These are electronics (as the name implies) I actually use on a daily. I'll also talk a little bit about my home network, and some changes I'm hoping to make in the future.
This is a bit of a change-up since I started the site, but serves the same function. This can make calls and texts, and what's what I use it for. That's really it. It lasts about 2 days on a single charge with normal calling/texting use. Really my only complaint is the ringtones are pretty lackluster.
Sticking with the theme of "Nothing fancy", this laptop's only real halmark feature is just how small it is for being made in the 2010s. I explicity wanted something that will fit in my admittedly giant purse that I usually have with me, and this fits the bill nicely. I scored this at a local electornics recycler for about $80. It came installed with CachyOS, though it's since seen its fair share of Linux distro-hopping. However, since Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, has made a pretty firm stance on allowing AI code in the kernel, I've switched over to Haiku OS for the time being.
Haiku is a sort of "revival" of an operating system called BeOS which, is honestly much before my time. I only experienced Windows 98 through a hand-me-down PC given to me by a late aunt. That said, the style and workflow of the OS is really clicking with me. It's taking a while to get over some of my GNOME creature comforts, but the charming 80s/90s style and mindset of this OS is enough to keep me excited about it. Even using the built-in email client reminds me of when I was little and would pretend to send emails in old versions of Outlook, even though my household didn't have internet until almost 2013. It feels like a full-circle moment for me.
To be clear, Haiku's stance against AI is purely a "legal liability" stance, and only affects code contributions to its base operating system. The developers have stated that they're not trying to regulate apps that are included in their HaikuPorts repository, which includes a lot of great software like The GIMP, Firefox, Libreoffice and more. This works for my needs because I still have the choice to opt out of AI code with a base OS that will actually allow me to do so. It's about the most practical implimentation I've found so far, and it's working well for me.
Yes you read that correctly. Thanks to the magic of my local Bi-Mart catering to shoppers twice my age, I was able to score a cheap portable CD player brand new. Yes I could definitely have gone digging for one at a local Goodwill or something, but I just thought the idea of buying a new, in-box CD player in 2026 was too good to pass up. And actually, this little thing works great. It takes two double A batteries, and thankfully I can use those off-the-shelf rechargable ones. It does have FM though honestly I haven't messed around with it too much. I'm more interested in returning to the good ol' days of burning CDs from music off Soulseek, or CDs I kept around from when my last car had a CD player. Listening to The Fat of the Land through a burned CD definitely scratches an itch I didn't know existed.
Photo Credit: https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2023/06/camp-snap-3.jpg
This was an impulse purchase my partner and I made some time ago. I've disabled the "old school" filters on my camera, and also removed the speaker. It's a good little camera that takes basic enough pictures, a LOT better than my phone.
Without an easy way to look at something like Google Maps, I picked up a local map of the next closest major city to me (doxxed lol). It works alright, I'll admit folding and unfolding it is a pain in the ass. Not sure that this will stay, but it does work for when I get lost. And I can make notes in it, which is neat.
I did recently buy a GPS, a Garmin Drive. I use this for work trips mainly, as locally I hardly need a map. When it comes to work stuff, I'm trying not to pair down too much tech to where it will affect my job. My flip phone is enough of a sacrifice to that, believe me. So the GPS is great for the "Hey, go to this client right now" kind of navigating.
This is a pretty basic '26/'27 planner. I write my appointments down in here, and consult with my friends, family, and whomever about my schedule. It does help me remember dates and my schedule a bit more (blank page shown to avoid sensitive info), but I'm not perfect at it yet. This is a work in progress, much like myself.
This is a notebook I got while at LinuxFest Northwest 2026. While my relationship with Linux is less "stellar" these days, that event is amazing and I will likely go back. This has a custom sticker on the front, but I've since put some slightly identifying stickers of my own on it, so I can't show you what it looks like. There's probaly a photo on their website or something.
I use this to write notes that sometimes end up on the site! Sometimes they end up being private thoughts or deep-dives, which I'm sure I'll reflect upon and cringe at later. I try to use a different color pen between different entries to make things "fun". I have this one pen I got from Muji that has four colors on it for instance, that's kinda neat. Other than that, just a notebook.
Yeah, I don't know if everyone considers cars part of their "Everyday Carry", but since we live out in the middle of nowhere, I'm unfortunately pretty bound to this thing. Luckily, I love this little weirdo.
This is a 2016 Kia Soul EV-e. This was made as a "compliance" car back in the mid 2010s when the Obama administration mandated a certain percentage of vehicles imported to the US needed to be fully electric. So I guess Kia's best option was to slap an electric motor in their best selling hamster-wagon. Now don't let the "Electric" part of this car fool you, this thing is about as dumb as electric cars get. For instnace, no touch screen to be found. It does have Bluetooth, and handsfree calling, but those were old news when this car was new. I had those in my old '95 Jeep Cherokee.
I bought this for $6,000, with about 80k miles on it. For an EV, that's pretty much a death sentence. Once you hit 100,000 the resale value of these is basically non-existant. Thankfully, I have no interest in reselling this thing - I'm going to drive it until the wheels fall off. It's super comfortable, it's insanely quiet, it costs me very little to drive, and while it only gets about 100 miles on a charge in sunshiny-weather, that's perfect as a second car for our household. The first being my partner's 2016 Corolla, which DOES have things like a touch screen and whatever. Boo, but it's incredibly efficient, so we're keeping it.
