Cheeky T-Shirts

Nothing is as endearing as a gag on a t-shirt. A good cheeky t-shirt conveys a playful spirit, joie de vivre, and the sense of humour of the garment's wearer. A gag t-shirt also affords an insight into a persons personality and opinions, including but not limited to:

• Their opinion of the size their reproductive organ(s).
• How many alcoholic beverages they feel are appropriate to imbibe before retiring for the evening.
• Off the cuff assessments of the character of members of their party.
• Assessments of the quality and character of an ethnic group they associate with.
• Assessments of the quality and character of an ethnic group they don't associate with.

Clearly this is all very valuable information to learn about random people you pass on the street, which is why shirts like this are wonderful.

MEC Cycling Shoe Covers (Unisex)

You can keep your tootsies warm and dry with these cutie booties!

Being made from poly-vinylene propyl-trichlorate, there are very few chemical compounds that can penetrate this material. High winds and torrential rains are no match for the ablation capabilities of these magnificent winged swords of comfort.

Jakt Shoe Rack

Capable of holding more than its own weight in shoes, Ikea's stackable Jakt shoe rack is a time-tested shoe storage solution. With the ease of stackability, the rack enables a user to store as many shoes as a closet can hold. The available colour options are, on average, pleasing to the eye. The durability of the product is within acceptable standards. All in all, Ikea's Jakt shoe rack will do the job it was designed to do.

Most human beings wear shoes. Unless you've undergone surgery to have both legs removed, or were born without legs, you'll probably own several pairs of shoes, and will need a place to store them. We humans evolved over the course of millions of years to have body parts in certain shapes that make the part in question amenable to its task. One of these body parts is the foot; there is an arch in the foot, capable of storing and dissipating energy, and adding a certain spring to our steps. The foot is narrow at the back, to match the size of our legs, but wider at the front to allow more surface area for out foot falls. The result is that the foot is an odd shape in all three dimensions. The garment designed to protect this body part, the shoe, must therefore also have an odd shape. As such, a large group of shoes is difficult to neatly store. Luckily your Ikea Jakt has a design to resolve these issues. Single layer shelves provide the needed storage space for your foot wear. Stackable, they can accomodate any wardrobe's pedal portion.

Jakts are available in a narrow range of colours which were deemed as "pleasing to the eye" by top Ikea colour engineers back when you could still buy these items. I think that Ikea had a thing going for bright obtrusive colours at the time, so you could get these shoe racks in colours like bright yellow, pink and olive (if I recall correctly). Most people bought the olive ones because the other colours would show dirt too readily. Regardless, there were a wide range of options to fit into whatever space-aged colour scheme you or your interior decorator desired.

Jakts aren't made of honeycomb titanium, but nobody ever accused Ikea of making heirloom quality furniture. In fact, most of their stuff has a fairly limited shelf life, especially on the lower end of their price scale. Jakts are on the lower end of the price scale, but the durability is acceptable. When under a high load, the plastic will buckle a bit, which makes stacking damned near impossible, but it's still worth a whollop.

To summarize, a Jakt shoe rack is a half decent shoe storage implement, and I don't regret living in apartment where two of them reside.

Sorel Carribou Boots

Size 13 is a large shoe. Even a pair of converse that hug the shape of the foot like a fine Italian sports car waltzing through alpine passes is big at size 13.

It's nothing however, when compared to a fully insulated "Canadian Winter Approved" snow boot. ("Canadian Winter Approved snow boot" should be spoken in the voice Emperor Palpatine used to say "Witness the power of this fully armed and operational battle station!")

These big assed boots are warmer than a taun-taun's disemboweled carcass and dryer than a Tatooine August. Just be prepared to spend like a Moff or a Hutt if you want a pair.

Eddie Bauer Legend Wash Broken-in Chino

Determining the right cut, shape and fit of pant is an ongoing and tremendously personal experience. Due to the fact that our bodies vary so much with time, it is difficult to choose a pair of pants that fits well all of the time. Couple this with the fact that most folks do a lot of sitting at a desk, where ones waist elongates both physically and physiologically, and there will be problems finding pants that fit well.

Because of these issues, I've never found a good pair of pants. I essentially try a new brand every year. I've been through the big 3 manufacturers of chinos, and have taken a somewhat random sampling from other vendors, mostly based on the availability and price of the product.

As such, it was inevitable that I would someday try out Eddie Bauer's offering. Cut from a slightly sturdier fabric, I've found that the pants hold up better than most.

MEC Kook Shorts

Relive your childhood memories while wearing these shorts! Meandering, carefree, running your fingers through the barley, you once dreamt as only a child could dream. Long before being acquainted with the stern but fair friend known as "grown-up responsibility," you were free to engage in flights of fancy so far-flung as to be inconceivable to your modern self.

But you can have it all back.

Just run down to your nearest MEC and buy a pair of these shorts, don them, and take the shortest route you know to the nearest park. Frolicking awaits you. The annoying sideways pocket layout will hardly cross your mind, unless you need something from the pockets, in which case, I've found that the zippers are quite annoying too.

Crumpler Limited Edition Courier Bag

When you are carrying an object, remember that there is more than the weight of the object on your shoulders. You are also burdened with the weight of responsibility. Trust yourself to get your objects to their destinations in one piece, using a crumpler courier bag. You can thank me later.

Velcro

It's so awesome that you could shout out, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Well, you probably weren't born yet. If you were, don't fret; things have a way of seeming obvious in hindsight.

Velcro is an early example of biomimicry in clothing. For hundreds of thousands of years, burrs have been attaching themselves to human clothing. There was little practical application of this. Time, as it is wont to do, ground on. Roman centurions were hooked by burs. Druids came under their hooky influence. Maori chiefs weren't immune.

Well, people still aren't immune, but the bitter sting of being burred is more than offset by the simplicity fastening of velcro endowed fabrics.

Hats

UV radiation is damaging to most Earthbound lifeforms. There are various methods of dealing with this radiation.

The problem with hats is that most of them look ridiculous; for those brave enough to wear a hat in public, they're a great way to keep cool and block the sun.