"you like saying gore-tex..." Recently started looking at high-performance outdoor clothing. Mostly spurred by how damn cold I was getting at the top of the ski-lift in Tahoe. I had been looking at Burton jackets for the past couple years, but decided to go for a mid-layer fleece with a lightweight shell on top of that. I had a co-worker in Boston who wore a thin fleece jacket, yet never complained about the windchill. Turns out that his jacket featured gore-tex windstopper membrane, which blocks the wind. Not like my fake gore-tex jacket from Taiwan that soaks up water like a sponge. Gore-Tex products are fairly expensive, due to the fact that they've captured the mindshare for breathable, waterproof outerwear. They advertise themselves as "the best in the world" and the competing laminates are not well known. Plus the product was featured in Seinfeld.

After some research, I got a Mountain Hardwear Windstopper Tech Jacket off Ebay for ~$100. Supposedly the best fleece in the world. I could definitely use it in the City. Hopefully these things will last for a long time to justify the price point. Mountain Hardwear makes solid products with cool designs, and they aren't as mainstream as The North Face. I tend to skew towards the lesser known, well-designed brands anyways. Went to an outdoor store in Redwood City to test the fit, then found one on Ebay. I'm liking the Aiguille hard shell (extremely light) as well as the Alchemy soft-shell. Also looked at base-layer clothing, the 100% Merino Icebreaker shirts were very nice. I don't know about paying $35-70 for a base-layer though, I need a heavy discount. I need to get a cashier/store/bum job at REI, buy what I need with the employee discount, then quit.

It's 4am and I should be getting back to sleep but 24 episode 3 is almost finished downloading! Decisions...

EDIT: did the smart thing and went to sleep. Sneaking a peek at work tho, Jack Bauer uses a treo! woot-woot  ¶ 3:52 AM