I'm writing this as I'm preparing my laptop for our trip.
My first two questions for a trip are: do I take the laptop and do I take the camera?
Both are rather bulky compared to the other items I would take with me, and both are by far the most valuable item I'd have.
For many trips, I leave them behind so I don't have to worry about them. It can be easier to just enjoy things that way, and sometimes it's nice to not have e-mail and Haskell available as distractions. I find myself doing things I wouldn't otherwise be doing sometimes.
On the other hand, sometimes it's nice to be able to have a secure way to check my e-mail on the road. (I never trust public machines/terminals, way too easy for them to become infected with spyware.) Sometimes it's nice to have things to do, too. So here's what I'm loading my laptop up with for this trip:
- A full sid mirror, binary-only, for its architecture. I already have a copy elsewhere on the LAN, and I have enough spare disk space, so it makes sense. I always hate being stuck somewhere without a 'net connection and really needing some package.
- Several books, mostly from Project Gutenberg.
- Updated recent checkouts of stuff from my darcs repository.
- Maps, lists of free hotspots, and information about the cities I'll be in
- Current copies of my e-mail (via OfflineIMAP) and Usenet news (via newsx) to read/work with
- Docs and references for GHC and any other programming tools that I might wish to use
- Some MP3s
- One CD-RW, in the drive, in case I need to exchange data with anyone
What does everyone else load up on their laptops?
bicycling, 
Comments
Sun, 05.10.2008 20:40
There is no denying that there have been plenty of people th at have killed in the name of Christianity. That does [...]
Sun, 05.10.2008 18:34
I think the formula you wanted is git format-patch $(git rev-list HEAD | tail -1)
Sun, 05.10.2008 14:23
I know it sounds nice to you, but, Christianity means an opp ressive, theocratic, brutal, b loody regime to many of [...]
Sat, 04.10.2008 23:47
I agree that there must be sen sible limits on government exp enditure, for sure. Healthc are is one of those wher [...]
Sat, 04.10.2008 23:43
Not at all, and I completely a gree with you. But I wanted to stress that part, because not everyone does.
Sat, 04.10.2008 23:41
Hi Cliff, I agree with you that the "they take jobs Ameri cans won't" argument doesn't m ake sense. I also agree [...]
Sat, 04.10.2008 17:26
I always worry when people cla im their ethics are founded on religious tenets, since most religions have a lot of [...]
Sat, 04.10.2008 08:37
"We are torturing potentially innocent people." Are you i mplying that it's allowed to t orture "guilty" people? [...]