Warzone, a.k.a. Wal-Mart Anniversary Sale

Wal-Mart's anniversary sale started today.  (Check out their online flyer.)  Since they usually have very big sale on consumables, especially diapers (yes I'm obsessed with diapers these days), naturally I have been keeping a very close watch of what they were putting on sale.  (OK, hoarding is probably a more appropriate term.)

Toronto stock market, especially RIM, totally tumbled today.  During the day, Daniel and I kept IM-ing each other to discuss what stock to buy.  In the middle of that discussion, I asked him, "for a more tangible concern, when are we hitting Wal-Mart? ;)"

While I was scouting for (other) deals today, I was reminded about some manufacturer coupons from save.ca for many of the items on sale at Wal-Mart -- hey, I already have them in my purse!  While I was on their site, I requested some more of the coupons I need.  Hopefully this batch will arrive before the sale ends.

Due to others' availability, we somehow had more than an hour to kill before dinner.  We went to the store at Bayview/Major Mackenzie.

(This is on top of Daniel getting totally lost for about 1/2 hour trying to look for a Wal-Mart in a neighbourhood we don't know which we've only visited once, finally ended up at the plaza he thought where it'd be, only to find out he was mistaken.)

Before pulling in, we knew it was going to be war.  Daniel and I were in battle mode right away: we didn't bother to look for a close parking spot and opted for the first available one instead; we grabbed a shopping cart before heading inside.  Once we entered the store, I immediately checked out where they usually have the loss leaders and/or big sale items.

First loot: 2 boxes of mini wheat at $2.50 each.  That was before we even turned a corner.  We also picked up a bottle of vitamin C tablets (50% off), and a pack of Chunks Ahoy (I need snacks at work).

I saw many people's carts loaded with toilet paper and laundry detergent.  That was a welcoming sight -- at least they still had these items in stock 15 minutes ago.

We walked through all the major aisle.  At the laundry section, we picked up the only item we intended to buy without it being on sale -- Ivory Snow baby laundry detergent -- plus a box of Bounce ($4.87, and a $0.50 off coupon).  However, the shelves for Tide, Charmin, and Bounty were all emptied.  Maybe we were too late after all?

There was no time to waste; we had more pressing need -- diapers and wipes.  We headed towards the baby section and grabbed a box of size 3 Pampers Baby Dry ($26.97, and a $3.00 off coupon).  However, I couldn't find the baby wipes which were supposed to be on sale at $7.97!  Alas, I'll try another store next week.

As we have circled the whole store once, I still saw people's carts loaded with the items I wanted but couldn't find.  I was determined to buy them!  So, we decided to go around the store again.

There we found it.  There was an opened door leading to what I assumed to be the gardening and plants section outdoor with heavy traffic.  It turns out the store just put skids after skids of these biggest sale items out there!  It was already dark outside, but we managed to pick up a pack of Charmin ($6.50, and a $0.50 off coupon), a pack of Bounty ($4.50, and a $0.50 off coupon), 4 bottles of Tide ($4.97, and one $1.00 off coupon), and a bottle of Cascade ($6.50, and a $0.50 off coupon).  I was happy.

While I lined up at the cashier, I sent Daniel back to the baby section look for the Pampers wipes again.  Of all items, The wipes are probably the important in the money-saving sense: At $7.97 for 5- or 6- count, it is already a lot cheaper than the regular $15.97 for a 7-count.  On top of that, I have a $1.00 off coupon.  The biggest deal of all: there is a mail-in voucher for a $15 Wal-Mart gift card if I buy a box of Pampers diapers and a box of Pampers wipes -- $15 goes a long way at Wal-Mart.

Total tally: over $40 saved on the sale, plus $7 from coupons
Final bill: $105.27 after tax

I was totally and overly excited about the savings, especially over the coupons.  Even though I'm not an avid coupon-clipper, the decision to keep the coupons in my purse all the time paid off.  Needless to say, Daniel was amazed at how much (more) we saved.  I think I'm a fully qualified "see lai" now. :D

Looking back, the whole experience wasn't as bad as I expected -- partly because it was dinner time on a weekday.  More people were entering the store when we left at around 8:30, presumably the after-dinner crowd.


I'll probably visit another store again next week -- I couldn't find the $3.97 Puff, and I forgot to pick up the $3.48 Tropicana.  That's the disadvantage of not having a physical copy of the flyer!

