Review: Brenthaven's Broadmore Backpack Optimized for Travel

The Brenthaven company was first introduced to me by the online Apple Store back in October 2001. I purchased my first Apple notebook, the Powerbook G4 667MHz Gigabit and chose a messenger style case. Brenthaven offered a special foam sleeve which perfectly cradled my prized titanium possession. Brenthaven knocked it out of the park providing plenty of other pockets that would fit my college notebooks and other accessories. Thirteen years later, you wouldn't be able to tell it's age.¹ It stayed with me when I upgraded to the MacBook Pro and also snuggled my wife's MacBook Air comfortably. But, back to why we're here; the TSA Friendly and amazingly spacious Broadmore Backpack.

If you don't already know, my career as an airline pilot requires me to travel quite a bit. In and out of various hotels, hotel shuttles, airplanes and airports, durability is of the utmost importance. TSA friendly bags offer a welcomed bonus but that never proved to be a deciding factor. Since I upgraded to Captain, I've found that sitting on reserve in base for days at a local hotel can be quite mundane. This made it urgent that my next bag needed not only fit my laptop but accommodate a Sony Playstation 3 which I know would provide me hours of entertainment.

I received a Brenthaven Broadmore BackPack last week to review for elijahnicolas.com and it has easily become my primary bag. Packed to the brim, it's proving every bit a worthy successor to my original Brenthaven Messenger. I was impressed by the generous padding not only on the back but on the shoulder straps which are also spliced with Napa leather. The zippers are high quality and the two soft lined pockets serve for quick storage or immediate access to your iPhone / Android and sunglasses. There are also two side pockets that can easily hold a water bottle or tumbler or whatever else you'd like.

One of the defining qualities of Brenthaven's Broadmore line is the "quilted and fully padded CORE™ Protection laptop compartment."

A Protection System that wraps your laptop in high-density protective foam. Flexible bow shaped forms at either end of the laptop compartment automatically adjust to allow a snug fit for any size laptop. Patent ID #7,549,535.

I was under the impression that I would end up using a companion sleeve for my laptop but I'm surprisingly comfortable sliding my MacBook Air 13" or MacBook Pro Retina Display 15" naked into the pocket. It hugs the laptop like a glove and so far, after a couple of unintended drops, the backpack has done it's job well. And yes, even my PS3 has survived.

I mentioned that I planned on carrying my laptop and Playstation 3 but I was able to pack in even more goodies into the Broadmore Backpack. Unknown to me prior to receiving the bag, it included an awesome iPad compartment in the inner pocket. A keyring and serial number can be found inside the outer most pocket and holds just about everything else with slots for pens, pencils, USB drives and wires a plenty. You could even throw in a few Field Notes notebooks too. Don't forget the zippered pockets within the backpack than will also keep those loose trinkets from getting lost in the bottom.

Overall, I'm very happy with the bag. It holds exactly what I need and more. It's stylish, well-built and I can see it being my last.

From left to right: Contigo Autoseal Stainless Steel Travel Mug 20oz, Sony Playstation 3, MacBook Air 13", PS3 power cable, HDMI cable, Thunderbolt to HDMI cable, Sony Playstation Wireless Headset, MacBook Air Powercord, Google Nexus 7" (2012), Hidden Radio Generation 1, PS3 Controller, followed by wallet, watch, keys, bracelet and my iPhone which I used to take this photo. An impressive feat and it even fit underneath my seat on an American Airlines MD80! I like the travel somewhat light. This bag weighs 3.1 pounds while measuring 14.5" W x 18" H x 6.5" D.

This beautiful bag is available from Brenthaven at $249 and comes with a 100% Lifetime Guarantee! If you find yourself traveling as much as I do or appreciate great craftsmanship and attention to detail, make this backpack your last.

Fits: MB Air 13.3", MB Pro 13.3", 14", MB Pro 15.4"

this post was written while listening to Noon Pacific.

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1. I have since lost the actual Brenthaven messenger strap when the bag was checked on as a valet bag on a flight years ago. ↩

National Weather Service San Diego Advisory for This Weekend!

