ReNe: nasal lube

You know the air in winter is really dry when you need nasal lube...

ReNe: first snow of the season

Last year the first snow fell on 21 Oct, so this year, since October, I was expectant.

It finally flurried a little yesterday, tiny bits of snow that melted as soon as they land. Turned out, this is the first snow-free November for Toronto in over 160 years, since the weather office started keeping records in 1937 in fact!

Coming from a tropical country, I found snow terribly exotic. The first year in Toronto, I got very excited every time there was a snowstorm, and I loved seeing the city blanketed in white. Now, lots and lots of snow later, I still like a good snowfall. Even if the clean-up's pretty expensive and we do end up paying, literally, for it later.

MiKE: At Niagara Falls.

Serene before Horseshoe Falls, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

We went to Niagara Falls yesterday. Yes, in winter. At night. We went with the International Students Centre (ISC). Overall, I'd say that the trip was not only inexpensive, it was also somewhat cheap. Anyway, the full set of pictures can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike-tan/sets/72157611194638335/show/

ReNe: first snow, sorta

It's snowing right now. Well, a mix of snow and freezing rain. The temperature isn't quite low enough (about 4C, according to my dashboard) so the snow melts as soon as it hits the ground and buildings, and the flakes are very tiny, but it's definitely snow. Today is also the first day in fall that temperatures are forecasted to reach 0C. Well, other areas in Canada have already started winter; there was a massive snowstorm in Saskatchewan over Thanksgiving two weekends ago.

MiKE: Mental disconnect

Whenever I see skies like this:
I always think that it must be kinda warm outside. You know, bright blue skies, sunny, and all that?

Well, this morning's scenery was accompanied with this thermometer reading at my (closed) window:
Yes, yes, the window is filthy. This is the one right next to the cooker hob; no oil splashes there, of course, but i'm kinda lazy to clean it now. Besides, clean windows at this kind of temperatures? The water will freeze and then jam the window in its tracks, in the open position... And, there have been no 'camera tricks', no 'shopping. Here is a clip from the Environment Canada page:


Some other shots.. We've been baking. This is dough that has risen, all bubbly. The yellowish parts are the oil that the dough was sitting in to prevent it from sticking to the pot. Yes, a bit too much.. Eventually, this dough turned out to become some really nice bread :)

Sunset yesterday. The sun has been setting progressively later now - it is almost up to 1-3 minutes later sunset every day; so it is an amazing thing to notice. I love the beautiful colours of sunset:

ReNe: playing with ice

2 weekends ago (actually, the sunday after the zoo trip), it was a very cold day; -18C, and with the howling winds, the windchill was supposed to be -30C.

I've read accounts and seen pictures where people throw boiling water up in -40C temperatures and it comes down as ice. I'd like to do that one day too, but for now, we made do with -18C.


Apparently, at -18C (or -30C, as it was very windy outside), if your window is single-paned and the room is steamy, the condensation on your window will freeze... producing, literally, frosted glass.

The window panes were iced as well.
And so I got the brilliant idea to produce more frosted glass by splashing water on the outside of our double-paned windows. It froze within seconds.

What can I say? We were bored.

ReNe: walking to work

I walk to and back from work everyday, a trip that takes about 25-30 minutes each way. In the past two weeks, it has actually been surprisingly enjoyable; temperatures hovered around zero Celcius and I found the cold air bracing. I've also taken to under-dressing a little so that I don't end up sweating when I reach my destination. When I first thought about walking to work in winter, I was a little daunted and even contemplated buying a monthly subway pass; on hindsight, the cost of such a pass could have bought me a nice pair of boots every month!

But that was *last* week. Temperatures dropped suddenly over the weekend, and was -12 Celcius (according to my Mac dashboard) when I walked out this morning. I dressed as I normally did in two layers: a long-sleeve T-shirt and my trench. The only concession I made was to pick up my mittens instead of gloves, and a scarf. It wasn't so bad, I thought, until the winds started to blow. Toronto, I'm starting to discover, can be freaking windy.

