Your home is on fire, or you're going into exile (forced or not). Either way, you can only take three things with you and leave everything else behind. You have only three minutes to decide and gather the items to take, and everything else will be lost forever. What do you take? What is truly precious to you? Take three minutes to think about it, then post what you've decided on. Assume you are fully dressed, so anything that might be in your pants already, for example a wallet, you'll have with you.

First item, I would make sure I have my iPod. In addition to having all my music, it also serves as a storage device for other things, such as all my writing, and various other data that I would not want to lose forever.
Second item, I would take the large manilla envelope in my large drawer. It has my passport, spare keys, checkbook, and various other important legal or financial documents. All useful stuff for starting over.
Third item, hard to decide. I think I might just pick up my laptop. There's really nothing on there worth saving that wouldn't be duplicated on the iPod, but in a time crunch, it seems like a reasonable thing to grab and take with me. Actually it probably has some photos there that my iPod wouldn't.

First I should mention what's already in my pockets. I am always carrying my wallet, keys, cell phone, and pocket knife. Sometimes I have my iPod with me, but not always.

The first thing I would carry out would definitely be my MacBook Pro. I purchased it with my own money, and it has tons of valuable information on it. Not something I want to lose anytime soon.
Second would be my external HD. It has about 150 GB of stuff and backups I would probably need.
Third would be a duffle bag that's currently residing in the corner of my room. It has all sorts of fun stuff in it. This includes school supplies, important documents, toiletries, and other things I'm not going to use until the school year starts up in August. I figured this would give me the most bang for my buck.

I'd grab my laptop first, for many of the same reasons as DE. I would take the Mac Pro, but it weighs almost a third of what I do, so it'll have to burn.

Then I'd grab my backpack, which would have toiletries, my Bible, extra computer stuff (power cord, Ethernet/Firewire/USB cord, mouse), and a change of clothes so I don't look like a bum the next day.

Finally... well, other than what I always carry outside of the house, I can't think of anything else I'd grab.

First of all I would make sure my wife was all present and correct and then, probably the laptop and my car keys.

My laptop in it's bag, a box of insurance and personal papers that are already prepared, and my backup game saves. Everything else would be replaced and covered by insurance.

BTW, in my pockets are my favorite pocket knife, my wallet, my keys, my cell phone, my camera, and my iPod.

laptop, guitar, cash

I still carry around much of my life in two bags that are always packed for just these types of situations, so I might grab them first of all (the picture also includes what I have in my pockets, and is a little outdated in that I don't carry the binder, that book, or that polo shirt any longer, but have replaced them with an outdoors survival guide, a pair of earbuds, a padfolio, a USB cable, another thumb drive (4GB), a different polo, and have my Lenovo X61 tablet with power adapter in there now instead of the MBP):



Contents:
1: A couple bluebooks.
2: Binder with a copy of my advisement materials and a hardcopy of the due/test/important dates occuring in a semester along with a small calendar
3: Garbage bag and plastic grocery bag
4: My trusty Jansport Odyssey 38 backpack
5: Notecard with various paperclips clipped to it
6: Extra pencil lead and staples
7: Extra thick latex exam gloves
8: Travel umbrella
9: Light but sturdy weatherproof jacket with basic jersey gloves with grippy dots in pockets
10: Roll of toilet paper
11: Pill container with various pain killers and my prescription meds, stuffed with cotton balls so that it doesn't rattle
12: Piece of paper containing ethics terms (not important)
13: Mechanical pencils. One for notes, one for tests, one for backup, one for lending out to people
14: Pens. Good pen, Sharpie, erasable pen, felt-tip pen
15: Various highlighters
16: Pens for lending out
17: Pouch containing dry-erase markers and a piece of chalk. Brownie points if you can lend a prof stuff to lecture with
18: DVI to VGA adaptor
19: AAA Mini Maglight with clip
20: Notepad
21: Wilson small gym bag
22: Three packs Orbit Bubblemint gum
23: Microfiber polishing cloth for glasses
24: Small staple gun
25: Compact stapler
26: Inhaler and Cold-Eeze
27: Condom
28: Altoids box
29: Kleenex
30: Toothbrush
31: Copy of photographers' rights article and NM trespassing laws
32: Keys
33: Antiseptic wipes
34: Band-aids
35: Nissan stainless steel thermos
36: TI-89 graphing calculator
37: Two packages Nature Valley granola bars (not pictured)
38: Pocket comb
39: Two wallets
40: MacBook Pro (power cord not pictured)
41: 1gb thumb drive
42: Book (misc)
43: LG AX8600 cellular phone
44: Swiss Army knife
45: Zebra pocket pen
46: Lighter
47: Chapstik
48: Clothing roll containing clean polo shirt, underwear, and socks
49: Battery powered alarm clock/radio/sound soother
50: Hat (not pictured)

