PCA 2021: What’s In My Bag — Charlie Minato

Welcome to what might—for a number of reasons—be the last of these What’s In My Bag features at halfwheel. Like seemingly every other member of our staff, my bag is lighter than it’s ever been. I carry what I need, I try not to carry what I don’t. And this year has required even fewer tools to get trade show coverage completed.

Here’s what’s in my bag, I’ve noted the new items with italics:

• Tumi Tahoe Dale — I’ve had this bag for five years and just noticed that there’s a small hole. It remains my everyday backpack meaning it’s been to more than a dozen countries and also thousands of trips to the office.
• Think Tank Cable Management 10 V 2.0 — A lot of what is typically stored inside here (dongles, Anker Lightning charging cables, etc.) is on my desk at the booth, but I still try to keep some essential back-ups.
• Sony A7RIV + Sony 16-35 ƒ/2.8 — While the lens is the same, we upgraded from A7RIIIs to A7RIVs last January. Everything is a little bit better than the RIII, perhaps most notably the ergonomics.
• Sennheiser AVX — Every year I’m impressed with how well these microphones work.
• Peak Design Tripod — I’m using the carbon fiber version and I like it better than the monopod not because of the marginal weight difference, but because it folds up to a lot more compact size.
• Moleskine Reporter Notebook — I’ve yet to use this, instead of taking the rare note on my iPhone.
• Leuchtturm Medium Hardcover Lined Red — This hasn’t been used either, though maybe that changes tomorrow.
• Pilot Envelope Address Writing Gel Ink Pen — Since COVID-19 I haven’t found a single place with these in stock—let me know if you know who has them in the comments—and as such I’m rationing my last full box.
• Uni-ball Signo Broad UM-153 — This means this pen gets used a lot more. As always, in the 1mm size.
• JetLine Lighters — Various JetLine lighters, though I’m not sure it’s the exact models that we used in 2019.
• Kershaw Launch #4 — Another year, another knife. This is much smaller but fits my needs just as well as the Launch #1 it replaced. Mine is a bit of a personalized version with a mixture of blade and body options along with an aftermarket purple clip.
• Sony WF-1000MX4 — These have replaced my Airpod Pros if I don’t need to make phone calls, though my Sony WH-1000MX3s still remain on my desk in the bunker.
• Rimowa Travel Humidor — This made it one day and then was left in my room.
• Facemask — I’m not 100 percent convinced COVID-19 is 100 percent done, so I keep a mask on hand though I’ve only used it in the Uber/Lyft rides.
• Business Cards
• Bottled Water — When I bought water at a local Target last week the only 1L bottles were Evian and Essentia. Brooks took the Essentia, so I’ve been using the Evian 1L bottles.