Feb 11, 2011

Business Travel Essentials

While I travel less now than I have in the past I’ve had a couple experiences recently that have reminded me how important it is to have the right equipment with you on a business trip. Here I outline some of the items that I find essential – please add your thoughts!

The most recent additions to my list are:

  • DisplayPort to DVI adaptor
  • DVI to HDMI cable

With more hotels having LCD TVs this combination of cables allows me to add a second monitor to my workstation while in my room. I’ve had some TV remotes that include an ‘input’ button and others where I had to find the button on the TV itself (check the sides). Often it is not a real high resolution, but it still provides a second monitor! On a similar note I just purchased a 7” USB monitor. I’ve not yet had it long enough to know if I’ll find it useful, or if I will decide it is worth packing with me on trips – but it seems promising right now.

Here’s a picture of me using the TV during a recent trip.

HotelTvAsSecondMonitor

Most of the other items do not require much explanation:

  • network cable
  • USB mini & USB micro cables
  • wireless travel router
  • small power strip (I’m currently carrying one with 3 outlets and 2 USB power ports)
  • small flashlight
  • mini screwdrivers (flat and phillips)
  • travel headset with microphone (VoIP calls)

If I’m renting a car I also include the following:

  • car power port (cigarette lighter) to USB adapter
  • windshield mount for phone/gps

Of course there are some items that don’t stay packed but do make it on every trip. These include my eBook reader, mp3 player (very little music, lots of audio books and podcasts) and a magazine or two to read when electronic devices are not able to be used on my flights.

I also try to purchase an extra power adaptor for my laptops – I left mine home on one trip, luckily I was working with a team and we were able to share adaptors for similar laptops.

I’m probably forgetting some items that remain buried in my backpack and pulled out infrequently. Tell me what you find to be your essentials!

Feb 10, 2011

My O’Reilly Wish List

O’Reilly has a contest going on right now – so this is my entry…

The ‘contest’ is to build and post online a wish list of titles from the O’Reilly catalog worth up to $500. Then submit the link to your list to O’Reilly by Feb 22, 2011 at 11:59PM (PST). A winner will be randomly selected the following day.

I need to preface this list with a disclaimer: I have purchased many (my wife would definitely say too many) books recently. So this list does not necessarily represent my top choices as I have already purchased several of them. Watch for another post in the near future with a list of some of the titles that I have purchased over the past few months.

Title

Cost

Arduino up and Running: Building Fun and Creative Electronic Projects 29.99
Baseball Hacks 24.99
Beautiful Architecture: Leading Thinkers Reveal the Hidden Beauty in Software Design 44.99
Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think 44.99
Beautiful Teams: Inspiring and Cautionary Tales from Veteran Team Leaders 39.99
Coding4Fun: 10 .NET Programming Projects For Wiimote, YouTube, World of Warcraft and More 39.99
EBook Contracts: Critical Terms and Lessons Learned from Both Sides of the Table 29.99
HTML5: Up and Running 29.99
Mind Performance Hacks: Tips & Tricks for Overclocking Your Brain 24.99
Scaling MongoDB 29.99
slide:ology: The Are and Science of Creating Great Presentations 34.99
The Art of Agile Development 39.99
The Art of Community: Building the New Age of Participation 39.99
The Art of Concurrency: A Thread Monkey’s Guide to Writing Parallel Applications 44.99

How about that – my choices total $499.86.

Check them out and please share any thoughts on these titles!