In Canada, we have this huge fashion discount retail chain called Winners. It's a terrible name for a place where you can find some really nice stuff.

There are actually a great deal of terrible things about Winners. There are the extremely tight racks and racks of clothing that you have to wade through, while trying to navigate around the other people frantically looking through the same racks. There is always terribly long lineups in the changerooms and they treat you like a criminal when you go in. They count the items, give you a big, ugly tag, take the items that you are 'over' (limit of 6 - which is not nearly enough there - I usually go in with twice that) and monitor you closely when you exchange your rejects for the 'over' items.

The service is terrible, too. Nobody helps. If you ask, you often get a snide remark or the bare minimum.

Yet, I keep going back there. Over and over again. Why?

The clothes are amazing. Not all of them. There are some truly hideous pieces - actually, the majority of the pieces are hideous. But among them, you will find a gorgeous Tahari jacket or a truly unique dress. I find a treasure every hunt through Winners. And then I leave without feeling robbed. The prices are fantastic, especially for a clothes horse like myself. I truly make off like a pirate.

It's like a really great blog. Maybe I don't get terrific gems of wisdom everyday when I read gapingvoid or Creating Passionate Users or micropersuasion or naked conversations or JoHo (etc.), but damn, when I do, I get entirely inspired. They could talk about their cats for weeks, but give me one quote every now and then that will ignite my imagination and I'm aggregating them for life.

As a blog reader goes, I'm a treasure hunter. My RSS feeder is filled with successful excavations waiting to uncover more gemstones. If I've added a feed where I've found a treasure and I don't uncover anything else after a couple of weeks, I remove it from my list. Nothing personal, I just don't want to keep digging there when there is so much information to uncover.