Neal

1 of my philosophies is the ability to be useful. This is why I like to carry stuff with me.

Unfortunately, Chicago is a crime city, which often bugs me. In my opinion, and I've said it in Efnet #Chicago plenty of times, the Chicago Police Department are our everyday local heroes.

Every time some crime incident happens to me and every time something unfortunate happens to me as a result of this, the more I lean to being a police officer.

My items:

1.Watch.

With the time with the second interval, day of week, month of year, year. As well as a stopwatch with recording, alarm clock, and dim blue light.

Water proof down to 330 feet (like 100 meters).

This is on my left wrist.

2.Cell phone.

The primary use of my cell phone is to make emergency 911 calls to the Chicago Police Department. I never know when I can witness a crime scene.

It receives text messages.

3.Camera.

This is perfect for me to take photos of a crime scene, and without flash at night. And if time permits, take a video of.

If the criminal jumps into a car and drives off, I'll try to take a photo of the license plate.

The camera is 9.1 megapixel.

4.Flashlight.

A LED flashlight, because incandescent flashlight sucks.

I usually carry 2 flashlights, a strong 1, and a weak 1. The weak 1 is a pen light. All of them are LED.

When I go places, such as the Chicago sewers, I will carry 2 strong flashlights and a weak 1.

5.Binoculars.

This is particularly restricted to night-time use only. In the day time, if I go around school with a book bag, then I can store it.

My binocular and camera have been tested to work as a combo. I can zoom in on my camera and stick it to the binocular for an ever closer zoom. However, I will need time, and space. I will not be able to do this efficiently in a tree.

6.Flare.

My favorite weapon of choice. And it is perfectly legal, the posession of it. It's mainly used as self-defense. Of course, it is completely useless against multiple people (as tried in experiment).

Of course, it is still useless against those with guns, but then, it is not a bullet vest. If I die, I at least have this website remaining!

It is also a last resort of light if I'm down in the sewers and all the flashlights died out or the batteries drown out. It is also called a red emergency flare, or fusee.

7.Recorder.

Digital recorder, for use in my pocket. Can store up to 103 hours regular, or 17 hours for higher performance. And transferrable to my laptop.

It comes with the date and time, so it's an equivalent of a timestamp, for recording people's conversations. This will come in handy for legal purposes.

And since my recorder also has a clock, I now have 4 clocks on me...

7.Pepper spray.

A back-up weapon in case my flare is useless. Also legal.

8.Other.

I have carried additional stuff such as a hand-wash solution and sticky tape. And often a pen or 2. My previous camera ran on batteries, so I often carried an extra pair. I also bought a red lighter. Which is not that useful, as I'm not a smoker. It's also possible that in some cases I'd like to bring a calculator with me, but it would have to fit in my pocket. Only at times that I will use it, do I bring my lime tape measure. This is to measure distances of heights that I have jumped off or to measure between buildings or heights if it's safe to jump across or fall down.

On May 20, 2009, I boght some band-aids. I now carry usually 4 to 6 band-aids with me. They are extremely light and does not slow my running at all. It is not so much for myself to use, when I get a bleed or cut, but also in case I see other people get a cut or bleed.

1 of the things I don't play with me are mp3s and iPods, k. You never know when someone out there could be trapped somewhere, shouting "help!" and that I may not hear it if I have a speaker in my ears. If you ever see Batman doing his night prowl with earphones in his ears, then may I consider using mp3s/iPods, k. Not for me. I don't even have a T.V.

Notes.

-When I'm not in my apartment, most of my time in Chicago is spent at Northeastern Illinois University, where I limit my 6 pockets to things because I carry a book bag.

-Although I don't see eye-to-eye with Boy Scout's, I do like 1 of their mottos: be prepared.

-I enjoy having mIRC scripts. It makes me more, organized, and useful. With my remotes off and logging off and timestamp off, I'm completely useless. This is the same for me in real life - without a cell phone, watch, and camera, I'm useless.

-Wikipedia also has an article on, Batman's utility belt. I've also read books about it.

The use of carrying band-aids.

On May 31, 2009, around 7:30 p.m., a girl (like in 5th grade) played soccer with group of kids and skinned her knee on the cement, and I gave her 2 band-aids.

On October 19, 2009, around 7:28 a.m., a girl on the C.T.A. bus asked someone for a band-aid and I was standing nearby and was quick to give her 1.

On November 18, 2009, around 8:30 p.m., while in class, gave David Pettie a band-aid, where he went "You're useful." My professor went "Shit, and I thought I carried a lot of useless junk."

On April 26, 2010, around 7:50 p.m., while volunteering at Friends of the Chicago River office, gave a woman a band-aid from a envelope-cut. When someone came back with the band-aids, she went "He already gave me 1."

On May 17, 2010, around 7:06 p.m., gave a kid my band-aid after he asked me for them, cuz he knew I had 1 (I made prior offers to others), and he later asked for a 2nd 1.

On May 19, 2010, around 6:58 p.m., a girl minutes ago got a bloody nose while playing soccer. I gave the guy a band-aid, to give to her.

The use of carrying a flashlight.