The most important lesson that I learned in the Boy Scouts is “Be Prepared.” I can’t count how many times being prepared has helped me or someone around me–usually in small ways, but occasionally in big ways.
One of the ways that I maintain preparedness is keeping an individual first aid kit (IFAK) on my person. My full kit fits inside a small MOLLE pouch that I keep in my backpack, but within that kit is a smaller pouch of core components that is small enough that I can slip it into a pocket if I’m not wearing my backpack.
I would recommend making a small kit like this to keep on your person. It’s easy to do using things you likely already have on-hand. When you or someone around you needs something in it, you’ll be thankful for investing a little bit of time, energy, and materials to be ready for that moment.
You can put whatever you think is most useful into your compact first aid kit. In mine, I carry things that I regularly use or think might be useful. I keep my kit in a waterproof snack-size Ziploc bag. It includes:
6 alcohol antiseptic pads
2 lens wipes
2 bandaids
2 aspirin
1 antibiotic ointment
3 single-use eye drops
4 Advil (ibuprofen)
4 Eve DX (a Japanese-made pain reliever that helps with migraines)
In addition to the first aid kit, I also keep a pouch of tissues (my current Japanese-made Sumikkogurashi ones were donated by Y).
Whatever you put in your first aid kit, stick to what fits your needs. Keep it up to date as you use things in it. And, adjust its contents as your needs change.
One thing that I haven’t shared on my blog before is my love for USGI Meal, Ready to Eat, or MREs (though, I have mentioned them in passing). While I keep some on-hand for emergencies, I genuinely enjoy eating them. I recently purchased some pulled items and two cases of A and B menus, so I thought that I would share some photos and thoughts while I work my way through them.
This post shows my second favorite dessert option: the Peanut Butter Dessert Bar (my favorite dessert is the Cherry Blueberry Cobbler). This dessert easily won me over, because I love peanut butter. I have it nearly every day with my breakfast–a spoonful added to a 1/4 cup of oatmeal.
I bought 12 of these peanut butter bars as stand-alone items. This one was produced by Sterling Foods out of San Antonio, Texas with a date code of 1301, which translates to Oct. 21, 2021. The bar has a compact size–about the same as a flattened Snickers bar, and it packs in 240 calories! It is firm but a little pliable. It has a smooth texture with some crunchy nut bits mixed into it. It hit the spot after a Chinese takeout dinner of spicy beef and onion.
See the pictures below for its original condition and packaging.
Columbus Park, flanked by Borough Hall, Kings County Superior Court, and the Cadman Plaza US Post Office (the building in the background of the photo above), has been invaded by a hip giant metal robot sculpture. It’s Rappin’ Max Robot with a foot propped up on his larger-than-life boombox. The character first appeared in Eric Orr’s Rappin’ Max Robot comic book. It was built by Welder Underground, which according to the dedication plaque is “a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that teaches young adults to become certified welders and metal fabricators by partnering with established artists to build large-scale public artworks.” Coming full circle, Eric Orr, Jr. was one of the Welder Underground apprentices who worked on the project. I was happy to see this unexpected addition to the park around the corner from City Tech. In fact, I would like to see more hip hop robots. Let’s get the giant robot hero from The Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic” music video put up near Adam Yauch Park (RIP M.C.A.).
As I’ve documented here, here, and here, I continue searching for the perfect backpack. While there may not be one backpack that checks all of my boxes, I think that the GoRuck GR1 (26L) checks the most.
I purchased the larger 26L version of the GR1 before the fall semester began. It is the most expensive backpack that I’ve ever purchased, but its design, materials, construction, and “Built in the USA” provenance supported the price.
My original intended use for it was to carry my 16″ Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 4 laptop, charger, water bottle, coffee thermos, and papers to and from the City Tech campus.
Then, after my dad was released from the hospital after a back problem, it became a travel companion for overnight train rides to-and-from NYC (along with a simple barrel duffel bag). It carried my laptop, charger, 8″ Samsung Tab Active3 tablet, its charger, an MRE and snacks, 1 liter of water, overnight clothes, and 1 quart Ziploc bag for toiletries.
So far, it has excelled in both work commuting and long distance train travel. It holds my gear, it’s easy to organize, and it’s constructed tough.
Below are photos of its pockets and their use.
Between the shoulder straps and top hand grab is a pocket that holds my RayBan sunglasses in their case and my reading glasses in a smaller plastic case.
The back of the backpack supports breathing and features a smoother synthetic material than the body of the backpack. It’s advertised as being less aggressive on clothes, which I can confirm.
Flipping the shoulder straps around makes the “bomb proof” laptop sleeve more easily accessible. It is advertised as holding up to a 16″ laptop.
You can see above that the laptop sleeve does indeed hold my 16″ Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 4 with room to spare on its width (i.e., the height of the pocket in relation to the backpack) and just a hair of extra space for its depth (i.e., the width of the pocket in relation to the backpack).
The front zippered diagonal pocket extends from the zipper to the bottom of the pack. It can hold a lot! I keep an Apple Airtag and pocket knife in there. The top of the pack has a 2″ x 3″ hook-and-loop patch area, which I attached one of my Scouting patches to. I added a 3.5″ x 4.5″ hook-and-loop MOLLE panel to the bottom area of my GR1 where I affixed my “The Dude Abides” patch.
In addition to the MOLLE attachments on the outside of the pack, there is more MOLLE inside for pouches or hook-and-loop panels.
On the back interior of the GR1, there’s an elastic panel that can hold a smaller laptop or tablet. I used it to hold my 8″ Samsung Galaxy Tab Active3 in a hard case with plenty of room to spare.
The front flat interior has two zippered pouches. The top one is smaller but opaque. The bottom one is larger but its contents viewable thanks to the netting.
To help with organizing my gear, I dropped the larger half of the yellow, padded Ape Case Cubeze Duo (ACQB 41) with one divider in the bottom of the pack. This creates four areas in the bottom of the pack to keep things from banging around–a thermos, two water bottles, and charging brick for the Lenovo laptop.
The GR1 doesn’t come with a sternum strap, but I haven’t found that it needs one while walking or climbing stairs. Having one less strap to undo or get caught while dangling is okay with me. It’s also easy to put on and take off. However, depending on my load–specifically with the 16″ Lenovo, I bend over to put on my shoes before donning the pack so that I don’t put too much pressure on the laptop within the pack against my arched back.
I’m very happy with the GR1 and look forward to carrying it in the days ahead.
