"Everyone needs a flash drive for this class. If you're paying more than $1/GB for a flashdrive, you're getting ripped off"

My tech-ed teacher, circa 2012. Crazy how far technology has come in just ten years.

A couple years ago I bought an Alpha Industries N3B Parka. Living in a place where below-freezing temperatures are the norm for the majority of the year, it's one of the best investments I've made. Two years later, the jacket is still chugging along with no visible signs of wear.

"So...how long have you been dating my daughter?"

Mr. Miller's eyes were cold and unblinking as he stared across the table. His tone was harsh and flat, like a person administering a lie detector test.

"Well, uh, we've been friends for years--" Justin stammered "it was a gradual thing that eventually...."

Mr. Miller squinted slightly in irritation, a dull red glow appearing behind his eyes. Justin swallowed hard.

"Three months...officially."

"Hmm." His tone indicated neither belief nor disbelief, but he resumed eating, and Justin followed.

"Do you have powers, Justin?" Mr. Miller said, after several tense minutes of silence.

Justin nearly choked on his drink. His heart started to race.

"Daaaaad" whined Olivia "you can't just ask people if they have powers, some people don't like talking about it"

Images and repressed memories flashed before Justin's eyes. He remembered the beatings he received as a child, from his strict religious parents, when he displayed his powers for the first time-- the screaming, the bible verses he was forced to write over and over, the brief image of a leather belt. Justin could hear the blood rush in his ears as he tried to formulate a response. A hairline fracture appeared in his glass, just large enough for Justin to notice.

Mr. Miller had not moved his gaze, his eyes were like daggers, burning into Justin's soul.

"It's...uh, complicated" Justin said, not wanting to lie, but not wanting to tell the truth.

"No it's not" Mr. Miller responded aggressively, with a hint of amusement "Do you or do you not have powers!"

"DAD!" Oliva snapped

Justin's hands trembled. He really didn't want to talk about his parents on his first meeting, much less tell them about his abilities. He tried to speak but the words didn't come out, it was like an elephant was sitting on his chest.

"Dinner's ready!" Mrs. Miller entered the dining room with a large thanksgiving platter, complete with turkey, a boat of gravy, mashed potatoes, and stuffing made in a bread pan. She made her way to the table, but tripped over Ruffy, the Miller family dog, falling and launching the platter into the air.

"NO!" Justin yelled as he outstretched his hand. The platter, it's contents, and Mrs. Miller all froze in air, floating like the gravity had been turned off.

Mr. Miller raised an eyebrow.

Justin closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and relaxed slightly. He waved one hand slowly and moved the other into a fist, and the platter reconstructed itself, exactly as it had been. With a wave of one hand and an upward motion of the other, he carried the platter to the table, and put Mrs. Miller back on her feet.

"Telekinesis, huh?" Mr. Miller tilted backwards in his chair looking slightly bemused "and exceptionally good control for someone your age. Who taught you?"

"I taught myself. My parents..." Justin sighed, there was no avoiding it now, "My parents think powers are the work of the devil. They're, uh, pretty strict."

"That's a shame" Mr. Miller replied with a hint of sadness "you're very talented". For the first time, his expression changed from cold to sympathetic.

"Thank you, sir"

"Ah!" Mr. Miller waved his hand, his expression softening, "no need to call me sir, Dave is fine. Come by it honestly, I'm glad you came today. My daughter thinks highly of you, and the amount of control you show over your power, especially one so prone to emotional volatility as telekinesis, shows me you have a good head on your shoulders"

Justin smiled. Dave smiled back, before rapidly changing his gaze and firing a laser beam from his eyes across the table at Justin's glass, welding the hairline fracture back together. Justin flinched.

"Your control still needs work though, and if you ever need a mentor" he looked to Mrs Miller, who smiled and gave a small nod of approval "well, you know where to find me"

As a WI native, I second this.

When you finally find a jacket warm enough to survive the winter without dressing in absurd amounts of layers, you quickly realize that "warm enough to survive -20" also means "warm enough that stepping inside a building will give you heat stroke".

My two coats of choice are either: A Jachs shirt jacket that I bought from Costco for temps between 60-40f, that I'll wear with a hoodie underneath for temperatures down to freezing, and an Alpha Industries N3-B that I wear in "fuck around and find out" temperatures.

Crucially, you can also go the other direction as well. I've worn my N3-B in 30 degree temperatures with nothing but a t-shirt underneath and felt not the slightest bit cold.

It irks me when I see advice in threads like this that are like "just thrift clothing and add more layers!". Layers can be good in specific use-cases, but if going outside involves putting of four layers, you're doing something wrong IMO.

As someone who lives in a very cold climate (Wisconsin) it all comes down to how cold you expect it to get, and how long you expect to be spending outside.

If you're looking for the warmest possible jacket for the coldest possible temperatures, I would recommend the Alpha Industries N3-B Parka. This thing is a BEAST. It's gotten me through temperatures as low as -20F, and has the somewhat rare quality of being slim-fit enough that you don't look like Ralphie from A Christmas Story.

Some might balk at the $250 price tag, but having worn it for a year, I can safely say that it's worth every penny.