Partly in the spirit of posts like What are objects that have made your life better? and Things you’re allowed to do¹, partly - if something “just works” for years you have no reason to remember it, then it ‘floats away’ next time you move, isn’t immediately missed because you have other stuff going on, end you end up using a short USB charger for months…

Tech hardware

• LONG USB-C charger wires with a texture (nylon, braided, any other names?..): easy to find by touch only (in the dark, in the backpack, among 50 other black wires…)
• Phone:
  • BRIGHT ORANGE to find it on any background (and pink headphones for the same reason)
  • A lot of disk space and a really good battery
• Chargers:
  • Additional laptop chargers (one at work / in the backpack, one on the couch etc.)
  • Matching chargers for different devices at home
• Bluetooth remotes/buttons for my phone!² (Added on 2022-12-22)
  • Use-case: you’re in bed, listening to podcasts/audiobooks/… through headphones when falling asleep, and need to skip an ad/episode or change volume.
  • Now you can just click a button on the remote without opening your eyes! Previously, that would have involved opening your eyes, finding the phone itself, looking at the screen and using the touchpad, waking up in the process.
  • Key Mapper³ mappings make this even better:
    • central “play” button: once for play/pause, twice for “30 seconds forward”
    • “forward” button: once for “30 seconds forward”, twice for “go to next episode”
    • “backward” button: same as above but backward

Day to day life

• Glasses with self-tinting lenses
• BIG Mil-Tec / M-Tac assault backpack⁴
  • The MOLLE system is nice and you can attach carabins with stuff to it, like grocery bags etc
  • The straps can make it visually smaller, nice for carry-on luggage!
  • Zips around all of it - so it can open fully, the whole 180 degrees
  • Water-proof
• Keys on a chain attached to the pants with a carabin (or two, to make disconnecting easier). The chain should be:
  • long enough, so that I can open any doors without detaching the chain
  • Double (= a circle), so that it can be hung anywhere
• Electronic toothbrush!
• KITCHEN PLIERS!!!
• молочник вместо заварника - мыть легче и использовать тоже
• Gloves with touchscreen-friendly fingers
• BRIGHT LUGGAGE is nice to see in a sea of black and dark blue ones
  • And traveling wearing polos with a pocket: can be used for things needed often and close, such as documents (passport, boarding pass) but also headphones
• Rug in the bathroom near bath/shower: feels nice and less likely to slip
• Emergency money (and masks!) hidden in places that you can forget about and always count on :)
• Thermoflasche, my Tramp 0.9l survived more abuse than I thought possible

Software

• noise cancelling (noisetorch) if the microphone picks up my typing
• documents backed-up in git and accessible from the phone⁵
• git repos with multiple remotes (github, gitlab, my VPS) for redundancy.
• On my VPS:
  • FreshRSS and easyRSS on mobile
  • Password manager / bitwarden
  • wallabag
  • nextcloud for android sync
• Fastmail with calendar/contacts synchronised with DAVx
• Obsidian for notes
• Android:
  • Podcasts: PodcastAddict, with volume keys mapped to “skip 15 seconds” though Key Mapper and Precise Volume to make it quieter
  • NewPipe for YouTube!
  • Sentien Launcher for distraction-free screen
  • RedReader and other Reddit clients

Stuff you can do

• Checklists!
• Listen to podcasts at 2x the speed!
• Donate to or buy apps and programs that make your life better
• Write postcards and letters to people; plan video calls and phone calls instead of texting
• Sabbath and meditation
• Go outside to read books on the grass
• Organize stuff!