Half-way to Dundas Street, where I work, my face was starting to feel decidedly numb, so I pulled up my scarf.  It's a nifty thing I got when I was still motobiking; a tubular piece of cloth with no seams, so I can pull it up to cover my nose. Interestingly, even though it's just a thin piece of cotton (I had bought it for motorbiking in tropical climates after all), it worked very well at keeping the lower half of my face warm because the scarf is loose and most of the warm, moist air I exhale gets circulated back within the little tent-space. I did get many odd looks though. What I really would like to get would be a jacket with a stiff, tall collar that is able to button all the way around -- I saw a woman wearing such a trench and I think it looks very stylish, yet functional.

"There is no bad weather, only bad clothing."
(I saw that in MEC but if I'm not mistaken, it's actually a Swedish saying.) Anyway, I think that's pretty good advice. Now I am hoping the temperatures would drop even further so I could try out a pair of leather pants I got for $6 at Goodwill. 

ReNe: getting used to the cold

In the above photo, I was only wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt and skirt under my jacket, and the temperature was between 0-5 degree Celcius. In fact, I was even feeling a little warm -- note the open collar.

Mike and I were joking that we are getting quite casual about the cold -- 10C is now 'warmish' for us, and we routinely head out in just our down jackets and a T-shirt under when the temperature hovers around zero.

Which led me to wonder: are we getting acclimatized to the cold, or is this what happens when we get the 'proper' gear?

When we bought the Canada Goose jackets, we were joking they were overkill, especially Mike's. Like buying a ST1300 in Singapore and then using only the first and second gear for city commuting. So yes, the right gear does play a role. In addition to my goosedown jacket, I was wearing a fur cap (unlike the fur ruff on my jacket, the fur on my cap is fake, but it does a good job of protecting my ears nonetheless) and insulated boots; smallish details that make a huge difference as well.

But I also think that we're getting used to cold. On days where we go back to using our older jackets, we find that we don't need as many layers as we did a month ago. So we *are* getting used to cold. This is something I thought about before -- having lived in a warm country all our lives, the only times we get to experience the cold is on vacation, and the transition from balmy tropical to chilly wintry conditions thus takes place in a matter of hours. And the experience (of winter) in our minds thus becomes exaggerated. However, if we make the transition from summer to winter over a few months, then we should be as used to the cold as the locals, shouldn't we?

I've heard 'horror' stories from Singaporeans about their first winter overseas, but interestingly enough, I find myself to be actually *enjoying* my first winter.

(I hope that last statement does not come back to jinx me later, as it is still only January and winter is hardly over.)

MiKE: Brief Respite.

So, we are in the midst of a January thaw, which, according to Environment Canada climatologists, is almost a sure thing for the many many years that Toronto weather has been recorded. Warm air from the south came up across the lakes, picking up water and conveniently dumping it upon us.

Which means that the temperatures right now is about 18ºC, and expected to climb to as high as 21ºC (according to my MacOS dashboard widget).

Which means it feels right now that winter is over- we don't need the heavy jackets; the snow (the *ugh* dirty dirty snow) has melted away; it's been drizzling, humidity is in the 60s and above; and since the radiator in the room has been, ominously, not shut down, we have to keep the windows fully open or else the apartment would be too warm and stuffy.

And yet, all that I read and hear from people is that, don't be fooled, winter is not over yet, Environment Canada says that Toronto experiences about 65% of its snow in Jan and Feb, and that more is expected.

So as with my usual ambivalent posts, here is the ambivalence: it'd be really pleasant (tolerable?) if the weather were to be like this, the coldest -15ºC or so temperatures over and done with in a fortnight or so; on the other hand, I'd be quite disappointed: is this all Toronto has got? What happened to the famous recorded -30ºC winters? What am I going to do with the jacket I bought now?

