Chapter 22
Ten of My Favorite Things
In This Chapter
Powering up anywhere I go
Shooing away noise
Presenting a good show by remote control
Bringing along an emergency software kit
T
he theory is, you know, that a laptop computer gives you everything you
want in one small package. Designers pride themselves on squeezing
10 pounds of wizardry into a 5-pound package.To some extent that’s what they’ve accomplished. I only wish that I were capa-
ble of traveling with just the slim, lightweight laptop. (I am leaving aside the
necessary AC power supply — a device that has undergone its own slimdown
program over the years.)Before I proceed, let me brag abou t... I mean describe... some of the
strange and wonderful places I have lugged my laptops in the past decade
as a journalist.In a former monastery in the literally breathtaking city of Cusco, Peru,
at 11,203 above sea level where we paused for a breath of oxygen before
traveling deeper into the Andes to visit the cloud castles of the sacred
city of Machu Picchu. My laptop ran a bit hot in the thin air, but then I
was dragging a bit myself.Onboard a train on a one-track line 100 miles past the last stretch of
road in northern Ontario en route to the subarctic.
By ship from Auckland, New Zealand, to Sydney, Australia, across the
wild Tasman Sea with one hand on the keyboard and the other holding
the computer down on the desktop.On more seatback tray tables than I could possibly remember, flying
east, west, north, and south.
Out the door of my office and into my bedroom to review a file or surf
the Internet using a WiFi connection within my house (or hitchhiking
onto a signal in the ether from a neighbor’s system).