Wallet

obvious

Sunglasses

meh, I drive west in the morning, and east in the evening, and sunglasses make me look like more of a tool than usual.

Pen

sure, I guess, whatever.

Messenger Bag

If I'm not out camping or hiking or shoplifting I don't need a big ass bag.

Phone

yep sure.

One Timex digital watch, broken. One unused prophylactic. One soiled. One black suit jacket, one pair black suit pants. One hat, black. One pair of sunglasses. $23.07. Sign here.

jst3p: Kraftwerk Orange: I'll agree with the general acknowledgement that the list is completely obvious, but I'll add my own endorsements.

1. Wallet - yes, and the ones with two separate cash sections are really handy. Keeps big bills away from small bills, so I don't flash the whole cabbage. Also very handy for when you're holding cash for someone else.

2. Sunglasses - yes, and make them polarized.

3. Pen - yes, we've all go faves, I like a G2, my dad carries a Montblanc.

4. Messenger Bag - very handy, especially since I'm often getting around town on bike or by foot and can't carry everything in my car. Currently I'm using a Osprey Float, which meets my minimum requirements of being able to hold a six-pack and a sandwich.

5. Phone - does anyone not carry a phone? Mine's pretty basic, but that's a personal preference call too.

Additional Mentions:

Watch. Knife.

Why do you need a watch if you have a phone?

Because I'm lazy and I don't want to dig out my phone and fumble with waking it up.

0100010: All every man ever needs:

one forty-five caliber automatic
two boxes of ammunition
four days' concentrated emergency rations
one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
one hundred dollars in rubles
one hundred dollars in gold
nine packs of chewing gum
one issue of prophylactics
three lipsticks
three pair of nylon stockings

/yes, I am heading to Vegas this weekend, why do you ask?

ok so someone found a use for the messenger bag... I stand corrected.

jst3p: Kraftwerk Orange: I'll agree with the general acknowledgement that the list is completely obvious, but I'll add my own endorsements.

1. Wallet - yes, and the ones with two separate cash sections are really handy. Keeps big bills away from small bills, so I don't flash the whole cabbage. Also very handy for when you're holding cash for someone else.

2. Sunglasses - yes, and make them polarized.

3. Pen - yes, we've all go faves, I like a G2, my dad carries a Montblanc.

4. Messenger Bag - very handy, especially since I'm often getting around town on bike or by foot and can't carry everything in my car. Currently I'm using a Osprey Float, which meets my minimum requirements of being able to hold a six-pack and a sandwich.

5. Phone - does anyone not carry a phone? Mine's pretty basic, but that's a personal preference call too.

Additional Mentions:

Watch. Knife.

Why do you need a watch if you have a phone?

My phone is generally in my pocket, and it's just easier to look at my wrist. Also, watches last longer than phones and often have sentimental associations (my Grandad's WWII Omega, the watch Dad gave me for graduation, the watch my fiancé gave me when we got engaged...) Then there's the whole style/tradition aspect, which you are welcome to ignore, but wearing a fine watch is its own reward. I can wear different watches for different occasions, dressed up or down.

ChubbyTiger: Since so many of you are advocating a knife to carry, do you have any good recommendations? My Swiss Army knife is getting old and beat up. No Leatherman/SOG/Gerber multitools, please. Just a simple, fairly small knife. Lock-blade nice, but optional.

SOG Stingray. Pricey but worth it.

elev8meL8r: I carry a Kershaw locking blade myself.

Not sure the model number. StabMaster 4000 or something like that.

Kershaw makes some damned fine knives. Easy to keep sharp and damned near impossible to damage. They do tend to get dead hooker stuck under the rubber hand grip though

Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch. Oh, and a knife, and a multitool. And a good belt. All that is pretty much on me all the time, regardless of what else I'm wearing.

gweilo8888: Real men kill with their hands, you p*ssy.

Real men use the best tool available at the time. Real prepared men keep the best tools available at all times.

ChubbyTiger: Since so many of you are advocating a knife to carry, do you have any good recommendations? My Swiss Army knife is getting old and beat up. No Leatherman/SOG/Gerber multitools, please. Just a simple, fairly small knife. Lock-blade nice, but optional.