Intellectually I know that the cold weather will be back, and my jacket will see more action yet, but right now, I feel a bit, let down. You know what I mean? Here's the article stolen from the Toronto Star:

Temperature record set - Jan 07, 2008 10:56 AM

Toronto set a new daily temperature record today, but will likely fall short of the monthly high for January set three years ago.

The thermometer reached 11 C by mid-morning, beating the previous Jan. 7 record of 6.5 C set in 1998 and well above the average daily high of -1.8 C.

"It should be freezing out there. It should not be melting like it is," said Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips.

He noted that a high of 12 C is typical around April 20, not in January.

"These are clearly temperatures that are 10 or 11 degrees above where they should be," Phillips said.

A January thaw – when temperatures reach 0.1 C or higher – is a virtual guarantee in Toronto. Since records began in 1840, Environment Canada has logged a thaw in downtown Toronto every January except for 1977, when the mercury only rose to 0 C.

"It’s a sure thing. There’s death and taxes and a January thaw," Phillips said.

But "major thaws," when temperatures rise above 10 C, have happened about once every two years since 1980, Phillips said.

The record daily high for the month of January in downtown Toronto is 17.6 degrees, set on January 13, 2005.

Temperatures should remain high tomorrow, with a forecast high of 11 C, but will dip below the freezing mark by the end of the week.

The warm weather is melting ice in the GTA, prompting police to warn people to stay off rivers and lakes.

MiKE: Winter is not always grey

So I went to OISE yesterday. Nothing unusual, except that classes had ended; I still have papers to submit, but I went for a social event (read: free food and entertainment). Woke up yesterday to a bright blue sky, perfectly cloudless, and yet, cold. Like, -2˚C kind of cold. The sun did not help much. I think the maximum temperature was not more than 5˚C or so.

I walked to OISE along the usual route, this time armed with a camera that I told myself quite many times already that I should carry, because there had been previous days where it had been pretty. Like yesterday. So, as I've said, there has been snow, lots of it. And as you can see, this is what happens to it: it gets ploughed off the road, and sidewalks, and forms a untidy little mound that separates the sidewalk from the road, such that crossing the street is only practical at designated crossings. Also, you can see that, yes, perhaps the first snow may be clean, white and 'pure' (with what's in the air, one cannot be too sure these days), but quickly, within a week, the snow becomes filthy. See the following picture. No, it's not soil, it's all snow, albeit with much muck:


Walking past this mound, I come across again, this sculpture, the one I encounter everyday. I really wonder what the name of it is, and what the person is trying to do...


Another shot of the mound of snow that separates the road and sidewalk. If you're observant, the street I'm along is actually Bloor West, the perpendicular one is St. George; I'm standing right outside the Bata Shoe Museum, and OISE is the overexposed building in the background:


A shot of the university marker, with the Robarts library in the distance, on the right corner of the frame:


The Varsity Blues, the stadium, where a game was going on in -2˚C weather. It was barely 8 minutes or so, but by this time, standing outside the OISE building and looking east, my right hand had been frozen; it was so cold. For those who know, you can see the Michael Lee-Chin crystal addition to the Royal Ontario Museum, and of course, everyone can appreciate the brilliant azure sky:


This is a shot, looking westward, from the 10th floor (out of 12) of OISE building, in a room where we usually have our classes. Once again, a beautiful sunset, this one at 5:00 pm.

Forgive the blurring; these were the artifacts from shooting out a pretty dirty window.

