Since my "Equipped to Fly Coach" post back in April, I've been back and forth to San Francisco 3 times, and have had other travel adventures.

As I had mentioned earlier, I carry a first aid kit. In that kit are blunt tip scissors and hemostats. They always spot them on the Xray, and always dig them out. This last trip to CA for a 4 hour meeting there, I clipped my scissors and hemostats to the OUTSIDE of my carry on bag with a carabiner. This was hailed as a "brilliant solution" by one of the guards, and it cut a full 10 minutes off my trip through security.

Another tip on the shipping stuff ahead idea:
I'm now shipping a Pelican Case ahead instead of a cardboard box. It's worth the extra 3 to 5 dollars in shipping costs becase it's waterproof, lockable and most importantly, it's durable. On this last trip, for a variety of complex and strange reasons, I was forced to check the pelican case as luggage. No worry there. As the usual mashed-up bags came out, there was my Pelican Case all nice and solid. The TSA goons didn't even steal anything from it, a welcome change of pace, given that I've had stuff stolen several times from checked bags.