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The Art of Packing Light

November 19, 2003

by Mark Langston, Senior Unix Systems Administrator

It's the little things you miss. I've never really managed the arcane art of packing light. As a systems administrator, I tend to pack for almost any technical contingency. Some items from my luggage: test gear, extra cables, manuals, blank media, laptops (I travel with two), PDAs, power adapters, power strips, emergency software, etc.

Invariably, I simultaneously overpack and underpack.  I never seem to end up dealing with those contingencies I've planned for. Instead, Im faced with the unexpected that is always lurking just beyond my ability to foresee, or the problem I did predict but ruled out as too unlikely, and not worth the extra ten pounds in my luggage.

A case in point is the cold I've struggled with since my arrival. Normally, I make it a point to pack a variety of over the counter medications for circumstances such as these. This time, for some reason, cold medicine didn't make the cut.

Then there is the spare cable that--had I packed it--would have saved me about two frustrating hours spent resurrecting a piece of ornery equipment. Because I use that part so rarely, and because space is at such a premium in my luggage, I passed over the cable in favor of other, more obviously necessary tools.

So, I come home early each morning from the observatory control room to face a room full of unused equipment, silently reproaching me, and reminding me that in a few days, I'll be shoving it back into my two pieces of luggage for the four thousand-mile trip home.

How is it that I can plan so well only to find I've packed exactly the wrong things? But then I look at it another way. My cold will pass, I was able to get that ornery equipment working, and just the other evening, I coaxed SETICam to life. And after all, it's just as well that the extra gear in my room stays there, as each piece is a problem that never arose.

In the end, the most valuable tools that all of us on the Phoenix team bring to an observing session are the ones that we don't pack--our experience, knowledge, and skill.