The Car Kit

Feh. Ever have one of those days when your brain refuses to do anything productive? That's been my day so far. So, since I feel a bit like a zombie, I might as well talk about the Z Kit.

Now as much as I love the current version of my Z Kit (right), it's become a bit too large and ungainly in its current incarnation (a Condor 3-Day Assault Pack) for me to take it everywhere I go, especially if I've just popped down to the local Internet café for some writing.

So what I've done is taken the old Z Kit bag, a Swissgear SA9259, and turned that into my "Palette has to get out of the house for some solitude" pack, filled with munchies and other comfort items as well as my laptop and all its sundry cables. But that has left me feeling just a bit naked and under-prepared, so what I ended up doing was assembling a very basic sort of kit that, when coupled with the crap I normally carry with me when I leave the house, wouldn't exactly survive a zombie apocalypse but nevertheless would go a long way in case of an accident, car breakdown, etc. I call it my Car Kit because I can take it with me in car, either as driver or passenger, and it won't take up much space and people won't give me funny looks.

On the left, of course, is another Mora Clipper. I freaking love this knife and have three of them. This one is the stainless steel version, because its intended role is "throw it in the bag and forget about it until I have need of it."

In the center is the AMK S.O.L. Survival Pak.  Now normally I advise against buying these prepackaged deals like this because they are either far too expensive and you're better off assembling your own, or they're made with crap quality items and you're just throwing your money away. However, I managed to luck out and find one of these on sale for half price ($12.00) plus free shipping. To give you an idea of how small it is, each of those grid squares is an inch, so it'll easily slip into a purse, tote bag, or in my case a backpack.

On the right is my Auto Emergency Preparedness Kit, which I got at my local Target for about ten bucks. It's the large version, so that was quite a bargain. It's about the size & shape of two videocassettes. There's not a lot to say about it other than the fact that there's quite a lot of really good stuff packed into a small bag. It's not suited for trauma work, of course (that's in the Z Kit) but it's quite nice to have along. There's also enough room left in it for personal additions, such as a flashlight, extra batteries, and tampons or pads if you're a woman.

Total cost for all this: Under $50.00
What it's worth in an emergency: Possibly your life