Free Bag

Many of you have been to conferences, I am sure. At these conferences, companies like to give marketing materials away. It is usually cheap stuff: lots of pens, sometimes notepads or keychains.

Sometimes they give away cheap gadgets such as pedometers, cheap alarm clocks, or calculators.

Sometimes they give away interesting stuff; I have some racquetballs, a Nalgene water bottle, and a spatula, too. Normally, stuff is only interesting; these are the only three things I ever used more than once after receipt. Most of the time I simply don't accept the product or toss it aside.

But at a recent conference, I got the coolest bag ever.

This bag is designed to be a simple gym bag for a regular workout. It isn't that big, perhaps the size of a grocery store basket. It has one central pocket, but it also has a pocket on the end with a deep recess that fits my shoes, another one on the end for various oddities (racquetballs, my water bottle, and deodorant right now), a pocket on the side just large enough for a towel, and another pocket on the remaining side for more oddities (my lock goes in there, and my wallet and keys go there during my workout). On the top is a pocket with a removable plastic pouch for toiletries that I can carry to the shower, and a pair of cheap flip flops fits there too so that I can avoid the joys of athlete's foot on the way.

Honestly, who ever thought of producing marketing materials that people might actually USE?!?