If I had to leave my house (with my pants on, of course), there are a few things I couldn’t leave behind. Although a few would be physically impossible to take without a little help, I’d have to take my:

iPhone. I’m addicted to this second brain of mine that makes my life so much easier. Between the calendar — the alarm feature keeps me from missing appointments all of the time — GPS, camera, wireless access and all of the other apps I use, my iPhone keeps me organized.

Brother all-in-one. I can’t believe I used to use three separate machines in my home office, including a copier, printer and fax — I was too cheap to buy a scanner — when I could do everything with one machine. Now I have four functions in one, including a scanner.

MacBook. With the exception of my first computer, an IBM with a hard drive the size of a two-drawer file cabinet, I’ve always owned a Mac. My MacBook works fine but I have my eye on a MacBook Air and an iPad. I don’t need any of those things, but I want them.

External hard drive. During one of my last seminars, a guy in the audience told us about his son running over his laptop (after it had fallen off the top of the guy’s car).  The car was fine but his computer was totaled. A month before, his son had convinced him to backup his hard drive weekly. While he had to replace his laptop, he wasn’t stressed about having to replace the data.

Desk. I love my desk. It’s big enough to hold my files, supplies and equipment but not so big that it takes up all of the space in my home office.  It has plenty of storage space and even though I don’t need the pullout keyboard drawer, I use it to hold extra printer paper. Another one of my favorite desks is from aspenhome.

I’d leave my desk chair behind because although it’s functional, it’s ugly and I want a new, cooler one.

If you could take only a few things out of your home office, what would they be?

During my last business trip, I saw several folks tapping away on their iPads, which made me want one even more. This is a true case of technology envy. My MacBook is lightweight and easy to pack, but it’s not as thin, sleek and well, not as cool as the iPad.

In Shira Levine’s article “Can the iPad Replace Your Laptop for Business Travel?“ she shares several irresistible reasons for using an iPad on the road.  Some of her better arguments include:

The iPad is lightweight. The multi-tasking device clocks in at just a pound and a half – no more shoulder and back pain for those who were carrying around bulkier 3-10 pound machines. Weight matters, especially when you add luggage to the mix.

The iPad has a long-lasting charge. The iPad banks up to 12 hours in battery use between charges, which come to about four times the battery life of a notebook and two times the battery life of a netbook. During my last trip, thanks to the Samsung lounge I had a place to recharge my laptop and iPhone when both were dangerously low.  Not having to worry about a device dying on you can make your business trip a little less stressful.

The iPad is airport security friendly – mostly. “You don’t have to remove it from the case and place in into a separate bin,” a security person at JFK airport in New York says. Anything that makes going through security easier gets my vote.

It’s another Apple product with exciting applications. If you have an iPhone, you’re probably already familiar with many apps.  With an iPad you can use these same apps but now you’ll see them on a bigger screen.

Maybe it’s time to rethink my wants vs. needs tug of war.  I’ll make sure I do that while I’m revisiting the Apple store.