Murse!

If it seems like I've fallen off the face of the earth the last few days, well, it's been pretty crazy. For once though, it's been in a good way.
I started my new job as a news reporter last week, and have been running around trying to learn everything I need to know before my head completely explodes. It's going to be a tough race for that one.

But that brings me to what really is on my mind.

As a reporter, I need to carry stuff. I need to carry notebooks, usually more than one. I need to carry pens, I carry my passcard, I carry a digital camera and possibly a small tape recorder. I also tend to carry a small Leatherman tool, because I'm that kind of guy, an address book and, this time of year a pair of gloves. I have a nice tweed sportcoat that has lots of pockets to carry some odds and ends, but, lets face it, if you're in a jacket-and-tie kind of world, having stuff bulging out of your jacket pocket doesn't look all that professional. Backpacks are out too. I've got a briefcase to carry my laptop, but that doesn't leave my hands free and is relatively bulky.

Enter the murse.

Not, in this case, a male nurse. I'm talking about the male purse. AKA man-bag, man-purse, satchel, shoulder bag, european carryall, possibles bag, courier bag, whatever. In this particular case it's the bag I used to use to carry my fishing stuff, a greenish-khaki canvas bag styled after a military map case. Pretty macho, really, lots of pockets and brass and all sorts of rugged looking. It was sold in the men's department at Target.

But it's still a purse, dammit. It's just so much easier to deal with than the big briefcase, and cramming everything into pockets would be impossible to do neatly. So I've got my murse.

I would feel like I was selling out and turning into a flaming metrosexual, but there will always be one reason why I can still feel macho with a shoulder bag...