MiKE: Overnight snowfall

Last night, or rather, this early morning, the snow fell again. Since the last snow I reported about slightly more than a week ago, the snow had been receding and melting. With this week's forecast temperatures not exceeding 5˚C, I think it is safe to say that the snow that fell will stick around for a while. Take a look:


Once again, this is looking out my window, east across Spadina Avenue, with the concrete tunnel for the streetcars. One thing that I'd bring attention to, is the depth of snow - as you can see from the cars that have been parked overnight, the snow is at least 5cm deep, and at that side of Spadina Avenue, somehow, the pavement has not been cleared. Think about it this way: the cars you see are parked along a road. There is now no distinction between road and pavement; the snow is at least as deep as the height of the curb. Interestingly enough, Spadina Avenue, a medium density North-South road for downtown Toronto, is very quiet this morning; car density has dropped from the usual 5 cars per minute (or so) at this time I'm writing (11am) to about 1 car every 5 minutes (or so) (okay I may be exaggerating somewhat, but the density is really low, ok!). And they are driving very.slowly. I saw a car drive out of the side road (along the street where the cars were parked), and it was moving so slowly. I guess it has to be so for safety's sake - at one point I think I noticed the drive wheel spin when it lost grip on snow.

Interesting.

And oh yes am I glad that I went to Sanko yesterday and not procrastinated till today or even later.

MiKE: Shopping at Sanko

Sanko Supermarket is a Japanese grocer with pretty decent Japanese stuff that one would expect to find in any Japanese city (Having seen a few in Hokkaido and Tohoku, I'd think my judgment's right on this). Nothing particularly special, I guess, if one were to be in Japan. Sanko is located at 730 Queen Street West. It is along a semi busy street together with a motorcycle leather specialty shop (think Harley Davidson), and a place called Miss Demeanor, where, on my way back, I was about to comment to myself that the lingerie clad mannequins in the window looked surprisingly real. Until they started to move..

Well, back to my story. So, I am now convinced that I must go out everyday and brave the cold and get some exercise; even if it is to the conventional grocers just round the corner on Bloor West. And I had been noticing that my soy sauce was diminishing quite quickly. So I thought to go and get some, from Sanko, because I tried one particular soy sauce in sg (this one from Meidi-Ya, Liang Court) - some Usukuchi Soy Sauce, and I liked it. Very light and versatile. The interesting digression I have here is that we found out about Meidi-Ya onboard the CX flight back to singapore from Tokyo - there was a Japanese program informing visitors of places to visit; and it was mentioned).

But then, I had just paid my credit card bill, and it would take at least a couple of days before the credit line was reinstated. So I thought to sleep on it. After the nap, I awoke to see the last rays of the sun setting, and I resolved to go out before the sun fully set. Donning on the layers, I looked forward to a walking workout to keep the blood flowing and to help the sore muscles from yesterday's workout, and of course, mentally created my shopping list, and worked out that I probably could pay a bit of cash and the rest by Visa, calculating that I could spend about $40.

On the way there, I was struck by just how cold it was, and how useless plain old wool was against cold and wind. It seemed like the cold air just passed through the fibers as if it were a sieve. I guess the button down front did not help. By the time I got to Sanko, my nose was dripping (anybody know why it does that?) and my cheeks were numb. Went in, was glad to defrost but was apprehensive about going back, laden with stuff. For the moment, I ignored the cold, reveled in the goods laid out before me, and found the bottle of sauce that I was looking for - the exact same one that I got in sg! I must have gotten a bit carried away; between two sizes, it was cheaper to get the larger size; in many cases it was a dollar more (out of base price $3-4 for double the amount). Picked up what I thought I could carry in the bag alone (No way was I going to be carrying plastic bags even with gloved hands), and then went to the counter to pay. The bill came up to $55.17

I tried $20 cash + Visa; the transaction was not approved. $40 + visa, not approved. Sighing, and sheepish that I was holding back the queue, I handed over my last $20 bill, got change and then left. Walked home, at as fast a pace as I could, reached back in about 35 minutes, and was tired and glad that I made it, once more with a cold, dripping nose, and numb cheeks. Just for the record, Google maps counts the distance as about 3km one way, so I got in about 6km of a pretty fast walk today, all in 0˚C weather. I am so pleased with myself. And to top it off; here is my haul:

Back row: Japanese mayonnaise, Wasabe, Bulldog sauce, Usukuchi soy sauce, Japanese rice toppings, seaweed mat (*50 sheets!*)
Front: Yaki soba noodles, frozen edamame, shelled and in pod, and gummy sweets.