Weird Sign

I went to the Loblaws at Bayview Village last night to pick up some (more) of the diapers on sale.  One thing I found amusing was their designated parking spots for moms:  the picture shows a woman pushing a stroller/bassinet, but the words stated "Expectant Mothers Only".  Does it mean I have to satisfy both criteria (have a baby and expecting) to be eligible?

Federal Election is Bleh

The Canadian federal election campaigning is well under way, and I am still very much indifferent this time.  Let's examine the candidates:

• Conservatives: I don't like Harper and never liked him.  He hasn't done anything since 2006.  Worse yet, despite passing a law to hold the next election on a fixed date (citing early election calls as a waste of taxpayers' money), he went on and called this election a year early anyway.  The motives of this early election call are clear: the economy is starting to head south and he doesn't want to have an election when the economy is actually in recession; plus, the Liberals are still weak.  That's why they have no real platform and just focus on negative ads so far.
• Liberals: As much as the Grits are the "default" choice, Dion is weak -- and I mean weak.  Again, no real platform, beyond the carbon tax. (I'm not really against it, though I don't think it'll work as advertised, i.e., it won't be budget-neutral.  At least, unlike the Tories, they decided to do something--anything--about the environment.)  They promised a spending spree and balanced budget.  Good luck with that.
• NDP: I'm a firm believer of free market (that's why I shop at Wal-Mart a lot), and I'm strongly against labour unions.  'nuff said.
• Green: Unless there is any drastic change in any of the above, I'll probably vote Green.  It's my way of saying "none of the above, you all equally suck".

Diaper-shopping

It's easy to know the economy is not doing too well when you look at store flyers -- all major retailers are trying to keep people shopping, mostly on consumables/perishables, by having huge sales.  Canadian Tire started its "anniversary sale" last week and has a different flyer, still advertising "anniversary sale", this week.  Sears is having "Sears Days".  Wal-Mart flexed its grocery arm a few weeks ago by lowering their regular prices on milk, bread, butter, and eggs, forcing most grocers to follow; it then kick-started its anniversary campaign with this week with "pre-anniversary sale".  The Loblaws family has been running its "lowest price of the year" promotion for two weeks.

Me?  I've been buying diapers and baby wipes lately.

You see, not all diapers are created equal.  First, you have two major brands, Pampers and Huggies, plus a few store brands.  Each of the brands have two lines of diapers, regular and premium.  The diapers come in 7 sizes, starting from newborn, then sizes 1-6, for babies of different sizes, usually denoted on the package by baby's weight.  There are also some "in-between" sizes, like "1-2" or "2-3".  The packages have different sizes too, "club pack", "mega pack", etc.  Adding to the confusion, a smaller size "mega pack" have more diapers than a larger size "mega pack" (e.g., size 2 vs. size 3), and a regular "mega pack" have more diapers than a premium "mega pack" (e.g. Pampers Baby Dry vs. Pampers Cruisers).  Most of the time though, the price for the same package size is the same across the board.

Last week, I bought 6 "super mega packs" of diapers at Toys'R'Us for $15.97 each.  The size 1 Baby Dry contains 100 diapers, and the size 2 Swaddlers has 72.  (The size 2 Baby Dry are stocked at in-law's right now, and I literally lost count.)  We also bought a pack of Huggies newborn -- newborns are expensive and pretty much never go on sale -- at Wal-Mart for $12.93.

This week, I found diapers on sale at NoFrills: Pampers/Huggies size 1-6 mega pack at $14.99, and Pampers Natural Aloe 5-count box (385 sheets) at $9.99.  We went there last night and thought it wasn't a very good deal after all, so we didn't buy anything.

Then, we went to Wal-Mart, which has advertised Pampers size 3-6 club pack at $26.97 and Huggies mega colossal box at $34.97.  With our tiny condo, we didn't really want to buy size 3 diapers right now, so we skipped it.  However, Pampers and Wal-Mart is running a promotion -- buy a size 3-6 club pack box of diaper and a pack of 5-7 count baby wipes and get a $15 Wal-Mart gift card.  Since the 7-count baby wipes are regularly priced at about $15.97 each, it's almost a free box of baby wipes.

