Archive for the ‘Amazon’ Category

Most people arrive at an age in their life where practi­cality takes prece­dence over appear­ances. We get to the point where we do what works for us, what solves our problems, regardless of how it looks.

I’ve reached that point. I’ve crossed the line. I’ve started carrying a “man bag.”

So here’s the deal. Over time, my pants pockets have become over-burdened with stuff. I cram a wallet, car keys, a cell phone, spare change, and any number of other items (breath mints, Kleenex, business cards, and so on) in my pants. I started to feel like a pack mule — a pack mule with droopy drawers. Let’s not forget the other things that I carry (or want to carry) that don’t fit in pants pockets. I don’t go anywhere without either my Kindle or Kobo ebook readers (both available here at ShopOnline2Give from Amazon or Borders, respec­tively). And it’s nice to have an ink pen or two with you, too. There had to be a better way.

Enter the Man Bag. I spent much of the past summer watching several series of “24” on Netflix (now available on ShopOnline in the Enter­tainment section). I watched Jack Bauer save the world over and over again, all while carrying a messenger bag. He stylishly lugged all the stuff he needed while maintaining his manly demeanor. Sure, Jack usually packed a Sig Sauer 9 millimeter in his bag instead of an ebook reader, but I knew I could pull it off, too. Jack Bauer gave me the confi­dence that I could carry a man bag without sacri­ficing my testosterone.

Once I had crossed that line I knew exactly where I had to go to find the perfect man bag. My choice was eBags, a great store that you’ll find in the Clothing & Acces­sories section of each shopping page on ShopOnline. I had gone to them once before when I was in the market for a laptop bag that could accom­modate a 17″ laptop, so I knew their selection of bags of all kinds was second to none. Whether you’re shopping for a backpack, luggage, purse, duffel, or gadget bag of any kind, eBags is the place to go.

eBags’ site is easy to navigate and find what you’re looking for. They have a menu bar along the top of each page and a navigation panel in the left column that lists all their major categories of bags. I clicked on “Messenger Bags” and found literally hundreds of options. But eBags’ sub-menus made it easy to narrow my search of messenger bags to canvas bags, leather bags, bags on sale, vertical bags, man bags, and so forth. I made a beeline for the manly bags.

After consid­erable comparison shopping and agonizing, I decided on a Case Logic model TK Messenger Bag. It looked like it had every­thing I could possibly need and was discounted to only $21 (with an online coupon code that gave me 25% off at checkout time) and a shipping fee of only $4.95. This was a price point that took the pain out of taking the plunge. It arrived via FedEx and I was surprised to see how large it was. It could easily fit my wife’s 15″ laptop and a whole bunch of other stuff.  I tried it out for a week and decided that while I liked having empty pockets and having every­thing I need in one conve­nient place, it was just too big. I felt obligated to put more stuff in it than just my Kindle and pocket clutter to justify carrying it. It was great for carrying to church, where I wanted to take a Bible and notebook and other special stuff, but for the day-to-day pocket emptier, it was too much. But I knew that eBags was still the place to find what I knew I really needed.

On my second foray into eBags, I decided to enter a search term into their search box on their home page. The biggest item I wanted to carry on a routine basis was my Kindle and I found a section for” iPad and ereader cases.” That’s what I’m talking about! I sorted by price, from lowest to highest, and found what I was looking for right away. Again, it was a product by Case Logic (I like their gadget bags) and it was consid­erably smaller than Man Bag 1.0 (aka the “Big Man”). Instead of fitting a 15″ laptop, this one was designed for a 10″ netbook. Just right! It fit my Kindle easily (and my Kobo, too) and still had room for my wallet, keys, hospital security badge, pens, etc. This was Man Bag 2.0, or the “Little Man.” Again using the 25% discount code (enter LINK25OFF1 on the checkout page to get this discount, good throughout the month of November 2010), I got it for just $12 plus a $4.95 shipping fee.

With both orders the product arrived in seven days. Surpris­ingly, eBags paid for FedEx Saturday delivery to get them to me by their projected delivery dates. For just a $4.95 shipping fee, I was favorably impressed.

eBags is always running a variety of sales and frequently has discount codes available. If you’re a person who buys a lot of bags, you can join eBags’ Rewards Program and earn points equal to 5% of every order you place, good for discounts on a future order. They also have an e-newsletter that will keep you advised of sales and special promo­tions. For price, selection, and customer service, eBags is first rate. Highly recommended.