This intrigues me, Miles. I don’t think much about what I carry around day-to-day, but I think it does vary wildly based on profession…and also based on lifestyle. I’m not so much about the designer thing when it comes to my working life. All of my bags get shoved either in my office upstairs or in between the cage rack and my necropsy table in the mouse room, so I try to ues anything cheap and durable (in fact, I had to use one said bag to trap an escaped mouse just last Friday…I was quite glad at that moment that it wasn’t something I paid much for!) I find myself taking a very large backpack and a computer bag to work daily, though this will change once we move into our new research building and I have my very own desk and my very own lab bench in which to store, well, everything.

1) One of two laptops, sometimes both depending on if I need to do actual data analysis (MatLab/SigmaPlot/SPSS) or if I just need a computer with a general operating system.
2) Digital camera with video
3) 2 carbon copy “rough” lab books that I use to draft all of my experimental data before transcribing it into the books that get sent to my reviewers when publishing a paper
4) Pens, pencils, sharpies, and highlighters…aka the things that always grow legs and walk away in the lab
5) One of several peer-reviewed journals. This week it’s the most recent copy of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)
6) 2 spiral bound note books, one for doodling/ideas having nothing to do with my research and the other for those notes I always want to jot down when talking with other scientists
7) Random items of jewelry that I take off during the day when doing procedures/running experiments that I forget to put back on and then forget to put away
8) An old scarf and hat to wear when I have to work in the cold room
9) iPod and charger
10) Foundation, lipstick, and mascara
11) A full change of clothes in case I get stuck sleeping at work
12) PJs in case I get stuck sleeping at work
13) Toothbrush in case I get stuck sleeping at work (no joke, this happens…we’re actually getting a “sleeping” room in our new lab, complete with 3 cots and FUTON. This is a very big deal. Right now if we have to crash there we have to fight for one of the three couches in the presentation room. Otherwise it’s your desk or the floor in the office)
14) Riding britches and socks
15) A few photos of the horses (mostly to remind me of what they look like since I never seem to leave my lab)
16) Enough pharmaceuticals to make any good research in academia cringe
17) Extra pair of glasses
18) Sun glasses
19) A small Coach clutch that doubles as my wallet
20) Keys for my lab, my mouse room, my procedure room, and the new building
21) “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” a brilliant novel by the French author Barbery. While I never actually have time to read it, I bring it with me everyday in hopes that I might.
22) A lunch box filled with assorted dry foods that won’t go bad. I never have time to eat lunch (and sometimes even dinner passes me by) so I try to keep a few things with me so that I’ll actually eat something.
23) Random personal papers and a few pieces of mail from god-knows-when. When you haven’t had time to clean out your bags in almost 5 months, there is bound to be a few interesting things at the bottom!

Now to put it all back…

1) A butt trumpet cd (w/ dead dogs etc..)
2) A VHS copy of “the jungle book” (live action version)
3) A “fun bag” containing a mix of various snacks
4) Aunt Jemima pancake syrup (seperate from fun bag)
5) A samurai sword (to avoid getting snathed)
6) 3 clementines
7) 3 anal douches
8) A porketta
9) A pressure cooker
10) A book about different ways to horribly mistreat animals and young children
11) 9 red bulls
12) A bolt of lightning
13) Green Lantern #59 (first appearance of Guy Gardner)