If you boast about the awesome weather in San Diego like me, we're in over our heads starting tonight! Ever wonder where our local news meteorologists grab a lot of their data and forecasting models? Take a peak at the National Weather Service. I linked directly to San Diego's portal and have posted today's briefing (Wednesday's night) which you can watch below. I advise that everyone should watch it. These are the professionals that I always trust. Stay safe this week and drive defensively. I'm off Saturday night and Sunday and am hoping that when I fly home, the weather will be cooperating in normal awesomeness. I know we can use the rain, but this is posing to be an "epic" storm.

http://youtu.be/eMrDd9gVapc

There is a wealth of information on how to read and interpret the data that lies within the NWS website. Have fun and get lost in the site!

Major Airlines Creating Their Own Pilot Shortages

This is one of the most comprehensive views on the current state of the airlines in the United States. Read the article in its entirety. I'm living it along with some of my best friends and it's getting rather ugly.

The nation's big airlines want you to know that there's a dreadful pilot shortage and they apologize profusely if their commuter-carrier partners cancel flights to your hometown airport due to the debilitating shortfall.

The nation's big airlines don't want you to know that their commuter carriers, which operate half of all the nation's commercial flights, often pay pilots so little that it's often financially wiser to drive a truck or flip fast-food burgers than fly a plane.

A first-year co-pilot at a commuter airline may earn as little as $19 per flying hour. After five years with a commuter airline, the average salary is just $40 an hour. For the lowest-paid pilots at a carrier such as Mesa Air Group, which operates flights for both United and US Airways, a 60-hour work week means an effective pay rate of just $8.50 an hour. That's barely above the national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and below the more than 10 bucks President Barack Obama is making federal contractors pay their workers.

At American Airlines, senior management that came from US Airways to run AA netted $79 million in stock sales during the last month. At the same time, however, American pressed for another concessionary contract at American Eagle, its wholly owned commuter airline.

Need New Tunes? Discover Some Every Monday at Noon Pacific

A great new music site that I just discovered released a new iOS app for only $1.99. If you're like me and love discovering new music and tunes to listen to, check it out! You can always subscribe via e-mail to Noon Pacific and have that awesome playlist sent to you every week. Either way, since I travel quite a bit, bringing them with me on my iPhone is the way to go. It's more of a chill vibe that's totally reinvigorating me in writing more!

Noon Pacific is a great way to find new music to listen to, and while the playlists are hosted on 8Tracks (and you can always use their app and follow them), the Noon Pacific app packages them up nicely, lets you play each weekly playlist one right after the other, shows you which songs are playing, and lets you scroll back through all of the past playlists easily. It's a universal app as well, and the iPad version looks good on its large screen.

Built and curated by Clark Dinnison every week for your listening enjoyment. Better than Beats Music in my mind.

via LifeHacker

Sitting Idle Costs Money or in this Case Drivers Too!

It makes sense. If you sit parked with the engine running, you burn gas. If you drive around aimlessly content, you burn gas. In this case, the San Francisco Cab Drivers Association was caught with their tanks on empty. Some people call this disruption but I call it laziness, content, sitting fat, dumb and happy or reactive and definitely not proactive.

The San Francisco Cab Drivers Association (SFCDA), an association for registered taxi drivers that promotes fair working conditions and business practice, reports that one-third of the 8,500 or so taxi drivers in San Francisco – over 2,800 – have ditched driving a registered cab in the last 12 months to drive for a private transportation startup like Uber, Lyft or Sidecar instead.

New Flight Time Duty and You, The Flying Public

Come this January 4th, your commercial airline pilot operating under Part 121, me, will be flying under newly implemented rest rules. Created two years ago and finally being put into play, these rest rules allow for a STRICT, non reducible, 10 hrs of rest with a mandatory 8 hrs for sleep opportunity. With today's rules, I sometimes can find myself down to 6 from a given overnight time of 8 hrs and that's a good night. Unfortunately, there have been less in rare instances but I never deemed myself unfit to fly. Have I called out fatigued before, yes. I wrote a small PDF document that I included in a post over four years ago and if you never checked it out, here the link again. I also did a "Part 2" which you should check out as well.

