I'm having some trouble with my bag situation. Right now, I am carrying my LLBean backpack. This works pretty well for the most part. What it doesn't do so well is manage my laptop's cables and adapters well. I carry my charging brick and it's extension, retractable USB cables for my cell phone and iPod, display adapters for my Powerbook, a retractable firewire cable (just in case I need to do target mode), the cable for my digital camera (I know this isn't entirely necessary most of the time, and I could make this better by getting a retractable one.), and I think that's all... Then, I carry my moleskine (the smaller one), a mead marble memo pad, another journal for writing song lyrics and chord progressions I come up with, mints, Advil, antibacterial lotion, Crabtree & Evelynn Gardener's Hand Therapy, at least one book that I am supposed to be reading in for class, at least one legal pad and a steno pad, a couple file folders of project support material, and some spare file folders.

What I would like is a messenger style bag that handles my laptop and its cables as well as handling my other life stuff. I also want it to fit my 12" Powerbook nicely. I think I will get one to fit a 15" though so that if/when I get a MacBookPro it will still work. It would also be nice to not have to carry a separate gym bag if at all possible. Since I am on the move a lot, I also want a stabilizer strap to keep the thing from bouncing on my hip. So far, the "Embarrassment" line from Crumpler seems to fit what I want, but I would like to know what my fellow boarders think. Have you used these bags? Do you recommend something else?