20230809-not_without_my_effects.md (8907B)
1 Most of us, if we realise it or not, have every day carry or EDC. Before I had heard the phrase "every day carry" I had a couple of items that were always on my person. Keys are an obvious daily carry, whether it is car keys or house keys you generally don't go outside without them. That can be where it starts and ends, yet some of us decide to take the red pill and fall into a deep dark rabbit hole. 2 3 In recent years, since discovering a whole community of enthusiasts, my EDC has been updated. I have introduced a few new items and swapped out old items for smaller versions making it easier to carry. 4 5 ## core carry 6 7 ### pouch contents 8  9 10 * Abert Inox // wallet multi tool 11 * Olight // O'pen mini 12 * Rolling Square // inCharge USB cable 13 * Entroware // USB-C flash drive 14 * Sony // MDR-E9LP headphones 15 * Bank // credit card (not pictured) 16 17 These items have been my daily carry for many years. Headphones are always handy when travelling on public transport, or when watching videos on the phone without disturbing others. I generally carry cheap earbud headphones until they stop working then replace them. 18 19 I have always carried a pen of some description as well. Back in the old days when I worked as a radar engineer and had to put pen to paper everyday, it was useful to have a couple of pens in my pocket. I stopped carrying a pen on my person as often when I stopped having to wear shirts to work, as my Parker Jotter (see [extended carry](#extended-carry)) was a bit big for my pocket. Since finding the Olight O'pen mini I am back to having a pen in my ~~pocket~~ pouch. 20 21 If you have followed my blog for a while you may remember my [a well-fortified position](20220830-a_well-fortified_position.html){target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"} entry, detailing my secure access setup for my servers and home VPN. My disposable emergency SSH key lives on this USB-C flash drive. 22 23 The Abert Inox multi tool is a recent addition. I found it in my father's camping gear and with it being able to fit nicely in my EDC pouch I started carrying it daily. 24 25 If I am carrying one of my larger EDC [pouches](#pouches) I will also have this mini flashlight on me. 26 27  28 29 * RovyVon // Aurora A3 Pro G4 MAO marble grey 30 31 This is another fairly new addition. I had never thought about carrying a flashlight until discovering these mini versions. In my previous career it was useful to have a flashlight in the van for when we were on the airfield working on equipment. One of these keychain flashlights would have been very useful back then. 32 33 ### pouches 34  35 36 * Garage Built Gear // mighty pouch+ black 37 * 52Graves // C.K.P. black 38 * Zerofeud // C.U.P. purple 39 * The Silver Express // charcoal pouch 40 * Zerofeud // black hex soft wallet 41 * Zerofeud // OD green hex soft wallet 42 * UYH.EDC // "33" pouch red 43 44 These days instead of just having my effects in my pockets I use an EDC pouch. The small 'soft wallet' pouches have been my longest serving but I have started to prefer the larger pouches for the organisational pockets and straps inside. 45 46 ### pocket contents 47  48 49 * OrbitKey // charcoal grey leather key organiser 50 * OrbitKey // USB 3.0 flash drive 51 * Trolkey // €1/€2 trolley token 52 53 As I said, carrying keys is probably everybody's first EDC. I received this key organiser as a gift one Christmas and it has been in my pocket ever since. Aside from my keys it holds a supermarket trolley token and a(nother!) flash drive. 54 55  56 57 * InfiniteDesignsDE // zombie party hank 58 * InfiniteDesignsDE // Univers hank 59 * InfiniteDesignsDE // Hannibal hank 60 * InfiniteDesignsDE // Simpsons hank 61 * InfiniteDesignsDE // motherboard hank 62 * HinterlandEDC // pickle rick hank 63 * elefantihanks // purple pizza hank 64 * Three Dog Parcel // Tentacles hank 65 * Three Dog Parcel // Troopers hank 66 67 Since growing my beard in 2013 when I left the military, I have carried a hank. From wiping away crumbs, or dabbing off beer foam, it is a much needed element of my EDC. At first I carried cheap cotton hanks but over the last few years have picked up more interesting ones as you can see in the photo. As well as cool patterns these hanks have cotton or microfiber backing, which is great for cleaning phone screens, glasses, or camera lenses. 