What Lies In The Bags Of A Geek?
My gadget bag is very full when I pack it up with all my gear.  Here are the stats on what I use, and what I think of it!

The Bag: A Roadwired MegaMedia Bag (Leather Edition).  Yea, I know, the price is REALLY steep on this one.  Retailing for $179 for the nylon version, and $249 for the leather, cheap old Jon bought the bag Used on eBay for $70 or so.  That being said, this bag simply kicks ***.  Pockets for everything, a nice feel, not too heavy, not too light.  It's a perfect overnight bag, daily driver, etc..  I only buy bags from 2 companies: Roadwired & Targus.  Why? They have lifetime warrenties.  A must if you're on-the-go.  I also alternate between this bag and a Targus Matrix backpack depending on where I'm going, what I'm doing, etc...  I also have a Roadwired Podzilla for camera trips or day long techie outings.

The Computer: An Acer Travelmate C110 Tablet-PC Convertible is my trusty travelling companion.  I'm very happy with it, it's small, and it has Bluetooth and WiFi built in.  I also have a Compaq Evo n800c that used to be my travelling system, but it's lately been my home system.  It's nicely docked in my make-shift server cabinent.

The Pocket PC's: Currently I own a i-mate K-JAM.  My heavy lifing machine is a borrowed i-mate JasJar , which I love!  I've set up an additional blog entry for my Pocket PC software titles, available here (Once written).  I recently sold my Dell Axim x50v & an HP iPAQ h6315

The MP3 Player: For my birthday I bought myself a 60gb iPod Video, which stores all my media (Music, Pictures, Video) and if I don't take that along for music, I usually use my Pocket PCs for my MP3 listening. I used to use a Creative Nomad Jukebox 3  I'm one of those people who have always liked the Nomad Jukebox's look (like an average CD Player) and massive HD size.  It backs up all of my music files and is portable enough to take with me in the car or on frequent grass cutting trips. As a plus, you can leave it out in your car without really worrying about someone stealing it, since it looks like a $20 CD player (Although I don't leave any of my babies out, even if they are inside my always-locked Caddy...) The Nomad now lives at my mother's house so she can listen to music.

The Headphones: Bluetake iPHONO Bluetooth Headphone Kit. While these headphones have a few shortcomings (i.e. the range is kinda restricted when you're moving around with them, and my head is a bit too big for them), once I'm on my way with them comfortably in place, they are worth the price.  Given to me as a gift, my i-PHONOs are always on me when I conduct Lawn Wars (i.e. the cutting of the grass), connected to my Nomad above.  As a plus, they can also be used as a BT headset!</td>

The Bluetooth Headsets: Jabra BT800, Jabra BT250 (Retired), Motorola Bluetooth Speaker (Special Use - Car Visor Clip On):  The Jabra is my daily headset, with the motorola along for long car rides or trips (It comes with a nice cover that can clip onto a visor).  The nice thing about these three is the battery life.  Previously I had other BT headsets that lasted 1 - 2 hours MAX (Which didn't work when I used to call Karey all the time for 3 - 4 hours a night....).  These are charged once a week or so, and I never have to worry about them.  Simple, Reliable, just like they should be. 

Mobile Peripherals: ThinkOutside Bluetooth Mouse & Keyboard:  This nice pair, which I don't use all that often, work nicely with all my PPCs and my Tablet PC.  For mobile typing / mousing, they are the best I've ever used.  The prices on their website is a bit misleading - you can grab these gems for around $70 (the keyboard) and $40 (The mouse) on other sites (I got mine on Amazon).

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!
Oh Lord, If I have a vice it's Pocket PC Software.  Over the years I've racked up A LOT of registration keys for these things.  So here is the list of software I own, use, or have used, and my comments. Affiliate links for Pocket PC Thougths are provided if available.  My preferred store is Handango, although you could use PocketGear just as well. In April 2005 I purchased the Pocket PC Magazine Best Of Everything CD which entitled me to register a lot of software.  Software I registered through it are marked with an *. 

