An article (useful mainly for the links) that talks about how to set up a default set of useful applications (Office, email, browser) to carry around on a flash disk should you need to borrow a computer and still have the tools you like to use. Web-based applications are okay, but if you only have dial-up (or no internet) then having tools that allow you to compose email or edit documents offline can be life-savers.
See: Carry Your Desktop Anywhere with Portable Apps / Wired How To’s.