I've been extremely happy with my SOG Pentagon Elite II and my Microtech Scarab De. The SOG is a locking folder, with a handy little thumb catch the lets you flip it open and closed pretty much effortlessly (but it still locks up solid), the Microtech is a switchblade-like knife (looks like a switchblade, but something about the operation means it's technically not. I forget what that something is, and I'm too lazy to look it up).

Teen Wolf Blitzer: ChubbyTiger: Since so many of you are advocating a knife to carry, do you have any good recommendations? My Swiss Army knife is getting old and beat up. No Leatherman/SOG/Gerber multitools, please. Just a simple, fairly small knife. Lock-blade nice, but optional.

Automatic tactical. You can usually find 'em at the flea market for pretty cheap, just look for the creepy middle aged guy selling Nazi memoribilia.

They usually have the best beef jerky, too.

Oh, and for anyone carrying a knife, get SOG's countertop sharpener. 25$, and the only quick sharpener I've ever used that actually works, and it'll put a good edge on damn near everything. Hell, I got one for my dad and he'll even run his fillet knives through it.

jingks: ChuDogg: Bottle opener: seeing as Ive lend it out several thousand times a year, I would say it's important to have. I just wish i wasnt the only one carrying one.

Almost anything can work as a bottle opener. One of the easiest is a lighter.

I use the back of my knife. Which is why my SOG looks like a small dog has been chewing on it.

screwzloos: Pro-tip: Casio and Timex are not valid choices, here.

Screw you, Casio is farking awesome if you tend to abuse things and aren't worried too much about looking good. I've lost a few, but I've never broke one (well, broke the band on one of them, but not the watch itself). Though I am rocking a nice Invicta now.

ArcadianRefugee: While the article was completely stupid, can anyone recommend a good (style of) wallet? I actually am in the market for a new one.

/before the seams on this one vanish completely

Saddleback Leather Wallets (new window)

I like these, and have a few of their models for various things. I've had good luck with them.

PanicMan: umad: ChubbyTiger: Since so many of you are advocating a knife to carry, do you have any good recommendations? My Swiss Army knife is getting old and beat up. No Leatherman/SOG/Gerber multitools, please. Just a simple, fairly small knife. Lock-blade nice, but optional.

SOG Stingray. Pricey but worth it.

Listen, no. Not for a cheap pocket knife. CRKT makes some good knives that fall below $50. I usually carry a Benchmade or Spyderco, but I wouldn't recommend that to the new knife buyer.

I wouldn't have mentioned it if "cheap" was one of his requirements.

jst3p: Why do you need a watch if you have a phone?

Because old farts don't want to look like a hipster douchebag by hauling out their phone to tell time. A simple glance at your wrist is sufficient.

Well, I got three out of 5 correct.

Then again, maybe not. I only carry a cell since I'm my 85 year old mother's sole caretaker.

I had to look up 'messenger bag' to find out just whatinthehell it was and the examples I found did not impress me. (I used to carry a hard sided briefcase, black, which, IMO, looked better than those bags.)

Sunglasses? Not always. I wear glasses with large lenses and it's hard to find clip-on's that fit. I did have prescription sunglasses with mirrored lenses but they got too weak and the mirroring was a biatch to keep intact. Plus they were expensive to replace. The lenses had to be glass to take the dye, not plastic.

However, I carry more useful things in my pockets out of habit.

Keys with a military can opener attached, along with a magnesium and flint fire starter, a bright orange, waterproof capsule containing antacid tablets and OTC painkillers. Switchblade. A little change. A 1oz sterling silver round. Cigarette lighter. A multi-tool is on my belt.

Then there might be assorted junk I pick up during the day, like screws, nails, paperclips and paper receipts.

I've always had a habit of cramming things in my pockets. My mom said that out of all of us kids, doing my laundry when young was the most interesting when it came to checking my pants pockets. I even picked up a shiny, jet black stone that later, turned out to be a dinosaur tooth.