When you have a pocket knife, everything looks like an Amazon box.

I am fortunate to find myself with a gender identity that society deems worthy of pockets. Maybe worthy isn’t the right word, but no fashion designers are trying to remove visible seams to highlight the curvature of my thighs. Hey, maybe they should. Y’all are missing out.

Having pockets just means I don’t have to carry a purse. Now, I’m not opposed to being a ‘bag guy’, but if the way I feel about backpacks is to translate, a purse collection could become very expensive very quickly.

The 8 things I always have

I’ve had the same eight or so items in my pockets since the 8th grade. These are those things.

1. In my front right pocket: an iPhone 13 Pro

I got my first phone in 8th grade, and since then I’ve had 9 different phones. I think that’s pretty good for 20 years. For the 1 person who is interested, I had a generic flip phone, a Motorola razr, another razr, some Motorola blackberry knockoff, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 6, Google Pixel 2, Google Pixel 4, and my current iPhone 13 pro.

I think this is interesting only because I am one of a small group that jumped ship to Android and back. Shiny objects be dammed. For what it’s worth, I loved the camera on the Pixel and honestly didn’t have many complaints. I was (and still am) using an almost entirely Google software stack, so shifting to Google hardware seemed like it would make sense.

As much as I liked the Pixel, the constant incompatibility with an iPhone culture became my downfall, and I decided to switch back. #greenbubbles

Frankly, they’re all the same at this point.

My case and loop thingy

A phone is nothing without its armor, and I have a Nomad Goods case on mine. The leather case has held up remarkably well over almost 3 years and has a little RFID chip embedded right into the case for ‘digital business card’ contact sharing via Popl. Notably, I set this up and then never used it. Even more notably iOS just does this now. So who cares.

The loop thingy is the pinnacle of ‘pop socket’ technology and such a great example of improving by simplifying. Lies flat in a pocket, doesn’t break, easy to install, stops you from dropping your phone on your face. What more do you want. Get the original one. The silicone can tear and the leather is too thick for some cases.

Everything else:

2. Titanium Benchmade x Shinola Collab Knife

I don’t actually know what this knife is. To be fair, the person working at the Shinola store in Chicago also didn’t know what it was at first. After a little digging they found it to be one of only a few left available anywhere and I promptly snatched it up. It’s a matte black, titanium, Shinola Benchmade. It’s pretty close to perfect.

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see where my wedding ring has rubbed off on the knife from sticking my hand in my pocket.

In a future email, I’ll dig into why I think everyone should carry a knife. For now, just know this one is mine.

3. Wallet

I keep a thin card wallet in my back right pocket, which I picked up from Scout in Louisville years ago. I have not thought twice about it since.

4. Bert’s Bees

I have a vivid memory of using my dad’s original flavor black Chapstick as a kid and wanting to have my own as soon as I could. At some point about 20 years ago, I switched to the classic Bert’s Bees. It’s menthol-y, it’s cheap, it’s widely available.

5. Apple Watch Series 8

Believe it or not this is my first Apple Watch. I’ve found it to be 100% useful when running or biking and about 40% useful the rest of the time. If I don’t have this one on, I am usually wearing a Shinola.

6. Airpods

I’m not even sure which Airpods these are, but they are NOT the in-ear ones with the little silicone things. Not a fan of that. No thanks. These get pulled out 100 times every day for audio books, music and, let’s be honest, tik tok.

7. Traveler’s Notebook - Passport size

This is one of my favorite things. Inside is a dot grid notebook and a pocket organizer to hold business cards and stickers. It fits perfectly in my back pocket and has held up to years of abuse. Traveler’s Company

8. A pen.

I almost always have a pen, and lately it has been this little Sierra cedar guy I picked up at Paper Wings in Cincinnati. This thing writes super fine, which is great for a small notebook and is made of cedar (like a pencil) so it smells good. Don’t judge me.

Of course there’s more…

This is just the top tier. The best of the best. The ride or die’s. I have cool stuff in my backpack too. And my truck. And on my desk.

Little by little I’ll share it in these emails.

Maybe you’ll find something you love too.

be good

z