Bryan Strawser

In 2004, I wrote about what I carry around in my gadget bag. Here’s a 2007 update:

• Apple Macbook Pro 17″ - My trusty 2005 Powerbook G4 died on me earlier this year on a trip to Dallas. This is the latest one - unfortunately not the most current line of Macbook Pro though. Upgraded to 3G of RAM.
• Apple iPod - 60GB version from two generations ago. Currently using 56GB. At work, I dock it into a stereo rig. Otherwise, I use the Shure e4c headphones - expensive, but worth it.
• Apple iPod Shuffle (Silver) - I use this when working out or hitting the road on the bicycle.
• Palm Treo 700wx - this is my domestic cell phone / PDA. It syncs wirelessly using Sprint’s EVDO broadband to our Microsoft Exchange servers - providing me with email, contacts, and other information wherever I am.
• Apple iPhone - my personal & international cell phone. My work phone number forwards over to this phone - making it the onestop shop for communications wherever I am.
• Levenger Notebook - I use leather three-ring binder from Levenger to hold my daily schedule, executive summaries, tasks, and various notes as I motor throughout my day. Some of my forms are custom made using Abode Illustrator. I’m also a huge fan of Dave Seah’s Printable CEO series.
• Moleskine Reporter Pocket Notebook - I carry this when I’m highly mobile - it primarily serves as my portable task list.
• Moleskine Reporter Large Notebook - I use this for notetaking and meetings, etc. I began using these when I moved to our headquarters in 2005 - I now have 6 of them filed away in the desk. It’s helped me never lose my notes!
• Sprint Broadband Card - this is used with my work laptop (not listed) to connect to the internet in order to sync up email, etc. when traveling.
• United States Passport - never leave home without it. Now featuring a 5 year entry/exit visa for India.

When I switched to the 17″ Macbook Pro my Brenthaven backpack of years past simply wouldn’t hold the laptop safely. So, I dropped over to Marshall Field’s (now Macy’s unfortunately) and picked up a Tumi Nylon Briefcase that was roomy enough to hold my 17″ laptop. I’ve been in love with my bag ever since.

What’s in your bag?

I’ve never been happy with the design of this blog - until now.

For the first five years of this blog, I was using Movable Type as the blog software that powered bryanstrawser.com. Once upon a time, I coded a custom template but it was so standards non-compliant it wasn’t even funny. A later attempt to hire a professional designer yielded a design that I was really less than fond of. So it was back to templates for me.

After leaving the blog world for over a year, I relaunched on Memorial Day 2007 using Automattic’s Wordpress. I wound up rotating through some different templates before giving up and contacting my good friend Matt Craven to get a design put together on the blog.

Matt, being as smart as he is, turned to Chris Jennings, an up-and-coming designer that had worked on blogs like Tim Ferris, the author of The Four Hour Work Week, along with many others.

The result is this uber-cool design that you see before you.

The Picture

The picture of me in the header is from my vacation to Bar Harbor, Maine in October 2003. It’s one of my favorite pictures of myself. The picture was taken on the eastern coast of Bar Harbor early on an October morning as the fog was just beginning to burn off… I wrote more about that vacation here, here, and here.

The Quote

For a very long time, Richard Bach has been one of my favorite authors. Two friends of mine from high school gave me the book Illusions in my junior year.. and it had a profound impact on me. The book has remained one of my favorites ever since…

The quote is but one of the sayings from The Master’s Handbook that Bach’s character is given in the book..

The Design

Through Matt, I gave Chris little guidance other than some links to blog designs that I liked alot.. the credit for the creativity, inspiration, and end result is entirely due to his abilities as a designer. I couldn’t be h

Chris also made a slick archives page that is fairly unique in it’s layout and architecture.

For the first time, I wrote a solid About Page - one that I’m pleased with for the time being anyways.

As my career has grown, I’ve also been fortunate enough to be able to speak at some various conferences and the like - where permitted, links to those are on the new presentations page.

Final Thoughts

All said, I’m very happy with this design. I finally feel like the blog has been brought forward to today’s technology with Wordpress and with a design that pops… I’m looking forward to blogging on a more regular basis!