It’s another year, I have ordered all the things and tested all the cables, there’s a little bit about tech and a little bit about life. Here’s what made the cut, now I’m going to be factoring in weight of everything as well.

The flat-lay this year was taken at my sister Charleen’s house, where she hosted Christmas for our family for the very first time. Charleen and I have worked on the home in Austin for several years and it was awesome to see it all spruced up for the holidays and also for my Mom to visit it for the first time in 13 years. Part of the idea of my sister being in Austin is that if there’s a hurricane or anything in Houston my Mom can just drive up a few hours and be totally comfortable, so we put in an elevator, solar panels, Powerwalls, fiber, and Starlink. Her house is also my Austin headquarters when I’m in town, she set up a nice desk for me to work. Christmas was the beta-test, with Mom + nurse + four dogs all up in Austin; the whole circus was cozy and comfy for the holidays.

I was telling my friend Rob Reid the stories of my Mom and sister’s homes said I had to listen to the song Get Mama a House by Teddybears and B.o.B, it’s a good earworm and I will say that getting them both in beautiful homes they love has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve spent money on. So as advice for other entrepreneurs, get your momma a house! 🙂

TL;DR on the gadgets: The most significant change to my bag has been the introduction of the Daylight Computer, which I think everyone should have and is a genuinely new platform, and that we’ve finally reached reliability and excellence on retractable USB-C cords, these Baseus cords available in a variety of colors and 3.3ft and 6.6ft lengths. I give them out like candy, everybody loves them. I’ve also started wearing Havn hats/underwear/shirts/etc to block unnecessary EMF. (They used to be called Lambs.) And I’ve found great nootropic benefits with DryWater and Celsius. Without further ado, here’s the list:

THE BACKPACK

1. Aer Fit Pack 3 backpack. This is still my go-to, and it’s embroidered with Automattic and WordPress logos. This is part of our standard swag at Automattic, and I’d like to get a WP-embroidered one on our .org swag store when that’s back up.

DEVICES

2. 16″ Macbook Pro, right now the M4 Max with 128 GB RAM, amazing what you can run locally on this this thing. I’m very excited about inference at the edge in the coming years.
3. iPad Pro, which I use as a second display when I’m on the road using Apple’s screen mirroring giving me another 10 inches of screen.
4. Daylight Computer DC-1 represents the first truly new platform I spend time on. It’s a healthier way of computing and I would like to increase my % screentime on it in the coming years. Also amazing for kids.
5. Kindle Paperwhite, this might lose to the Daylight in the future but I do like its form factor.
6. iPhone 16 Pro, you use your phone so much just always have the latest model. This is my primary phone.
7. Google Pixel 9 Pro finally is iPhone-parity for me, I use this mostly for tethering with Google Fi and testing our apps on Android. I got the pink one, it’s really a beautiful device and I could imagine a world where it was my daily driver but there’s just so much convenience in the continuity features of an all-Apple life. It’s the little things, like copy and paste, that really hook you.

One nice thing is that the iPad and two phones all have connectivity plans, which I try to spread across different providers so I always have something that works or I can tether to.

POWER/ADAPTER

You should ABC, Always Be Charging!

8. Baseus 8-in-1 USB-C hub, 99% of the time this is used as an ethernet or HDMI connector, it’s pretty reliable and not too heavy. (86 grams)
9. Anker 150W Charger Block, this is just a little extra, I could probably drop it.
10. Anker 47W Nano Charger, nice for setting up a charging station by the bed.
11. Baseus 100W power cable, with detachable charging block. This is the core of the entire system, and most of the time I just use this. It’s chunky at 236 grams but anchors everything else.
12. Belkin 37W Dual USB Car Charger, which I find myself using mostly in Europe when in transfers.
13. USB-C adapters, just in case.
14. Whoop 4.0 Charger/Battery Pack, I really enjoy the stress and sleep tracking features of the Whoop, and this keeps it charged. I did a podcast with their founder Will Ahmed.

CABLES

15. Insignia Micro USB 3.0 Charger, this is by far the most cursed cable I carry around, which is for taking photos off my Nikon SLR.
16. Cable Matters 4K HDMI Cable, I like the ultra-thin and this can be clutch when connecting to a conference room or hotel TV.
17. Baseus 100W/5A retractable cables, now in two sizes 3.3ft and 6.6ft (about 100cm/200cm). These are my favorite new things! Love love love.
18. Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger, I also usually wear an Apple Watch Ultra. I don’t do too many notifications, but it’s amazing for finding my phone.