Ahhh, life's little luxuries.

MiKE: It's snowing!

So, on Wednesday afternoon, talking to some locals, I heard the rumour that there was going to be up to 20cm of snow that night, and also on Thursday. I spent most of the evening awake, till about 3am, waiting for Serene to arrive - she was hitching a ride with her friend who drove up, and was supposed to arrive around midnight. More on that later; but in the meantime, it was a cold and rainy night - in fact, it had been raining for about the whole of Wednesday, a incessant drizzle that was not impossible to walk through, but at times increased in intensity, especially after the sun set at the very early time of 5pm these days.

I got her position reports via sms, and learnt that she was being held up by jams before the border, and also at the crossing itself. Apparently, what was planned to be a 12 hour journey turned out to be closer to 18 hours total travel time. I'll let her tell her side of the story recounting the trip, but as for me, I was staying awake, finishing a draft for submission, and then watching episodes of South Park.

By the time she arrived, it was after 2am, and I did not envy her - for some reason they had to leave the windows cracked open a bit or else the windscreen would mist up, so as a result, she arrived here practically an ice cube.

The next morning, when we awoke, I took a look out the window to find this:
The rain had turned to snow overnight, and because my outer window was ajar, it had blown in and almost jammed the window. It was still snowing when we woke up. Looking out, we saw this:
For people who have been following this blog, you should remember how this looked like when it was still sunny and the trees were still fully green; it was an amazing sight - the snowflakes falling were so light and being blown by the breeze in all directions.

When the snowfall lightened somewhat, the brightness went up a bit, and the view cleaned itself up:

And then we decided to go out for a walk, even though it was still snowing, albeit lightly. We wanted to go to the MEC Store - Mountain Equipment Co-op sells good outdoor stuff, and we walked the 1.5 km or so after lunch at a Japanese restaurant along Bloor Street.

Along the way, we decided to stop and take a picture:
and we walked on, went to MEC, bought something, and then promptly returned it even before leaving the store as it seemed that the product was not working as well as advertised. Sigh. We walked home, empty handed, in medium snowfall, in the dark.

This post is very boring. I need to write more, but not for now... Feeling sleepy and tired, and I thought to just post these pictures up first, and then maybe talk more later.

MiKE: It's raining ice!

Yeah yeah, i know, it's quite a common thing. But then, this is only the second time I've seen it; the first time was here too, but I did not manage to get a good shot of the ice. Here it is:



Not terribly large; as you can see, the characters 901/1 are about font size 9 or 10. Interesting sound they make when the land on the window sills.

MiKE: Some more beautiful pics...

Seems like my life here has settled into a rather monotonous, if somewhat stressful, routine. As in, study, study, sit back and relax a bit, study, go for classes, study, study, buy groceries, study, study... you get the idea. Oh, but don't be misled into thinking that I am in some sort of prison or something. I don't know where I read it, or who wrote it, but I am pretty sure that one very famous prisoner has ever written to the effect that his body could be imprisoned, but never his mind. The corollary, of course, is for people to be thinking - if one were to be in a cage, even a gilded one, could one know it?

So once in a while, when the body feels cooped up too much (I am not in a jail, anyway) I give myself a treat by going out to a meal. This time, I went to Sai Gon Palace; yes, it is the place I blogged about in the first week when I was here in Toronto. But what to do? It serves really good Vietnamese food. For people who would visit me, I would bring you here for a meal. Well, something's gotta be right - they have been in business for more than 15 years (cannot remember the year i saw on the signboard). They are on Spadina avenue, and walking south from my apartment, I will pass by this interesting junction with College street:


And after that meal, since the weather was turning cold, I had decided to go get a 'car jacket' from the Gap; the gap sells clothes which are on a relative budget for the boutique-ness they represent. In other words, they are much like G2000/U2 or maybe even Esprit, but somewhat cheaper than the latter. I got a woolen jacket that stretches up to mid thigh, though not quite yet a trenchcoat, for about $150. Yes, it is expensive (I think), but I am thinking that some times, we have to spend the money - because we cannot take it with us, if you know what I mean.