We eventually went to Loblaws: they advertised Pampers/Huggies size 3-6 club pack at $29.77, and Pampers/Huggies club pack baby wipes $11.77.  When I went to the store, I also saw Pampers size 1-6 mega packs at $12.99.  Frame of reference: Baby Dry size 3 club pack has 176 diapers, and the mega pack has 60 diapers.  I bought one box of Pampers Natural Aloe club pack wipes (576 sheets), one box of Huggies Natural Care club pack wipes (539 sheets), and a Pampers size 1 Swaddlers mega pack (66 diapers).

Contaminated Baby Formula

It is a very sad fact that many Chinese businesses have a total disregard for ethics and public safety in exchange for profits.

Last year, it was melamine in pet food.  This year, we have melamine in baby formula.

Some people in Toronto compare the contaminated baby formula with the recent listeriosis outbreak involving processed meat.  However, there is a major difference: listeriosis is caused by a bacteria which naturally occurs in even wild animals (though more common in domesticated farm animals), and the source of the outbreak was a lapse in food-handling safety procedures.  On the other hand, melamine was intentionally added to food products known to be used by babies, who have much weaker immune system than grown adults.

(Side note: vegan parents who insist on vegan diet of soymilk and water for babies should be considered some form of homicide as well.)

While I personally rate humans above pets, I think both incidents are equally glaring -- massive murders in an epic proportion.  (To all pet lovers: I'm not picking a fight, but don't ever try to persuade me into thinking otherwise.)

Perhaps even worse, these two incidents are just the tip of the iceberg.  There are many smaller but equally shocking discoveries which never made it to international news headlines, such as fake eggs, meat buns really made with soaked cardboards, making canned peaches to a different and more expensive colour using industry-strength dye.

In today's age of globalization, I am not entirely sure about where each ingredient a baby formula sold in Canada comes from -- remember, those contaminated pet food was manufactured in Canada.

Another reason to breastfeed.

Pregnancy and (Im)mobility

For some reason, I have been complimented on my mobility and agility at my current stage of pregnancy by multiple people.  I was always astonished and puzzled; after all, I feel quite handicapped already.  Some examples:

• I can't sleep on my stomach.
• I can't lay down on my back for prolonged period of time.
• I can't sit up directly.  Instead, I have to roll to my side and prop myself up with my arms.
• I can't run or jog or walk very briskly.
• I can't walk for too long.
• My balance, which has never been good to begin with, has gotten worse.
• I'm more susceptible to overheating and generally more sensitive about temperature.
• I'm more sensitive to air quality than ever -- and I'm often the first one to fall ill to stuffed air even before pregnancy.
• I get back pain and shoulder pain more easily.
• Leg cramps.
• I can't believe this, but getting easily tired while doing dishes has been the worst I have to withstand.

However, after meeting other pregnant women in my prenatal class, I figured I was really one of the lucky ones.  One lady has trouble walking due to a strained groin.  Another woman, who must have been big to begin with, looks as if she has gained another 50 lbs.  All the while, I go on stretches with ease during break times.  Many are complaining about not getting quality sleep, while I'm often sleeping so sound that I have trouble waking up (some things just don't change, pregnant or not).

Honey Honey

Toronto Star is running a special on local honey today.  I bought honeycombs from Elfsong Apiaries stall at North York Farmer's Market (mentioned in the article as well) last month and it tasted great!  I didn't buy any honey though, as I still have 3 half-full (half-empty?) jars of honey from Washington State sitting on my counter-top.  Thanks to the article though, maybe I should buy some from the Elfsong stall before farmer's market season ends...

無題

很久沒有這種睡不著﹐心情有點憂鬱的晚上。
這大概叫寂寞吧﹖真難熬。

白天都只想瘋狂購物的說…
真搞不懂哪種心情比較消極﹖﹖

Abundance of Food

A visit to Daniel's parents left me with:

• a full 12" cake (from his aunt)
• some biscotti (also from his aunt)
• a butternut squash (fresh from his dad's yard)

That's on top of a few things I bought en route to their place:

• sun-dried tomato pesto (feeling like pasta)
• some blueberries (we ate all the berries over the weekend... I planned to make smoothie with them this week)

Plus things we already bought over (or before) the weekend:

• unsweetened, calcium-fortified soy milk (planning to make warm savory soy milk with it)
• a whole rack of back ribs (1 meal steamed with garlic, 1 meal broiled with jerk rub, and 1 meal undecided)
• 2 bunches of spinach
• tomatoes
• zucchini
• carrots
• tofu
• eggs (OK they last longer than a week, I can probably skip them)
• yogurt (for the aforementioned smoothie)
• calcium-fortified orange juice
• a loaf of bread

We'll see how much food I finish by Friday...

