I used to empty my pockets and hang up my pants before bed, but I gave that up. Here's why: What if you suddenly have to leave your house in the middle of the night because of a chemical spill, or maybe the smoke alarms go off.

I don't know about you, but I'm not at my best at 3 AM, I'm at my worst.

I keep a lot of stuff in my pockets, and trying to remember what to take when I've just been rudely pulled from sound slumber...well, I couldn't do it.

My wallet contains much of my life, and should I not remember to grab it when I'm trying to catch the cat, things would be from bad to worse.

My solution is to take off my jeans -- and leave them in a heap on the floor right next to the bed. That's right. I take care of turning out the pockets in the morning, when I'm wearing different pants or whatever.

If something goes wrong in the wee hours of the morning, I slide out of bed, pull my jeans on, and I'm ready to roll. I've got my wallet, ID, money, and credit cards.

As far as pocketknives go, I'm caught in an eternal struggle. I'm always adding and subtracting and so forth. I really don't use that much on a daily basis.

I currently carry in my jeans a custom-made two-bladed folder that is a work of art as well as a knife, a Victorinox Midnite MiniChamp (it's useful and looks like a toy), and my SwissTool R/S is on my belt.

In my jacket pocket a convenience keychain holds a Leatherman Micra. I don't call it a survival keychain because my needs are not "survival" oriented in the true sense of the word. It really is a matter of convenience.

I like having the SwissTool around because every so often I really need a pair of pliers. Also every so often, someone needs heavy duty cutting and the MiniChamp won't cut it, so to speak. The SwissTool never offends anyone. They "ooh" and "ahh" over it and marvel at its sturdiness.