The Gap store is on Bloor Street, east of OISE, about 1 km or so. Given the nature of city traffic, many people walk around downtown. I know I do, it gives me my cardio workout; and it is not the slow saunter that people living in tropical singapore are used to, due to the effort to try not to perspire. Here, people do fast walks, in a bid to warm up as much as possible; and even so, I often get overtaken by people. On the walk back with my new car jacket and feeling warm except for my neck and face, I caught sight of this and just had to take a picture:

This is Bloor Street, looking west to the sunset. In the distance along the road is a church, which was in the picture in the previous post, but at a closer distance. The tall building on the left side of the road is just opposite OISE.

It is in moments like these that remind us, that we are not imprisoned.

ReNe: a later fall

Just a quick comment to Mike's last post about the falling temperatures.

It's getting colder in St Louis as well, and the weather's really excellent right now. It's like air-conditioning, but more bracing. Right now, the temperature outside is 17 degrees Celcius.

While in the summer, it would be cloudless and extremely, extremely sunny most days, these days, the morning starts off a little cloudy and gray (it's rather nice in a soothing sort of way), and gradually gets sunnier as the day progresses.

Interestingly, locals have commented that the kind of temperatures we're getting this October should have arrived in September; the summer this year was unusually long. Moreover, when Fall did come, it came rather quickly too. One guy was saying that's why the leaves don't have time to change color through the reds and yellows and eventually fall; a lot of the leaves are just turning brown quickly and dropping. That's quite a pity.

News are also forecasting for a slightly colder than average winter this year. That... would also be interesting.

MiKE: sorry for previous false alarms...

...regarding the weather that is.

Seems like the previous pronouncements of coldness were, as the title says, false alarms. Short term cold snaps, that were most likely induced by temporary fluctuations like Hurricane Humberto (i think), and short term weather changes.

This one is for real now - the sun has begun to set progressively earlier, from about 7:45 - 8:00 when I arrived in late august, to about 6:45 - 7:15 this week. And the clouds have become the main feature of the sky, looking generally grey, and making the sun seem to have set earlier than it really has. Trees have also started to turn yellow and red, and there are lots of leaves of the ground.

And the forecast has been, consistently for about a week now. a maximum temperature of not more than 20C, and a minimum temperature of around 10C. People have started to wear at least 2 layers, it is not unusual to see people wearing scarves, there are fewer cyclists outside, and those that do, do wear long tights, the heating has been turned on in OISE, and even in my room (they turned on the radiator in the kitchenette, but NOT the main living room?!), and i hear fewer sounds of thundering Ducatis and Harleys outside my window.

The ABC news webcast did say however, that this year's cold season is long in coming; they even featured a particular beach, where, in September, most would be in triple layer. This month, they could still spot people out in bikinis. And what about the Boston Marathon that had to be canceled half way because of the heat and the organizers' inability to provide sufficient water for the runners? Serene says that she read somewhere a forecast that this winter is likely to be much colder than other years though. Wonder how that will play out.

Myself, I still find the indoor temperature rather comfortable. Either my thermometer is stuck, or somehow, the apartment manages to maintain a steady 20-23C despite the outdoor temperature being close to 15C or less. Once in a while though, I really like to open the windows full wide, to take in the considerably fresher, crisper outside air, and get used to the cold. When that happens, my thermometer drops to about 15C, and I can take it for about 20 minutes before I need to close the window.