Breastfeeding, Baby-Moon, etc.

I started my prenatal classes this week.  In particular, I had a one-time class on breastfeeding on Tuesday.  The class made breastfeeding look easy, although everyone (in my social circle) seems to say it hurts... I hope the nurse teaching the class was right and everybody else is wrong.

The nurse also instilled the idea of "baby-moon" which I like a lot -- basically, it means just Daniel, baby, and I 24x7 for the first few days of birth.  It helps the three of us to get to know each other and bond.  I discussed with Daniel and I think he accept it as well.  However, we see a potentially huge problem -- grandparents.

Understandably, our parents would want to see their grandson as much as possible.  Besides, they know the first month is pretty hellish, and want to help us out in any way they can, so we (or at least I) won't end up like a zombie after 3 days.  That means it's not easy to set the boundaries for baby-moon.

Over dinner with my parents and grandma tonight, I made my intentions clear: while we appreciate your eagerness to help, Daniel and I will be the only ones caring the baby, and they can handle the cooking, laundry, and other housekeeping.  In reality though, I can soooo see my side of the family, especially grandma, totally getting on my nerves by establish things her way, baby or not.  It'd be a miracle if she doesn't try to reorganize my kitchen and/or throw out or intentionally break some of my things without my consent and/or say the way we feed/bathe/change diapers/comfort the baby is wrong.

(Side note: I'm not being harsh or disrespectful, it's just the way she is.  Case in point: mom's friend dropped off some home-grown organic veggies to my parents' place last week, and grandma just threw those out because "they don't look good" -- and she dismissed the idea the store-bought ones "look good" thanks to heavy use of pesticides.  Another case in point: a few years ago, my 6'2" tall uncle in HK bought a king-size silk-filled douvet from Shanghai for himself -- they aren't cheap -- and grandma just cut about 2' off it because "it's too big."  If that's not aggravation-inducing, I don't know what is.)

Baby Registry

Daniel and I went to Toys'R'Us for the thousandth time to do another round of shopping -- thanks to me spotting this healthcare + grooming set on sale for half price in the flyer (picture on website is probably an older revision, but the contents are the same).  In fact, it was one of the reasons why Daniel had to go to three different places on Thursday (Target, Wal-Mart, and Babies'R'Us) to refund a heathcare kit and a grooming kit he already bought before I spotted the sale.

Once we arrived at Toys'R'Us, we saw Pampers diapers on sale -- it wasn't extraordinarily cheap, but the per-unit price was cheaper than any bulk packs not on sale.  The "limit 3 per family" meant we each bought 3 packs. :P

The second goal of visiting Toys'R'Us was crib mattress shopping -- after testing all the available mattresses, we decided the Posturepedic was undeniably the best, but unfortunately it is the most expensive at $150.  Although it's only USD$100 in the States, it is too big for Daniel to bring back to Canada on a flight.  Even more unfortunate?  It was out of stock.

Daniel and I also went through the store to check out items we are still missing.  He wanted my input because Babies'R'Us in the States are huge stores by themselves and have a much bigger selection -- too many choices is a recipe for indecisiveness.

Another thing I spotted was a $5 off coupon for setting up a baby registry.  Since I don't say no to free money, I spent about 15 minutes around the store scanning items on my "I wish I have them but I don't really need" list. :)  The $5 will probably go towards the mattress purchase.

Please don't buy stuff off our baby registry without notifying us first.  Chances are Daniel will do another round (or three) of baby shopping in the States next week.  According to him (who has turned into sort of a baby shopping expert now), baby items are generally 50% more expensive in Canada, plus, there is a much wider variety of patterns and colours available to choose from.  For almost every piece of baby clothing/blanket/sheets he bought from the States, he would show me and say, "I bought this because I thought it looks cute!"  Understandably, he found the items available here, including those I put on the registry, not as cute as the ones he found in the States.

Another point of caution: although we appreciate your thoughtfulness and thrift, please don't buy us baby clothes.  Apparently my mom told one of my aunts in HK to buy about 1/2 dozen onesies, but the aunt she picked was notorious for buying an order of magnitude more.  My aunt called back and told my mom that when she took the box of baby clothes to FedEx, the courier told her she'd need an export license for the volume she's shipping to Canada.  I have a feeling that my baby will never need to wear the same clothes twice for the first year.

