answer, you have little foresight.
  • AndrewAndrew
    If money is your only answer, you have little foresight.
    Never go anywhere where you can't solve all your problems with money.
  • Mr. EricMr. Eric
    If money is your only answer, you have little foresight.
    Never go anywhere where you can't solve all your problems with money.
    Sometimes you can't choose for that to be true. What if there is an apocalyptic situation in which money has no value? Who cares if you have a billion dollars if it no longer has value? Money doesn't solve all of your problems.
  • Kate MonsterKate Monster
    My purse with wallet, cell phone, keys, two bandaids, a tampon, sun glasses, lens wipes, ipod, pen and occasionally any of the flowing items: a book, camera, deodorant, gum, chapstick, an emergency whistle, neosporin, hand lotion, mini-pack of tissues, a pain reliever, antacids, small notebook, nail file or rose oil perfume.
  • kage_rodkage_rod
    Ideally, my kit aka backpack has:
    A book of some form (comic, manga, or novel)
    Aspirin or Tylenol
    Food - always
    Music player
    Pads
    My laptop
    Paper homework to work on when I have the chance

    I currently don't have any painkillers or pads because I switched backpacks recently and I've run out. I wish I could add money to that list, but I don't have that on me most of the time anyway.
  • DkongDkong
    edited October 2008
    Never go anywhere where you can't solve all your problems with money.
    Alright, let's say you're driving down the road, following one of your friends because he knows the way and you don't. His car stalls or breaks down or something. You get out to help him. When you get back into your car, someone is sitting in your seat with a gun, telling you to hand over all your shit or else he shoots.
    If you just have money (and I guess your car keys, since you had to start the car somehow), he'd take it and you'd be left with nothing. Some good all that money did. On the other hand, unless you had a knife or gun or something like that on you, nothing you had could have been helpful for you...unless you had nothing at all.

    This is a true story, BTW. My friend said this happened to one of his friends last year. The thief stole everything, including the car and the kid's cell phone. He had to walk a few miles to get to a gas station, then beg to use a phone to call his mom for a ride home.

    Also, in general, any situation where you could get robbed or mugged is a situation where money wouldn't help you with a whole hell of a lot.

    That's why I choose to carry as little on my as possible. In my car I keep my wallet, which usually has like $50-200 in it...but when I'm just walking around I carry very little with me, at all. (phone, few bucks, keys, maybe a lighter, period).
    Post edited by Dkong on
  • FunfetusFunfetus
    Never go anywhere where you can't solve all your problems with money.
    One of the hosts of another podcast I listen to lives in New Orleans, and he was hit with hurricane Gustav. The power was out for weeks. He spent a lot of time on the podcast talking about how important it is to have real emergency supplies. Money, he emphasized, was essentially worthless, because there was nothing left in the stores.
  • RymRym
    Money, he emphasized, was essentially worthless, because there was nothing left in the stores.
    In that case, you just leave, either before the disaster or after it. ^_~
  • DkongDkong
    Rym and Scott, I still think you're being a bit ridiculous and outspoken (oh wait what's new?). I don't really have any general statements about why thinking that having money will get you out of any situation (actually it was Andrew that made that statement, but still), but I can start naming more examples...

    What if you sustain some sort of injury while out and about? Sure you could go out and buy band aids or some medicine or something, but by then it might be too late and you just wish you would have had it on you right then and there.

    What if your car breaks down in the middle of no where and literally all you have on yourself is money? A lot of damn good that just did you.
  • WalkerWalker
    Rym and Scott, I still think you're being a bit ridiculous and outspoken (oh wait what's new?). I don't really have any general statements about why thinking that having money will get you out of any situation (actually it was Andrew that made that statement, but still), but I can start naming more examples...

    What if you sustain some sort of injury while out and about? Sure you could go out and buy band aids or some medicine or something, but by then it might be too late and you just wish you would have had it on you right then and there.

    What if your car breaks down in the middle of no where and literally all you have on yourself is money? A lot of damn good that just did you.
    Carrying around supplies for a situation that couldn't be solved by money or a phone is impractical. I don't know anyone who carries a first-aid kit around, or has the supplies or experience to fix their car if it brakes down in the middle of nowhere.
  • AndrewAndrew
    edited October 2008
    What if you sustain some sort of injury while out and about? Sure you could go out and buy band aids or some medicine or something, but by then it might be too late and you just wish you would have had it on you right then and there.

    What if your car breaks down in the middle of no where and literally all you have on yourself is money? A lot of damn good that just did you.
    You can create all these "what if" scenarios which can always be designed to invalidate someone's "kit". The fact of the matter is that money is the most valuable good you can carry on you in most situations.
    Post edited by Andrew on
  • ΣπεκωσποκΣπεκωσποκ
    The point of a kit, though, is to be prepared for a situation you would not normally expect yourself to be in. Many of those scenarios, as has been shown, are situations in which money has little or no overall value. Thus, the "money only" kit is of no use in any of those situations, and for that reason an "Just in Case" kit should contain more than just money.
  • misakyramisakyra
    When I drove from Texas to California a couple years ago, my mom pestered me for weeks to make sure that I remembered to take pepper spray with me. The day I left, my friend and I spent a couple of hours driving around to different stores before we found a place that carried it (pepper spray was harder to come by than I thought), and it ended up being the only thing we forgot to take with us. But it didn't matter, because we didn't need it. In fact, I've never been in any situation where it was even remotely necessary.

    I learned a valuable lesson from that. You don't really need half the things people say you do. First-aid kits and such are good, but there really aren't many problems that can't be solved with money and a cell phone anymore. That's why the only things I really have on me routinely are my wallet, my cell phone, a bottle of water and a book. I have a way to call for help, a way to pay for the help, and something do while I wait for help to arrive.
  • SailSail
    Never go anywhere where you can't solve all your problems with money.
    Thank you, Penn Jillette.
  • ninjarabbininjarabbi
    duct tape
    You don't need anything else.
  • Gabrial FoxGabrial Fox
    I always have either my backpack or my shoulder bag, both have the padded space for my laptop. In (whichever I'm carrying) I have my laptop, camera, cell phone, cables to connect both to aforementioned laptop, chargers for all of the above, a sketch book and a mechanical pencil, tablet, pen, 2 gig USB stick, and a hunting knife with a four inch blade.

    Perhaps it comes from my time as a Boy Scout (I made Eagle) but I am almost never without a utility blade. I don't know what I might need it for, but just to be prepared right? And I have ended up needing it to cut ropes and stuff before... Still, gets me some odd looks some times when I'm unloading a bunch of tech and there's a large knife in the middle of it all. :)
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    edited October 2008
    When this Green Plug thing gets worked out it will be so nice to have a single brick to charge my laptop, phone and DS all at once.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
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