When we bought our laptop we did not buy a case for it because we expected it to live more than 99% of its life on the coffee table or next to the bed. It turns out we have been taking it out quite a bit more than we expected; Panera, Burger King, watching movies on Amtrak, etc.

We have been using the backpack I bought when I was taking classes at Northern, but it was just not up to the job. The backpack doesn't really provide any protection to the laptop, and the compartment we put the laptop in was a little snug at the corners and sometime the zipper would come apart at those points. Not good.

We have been looking at laptop bags and the ones I liked most were in the $90 range. I was thinking of telling Sheri this is what I wanted for Christmas.

I stopped at Office Depot after work to get some printer paper, and after I picked up the paper I wandered around the store. I always make a stop at the clearance shelf in the back. There was a nice Samsonite case with the style I was looking for with a clearance sticker of only $59.99. It had a really solid, sturdy feel. Hmmm, tempted. I looked above the clearance shelf and there was a little sign that said everything on the clearance shelf was 50% off the lowest price. Bingo! Thirty dollars for what I was willing to pay $90 for.

I also signed up for a free Office Depot Advantage card. If you spend over $200 in a quarter they mail you a gift card worth about 10% of your purchases for the quarter.

This is the bag.