AUDIO

19. AirPods Pro Gen 2 for pairing with the iPhone, these are so good and if I forget them it’s the first thing I pick up at the airport electronics store.
20. Pixel Buds Pro, for pairing with the Pixel 9 Pro, also amazing I just don’t use as much.
21. Custom ear plugs, for protecting hearing when the sound or music is too loud.
22. UE Premier custom headphones, this is still the best audiophile experience I have, great on planes.
23. USB-C Headphone Jack Adapter
24. Belkin RockStar 5-Jack Audio Splitter
25. Belkin RockStar 3.5mm Audio w/USB-C Charge Adapter

MISCELLANEOUS ELECTRONICS 

26. Aranet4 CO2 monitor, this can change your life, if the area you’re in isn’t well ventilated then you run cognitively lower without even noticing it.
27. Logitech mouse, with quiet clicks, I find a mouse is just ergonomically an easy productivity upgrade from the built-in trackpad.
28. Flipper Zero, the funnest little cloning gadget I’ve tried.
29. Pixel G1s RGB Video Light, can be used in party mode to set lights.
30. USB-C chargeable Candle Lighter
31. Petzl E_LITE Headlamp
32. Universal Airplane Phone Holder

PERSONAL ITEMS

33. Passport
34. Hermes business card holder, which I’ve been using more since spending more time in Asia with the increased community activity there.
35. Thread Wallet elastic card holder/wallet 
36. Hay catch-all Pouch
37. Sea2See Sunglasses
38. Marunao mint case
39. Lockpick set, you can learn to unlock most locks in a few hours of training. Like the Flipper this is kinda a hacker tool.
40. Blue Rock, a little worry stone you can hold in your hand and rub.
41. WordPress ring, because I’m married to the game.
42. WordPress pin, spruces up any outfit with a little open source rizz.
43. Plastic holder with stickers for our various brands and products, I love seeing WordPress or Tumblr stickers in random places, and sometimes place them myself.
44. Notecards from Ugmonk Analog, you can rabbit hole their entire site to upgrade your desk game. Lovely stuff.
45. Maruman N196A Nemosine Notebook.
46. OHTO Needle-point Pen 0.7mm, picked up in Japan and I like for when I want to draft something more thin-lined.
47. Montblanc Heritage Egyptomania Doue ballpoint pen, which I like for signing important things and also crossing out todos on the Ugmonk cards.

TRAVEL ESSENTIALS

48. Icewear Merino wool gaiter
49. Lambs EMF WaveStopper beanie, literally a tin-foil hat.
50. RAINS insulated gloves
51. Gore Thermo Beanie
52. Olo InVision Eye Mask 
53. Herb Bar essential oil blend, always nice to have something good-smelling around. Not endorsing this specifically, but I always have some essential oil around.
54. Immunity Throat Spray, suggested to me by the mushroom GOAT himself, Paul Stamets, I saw him use this at an event we were both at. When I travel or am around a bunch of people I’ll do three sprays in morning and night, and I’ve often been the one in my group to not get the “conference cold” that goes around.
55. Z-Biotics, introduced to me by my friend Sid, it’s kind of a game-changer anytime you drink, lessens the negative effects of alcohol. It works so well there’s a possibility of moral hazard. They have some new stuff around fiber, it’s an interesting company to follow.
56. Celsius energy powder packet, this is nice to turn any drink into a Celsius, when you need an extra boost. Be careful with these as they have 200mg of caffeine! I try to avoid after 2pm, and not in first hour I wake up.
57. DryWater electrolytes powder packet, I’ve switched to this over LMNT because I like the ingredients and sourcing better. Electrolytes when you first wake up is better than coffee, I’ll often mix this with tea.

If you want to get super-nerdy, here’s a spreadsheet with the weights. Basically I’m 10.7 pounds of computing devices (Macbook, iPad, Daylight, Flipper, iPhone, Pixel), and ten pounds of other stuff. Add in a bottle of water or other random things I put in the bag ends up being ~22-28 pounds most of the time, which I’d like to get down.

But with my backpack I can tackle a really wide variety of situations. It’s fun! If you have any tips or suggestions please leave them in the comments! I’m always trying out new gear.