I also have a Halliburton Zero case loaded with cash, a gun with a couple boxes of ammo, a bullet proof vest, a proper jacket, and spaces for my MBP and my SLR.

However, all of that said, depending on the situation I might not grab the Wilson bag or the Zero case. Losing the Wilson bag loses me my change of clothing, a book, my alarm clock, and the toilet paper. As I typically don't have the MBP or my camera in the Zero case, and the rules don't say that I can quickly load them, I'd probably not pick that up either.

Thus, my three items would be my backpack, MBP, and my favorite childhood stuffed animal. How's that for a combo.

In reality, backpack, Zero case with camera and MBP, Wilson bag with stuffed animal and whatever extra clothes that are handy tossed in, another camera around my neck, headphones on head, grabbing another jacket or something else as I walk out the door. Absolutely reasonable in three minutes if I'm already dressed as I have all of it lined up and ready for exactly such a thing coming to pass.

-Pufer

How long did it take you to unpack and repack all that stuff?

As I was frantically running around my apartment for three minutes trying to actually figure out what I'd take, I did consider my Bible. Ultimately I decided against it for one of my three because I can always get another one, even if mine has some sentimental value.

Another person mentioned a gun. I haven't gotten one yet (I mentioned in another topic I'm working towards getting my license). I think I would definitely take it with me if I had one. In a fire, I would be concerned about ammo going off.



Heh, and if your place caught on fire right after you unpacked it, what would you do? Anyway, I am actually kind of jealous of Pufer's preparation. I should set up an actual emergency/end-of-the-world bag, instead of the stuff I have scattered.


Thinking about this more, I probably should have made this topic not have a limit on the quantity of items, just the time to get them out. I can certainly pack up the stuff I mentioned in much less time. I could get some books, clothes, even my DVDs out of my apartment and into my car in three minutes. The desktops would definitely be left behind, but I could save my other external drives, my headphones, dice, radio, even my alarm clock, I bet.

There are things in my room back where I grew up that I have yet to move into my apartment, now that I have a more permanent living space. My answers would definitely change if I had some of that stuff up here with me. Old high school yearbooks, photos, some papers, etc. that if I had with me I'd want to save.


Sort of a related idea, who has a burn bag? You don't have to tell us what's in it, of course.

Fire extinguisher, and I'd grab my two cats just in case I didn't get it put out.

I considered that as well, but since I have it in my backpack quite often anyhow I figured there'd be more than enough room to take it if the house were burning down.

If it were merely limited to time, I could probably easily get my movies and games (all in a nice zippered DVD case), the internal hard drives of my Mac Pro (data not easily replaceable), and the family photo albums out as well, though I'd assume my parents would grab the photo albums.

And what's a burn bag?

In a fire ammo will go off, but not the way most people think it will. Ammo explodes out of it's brass casing and the casing is the somewhat dangerous part, not the actual bullet because of the mass difference. Once you own enough guns, you have to consider a fireproof safe because you will not be able to move them all in three minutes.

First I should mention the contents of my pockets.

Wallet containing my library card, bend up ID card, non-bend ID card, and a 50$ Best Buy gift card. No money.
ipod. Barely any music besides what my dad put on there and my Suzuki music which my dad also put on there. Nothing I'd really listen to.
Rock. I have a quartz crystal in my pocket usually. I took it out because it was chipping the other two rocks. My brother stole it saying it was his.
Rock. I have a piece of rose quartz in my pocket.
Rock. I also have a round rock made of obsidian (I think. It's black) with a picture of a sun I got from New Mexico (I think)
Nintendo DS. Not really much to talk about. No good games anymore.
Eraser. I have the eraser end of one of those mechanical pencils where you can pull the end off, it's a thing you twist to get the eraser to come up.
Other eraser. I have another one. The thing that holds the eraser broke.
eraser. I've got another big pink eraser in my pocket.