Oh, and if you assume we're looking for organic cotton only, that's not true.  We just want to keep everything 100% cotton (as much as possible), but it doesn't have to be organic.

Wanted: DS (for playing during labour)

Ever since the (original) Nintendo DS was announced, I have always wanted one.  However, I never found enough justification for it -- after all, I have always commute by driving, and it's kinda difficult, not to mention unsafe, to drive and play at the same time.  Also, I own consoles and prefer gaming on a large TV (even if it's just 27" standard definition) than on a tiny 3.5" LCD screen (or two).  On the road?  Well, I find it totally anti-social when you're out karaoke/having a drink with friends and play DS/PSP, unless it was meant to be a (wireless) LAN DS/PSP party.

Having said that, all the time I wasted spent waiting for my regular OB visit has made me really wanted a DS again, for the third time (first: original DS launch, second: DS Lite launch).  In fact, I wanted it so much that on my birthday, Daniel offered me the choice between a DS, Rock Band, and Wii Fit.  I ended up choosing Rock Band so we can play together.  (FYI, Wii Fit was ruled out because there was no stock and we weren't sure if it would be safe for me to play.)

As the end of my pregnancy draws nearer, Daniel and I have been discussing what we should bring to the hospital for labour.  One friend said he brought lots of HK soap opera when his wife was in labour.  Daniel and I thought it was perfect too, except we don't watch HK soap opera, or much TV at all.  We thought about anime instead, but I don't want to watch something that is too involved or plot-heavy, as I'm sure I won't be able to pay full attention and would miss out the details.  Whatever I watch should also be something that can be left off rather easily, because who knows how long labour will take.  I suggested Detective Konan, which is an insanely long-lasting series we both like and can be watched piece-wise, but Daniel didn't think it's appropriate to watch mystery murders being solved.  I lamented most interesting anime are probably inappropriate in one way or another -- fighting, death, dirty jokes, sex, scantly clad women.

A few days later, I read the article Playing Mommy on the Escapist.  My interest on getting a DS has been rekindled yet again.  I forwarded the article to Daniel, which led to the following conversation:

Daniel (saw me wasted spent so much time on Kongregate): You don't need a DS; you just need your laptop and those Flash games!

Cindy: Yeah, but that's only if they have internet connection in the labour room.

Daniel: ...

Cindy: Speaking of which, you only need a couple of the latest (WC3) replays... LOL

Daniel: ROFL

Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates [New Microsoft Commercial]

So, the first Microsoft commercial starring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates is out -- and it is haha-not-funny, unrelated to computers or Microsoft, plus, well, sooooo 90's.  You have to see it to believe it:



If this is what they paid Seinfeld $10m for, then I must say it was not even worth half of that.

Movie-a-thon

This week, with Daniel on the road again, I decided to do something I haven't done in a while -- watch movies.

Specifically, chick flicks.

I don't usually watch chick flicks, but, from time to time, I do appreciate them.  Especially romantic comedies.  However, being a sensible (and sensitive) wife, I don't usually ask Daniel to watch any chick flicks with me.  Thus, I decided to utilize my newfound free time (boredom?) to watch some movies I have acquired recently.

So far, I have watched 27 Dresses, P.S. I Love You, Definitely, Maybe, and The Bank Job -- OK, The Bank Job isn't a chick flick, but Daniel watched it on a recent flight already and recommended it.

I still have The Other Boleyn Girl, The Counterfeiters, Flawless, Stop-Loss, and In Bruges on my "movies to be watched" stash.  Maybe next week.

Sandbanks

Sandbanks
Originally uploaded by sundae1888

Daniel and I finally had our first real beach visit of 2008 on Sunday.

Our beach conversation on Saturday started like this:

Me: Are we going to the beach tomorrow?
Daniel: Yeah.
Me: Which beach?
Daniel: I dunno... Wasaga or Sandbanks? Which one do you prefer?
Me: Sandbanks is kinda too far, no?
Daniel: Well, Wasaga is almost 2 hours away anyway, so it isn't that much of a difference.

Sunday came along. Both of us got changed, I packed a towel, a change of clothes, camera and 3 bottles of water into a backpack and off we went. (Noticeably missing: sun screen, cooler & drink, snacks, beach mat, camping chair, snorkels and fins... although I did pick up an iced capp and 10 timbits downstairs.)

