katallison | (no subject)

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Ah, weekends, how I love you. I footled away the entire morning wandering around on-line, seeking diversion, and idly searching for a good cheap-or-freeware word processor for the iBook. Because, see, I keep fantasizing that someday I will get Mac WP software I really like, and then, instead of sitting around the house all day frivolling on LJ and eating chips, I'll take the iBook somewhere and actually get some focused purposeful *writing* done. Except that I find I'm really finicky about WP programs; I don't need lots of bells and whistles, but I do need something that allows for text resizing (which leaves out TextEdit); and I can't deal with programs that present one's work in the format that you get with Word if you go for Print View (e.g., a display that emulates pieces of paper on the screen, with a big honkin' gap at every page break), which rules out AppleWorks (as I discovered only *after* I ponied up to buy the package, grr). Nisus and Mariner are both on the pricey side; Mellel *might* be feasible but they don't provide a free trial download (which is something I require after the AppleWorks fiasco).

But in any event, today I'm just as happy slobbing around the house. The grocery store had a special on sirloin tip, so now I've got a big pot of beef bourguignon simmering away on the stove and smelling heavenly, and the bonus with beef bourguignon is that it leaves one with a half-bottle or so of red wine to slowly work through while the stew cooks. Every so often I click on the Weather Channel and stare, appalled, at the storms pummelling the Eastern seaboard--good god, those of you living out there, if you must leave the house, be careful. (As I posted in

cesperanza's LJ yesterday, I feel a bit guilty about the fact that the east coast has been getting all of *our* winter weather the past couple of years; it's just mild and chilly and foggy here, with almost no snow on the ground.)

My only big challenge for the weekend, apart from trying to get some writing done, is to try to resolve my winter-coat dilemma, the incredibly boring details of which I'll stash on cutaway.

So, I've been needing a new winter coat. My requirements were simple but firm: down; *long* (as in, below knee length); not unspeakably ugly; preferably black. With these in mind, I squared my shoulders, took a deep breath, plunged into Retail Hell, and after visiting eight or nine stores established that there were no coats anywhere in the Twin Cities metropolitan area that met these criteria. Lots of parkas, but nothing long (which baffles me--I mean, do the buyers never have to stand out on a windy January dawn and wait for a bus? Do they not have *legs*?)

So I started hunting around on-line, and in the fullness of time I found a coat at L.L. Bean that pretty much met all my demands. Though it was a bit pricey, I took a deep breath and placed the order, and last Wednesday it arrived, and I took it out of its box and tried it on. Only to discover that ... OK, see, I'd ended up ordering a Large, because even though in any well-ordered universe a Medium should fit me, I find that manufacturers often skimp on roominess through the shoulders, and I hate tight-fitting things. But what I found is that, in the World of L.L. Bean, a Large is by-god *huge.*

So I got on the phone to Customer Service to see about an exchange, only to discover that in the blip of time since I'd placed my original order they had sold out their entire allocation of this coat--all colors, all sizes, no more this year, sorry.

So now I have to decide--do I keep the coat I have, or do I go through the hassle of returning it, and of ordering a comparable model from Eddie Bauer (not quite as attractive, and $30 more, and they're backordered until Jan. 9)?

Seeking help in this quandry, I modelled the L. L. Bean Coat of Vastness for P., who eyed it for a minute and said, "Well, you kind of look like you've wrapped yourself up in a black down comforter." And--true, that; I have a feeling that sallying forth with this thing on, I'd look rather like some enormous black puffy pyramid, perambulating in a stately manner down the sidewalk.

But--it's really, really, *really* warm; it has a nice interior pocket I could slip my camera into, and a zip-on hood with a fake-fur ruff, and it comes almost to my ankles; and most persuasively, it's *here* and keeping it would spare me the teeth-grinding hassle of repacking, reshipping, re-ordering, etc. etc.

So I can't decide. At this point I was going to take a photo of me in the coat, and post it here, and ask for votes. However, this involved: (1) digging out the Olympus; (2) discovering its memory card is damaged in some unfixable way (damnation!); (3) digging out the Canon; (4) rereading the section on how to use the self-timer; (5) turning the house upside down until I found the little widget that secures the camera to the tripod; (6) taking the picture; (7) turning the house upside down to find the Canon-to-computer USB cable; (8) discovering I have 145 photos on the Canon not yet downloaded, including all the shots of nancy's wedding reception, and some stuff from ZCon; (9) downloading photo of self in coat; (10) going "ohmygod why is my face all magenta and lumpy-looking?"; (11) examining face in mirror with alarm, and deciding it's not *actually* lumpy and magenta; (12) vainly trying to correct color casts in Photoshop; (13) studying photo of coat, and deciding it really doesn't look nearly as huge in the picture as it originally seemed to me.

