I should be so lucky -- bifocals -- I'm in trifocals already!

I carry in my pockets a butane lighter, a folding single blade knife and in a little change purse some change, a roll of monofilament some small hooks, weights and swivels and a folding pair of scissors.
In my keyring I carry a small Solitaire flashligt, a P38, nail clipper, and a SAK that has a blade, can/botttle opener, corkscrew with a small screwdriver for reparing glasses, tooth pick and small twitzer. In my wallet besides the regular stuff I have s small metal heliograph (metal mirror) with a sighting hole attached to it with a piece of cord, some bandaids, and a needle with thread threaded to a calling card.
The last thing I always carry is a cellular phone. I am going to prepare a little ziplock bag with Vaseline impregnated cotton and keep it in my pocket.I am going to add a device that I bought at Wallmart that consist of a plastic wistle with a manifiyng glass, compass and thermometer. I love this forum!

I thought we were talking minimum functionality. If you don't care about functionality, you can get very small indeed. There is a core essential functionality which I won't sacrifice for the sake of convenience, and that's the minimum I'd feel comfortable leaving the house with.

By functionality, I mean you can have a really nice can opener like the one on the Wave, or you can have a smaller one like the P-38. One is easier to use and handier than the other, in my opinion.

-- Craig [trying to mix it up a bit!]

Yikes! You win. I know when I've been bested. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

-- Craig

7k7k99,

I think you are on the right track. If you have a good kit for your car and you have a good building escape kit at the office then you only have to cover going from your car to your place of work and trips at lunchtime. You could be in a business and the lights go out. There could be an explosion and you would have to work to get back outside to your car. A cell phone, whistle, light, LeatherMan Wave, small compass, Band-Aids, and maybe a bandanna and water bottle seem like valuable items. I do not see the value of fishing and fire starting items in this situation.

Which Wave tool did you use to pry open the doors? I tend to gravitate toward the SwissChamp, myself.

-- Craig

Post deleted by Chris Kavanaugh

They were not very secure doors, were a retrofit to existing doors. Basically yhe company that installed them removed the striker plate from the frame and installs their own with a soloniod which releases and then a card reader on the wall in front of it. I found that there was enough of a gap in their release system I could slide the knife blade inside and push the lock open. I could only move it a little bit at a time so I would pull out on the door to hold it in place while I moved the knife blade back to get another grip on it. Came in handy with all the power outages or if I left my card at home.

I tend to agree. I'd always carry a survivak kit in the wilds; but not the wilds of New York. There are more useful tools for the urban man -- lights, cash, maps, cellphone, gloves, etc.

Teacher ro