Awhile ago I wrote about the Skullcandy earbuds I got free basically for having a not-insignificant Diet Coke habit along with the time to sit typing the MyCokeRewards codes from the insides of their boxes and bottle tops into their website. Well, it’s been a year and half or so since then and while the program continues, my impression is that it seems to have scaled back a bit: there are fewer high-value prizes available, and redemption value for others seems to have risen. However, I still save and type in the codes religiously because hey, free stuff, right? Right?
So I’d never owned a messenger bag, but because the nylon ‘American DJ’ bag I found sitting on a stack of identical bags on top of a trash can at my old apartment building was getting a little overstuffed as a gig bag and doesn’t close at the top I figured I’d try the Deluxe Recycled Owl Messenger Bag depicted below:
I assume Owl is the name of the manufacturer and the bag is not made of actual recycled owls. I can tell you that whatever it is made of feels cheap and flimsy; the first time I took it out of the shipping box I wondered if it would rip instantly. The pictured shoulder strap broke off literally the second time I used it, but other than that it’s held up fairly well as a container for various batteries, cables, lyric sheets, adapters and so forth. Unfortunately its capacity didn’t quite live up to my hopes and now whenever I play I haul around both this and the aforementioned ‘American DJ’ bag like some sort of vagabond sponsored by tacky corporations. I keep saying I ought to organize them and concentrate just the stuff I really need down to one bag, but, well, you know.
Recently my MyCokeRewards points again built up to the level where one can actually get something nonshitty — up to a point it’s all hideously overvalued Coke hats and Coke t-shirts, and damned if I’m going to use that many of my hard-earned points just to advertise their product on my body. So this time I opted for the Grab-n-Go Laptop Desk Caddy:
This too gave the immediate impression of cheapness and flimsiness upon withdrawal from its shipping container, but considering it’s basically just a plastic pillow with a platform on it to situate between your lap and your laptop I guess it doesn’t need to be precision-engineered or anything. Still, the seams don’t quite look right, the gray top surface is just a large decal that has a good number of air bubbles due to uneven application, and if I were hosting a classy dinner party at my house I’d definitely hide it out of sight just due to overall lack of classiness. Also, I just realized I was lying down in bed reading (comics) off my laptop for like three hours last night and not once did it occur to me “Hey I should grab that laptop desk caddy thing from the other room, it’d totally be better than this wooden clipboard.” I have used it a couple times on the couch — next to which seems to be the caddy’s natural habitat — and it was definitely less awkward than putting my laptop/wireless keyboard on the coffee table and hunching over it like a vulture, so it may yet find a useful role to play in my life. The jury’s still out on that.
So overall a mixed bag — can’t really complain, but only because the merchandise was free so that’s hardly a sterling recommendation. Kind of wonder if I would enjoy the use of a proper messenger bag, to be honest. Still rockin’ the Skullcandy earbuds in any case — great for short plane trips and noisy fast-food restaurants when I just want to be left alone to listen to Ricky Gervais podcasts in peace.
