Construction – tough, comfortable, practical, easy to use

Fit / Wear – comfortable for long periods of time, distributes weight well, makes carrying more stuff a lot easier.

Where to keep everything:

Laptop Compartment – 2 zippers – The compartment closest to your back houses both an internal “pouch” that secures your laptop (with click-lock strap) and plenty of room for papers and notebooks. Being able to keep both my laptop and some paper notebooks in this one compartment is very handy for me. Some of my packs in the past had “laptop only” compartments that made this impossible. Good design here, for me, keeping the PC safe while keeping similar sized gear handy.

Main Compartment – 2 zippers – the largest volume compartment is in the middle of the bag. I can put a couple of small journals, some business envelopes, a pack of wet-naps (to clean up 5 year old), my 35mm sized camera and lots more in here and have room to spare. It’s an awesome main storage area that’s shaped in a way that gives you flexiblity not only in terms of how much stuff to carry but how you choose to orient it inside the compartment.

Pouch for Quick Access – 1 zipper – near the main grab handle on top is a small, red lined pouch that holds … MP3 player, CD player, wallet, keys … stuff you want quick access to near the top of the bag. FINALLY someone lined it with something other than black, making fumbling for black bits of tech toy goodness a lot easier to do. And the velcro strapped inner pocket for MP3 player or cell phone is great for protecting same if keys are in the pouch.

Larger Pouch for Quick Access – no zipper – I’ve never before had a bag that featured an “open” compartment with no zippers that was this large. Between the main compartment in the middle and the organizer compartment on the front, there’s an open topped compartment that I find AWESOME for tucking my camera into when I’m shooting and walking a lot. No need to unzip or re-zip between shooting, just tuck the camera into this open topped area and I’m good to go, and able to grab it again just as quickly when the need arizes. If I hit dirt, rain or long periods with no need to shoot, I can always put it back in the main zippered storage area. Really great idea.

Organizer Compartment – 1 zipper – The front pouch is a fairly typical organizer pouch with inner pockets for cell phones, pens, etc. Within the main zipper are a) inner red zippered area for loose bits (big enough to hold a fist full of pens and pencils), b) pouches for smaller items (cell, pens, etc.) and c) a larger main area tall and wide enough to hold business envelopes turned either direction, and about an inch to 2 inches deep, depending on how you decide to stuff it.

Quad Water Pockets – the combination of 2 zippered side pockets for water AND 2 net pockets comes in quite handy. LOTS Of water or a combination of water and gear … it works great.

Straps and Back – well padded, easy to adjust, comfortable to wear … awesome. Chest strap and thumb pulls on shoulder straps are a plus, though one of the thumb pull rings cracked on me, but the tab is still useful for tightening.

Trim – I’ve never seen a company trim their bags with so much style as Swissgear does. It’s not for everyone but will work for many of you out there.

Click below to find out more about it.

Your Next Laptop (Notebook) Backpack

1.The best way to my heart is definitely through my stomach. Even better if it’s for breakfast. Make your sweetie pie breakfast in bed! Heart shaped eggs and heart shaped pancakes. Breakfast doesn’t get any better than that.
2.So you took this fabulous picture on your fabulous vacation, what better way to display it then in your very own personalized fabulous picture frame!
3.Every year I received some sort of bead kit to make necklaces or bracelets. It’s a great gift for kids to use their creative side and make something straight from the heart.
4.Get a good nights rest with this cute pair of pillowcases.
5.Hello Kitty jewelry. Enough said.
6. Nothing says I love you more than chocolates and flowers. For the traditional gift-giver, check out these fabulous duos.
7.Apple’s “Love at First Touch” says it all. Buy any of their iPod’s and get FREE engraving! Need some inspiration? They also have a gallery of engravings that you can choose from.
8.Customize a pair of Nike Dunk Low Premium iD Shoe. You decide what colors, where they go and you even get to add an id in 8 characters or less.
9.For the ultimate beer enthusiast, give the gift of beer for one whole year from The Beer of the Month Club. The recipient will receive award-winning microbrews from around the country every month.
10.At Build-A-Bear Workshop you can make your own Be Mine Dalmation (while supplies last) complete with its own heart shaped collar. These are great for your loved ones of all ages.

1. Build-A-Bear will be donating $15,000 to the Red Cross. And now through January 31, 2010 customers can donate $1 at the cash registers in any U.S. Build-A-Bear Workshop.
2. Hope for Haiti Musical Lineup – January 22, 2010 at 8 PM EST. “George Clooney, who has organized the telecast, will host from LA, with CNN’s Anderson Cooper reporting from Haiti and Wyclef in New York City. According to E! Online, “Twilight Saga” star Robert Pattinson will present from London. The performances will be available on the iTunes store, with proceeds benefiting relief funds for the earthquake-stricken nation. The two-hour telethon will air on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT as well as networks including PBS, TNT, Showtime, Comedy Central, Brave, E! Entertainment and more, with online live streaming available on YouTube, Hulu, MySpace and more domains as well.”
3. Text “HAITI” to 90999 and a $10 donation will be added to your phone bill. Text “YELE” to 501501 and a $5 donation will be added to your phone bill.
4. Donate blood! The American Red Cross is always in need of blood donations. Click here to locate your nearest blood bank. They are always in need of Type O Negative and Type B Negative blood donors.
5. Continental Airlines has set up a program to its frequent flier members. Members of this program can donate to the American Red Cross and AmeriCares.
6. Handbags Help Haiti – You can buy discontinued or imperfect Jordana Paige handbags for only $50. With 100% of all proceeds going towards Doctors Without Borders Haiti relief, it’s like wearing your heart on your sleeve shoulder.
7. Chase Bank will give $100 million to the charity with the most votes. I just voted for Invisible Children.
8. Help the abandoned animals of Haiti through PETA.
9. Doctors Without Borders is a national medical organization that receives close to 89% of its funding from private funding, not the government. Created in France in 1971, Doctors Without Borders or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provides medical aid to about 60 countries who are in need.
10. Habitat for Humanity has already started to plan their part in rebuilding homes for as many Haitians as they possibly can. They are always looking for volunteers to help out with projects as well.

Here is an extensive list of other organizations that you can donate using your American Express points or you can make a cash donation.

As much as I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, my absolute favorite time of the year is Black Friday! Waking up at 3 A.M. to get a good parking spot at the mall; even better, camping outside of Best Buy for days to get the season’s greatest deals! Once inside your select stores, you literally have to shield yourself from claws and hair pulling, and that’s just from your best friend. But, if you’d rather stay home and miss the crazy retail madness, there are many retailers that offer Black Friday deals specifically for online shoppers. Check out sites like blackfriday.com and blackfriday.gottadeal.com. They list top retailers’ advertisements with the best deals. Also, for even more savings they provide you with some online coupon codes. Awesome, right? It gets even better, some companies offer free shipping with a minimum purchase. For example, Target.com offers free shipping for all orders over $50 and Nordstrom.com offers free shipping on orders over $100 (piece of cake!) So relax in the comfort of your warm home, perhaps with a glass of eggnog (don’t forget the rum, haha!) in front of your computer. Black friday isn’t that bad, right?