But anyways, here's a great post of how it'll affect you, the flying public. Who knows how it'll really play out, but airlines have been gearing up for this in the last few months. Some have even said that it could cost them more than $25 million annually!

So what does this mean to you? Well, don't go and travel on bad weather days especially in the afternoon. Fly in the mornings. In the afternoon or night on bad weather days at large airports, there will be flight crews all timed out being sent to hotels at airports they weren't supposed to be at in the first place and planes and passengers stuck there until morning or until they get another crew in place.

Here's a link to the actual new FAA Final Rule and ALPA comparative literature on the difference between the current and pending rest rules.

The One Card in your Wallet Should be Coin

Trying to slim your wallet down? Check out the latest and greatest that gives you access to ALL your cards with one truly amazing piece of plastic! Introducing Coin. Watch this video and be amazed! Use this link and order now! http://youtu.be/w9Sx34swEG0

Greg Laswell for Under 10,000 feet

Since all the hoopla with the ability to now listen, play, and read your iPad, iPhone, Kindle or any other portable electronic device, I've been turning my ear to musician and artist Greg Laswell. Just last night, a friend of mine upped his stock and recommended that I buy ALL his albums. I figured that I'd do the same and pass it along, with this post. We'll call this the beginning of Thursday Tunes. Download Three Flights from Alto Nido to start. You might have heard of him already as his most popular track, Comes and Goes (In Waves), and a few others have been featured in various television shows. A rather popular track "Off I Go" from Take a Bow, will hit all you Grey's Anatomy fans as the theme for when George O'Malley leaves at the end of season 5. tear

The music is perfect and so soo good but while we're at it, it's also about supporting a native San Diegan!

Forcing Technology on Pilots

A company looking for a "good" deal implements a technology that's unproven and has been lacking in support. I wonder how much money is really involved in this deal. I know that the pilots aren't too thrilled that the company wants to reinvent the wheel.

"In less than two years, Delta cockpits will be paperless as we roll-out the Microsoft Surface 2 tablet running Windows 8.1 RT as our company-issued device," the airline alerted its employees recently. "The 757/767 fleet will be the first to make the transition with the 777, 747 and MD88 as fast followers. Look for an announcement from Delta and Microsoft in the coming days about our partnership on the initiative."

via Windows IT Pro

One Big Chair

My wife and I headed out to Balboa Park for Free Tuesdays and went to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. Norah had a lot of fun playing around and meeting other kids. It's definitely a great family trip. Next Tuesday, the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) is going to be free so you can expect us to take advantage of that! Oh yea, football is back in a big way especially after Peyton's performance last night. Our Chargers' secondary better be ready! Norah's sure ready for for Rivers' to throw some TDs!

San Diego and Attractive People

San Diego in another top ten. This time its for "Most Attractive" and I'll take the number two ranking. Miami is number one but I won't start an argument here. If you know me, you already know how I feel about the city. Of course, there's always the beach which just adds to the awesomeness!

http://instagram.com/p/cphVGeu4bg/

Tastemade-ing on Anniversary at Underbelly

Adelle and I decided to keep it fancy but simple. She knew that I loved ramen so we headed down to Little Italy to enjoy Underbelly. While there, I decided that we could make a quick Tastemade video. It's the first of many and we're just learning the trade. Check it out!

Coffee in San Diego

It's exciting when San Diego makes it into the top ten of anything and this time my beautiful home town squeaked into the top ten best coffee cities in America.  This of course comes without surprise that the Travel and Leisure article mentions Bird Rock Coffee Roasters.

While you're here, I also wanted to add Dark Horse Coffee Roasters to the mix.  Just a few days ago, I was able to take a trip down to Daniel's lovely shop where he was roasting on site.  Let me tell you, the smell was intoxicating!  I ordered a satisfying cold brew which was steeped 24 hours in a Toddy.  If I didn't come off a mile walk, I would have easily gone for a hot cup where they use a Bee House Coffee Drip for their pour overs.  Come check it out and grab a cup!

via Travel And Leisure