Key:
Unused - I never really used this software as much as I thought I would, or I bought / registered it while it was on sale in case I ever would need it (Obviously, I don't need it...). If I bought this and never used it (and it has no * next to it, indicating that I paid honest to goodness money at the time), you might want to stay clear unless you're SURE you'll use it!
Retired - I used it for a period of time, but gradually stopped using it for one reason or another.  Perhaps the functionality was built into a new PPC, newer software, etc..
Active - I'm currently using this program full-time
Part-Time - I use this application part-time, or when need calls for it.

• I'm the President and CEO of Bug Jr. Systems.  Specializing in small to medium sized business consulting on web operations and development, we strive to create highly unique and effective solutions for our customers. 
• I'm a Contributing Editor at Pocket PC Thoughts.  This role allows me to bring technology news about the handheld computing industry to a vast readership, with more than 20,000 registered users.  Pocket PC Thoughts, and its sister sites Smartphone Thoughts and Digital Media Thoughts comprise the Thoughts Media network.  I'm also on the Server Admin team for these three sites, lending my Linux System Administration skills when needed.  Interested in what's on my PPC? Check it out.
• I'm the technical manager for Planethosting.Com.  Specializing in third-tier support and implementation of infrastructure changes and modifications, I help to keep our vast array of windows and Linux web servers operating at peak performance, while supervising the technical department.
• I'm the Web Administrator for the Psychology Department's Website at The University of Toledo.  Our dynamically driven website allows all faculty, staff, and graduate student members of the department to post not only a brief blurb about themselves, but full pages with integrated file storage for dispensing course and research materials to our students and visitors.
• I'm the principle architect and designer of CourseStar.com, a site dedicated to fostering an e-learning community for any interested party.  We allow users to sign up and create or participate in their own classes.  Still under development, we hope to bring CourseStar to public availability in Q2 of 2005.
• I'm the principle designer of a number of small humor-related websites, such as The Homepage of Scsi D. Pig.
• I'm also the lead developer for www.campusbooknet.com.

Education

• Bachelor of Arts Degree, 2004 - The University of Akron, majoring in Psychology.
• Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer on Microsoft Windows 2000 Platform, 2001 - Microsoft Corporation.
• Microsoft Certified Professional, 2001 - Microsoft Corporation.
• CompTIA A+ Certified Technician, 2001 - CompTIA Organization.
• More

Psychology

• I'm currently finishing up my first year in the Masters - Doctorate program for Behavioral Science (Cognitive Concentration) in the department of Psychology at The University of Toledo.
• Our lab, led by Dr. JD Jasper, specializes in decision making with an interest (And NSF Grant) to study the effects of handedness.  Handedness refers to the degree, not direction of predominant hand usage (i.e. instead of left vs. right, we're interested in how predominant one hand's usage patterns are over the other's.  This is not the same as ambidexterity).
• I'm currently working on a poster presentation for the Midwestern Psychological Association conference in May 2005, on my work in handedness and decision bias / framing.  More information is available here.
• I'm also looking at Norman H. Anderson's Information Integration Theory and its effects on decision making, in preparation for my Masters Thesis work this upcoming year.

Computers

• I've been involved in computers since 1993, specializing in Windows and Unix Systems Administration and database-driven website architecture and programming. 
• Since Spring 2002 I've been affiliated with The University of Akron's Workforce Development & Continuing Education Division as an instructor and lecturer. 
• For more information on my web activities, see the appropriate section on this website.

Teaching

• Central to both of my career paths above is my interest in teaching.  I enjoy teaching immensely and hope to continue teaching throughout my career.
• I've taught as the principle instructor a variety of computer courses, including:
  • A+ Certification (A 60 hour 10 or 12 week intensive exam preparation course, including hands on labs and assessments)
  • PC Troubleshooting & Diagnostics I and II.
• I've been a teaching assistant or principle instructor for a variety of psychology courses, including:
  • Teaching Assistant: Cognitive Psychology (Responsible for grade management and occasional guest lectures.)
  • Principle Instructor: Principles of Psychology Discussion (Responsible for leading discussion / rescitation sessions for groups of up to 55 students, including developing assignments and assessments, grading, and course management)

The following comes from The Book of Jon.

