Hit the Ski & Snowboard show earlier this month. There were definitely some good deals for those looking to buy their own equipment. I didn't buy anything major - I just received a brand new board for my birthday (thanks KT!), and purchased matching bindings last month. So having the hardware boxes checked off, I really only went to check out the clothing. I bought an Icebreaker 150 g/sq m pure merino wool base-layer top for $65.
This year, I'm going to try a 100% natural fibre baselayer. Merino wool, to be specific. 3 reasons, really.
1) sustainability - I'm going green.
2) the main reason - warm, even when wet. I've never been completely satisfied with the synthetic baselayers for cold weather. They do a great job cooling me off in the summer, but they've continually failed to keep me warm (when wet) in the cold weather. Wool is a natural fibre that is supposed to be able to keep me warm, even when wet. We'll see how that compares during this upcoming ski season.
3) no stink. Synthetics have this magical smell after sweating in them. I test-wore my new merino base-layer for 3 days (2 x 16 hr days light activity + 1 x 8 hr day moderate activity), and there was no similar stink.
Unfortunately, most wool products are mixed with acrylic (like yarn) for lower costs. Anyway, because the acrylic fibres are stronger than the wool fibres, friction and wear will cause shearing of the wool fibres, leading to pilling. It's actually pretty hard to find quality wool products. Most of the stuff out there has acrylic in it.
Anyway, if you're interested in merino wool base-layers, the best value will probably be at MEC. However, MEC doesn't carry a base-layer as light as the Icebreaker 150. If you're looking for the thinnest possible (because you overheat quickly and sweat lots), I'd recommend trying the Icebreaker 150.
-d
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
New personal bests
Aced my annual physical fitness test last night.
4-mile (6.4km) run: 28:52 (personal best)
5km split: 21:55(personal best)
Chin-ups: 12 (personal best)
Push-ups / 2 min: 50 (personal best)
Sit-ups / 2 min: 45 (previous best - 55)
Funny that at my ripe old age, I've never been fitter in my life. Is it all downhill from here?
-d
4-mile (6.4km) run: 28:52 (personal best)
5km split: 21:55(personal best)
Chin-ups: 12 (personal best)
Push-ups / 2 min: 50 (personal best)
Sit-ups / 2 min: 45 (previous best - 55)
Funny that at my ripe old age, I've never been fitter in my life. Is it all downhill from here?
-d
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Definition of suck.
If you wiki "suck" you'll see a youtube video of last night's Leafs game. Not really, actually.
I got tickets from a co-worker who couldn't make it, so KT & I hit the ACC for her first live Leafs game ever.
Now, I don't know much about hockey, but I do know suck when I see it... and hear it. Half way into the second period, the stands were about 25% empty and a big chunk of the 300's started cheering "Lets go Blue Jays, Lets go - ! - !" and as if that weren't bad enough, cheers (jeers?) for TFC, the Raptors, and the Argos followed throughout the rest of the night. In fact, the last minute of the game was one continuous resonating "boo."
The loudest cheers were reserved for Darcy during the first period, after a short video of his 'greatest hits' played on the big screens. The camera focused in on him, and the crowd exploded in the longest round of applause of the night, while he meekly waved from the bench.
You know your team is in sad standing with the fans when the loudest cheers of the night were reserved for a player on the other team.
-d
I got tickets from a co-worker who couldn't make it, so KT & I hit the ACC for her first live Leafs game ever.
Now, I don't know much about hockey, but I do know suck when I see it... and hear it. Half way into the second period, the stands were about 25% empty and a big chunk of the 300's started cheering "Lets go Blue Jays, Lets go - ! - !" and as if that weren't bad enough, cheers (jeers?) for TFC, the Raptors, and the Argos followed throughout the rest of the night. In fact, the last minute of the game was one continuous resonating "boo."
The loudest cheers were reserved for Darcy during the first period, after a short video of his 'greatest hits' played on the big screens. The camera focused in on him, and the crowd exploded in the longest round of applause of the night, while he meekly waved from the bench.
You know your team is in sad standing with the fans when the loudest cheers of the night were reserved for a player on the other team.
-d
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Surprisingly unoriginal
In the process of developing my new inventory of seasonings, spices and sauces, I thought long and hard about how to organize the various spices I would invariably pick up over the next few months.
I've seen all kinds of spice racks and containers, and there's a lot of very similar stuff out there. So, I decided that to be original, I would buy a set of test tubes and a test tube rack to serve as my original home-made spice rack. How cool would that be? Spices are part of that myseriously alchemical world of flavouring, and the parallel with the world of chemistry, I thought, would be clever.