So, um. I'll probably just keep it, because I am incredibly lazy and can't face up to trying to repack it into its box, and haul it to the post office, especially not in the holiday postal-rush season. (And I realize, reading back, that this is the most boring entry in the entire human history of tedium, and I can hear the thundering keyboard-clicks of people rushing to defriend me. *g*)

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(And I realize, reading back, that this is the most boring entry in the entire human history of tedium, and I can hear the thundering keyboard-clicks of people rushing to defriend me. *g*)

Actually, if I hadn't friended you already, it'd be the post which would make me friend you, 'cause it shows that you're human.

Oh, lord, so very very human am I, if by "human" we mean disorganized and unproductive and irresolute and querulous and given to endless dithering about completely trivial things. *g* I'm very glad you don't find it too off-putting!

Um, yeah, that's pretty much what most of us mean by human.

Sidelight: I don't know you; I'll probably never know you, as I don't even write fanfic; I'm occasionally a little unnerved by the adoration of the people who DO know you; so take this with a grain of salt. But what we mean by "good writer" is someone who warns us scrupulously about the quotidian nature of a given text she has written, but still evokes such justified faith in her style that we flip immediately to said quotidian text and enjoy it immensely. Not many of us can make the quest for the coat so interesting to total strangers by style alone. Be glad. Enjoy it. And good luck finding the right coat, which I agree is forty times more complicated than it ought to be but which in the end rewards persnicketiness and persistence.

--Catherine the lurker

I feel a bit guilty about the fact that the east coast has been getting all of *our* winter weather the past couple of years; it's just mild and chilly and foggy here, with almost no snow on the ground.

You can have it back. Really. *g*

Well, heck, I figure this is a chance to share the wealth, as it were, and give all you effete Easterners a chance to ... build character, that's it! Good, wholesome, vigorous, ruddy-cheeked, frozen-fingered, pants-caked-with-snow, pushing-cars-out-of-drifts character! It's not *fair* we Midwesterners should hog it all! We're generous folks, really!

Get on a tee shirt, a regular shirt and your bulkiest sweater, and then try on the coat over them. If it feels good, keep it. What it looks like over one layer isn't as important as how it feels when you have to layer like mad against sub-sub-zero wind chills.

I finally found a perfect coat a couple of winters ago. Long, black, heavy, very warm. And then I promptly lost 125 lbs, and now I look like I've wrapped myself in a down comforter. But I still love this puppy and either I'll finally loose too much weight to keep it, or it'll fall off my body in rags.

My motto: Better too big than too small.

I gave it another try, and realized that the real problem is trying to get into my car, wedged in behind the steering wheel, with this thing on. *sigh* I think it's going to have to go back, drat it.

But I'm very glad you've got a coat you love--that's a big part of the Winter Sanity-Maintenance System.

LL Bean is incredibly generous about its returns policy. I don't believe they have a time limit or put a limitation on how worn the returned item is. Depending on how much your conscience allows, you might well be able to return it next year when they have the proper size in stock again....

Personally, though, I'd vote on being warm as possible....

Heh. The thought had crossed my mind, but ... nah, it wouldn't feel right. *g* I think I can achieve equal warmness with the Eddie Bauer alternate, so I've gone ahead and ordered, and now must face re-packing.

I'd say return it--buy a coat that fits you. The investment in a winter coat is such that you'll want to keep it for a while, and you might want something that makes you feel a bit more suave than the walking pyramid. I know it's a hassle but I say do it--it's engaging in such hassles that keeps us young, and you are not so old as to already be engaging in workaround thinking! Get a coat that fits properly!

Sorry to piggyback on you, Speranza, but I had to say hear, hear!

Send the big coat back and get one you'll love forever (or for several years, at least). No matter what you're wearing under the coat you'll love forever (CYLF), you'll feel terrific every day, all winter.

:::gives Kat a gentle nudge towards the post office:::

Yeah, I think upon mature consideration that you two are in the right. I kept my last long down coat for over fifteen years, after all, and that'd be a long time to be wearing something that didn't fit right.

I suddenly realize that if my next coat lasts me as long, I'll still be wearing it when I'm closing in on 70. Excuse me while I have a nervous breakdown now...

I suddenly realize that if my next coat lasts me as long, I'll still be wearing it when I'm closing in on 70. Excuse me while I have a nervous breakdown now...

