27 April 2014
Shopping
27/04/14 05:27
Saturday was a big shopping day for us. It all started a few weeks ago. Marsha and I were wandering through the big mall when I realized that I wanted to change my 'look'. Now when I mentioned this to Marsha I thought she was going to faint. It was so unlike me. I've worn the same thing, black jeans, 2-3 button short sleeved sport shirt and sneakers since about junior high. Words like style and fashion just aren't part of my vocabulary, indeed, what I know about fashion could be inscribed on the head of a pin. In fact, in my graduation pictures you can see me wearying the 'suit' my folks got me; new tennis shoes, jeans and a nice white sport shirt. It was what I wanted and I knew that under the cap and gown you couldn't tell what kind of shirt I was wearing with the tie. Through college this was my look, though I changed to black jeans from blue because black took longer to fade and look ratty, then it was practical for my work. Decades later it turned out to be the unofficial uniform of Computer Support/IT people. Because it worked for me, I never felt the need to update my style, but things change. With chemo ending it felt like these were my 'sick clothes' and because I'm not doing IT work any more so there's no reason not to change. It was time for a new look.
First I did some reconnaissance at the big mall in town. I discovered that there were a lot of women's clothing stores in there. I did see a few stores with both men's and women's clothing, somehow though, when the posters on the wall were of people half to a quarter my age I wasn't sure they had me in mind as their target audience. This was reinforced by what they had on display. Somehow I didn't think board shorts and "Anarchy Now" T-Shirts were the look I wanted to go with anyway. I then stopped by The Bay. They had suits and overpriced jackets but nothing that really struck my fancy. Lastly I tried Eddie Bauer. There were some pants that looked good, but were made of a special nylon that would dry really fast. As I haven't had trouble with wet pants in like fifty years, I passed on them. The big thing I learned from my research was that I wanted Marsha along with me to say “Ha Ha, Ha Ha, No” when I picked up something especially outrageous.
So on Saturday we set out early in the morning to hit the stores before they got busy. It’s like the old saying says, “The Early Tern Gets Wormed”, or something like that. Several hours later we returned home with my new look from Target, Mark's Work Warehouse, and Canadian Tire. Mind you, Canadian Tire doesn't sell clothing. It's just that they were having their Grand Opening Sale and we wanted to check it out. They actually opened before Christmas so it seemed a bit late for a Grand Opening. In any event I have my new wardrobe, or at least the start of one. I'll keep wearing the older stuff until it's worn out and ratty. One thing hasn't changed: At heart I'm cheap.
My new style wasn't the only big news this week. There was a 6.6 earthquake at the upper tip of the island. There was no major damage though. Some people in Vancouver said they felt it but we didn't notice anything. That's the difference between having your house on bedrock, like Lantzville, or on soft, wet sediments like parts of Vancouver. The latter acts like Jello and amplifies the jiggling.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-earthquake-6-6-magnitude-quake-hits-near-port-alice-1.2620109
The feel good story of the week comes from Vancouver. This guy was riding on a bus with no shoes. All he had was plastic bags to cover his feet. Out of the blue, the man setting next to him gave him his shoes. When the man asked him if he was sure he just said that it was OK because he lived nearby.
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/04/21/barefoot-man-given-fellow-riders-shoes
And finally, the irony award of the week goes to The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada who has lost an unencrypted portable hard drive containing payroll information including direct deposit data of 800 current and former employees. The drive was lost in February but the information is just coming to light now. Not cool.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/privacy-commissioner-s-office-loses-sensitive-data-1.2622018
First I did some reconnaissance at the big mall in town. I discovered that there were a lot of women's clothing stores in there. I did see a few stores with both men's and women's clothing, somehow though, when the posters on the wall were of people half to a quarter my age I wasn't sure they had me in mind as their target audience. This was reinforced by what they had on display. Somehow I didn't think board shorts and "Anarchy Now" T-Shirts were the look I wanted to go with anyway. I then stopped by The Bay. They had suits and overpriced jackets but nothing that really struck my fancy. Lastly I tried Eddie Bauer. There were some pants that looked good, but were made of a special nylon that would dry really fast. As I haven't had trouble with wet pants in like fifty years, I passed on them. The big thing I learned from my research was that I wanted Marsha along with me to say “Ha Ha, Ha Ha, No” when I picked up something especially outrageous.
So on Saturday we set out early in the morning to hit the stores before they got busy. It’s like the old saying says, “The Early Tern Gets Wormed”, or something like that. Several hours later we returned home with my new look from Target, Mark's Work Warehouse, and Canadian Tire. Mind you, Canadian Tire doesn't sell clothing. It's just that they were having their Grand Opening Sale and we wanted to check it out. They actually opened before Christmas so it seemed a bit late for a Grand Opening. In any event I have my new wardrobe, or at least the start of one. I'll keep wearing the older stuff until it's worn out and ratty. One thing hasn't changed: At heart I'm cheap.
My new style wasn't the only big news this week. There was a 6.6 earthquake at the upper tip of the island. There was no major damage though. Some people in Vancouver said they felt it but we didn't notice anything. That's the difference between having your house on bedrock, like Lantzville, or on soft, wet sediments like parts of Vancouver. The latter acts like Jello and amplifies the jiggling.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-earthquake-6-6-magnitude-quake-hits-near-port-alice-1.2620109
The feel good story of the week comes from Vancouver. This guy was riding on a bus with no shoes. All he had was plastic bags to cover his feet. Out of the blue, the man setting next to him gave him his shoes. When the man asked him if he was sure he just said that it was OK because he lived nearby.
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/04/21/barefoot-man-given-fellow-riders-shoes
And finally, the irony award of the week goes to The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada who has lost an unencrypted portable hard drive containing payroll information including direct deposit data of 800 current and former employees. The drive was lost in February but the information is just coming to light now. Not cool.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/privacy-commissioner-s-office-loses-sensitive-data-1.2622018