My New Backpack -or- How Apple Computers Made Me Look Outdoorsy

It was three years ago that the continual use of over-the-shoulder messenger bags culminated in back spasm, causing me to make an emergency purchase of a small, black backpack named Clive (his brandname). Clive was the least-backacky backpack I could find to satisfy my back's need for dual shoulder straps, and my own need to not look like an eighth grader wandering the streets of New York City. I purchased tiny Clive in 2004 because his small size prohibited me from carrying too much stuff, and making my back go haywire again.

Well, now that I'm back in school and needing to carry large tomes, folders, and my Macbook, I've spent the last year with Clive on my back, and a shoulder tote cutting of circulation to my right appendage as I schlep pounds of media from bus stop to bus stop. But still, I was not ready to purchase a "real" backpack. My middle school hermeneutic was still too strong to let me cross over to backpackland.

But Clive's zippers have started to fray, and after my first real venture with taking notes on my computer turned out so incredibly well last week, I knew that with the new term starting, I was going to be bringing my laptop to school a lot more often and I would have to make a change.

Clive's small size also prohibited me from purchasing a Nalgene water bottle, which has been on my list for a while but certainly since I've heard such convincing arguments about the unnessescary evil that bottled water is (it's a free resource that we pay tons of money and destroy the environment for) I knew I needed to get one. But would I have to carry it by hand all the time? Would I stick it in the ever-expanding tote bag on my shoulder?

Then, a delightful trip to Portland, Oregan last Saturday sealed the deal. No sales tax, and two days before I start needing to drag my computer around, and my mind was made up. The obliging North Face store (which I think I once vowed never to go in after living in Vermont and being sick of everybody's puffy, black ski jackets) even threw in a free Nalgene bottle (a $12 value) as part of their Back to School thing. (This made me feel even more 8th gradey though, since you only got one for buying a backpack.) But I'm very pleased with Isabella, my new, "real" backpack. I'm gonna be blending in much more to my Pacific Northwest surroundings now, though I still swear I will never ever wear polar fleece!!!!

PS This is my 100th blog post.