In the off chance that you, dear reader, are not a member of my immediate family or circle of friends, I suppose I should formally introduce myself.  My name is Jonathan Edward Westfall, and I was hatched around the year 1982.  It was a good year, as much of it that I can remember.  I was raised in the ultra-suburban ultra-boring ultra-old-people-encrusted city of Parma, which is slightly south of Cleveland, Ohio.  Parma is the kind of place that’s a bit big for a small town, but not big enough for anyone to really care about.  Many of my stories in this book revolve around life in Parma, and its surrounding atmosphere.

When I was three years of age, my parents purchased a house in Marblehead, Ohio.  While I live here pretty much full-time now, for much of my life my retreats up to Marblehead have been restricted to the occasional jaunt on the weekend or extended stay over a summer.  Marblehead is like Parma in that we are inundated with elderly residents, however unlike Parma, its really freakin’ small.  A mostly tourist community, the town only gets really “hopping” from May – September, when people come up here to enjoy the lake view and mostly sunny weather.  In the winter, it closes up shop and the locals are only seen venturing out to Wal-Mart occasionally and dusting snow off their cars.  Its quiet, and that’s why Karey & I like it.

Which brings me to the next subject: Karey.  Karey & I have been dating now for around 6 years.  I’ve asked the question, she’s accepted, and eventually we’ll marry.  When is tentatively stated, and maybe in the second edition of this book I’ll have an update.  For now, you can know Karey as my other half, the Gracie to my George, the 99 to my 86, the Wilma to my Fred.  We live with our dinosaur Dino cat Oreo and go about our days relaxing at home, and going to work/school at The University of Toledo.

Professionally, I prefer to classify myself by interests.  Since my interests tend to get me jobs, its probably a more efficient way to introduce my work.  Here we go:

Psychology:  Psychology has always been of interest to me.  I enjoy knowing how my brain works, and how the brains of other people process information and produce output of some sort.  Currently, I’m studying for my Masters and eventual Ph.D. in Psychology at The University of Toledo.  My area of specialty is Cognitive Psychology, which fits me well because of my interest in…

Computers:  Ever since I was young, I’ve always loved working with and playing with computers.  My parents purchased an IBM Clone (good ole’ 386) in 1992, and since they didn’t have much time to learn on it, I used it to play games and look at pictures of cartoon characters.  Eventually, when the games got boring, I started playing around with MS Windows (version 3.0) and got interested in computer programming (With Borland Delphi).  When the Internet became available to me in 1995, I was thrilled and began to explore the quickly-evolving global network that was out there.  I started my own small company in 1998 (Bug Jr. Software, now Bug Jr. Systems) to provide computing support services (i.e. I fix your computer) and computing software services (i.e. I program something you actually use) to business customers (i.e. people that may have worked at a business and decided to maybe use my services / stuff) and friends.  We never made too much money at it, but it is a good hobby that I still keep up with today. 

In 2001, after working at the local Target store for around 9 months (I decided not to go into food service, and what did I end up doing at Target? Becoming a Food Service Specialist…), I decided to pursue more computer-based work.  I began studying for my Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer credential in June 2001, and had finished by August.  When I transferred from Cuyahoga Community College to The University of Akron in September 2001, I was able to use my new certification to land a teaching position in the Continuing Education division!  While September 2001 in many ways was a bit of a downer, I was on cloud nine over the fact that come February 2002 I’d be teaching my own A+ Certification course!   While I’ve stayed at UA for the past 4 years, this year I’ve been forced to reduce my computer teaching load as my psychology teaching load is fast rising!

Other Interests:  While I enjoy any form of technology, I’m also a somewhat avid reader (i.e. it has to be interesting and/or entertaining), enjoy swimming and some other sports (but to look at me, realistically, you can tell I’m not a big athlete!), and just enjoy life.