This week: are you upgrading to be more productive, or are you upgrading for the sake of upgrading?
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How to spend your money where it will have a big impact and avoid upgrading with little upside. Maybe.

This is easily the best shoulder bag I own, or have owned.
Note: this item was provided for review.
I have used, owned, and tested/reviewed loads of bags which fall into the general category of a ‘do it all day-to-day’ bag. Something large enough to take to the office, or to travel with, but also small enough you can generally take it anywhere with you. That’s a recipe which is ripe for compromise, and while I’ve liked a lot of the bags I have tried in this category, they tend to not stick very well over time — the compromises are almost always too great.
And then I got the Bleu de Chauffe Business Musette in khaki. If you read my preview of the bag then you likely can already guess how good I think this bag is. But it’s so good, that it made the Best List for 2024 as the best all around bag, and that was with only a couple weeks of use. Sometimes you know, and with this bag, I can tell you with certainty: nothing else in this class comes close.
It’s that good.

Filson sale continues with great gear adds.
Some excellent gear on sale at Filson, notable items which just made 2024’s Best List:
Happy shopping!

Best shit of 2024.
I have published my 2024 Best List for members, check it out here. If you don’t have a membership the past lists are free to view!

Here are the only items you actually need.
This week: the only things you need list.

Let’s go ahead and earmark this bag now for the best list.
Note: this item was provided for review.
I wanted to give you a quick preview at another fantastic bag that Bleu de Chauffe sent over for me to look at. This is the Business Musette Bag in khaki bm. I’ve not had this bag long, but I can already tell that this is one of those items I am going to get a lot of use out of.

A quick review of some excellent new boots from Meermin.
Note: this item was sent for review.
When I saw these on Meermin’s site, I knew I needed to check them out. I’ve been wanting a boot of this style for some time, and the pricing looked outstanding for what was being offered. I’ve had these for a few weeks now, and I’ve found them to be excellent all around boots. The pair shown here are the Black Calf colorway, but Meermin offers Tobacco Waxy Calf, Brown Scotchgrain, and Green Thibet (and a few more coming soon).
I am still putting these through their paces, but it’s winter and that’s when these boots shine, so I wanted to share some initial thoughts.

Fun read on how backpacks took over schools.
Ian Bogost, for *The Atlantic:
Such a circumstance made the school backpack possible too. McCory was a Seattle-area native and attended the University of Washington. Pacific Northwesterners have a reputation for outdoorsmanship, and the classic hiking backpacks—with their large, rigid frames—were familiar to McCory (who also invented the dome-shaped tent). Once JanSport figured out how to make a lightweight backpack suitable for carrying books and supplies, it sold the product at the University of Washington bookstore. There, more stereotypically outdoorsy youths surely understood the pitch intuitively.

Good time to get an amazing bag.
Some great prices on Bleu de Chauffe bags for Black Friday. I love the bag they sent me, and it’s among one of my favorite bags I’ve used. Big fan.

More great deals on gear I love.
Triple Aught Design’s Black Friday sale has great prices, especially on: