13 years later there aren't too many places in the world one can go and not maintain an electronic connection with the world. So, I'm taking some gear with me, so I can be available to work and carry on my digital life while en tournée.

For a portable desktop I got a great deal on a virtually-unused (only twice I think) Lenovo ThinkPad T61 - a venerable road-warrior classic. I had an earlier IBM version when I worked for IBM long ago and TPs are still primo machines. It was upgraded with a larger disk and more RAM and has pretty much the same power as my desktop machine, and a screen just a step smaller than my desktop so remote-control is very feasible. The disk is large enough to carry all that matters of my files, so it's a real portable version of what I sit at home with.

For walk-around portability I finally retired my trusty old Motorola TimePort and joined the leagues of smartphone users. I got a Samsung Galaxy Note - the largest palmable phone/tablet with the longest battery life. It's really a pocketable version of my laptop with about the same horsepower, slightly smaller screen resolution, and less storage. Perhaps as a sign of my geezer-ness it didn't come with a manual and I had only vague ideas of how to work it initially, until I found a manual online. I guess it's assumed everyone knows how to tap and swipe and pinch their way through a touch interface. The online tech that I called on another matter had to tell me how to answer the phone when he made a test call. Duh me.