My Decade with Tom (Bihn)
Ted has mentioned that the Tom Bihn Brain Bag is official ASF wear.
Yesterday marked the 8th year I’ve been carrying a laptop in my Tom Bihn messenger bag.
The bag is still holding up great, though the laptop has had to be replaced a few times. (though that isn’t the bag’s fault considering what I put my laptops through. Getting misplaced in the Australian outback was just one of the misadventures the first resident of the bag, my PowerBook 100, suffered.) I recommend accessorizing with a Courierware laptop sleeve, as an alternative to the Bihn’s bulkier Brain Cell (nee LapDog), though if I had to do it again, I would seriously consider the Doctrow approved R.A.P.S.! Protection System for the insert.
I spent months wandering into Tom’s store in downtown Santa Cruz, trying to either shake the lust for a bag, or work up the nerve to spend $100 on a bag, my single most expensive purchase outside of a computer at that point in my life. I eventually was convinced by people around me that, “You’ll have it for a long time, it’s worth it to get the bag you want.” I wonder if it is time to upgrade? After all I’m once again in a town with a Tom Bihn store downtown (he fled Santa Cruz for points north, opening stores in Seattle, and Port Angeles). And the backpack style BrainBag is tempting now that I’m no longer carrying a super-svelte Sony. Or maybe I should push on through to my 10yr anniversary with the bag?