Darling you got to let me know, Should I stay or should I go?

Yesterday, after having survived the entire coldsnap, I took off my jacket, only to have the sleeve Riiiiiiiiiiiiip. I'll tell you what, I nearly broke down in a fit of obscenity right then and there. It's down the seam on the sleeve of the insulated part of the jacket (the shell of the jacket is sorta separate, and you zip the two into each other). I don't know how to fix it (I got a recommendation already, in true Alaskan style: Apply ducttape), but more importantly, should I fix it? Should I even try? After all, I've expressed my dis-satisfaction with the jacket previously, but I was hoping my next clothing purchase would be a nice pair of mittens made of the finest of dead animal (Same person with the duct tape suggestion said it perfectly: `nothing warmer than dead animal`).

I'm entertaining options. I talked to someone who owned those orange Mountain Hardware jackets which, sadly, only come in blasé brown for men, instead of eye-bleeding orange (I like high-vis, so if I ever end up face down in a ditch, rescue can spot me easier). While cold tolerances vary, she said that she had to layer extensively to make the thing work. I don't mind that - that's how I made my now ex-jacket work - it does tend to leave the arms a little nippier than the core. So, that's option A.

Option B - while waiting for my permit at ADF&G last week, I had a bunch of time to talk to the other folk in line. As an aside, I listented to people talk for a half hour before I realized one of the people was, in fact, a female. Courtship at -40 below, where half the strugle is figuring out who is of the correct gender. Anyhow, one of the guys (and I assume he wasn't a bearded lady) had one of those slick Apocalypse Design parkas. Oh, how I coveted. I'm fairly sure it was the Alpine, fitted with a wolverine ruff on the hood. That'd end up costing me a pretty penny, though, for the same get up. But you can't put a price on being warm. The only problem with that, though, is that I might overheat easily, when I'm active (as I'm wont to be.

Option Q - Move to Hawaii. I'm sure they have moose to study.

Option 5 and 7 - Big Ray's has a number of home made or home modded jackets, such as this modded Interchange jacket, modeled by a Matt Damon lookalike. Another guy wore this purely homebrew jacket at the line at ADF&G, but I'm not sure I like the cuffs. I think I glanced at it while I was at Big Ray's, once.

Option e^π - Ducttape. Redgreen would approve, but my arms would go on being cold. Doubly so now that I'm insulated by ducttape alone.