Things I would grab if exiled

Violin
food
something

Things I would grab if my house was on fire set one

Fire extinguisher
phone
dog.

I'd tell my brother to grab my violin

Things I would grab if we're not allowed to put the fire out

Dog
Violin
something.

I should probably also make an emergency backpack in case something like this does happen.

It was a while ago for a different topic (that's the carpet in my old place in the background), so I can't really remember. Probably wasn't more than 5 minutes though, it's not that much stuff.



Anything I have that's incriminating is in my head, I don't really write stuff down and, if ever I do, I destroy it immediately. If I knew they were on their way, I might try to disappear my hard drives, but that's mostly for kicks.



A bag full of stuff that you set on fire as they bust in your front door to destroy the evidence.



Fireproof isn't really heatproof. The ammo may well still go off even if they're in a fireproof safe if it heats up enough. That said, if your house is burning to the ground, a bunch of rounds popping shouldn't really be your number one concern.



I'm dying to know what "something" is. Favorite dress? Leather harness? Fleshlight? The amusing possibilities are endless!

-Pufer

And I never said ammo is safe from heat. I just said that guns, once you have enough cannot be moved in only a few minutes and thus you dramatically increase their odds of surviving relatively unmarred if you get your hands on a fireproof safe.

I meant exactly what I meant. Something. If I don't think of something and edit later then I will take the assumption that I will grab the first thing I see as well as the other two objects that I listed.

In order of priority:
1. Other family members (all three)
2. Cat.
3. Shoes/Jacket
4. Flute + music
5. If time permits, Piano.

I'm not sure what else I'd grab. There's lost I own that is important, but nothing with much sentimental value. Sure, grabbing my comp might make some sense, I have tons of stuff on there I don't want to lose, but most of it is either replaceable, recreatable, or excusable.

I'll have to think about the answer to this topic some more later tonight, but I just wanted to chime in that a burn bag is also a bag of powder that's supposed to look like drugs so you can rip someone off.

In order of priority:
1. Other family members
2. Dog
3. ipod
4. Violin + music not in case
5. Flute + music

I've always heard lax bag for that. In any event, I'm going to need to figure out how to use that info at work where we have real burn bags.

-Pufer

I was also thinking more of a bag you want somebody to destroy (without looking inside) when you die. In other words, more of a secret thing, not necessarily criminal .

Personally I don't have one, but I was just curious.

my home in Hangzhou:
(in order of priority)
1. roommates/roommates' dog
2. my external hard drives (they have all my photos over the last 3 years, all my writing, and all my music).
3. my camera, it's way too nice to let burn.
4. my favorite tea pot.
5. if time allowed i'd take my DVD collection, which, though in two cases with handles, would still be quite a challenge to get out of the house quickly.
6. a bottle of wine, though i can't really decide which one i'd take.

my home in Seattle:
1. other family members
2. family photos
3. my external hard drives
EDIT: 4. my 1971 Gibson EB3
5. my camera
6. one of my tea pots/tea
7. some books, but i can't really decide which ones.

1. Dragon Laser Sword of Swish if it's in there at the time. Otherwise,
1. Wallet.
2. Keys.
3. Phone.
4. Small chair that has been my childhood friend for as long as I can remember.
5. School bag(I keep some weird stuff in there).
6. Trilby.
7. Telescope.
8. Laptop (if it's in there at the time).
9. Desk. Might be a bit hard, but oh well.
10. Myself.

Most of the things I consider valuable are in a fireproof safe.

This is a good time to note that I usually live utralight so most of my stuff is replaceable.

Hmmm...

1. Laptop
2. Financial/important documents
3. (crap I can't grab my whole library)...My back up hard drive.

Actually, Pufer's anticipation has in some way, incited my own paranoia...I think tomorrow I"ll go and actually get a few bags and find out where all that information on my life is. That is a pretty good heads up, now if my dorm room caught on fire, last year, I would have said Laptop and screw the rest...really my laptop was really the only thing of value in there other than myself. But since I'm at home for the summer...I may have to actually reconsider.

In a fire I would bring my two cats and my iPod.
If I was going into exile, and supposing my entire family wasn't, I would bring my external hard drive, my iPod, and a charging cable for my iPod. Those are the most easily portable valuables I have so if worse comes to worse I can just sell them.

You people and your lists of more than three things.