I got to Science City in underground Yorkville, near Holt Renfrew, and asked about test tubes.
The Manager's reply, "Is this for chemistry, or for a spice rack?"
And my delusion of cleverness and originality falls away.
"Do a lot of people come in here for test tubes to make spice racks?" I ask a little while later.
"We've been selling test tubes here for 30 years, and that's all everyone ever buys them for."
Great.
Back to the drawing board.
I've seen all kinds of spice racks and containers, and there's a lot of very similar stuff out there. So, I decided that to be original, I would buy a set of test tubes and a test tube rack to serve as my original home-made spice rack. How cool would that be? Spices are part of that myseriously alchemical world of flavouring, and the parallel with the world of chemistry, I thought, would be clever.
I got to Science City in underground Yorkville, near Holt Renfrew, and asked about test tubes.
The Manager's reply, "Is this for chemistry, or for a spice rack?"
And my delusion of cleverness and originality falls away.
"Do a lot of people come in here for test tubes to make spice racks?" I ask a little while later.
"We've been selling test tubes here for 30 years, and that's all everyone ever buys them for."
Great.
Back to the drawing board.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Happy Birthday KT
Cooked 'white chopped chicken' yesterday - aka ginger chicken. It turned out quite well. In fact I would go as far as to say that I made it better than my mom makes it.
I bought the chicken at St. Lawrence Market, on the assumption that it would be fresher and tastier. Fresher, yes - there was no chicken stink that you sometimes get from grocery store chicken. Tastier, I don't know. More like, I can't tell.
Anyway, KT came over before dinner was ready, so to keep her occupied, I had pre-arranged a scavenger hunt for her birthday gift. I hid a succession of clues around the apartment, one by one leading her to the hidden gift:
Well, it wasn't exactly that bag - the colour I chose was a new release that isn't on the website. I got the one that's a darker brown with a tinge of blue-grey. It's definitely distinct from the others.
Speaking with the Roots sales-guy, I learned that Roots ran a whole ton of limited edition versions of their bags in as many premium Italian leathers that they could ge their hands on, for the duration of TIFF. They're almost sold out of all the special stuff, but they have some dregs left. Also learned that they do free repairs on all of their leather goods. That's handy to know.
I also noticed that they have the new Roots leather footwear on display too. While the shoes are nothing special, they've brought back that iconic Roots Boot that everyone wore back in middle school. They look way too dorky. There's an 80's or 90's fashion crime aura around it that overcomes the little bit of nostalgia you might feel when you look at them.
Roots also has mid-calf length boots. They look like wellies made of soft leather. They look great stuffed with paper, but I'm not sure how well they'd stand up with a real leg in there.
Back on topic. I took KT to Ovo after dinner, where I lost my Cirque virginity. It was a pretty good show (not that I have any point of reference). I'm especially impressed by the freaky facial expressions some of those clowns/acrobats can adopt. Nightmarish stuff.
-d
I bought the chicken at St. Lawrence Market, on the assumption that it would be fresher and tastier. Fresher, yes - there was no chicken stink that you sometimes get from grocery store chicken. Tastier, I don't know. More like, I can't tell.
Anyway, KT came over before dinner was ready, so to keep her occupied, I had pre-arranged a scavenger hunt for her birthday gift. I hid a succession of clues around the apartment, one by one leading her to the hidden gift:
Well, it wasn't exactly that bag - the colour I chose was a new release that isn't on the website. I got the one that's a darker brown with a tinge of blue-grey. It's definitely distinct from the others.
Speaking with the Roots sales-guy, I learned that Roots ran a whole ton of limited edition versions of their bags in as many premium Italian leathers that they could ge their hands on, for the duration of TIFF. They're almost sold out of all the special stuff, but they have some dregs left. Also learned that they do free repairs on all of their leather goods. That's handy to know.
I also noticed that they have the new Roots leather footwear on display too. While the shoes are nothing special, they've brought back that iconic Roots Boot that everyone wore back in middle school. They look way too dorky. There's an 80's or 90's fashion crime aura around it that overcomes the little bit of nostalgia you might feel when you look at them.
Roots also has mid-calf length boots. They look like wellies made of soft leather. They look great stuffed with paper, but I'm not sure how well they'd stand up with a real leg in there.
Back on topic. I took KT to Ovo after dinner, where I lost my Cirque virginity. It was a pretty good show (not that I have any point of reference). I'm especially impressed by the freaky facial expressions some of those clowns/acrobats can adopt. Nightmarish stuff.
-d
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