The one with the bag check.

Editor’s note: In the late 2000s, John Korpics was the creative director at Fortune. He lived with his wife and kids way the hell up in Westchester County. Given his long commute, and being the industrious type, he decided to put that dreadful time to use. This column is what he came up with.

An homage to Tim O’Brien (the writer, not the illustrator, although I am a fan of both).

Sidebar: I once met Tim O’Brien (the writer) at a book party and he was quite drunk and hit on my wife. I like to call that a twofer—two great things happening at once—meeting a well-known person who happens to be falling-down drunk, and, having him flirt with your wife. Anyway, that’s a story for a later time...

All hardcore commuters carry some sort of bag that doubles as a briefcase/first aid kit/bookbag/life support system. Mine happens to be a 10-year-old black Tumi® computer bag with a non-matching gym bag strap that I added a few months ago when the original strap couldn’t take it anymore.

It’s a nondescript, shabby-yet-functional bag. If a thousand commuters all went to lunch together, and we all checked our bags before we sat down, I would have a very hard time telling the coat check person which one was mine, and then I’d have to tip more because of how long he would have to look.

What a man or woman carries every day in their bag is the product of a well-worked equation, balancing necessity and comfort, need and speed. And, of course, weight. It almost always comes down to weight. How much of a burden are you willing to bear everyday as you stare into the abyss? Here’s mine...

• 15" MacBook Pro® laptop. By far the heaviest thing in the bag, but also the most essential, for without this, there would be no blog. Your welcome.

• ATT Wireless USB card. Costs me about $60 a month. I am presently trying to pressure my employer to give me a company laptop card, so that I may negate my contract on this device. I’ll keep you posted.

• Keys. Pared down to the bare minimum to help keep weight and clutter down. The ring has a house key, a car key, and an office key. It also has a pink plastic laniard ribbon made by my daughter in camp two years ago. Worth the extra weight. The keys are hooked onto a plastic key clamp sewn into the Tumi. Whenever I look in the bag and the keys aren’t on the hook, I panic. Lost keys means having to call the wife from the station and get her to bring me the spare set at 7:45pm on a weeknight. Never lose the keys, my friend.

• iPhone® USB power chord with detachable wall plug.

• Mophie® battery skin for the iPhone. Because my iPhone battery lasts about two hours if I don't play the skeeball app (which I do enjoy). I also need the extra battery power so I can listen to a whole baseball game on my MLB app, which sucks up iPhone juice faster than a toddler on a teat.

• V-Moda® Earbuds (with extra pads). You get about 6 sets of extra silicone ear bud pads with the V-Modas, and for some reason I carry them all. They come in different sizes, so you can match your particular earhole with a particular bud size. Whatever, they dont weigh much, so I bring em.

SHAMELESS PROMOTIONAL MOMENT: I had an old pair of V-Moda®s that broke. Out of warranty, no receipt. I sent them to V-Moda® and they fixed them and mailed them back at no cost. I am a customer for life.

• Glasses. I wear a pair of glasses every day, and I bring a spare pair in case something happens to my first pair, and then I have my fancy new Maui Jim® prescription sunglasses, so yes, I carry three pairs of glasses. This might be an area where I could trim down. Maybe contacts?

• Maps and Schedules. I carry those plastic laminated Streetwise® Manhattan and Transitwise® Manhattan maps, as well as a train schedule. All of these things have been replaced by apps on my phone, but I carry them anyway, I guess in case there’s some sort of of nuclear attack and all the technology goes down and I really need to catch a subway.

• Phones. Yep, plural. I have an iPhone® 3G and a new company Blackberry.® I think this is mostly psychological, but I try not to mix any business technology with personal tech. Trust no one. In a month or so, I will also have a company laptop, which means I have to carry two laptops or chose one to leave at home. Or hire a sherpa.

• Pens. 3 pilot G-2 o5s and a Sharpie,® always black, cuz im a Newyahker.

• Medical Supplies. I have a Provental® inhaler for asthma, and 3 Zyrtec®s for allergies. I carried Band-Aids® for about 10 years, but every time I cut myself, I was always in a place where they already had Band-Aids, so...

• Yellow AMPAD® Gold Fiber Quadrille letter-sized pad. The best note pad ever. I think they use them on the space shuttle.

• Business Cards. A set for my new job and a set for my personal business (just in case).

• Personal Hygiene. A small box of toothpicks, because I have some annoying gaps in my teeth that I need to clean out now and then, a packet of those Listerine® Breath Strips, a pack of Trident® bubblegum flavored gum, and seven individual Tucks® Take-Along Medicated Wipes. I highly recommend that last item for anyone who lives an “on-the-go” lifestyle and also happens to hold personal cleanliness in high regard. Without going into too much detail, it wouldn't be overstating it to say that the Tucks® Take-Along has saved my ass more than once, literally and figuratively (badump bump).

—

Thats it. There are many things I’ve stopped carrying over the years: Books, newspapers, umbrellas, aspirin, food, drinks. All mostly because I don’t like the extra weight. I like to think of myself as a lean, mean commuting machine. Ready to sprint across town without being weighed down by thoughtful or inspiring reading material.

The whole shooting match weighs about 8 pounds, which is why my right shoulder is so much stronger than my left. As far as I can tell, the contents of my bag suggest that I worry about being late, having fresh breath, being disconnected, and having a super-clean caboose. All good qualities in any soldier.

I offer my apologies to Tim O’Brien for stealing his concept, but since he once tried to bugger my wife, I guess we’re even.

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2009 © JOHN KORPICS

John Korpics is VP/Executive Creative Director at Harvard Business Review. He has served as the design lead at Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, ESPN, Fortune, InStyle, and many other major newsstand magazines. His current commute is much effing easier.

Jason Schneider is a beloved Toronto-based editorial illustrator.