Yeah. But you'll be closing in on 70 with a lovely winter coat that fits you. *G*

:::petting you::::

Have you tried BBEdit? They have a lite version that's free. You can resize text to the font you want, and the screen is not like AppleWorks.

http://www.barebones.com/index.shtml

I'd keep the coat because I'm a sucker for overly large jackets.

And replying to myself because I noticed that they discontinued BBEdit Lite, but you can still get it here:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/604

Wow, they discontinued BBEdit Lite? *protectively clutches her copy*

I was going to recommend the same thing. I use it for just about everything that Word isn't appropriate for.

Yay yay yay! I'd thought about BBEdit Lite, but hadn't been able to find it anywhere. Thanks so much, Barkley--you rule!!

Well, if it really doesn't fit, I vote for returning it. But then, I have to put my backpack on over my coat, and that's actually really difficult if the coat doesn't fit right.

By the way, have you seen this?:
http://www.landsend.com/cd/fp/prod/0,,1_2_1930_2330_87239_65686_5:view=59,00.html?sid=8783065760287189160

The Land's End one was actually second runner-up; my concern was that in the photograph, it somehow looks a bit skimpily cut, but that may just be the way the model's posed. I actually went to the Land's End outlet store here in town, but they didn't have it in stock, drat it. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

Have you tried Tex-Edit Plus? It does everything I can imagine wanting in a basic, styled text editor. Shareware is $15 but you can download the full version and use it for as long as you want. I've been using it for years.

Ooh, somehow I hadn't come across this one. Thanks so much, Cody! I'll download it and give it a try.

I'm sending you back your snow, because we obviously got what was ordered for your area as well as our own. Look for the box in the mail next week.

As far as your coat woes, I sympathize. I was bound and determined to get myself a "grown-up" coat this year until I realized they were all either wool (itchy) or leather (brrrr) and I need to be WARM, dammit. All the in-between dressy-ish parka-type coats zip down too far for me -- I hate bending way over and fumbling for the zipper. So I settled for a black ski-parka with a hood and fuzzy lining.

But I still want a grown-up coat...

Oh, I know what you mean. I lucked into a really lovely long black wool (but fully lined and non-itchy) coat a couple of years ago; I call it my Scully coat, because it really looks like something she'd wear maybe circa season 3. Unfortunately, it's only good down to 20 degrees or so. But I feel incredibly grown-up and suave in it. *g*

This story makes me think of the Roches' song "My Winter Coat." Have you heard it? It's on the album "Can We Go Home Now," and it features lyrics like this:

The fit is generous and loose
the coat is filled with down of goose
should I feel guilty about that?
I wouldn't wear the fur of a cat

The coat is black so in New York City
it doesn't look dirty it stays pretty
the cuffs are purple which perfectly suits
a pair I already had of boots

And it goes on from there--there are quite a few verses, and they're great. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of this or any other coat as Magge Roche got out of hers!

This is so cool! I've heard and enjoyed some of the Roches' stuff, but hadn't come across this one, and it makes me grin happily. Thanks, shell!

Some of my best friends are magenta.

Black and magenta look good together.

I am hungry. May I eat of the beef? I think there's some college football on TV.

You can get a refund from LL Bean if you send it back. They are very fast and efficient with the refunds, 'cause they want you to come back. You'll be out the cost of postage (you could try and talk them into paying for postage), but on the plus side, you didn't have to deal with parking lot insanity. For a little extra $$ you could send it from a Mail Boxes Plus and avoid the P.O.

We need a link to the LL Bean catalog photo of the coat. We do not presently have sufficient information to help with your decision.

You could post a photo of you modeling the coat. You have Photoshop, right? Just put a blue dot over your face. That's what I'd do. I'm not magenta, but I am rubber-band color, and that's never pretty.

Tailoring a down coat seems like a mission of the impossible kind...but what do I know? Take it to an alterations place. Maybe there's a simple fix that would make it hang better. Now, I wouldn't do this because I'd be unwilling to spend more money. But it's an option.

Finally: think about it. If you return your coat, they are gonna have one large coat available for sale. What if, at this very same instant, someone who guessed wrong and ordered a medium is sending her coat back? It could be a moment of beautiful synchronicity.

Jeebus. Look at me. What a terrible thing it is to waste one's mind, or mind one's waist. Clearly I need help.

::giggling helplessly:: You're so cute.

The coat currently in hand is this one, except in black. This is the one I've decided to order instead, so I must gird my loins and ho for the repacking! (Your suggestion of Mail Boxes Plus is an excellent one, btw.)

And I wish you could've been here to eat of the beef--it was excellent. My cuisine reigns supreme!

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I vote return!

Re: I vote return!

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