Here’s a picture of my backpack. The other day I realized I bought it while in Austin to hold a new Powerbook, back when Powerbooks were black, made of plastic, and over an inch thick. That had to be over a decade and frankly it doesn’t even seem to be showing signs of wear.

I remember the salesman in some Austin mall telling me you could put a hose up against the material and hardly any water would get through. And the story of how a friend had it on his back when he fell of his motorcycle, skidding on it and his computer still working. Haven’t tried either of those.

I haven’t taken it out into the backcountry, but it’s been thrown in the back seat of a number of cars, stuffed under the seats in front of me on many an airplane, and laid on tables and floors of a lot of offices and classrooms.

I’ve carried it to and from work most weekdays since then. I’ve stretched the inside computer pack made to protect the 14″ PowerBook with first the 15″ Tibook, and then the 17″ ‘Al’book for years. My tiny 13″ kind of swims around in it now, so much so I normally stick a Paramedic Care volume in to fill up the space.

I can’t really think of any other possession that I use on a daily basis I’ve had for that long. My wedding ring has been with me 20+ years, but it does have the advantage of being made of metal. I wouldn’t believe any thing made of any cloth would look this good after 10 years of use.

I think Jadd deserves some credit and some kudos. I searched out their website today. Looks like its design hasn’t been updated in a decade either, but they still sell my backpack. I remember it seeming a lot of money back then, but I’d just bought a multi-thousand dollar laptop that needed protection. Now the price looks cheap.

All those years of service, with no end in sight, deserves some credit. So Kudo’s to JADD for making a great product.