As we pulled out of the garage...

Me: So, Wasaga or Sandbanks?
Daniel: Dunno...
Me: We *kinda* have to decide now because we'd have to go opposite ways on 401...
Daniel: OK Sandbanks it is.

En route to Sandbanks, we passed by a lot of waterfront cottages/houses/farms. I asked Daniel if he wants to live in one of those houses when we retire, and the answer was a reassuring "yes". Then I started wondering how much these beauties would cost, and proclaimed, "if I need any inspiration to early retirement, this is it."

The weather was perfect. The beach was packed. We saw all these people with barbeques and lawn chairs and coolers, and we thought, "damn why didn't I think of that!" Since we only had a small lunch, the barbeques were especially tempting.

Water wasn't cold, although it was too much waves for me to swim (baby belly + lack of exercise + can't use abs + lack of goggles would do that to you). Daniel tried to learn butterfly stroke by himself, albeit unsuccessfully.

The dolphin kicks were probably too tiring for Daniel as he enjoyed a great nap on the beach afterwards. I just lack his general ability to fall asleep anywhere, so I sunbathed.

After we left the beach, we went to learn more about the park's facilities -- scouted through campsite area, looked for canoe rental, checked out the park store, etc. Then, we decided to hiked on a short trail we stumbled upon. It was already late afternoon by then, and that's when the timbits came in handy.

I started to get hungry on our way back home. Daniel suggested we can just eat at Bellville, but for some reason we didn't come across anything other than fast food, so we skipped. Instead, and partly fueled by all the barbeques at the beach, we decided to go to Korean Grill House back in TO.

Unfortunately for my stomach, there was an accident blocking both lanes on the opposite side of 401 and traffic was bad. (To everyone: stop being nosy about accidents on the other side of the road!) That delayed our meal for a good half-hour.

In case you don't know, Korean Grill House has an all-you-can-eat late-night menu for $8.99 with all the essentials -- you know, beef, pork, and chicken. Between the two of us, we finished 8 dishes of meat, 4 bowls of rice (seriously, they shrunk the size of the rice bowl), 8 dishes of various kimchi/appetitizer, and bottomless plum juice. That felt good. :D

Google Chrome

So, Google's latest secret weapon browser, called Chrome, is out in the wild today.  I've been using/testing it the whole afternoon + evening and it was great.

Five things I like about Chrome:

1. JavaScript speed -- it's lightning fast comparing to IE7, Safari, Opera, and Firefox 3, especially for AJAX-heavy webapps.
2. Separate process for each tab -- the geek inside me always want to know which of my 30 tabs is eating up the CPU right now, which further reaffirms my annoyance towards Flash, as it just consumes more than its fair share of CPU.
3. Works for all sites visited -- having tested more than my fair share of browsers over the years, I must say it's amazing that Google Chrome works on all sites I've visited so far.  Even IE7 and Firefox 3 couldn't claim that on beta launch.
4. Home page -- In the past, I always set my home page to about:blank, except for the Speed Dial page Opera offers.  However, the "most visited" of Chrome works even better, as it loads fast and adapts to my browsing habits.
5. Clean UI -- although I have nobody but myself to blame for bloating the Firefox UI (with 40+ extensions installed), the default Chrome UI is cleaner than the default for any major browser.

Five things I don't like about Chrome:

1. Memory usage -- At first, Chrome seems to use less memory, but in reality, the difference is not all that significant, especially when you factor in the overhead of separate processes.
2. Java plug-in not picked up by default -- It detected Flash, Acrobat, Silverlight, QuickTime, iTunes, and even VLC, but it didn't find Java.  Weird.
3. Not all tabs are in separate processes -- Middle-clicking links on Google Reader somehow open the links on new tabs but in the same process as the Google Reader thread.  Weird.
4. Needs better security control -- Incognito mode is all good, but where's the "delete all cookies on exit" option?
5. Lack of extension -- While I don't miss all of my Firefox extensions equally, some I do miss more than others, such as Adblock Plus, ScribeFire, Session Manager and PDF Download, in that order.

Hopefully some of these things will be addressed in the next release.

On a side note, Picasa 3 beta is supposedly out as well, but I keep getting HTTP 404 when trying to download it.  Go figure.