Wanna know something possibly disgusting? I have not cleared my trash in about 2-3 days. No, it is not so bad! You see, what happens is that there is no trash chute in the building, not even a floor level communal one. To throw trash, one has to bag it, and bring it outside the building, braving the cold. Try to imagine doing that when you are indoors, warm, and comfortable, in your shorts and t-shirt. I mean, I have done it before, it is not that bad - It's not as if there is any risk of hypothermia, but the thought of putting on clothes just to throw trash is quite off-putting. So, I have been timing my trash disposal with my trips out of the apartment, and in the first place, my trash generation is not that rapid - Even if I cook for every meal (and I do, btw), I hardly generate more than 1 plastic bag per 1-2 days. And I meticulously tie up my bags, so they do not stink. At all. Really. What I'd be interested though, is how I am going to clear trash in -10C winters...

Ah well. At least one thing can be said though - summer is offically over.

MiKE: erm, hurricane Humberto?

the last weekend was cold. unusually so, speaking of nights which went down to as low as 2C, and days not higher than 16C.

Today, and for the rest of the week, the forecast is back to less cold temperatures, about 13-30C range.

And i recently read and watched news reports concerning the arrival and destructiveness of Humberto. It struck the US Gulf region, but, seeing how close that area is to Toronto, I can't help but wonder if it could be the cause of the recent cold snap. Ideas, anyone?

ReNe: cold weather gear haul

Today, I thought to go down to the thrift shops to look for some warm clothing (I'm confused -- is it warm clothing or cold weather gear?) as the temperatures have been dropping sharply recently.

From past experience, I knew that the stuff at the thrift shops are pretty good (mostly) and definitely cheap, so I didn't think too hard -- whatever I liked, I threw into the basket. Then I tried all the stuff in the basket and discarded those that didn't feel comfortable or didn't fit well. Everything else... well, you can see the haul below.


Cost of everything above? $73.

Item count: 1 waterproof anorak ($8), 4 sweaters ($1.50 each), 7 long-sleeved tops ($2-3 each), 7 thinner long-sleeved tops ($3 each), 1 pair of black jeans ($3), 2 pairs of boots ($12, $6), and 2 items for Mike ($3 each, bottom left hand of picture). The reason why the sweaters were so cheap as compared to the long-sleeved tops was because I got the sweaters from St Vincent de Paul and the long-sleeved tops mostly from Goodwill, and SVdP is a cheaper thrift shop than Goodwill (sounds funny, ain't it?).

It was all incredibly cheap and the only reason I didn't get any more was because the stores were closing. I arrived at SVdP at 4:20 and it closes at 5; then I walked across the street to Goodwill, which closes at 6. But it was a good thing -- I barely managed to struggle back with this haul as it is.

Another incredible thing is the condition of the clothes -- some of the tops were practically brand new (tag from original store still attached; I suspect these are overstocked items donated by the original stores), and the sweaters, well, they were washed and worn to a comfortable softness. True, the boots were a little worn, but then, I think the leather will last. One of the boots, btw, is Nine West. Most of the brands I don't recognize, though I have bought brands such as DKNY and Ralph Lauren from thrift shops at a couple of dollars before.

Right now, I'm still basking in a post-shopping satisfied gloat. =D

I really regret buying a pair of sleep pants and long-sleeved top from Target on Sat, where 2 items cost me about $29! So I think I'll return those 2 items...

MiKE: I need a mobile blanket

Just spent the last hour or so in asleep, but before that in bed as I was feeling cold indoors (seems like the landlord is not about to turn on the centralized heating till October, while outside temperatures are in their teens now). I was initially reading, felt cold, had cold feet, hid under the blanket to warm up, felt comfortable and fell asleep. At least I managed to finish reading the paper I was supposed to discuss tomorrow. In that one hour, I got very warm and comfortable, then got up to go to the toilet, and had my feet shocked by the cold bathroom tiles. The wooden floor in the main living area was not so bad, but the tiles!

Now I get why people have carpeted floors, wear slippers/shoes indoors, and wear thick heavy clothes outdoors.

Mobile blankets. So one does not have to be constrained to one position indoors...

How smart.