68 69 ### hydrate 70  71 72 * Bambaw // 1000ml stainless steel water bottle 73 74 Drink more water. 'nuff said. 75 76 ## extended carry 77 78 So that is my core or 'actual' EDC. 79 80 I expand on this when carrying a bag. My bag is not carried as much since working from home but when I do need it I like to have a few more effects on me. 81 82  83 84 * Anker // PowerCore Essential 20000 powerbank 85 * Arteck // folding bluetooth keyboard 86 * Toshiba // 2TB external drive 87 * Ögon // Smart Case aluminum wallet 88 * Parker // Jotter pen 89 * Sharpie // black fine marker 90 * Friendly Swede // capacitive stylus 91 * Blue Spot // precision screwdriver 92 * Belkin // retractable Cat5e cable 93 94 95 I have been through many, many wallets over the years. My favourite was a Ducti classic bifold. My current wallet is hardy aluminum, which protects all my little RFIDs from space aliens. 96 97 Carrying a portable powerbank has become more of a necessity having not upgraded my phone in a few years. This particular powerbank isn't as highly rated as some of Anker's other products but I have got a lot of use out of it and it is still doing okay. I don't use my folding keyboard very often but it is small and light enough that it usually stays in my bag for when I do need it. Same goes for the external drive, can you ever have too many data storage devices on you? 98 99 My Parker Jotter pen has been with me since I saw GoldenEye sometime in the late Nineties. No joke, I got this after seeing the movie and it has been carried with me all through high school, college, my military service, and now it sits in my bag under my desk. I still occasionally take it out to spin like Boris when I'm working on a difficult problem (whispering you know what when I succeed). Having a Sharpie was more use when I was a field technician but old habits and all that. The capacitive stylus I picked up for digital drawing, and while I rarely carry my tablet around I can always doodle on my phone. 100 101 Another old habit is carrying a screwdriver. I don't have to take computers apart very often these days but this little driver is really handy. The bit has two ends, one cross (#1) and one flat head (4.0mm). It also comes with an array of other bits of different sizes and styles but I find this particular size to be the most useful. 102 103 Carrying a network cable is yet another throwback to the times I had to frequent datacentres, or in the times of LAN parties. Still, it comes in useful often enough for it to stay in my bag. 104 105 ### the bag 106  107 108 * Diesel // messenger bag 109 110 In 2007 I saw Live Free or Die Hard, the forth movie in the Die Hard franchise. It didn't get much love but I enjoyed it (and still do). Justin Long's character has a messenger bag which he has modified for his hacking purposes. It is a cool looking bag and for years I kept an eye out for it. Finally, 15 years later I happened to see one (albeit a different colour) for sale and I couldn't resist. Waiting for it to be delivered I started to worry it would be poor quality and not what I had hoped for all these years, but this is actually an excellent bag. 111 112 The quality is really good, with nice heavy buckles and chunky zips. There are plenty of pockets and compartments, which is always a plus in my mind, and if Timothy Olyphant ever tries to start a fire sale I am one bag closer to stopping him. 113 114 ## carry on 115 Being introduced to the EDC community has also inspired me to learn a bit more about photography. Some people take amazing shots of their EDC, whether it's real or just for art. If you follow me on the Fediverse you may have noticed that I have been posting some EDC photos. As a complete photography noob I am very open to constructive criticism with the photos themselves or the editing, so don't be shy about letting me know what you think. 116 117 Who knows where my EDC will go next. There are a few additional items I have my eye on, as well as potential replacements or alternatives, but this current carry has been doing me well for a while. If you have any suggestions, or would like to give me your thoughts on my EDC then get in touch using the details on my [homepage](https://pyratebeard.net){target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"}.