Milk Colored Glasses

Years ago, my ophthalmologist told me I have something called corneal haze. Over the years it’s not gotten better, but it’s also not gotten worse. I guess the best way to describe it is to say it’s sort of like looking through a thin layer of teeny tiny milk spots.

Photo credit, Kemal Gökçe.

Corneal haze is the term I remember him using but that may be more the way he explained it than what it actually is — corneal dystrophy — which is abnormal material accumulating in the clear outer layer(s) of the eye. (That outer layer is the cornea, in case you’re wondering.) (You can’t catch it because it’s genetic, in case you’re wondering about that, too.)

Unfortunately for me, though, it may be the one thing that keeps me from being able to have my cataract laden biological lenses replaced with shiny new synthetic multi focal lenses. (At least I think that’s it, though it could have been something else entirely, you know how docs ramble, or maybe it’s my brain that does the rambling.) The key word here is multi focal. They can be replaced with single focus lenses but I’ll still need glasses to read. (Kind of a bummer if you ask me.)

Leave it to me to have spots on the outside layer of my eyes as well as spots on the inside of them. No wonder I like polka-dotted fabric so much — it fits right in!

Back to topic …

Photo credit, Wikipedia.

Looking on the bright side, I’ll still be able to have the cataracts removed and only have to wear glasses part of the time. Doc is checking with a specialist to see if any new developments with multi focal lenses make them still be an option for me. I’m not getting my hopes up. We’ll see. And that, when it comes right down to it, is the most important thing — I’ll still see, only better.

If it’s really not an option, at least I won’t have to pay a small fortune to keep from having reading glasses that are as thick as coke bottle bottoms. My new glasses prescription will be much, much less strong (I think that made sense) so they’ll be more affordable. So, it’s all good! Well, mostly.

Photo credit, Kemal Gökçe.

Now, the big question is — what kind of reading glasses should I get?

How about skinny red rectangles? No?

Hmmm, how about round wire frames, ala John Lennon? No?

I’ve got it! Cat eyes — with rhinestones! Nah!

Who am I kidding? It’ll be right back to where I started — with the skinniest, oval, frameless, granny glasses I can find.

Yep, that’s me!

What in the world are we thinking?

Posted by goodoldgirl

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to know everything that’s going to happened throughout the rest of your life? Would you want to know if you could?

What about knowing just the high points? Would that be enough to satisfy your curiosity? I’m not sure it would be for me. But, then again, I think I’d rather know nothing about the future than a few tidbits.

What if your palm had been read when you were young and the palm reader told you that you would die young, would you want to know that? Would you make plans for that? Buy more life insurance so your children would be more financially secure? What if the palm reader told you that you would live to a very ripe old age? What would you differently?

What would you change about your life if you knew what the future would bring your way? I suspect that most of us wouldn’t change anything. We’d just keep going down the same path we were on and let whatever happens rush right at us.

Is that just human nature? Or, is it fear? Do we not know how to make ourselves ready? Are we looking ahead or are we watching our feet as we stumble through each step? Planners look ahead and make changes in course as needed. Watchers look around them and see only their next step or, at most, the next hill in front of them, ignoring the mountain off in the distance.

The Earth seen from Apollo 17. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Can’t help but wonder if that’s the reason that, even though we know that we’re killing our own planet, we just keep going right down that same path — step by step. No change in course. No plans for stopping, much less reversing, the damage to planet earth. No thought of tomorrow and the planet our children and their children will inherit.

Why is that? Is it collective stupidity? Or, do we just not care?

Why aren’t we insuring our planet’s future? After all, it’s our children’s future as well.

A light bulb moment!

Posted by goodoldgirl

You’ve probably noticed by now that incandescent light bulbs are scarcer than hen’s teeth. Yep, plain old light bulbs are dang hard to find these days!

Image via Wikipedia.

In 2007, George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security ACT (EISA). This law set an efficiency standard for light bulbs with the first phase going into effect in 2012. I’m not going to bore you with a lot of info about the why’s and wherefore’s of this new law. I’ll just say that it appears that our elected officials were making a valiant effort to conserve our natural resources and let it go at that.

I have problems, however, with this new law — aside from the fact that I don’t like the Feds telling me what kind of light bulbs I can use.

Now, before all you environmentalists, including my own daughter, start yammering about the efficiency of compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) and what a jerk I am for mourning the demise of the incandescent bulb, let me state, for the record, that I’m fine with CFLs. I use CFLs. In some places. Like closets and porches and places where ambient light is appropriate and the laundry closet. (Oh, I already said closets, didn’t I?)

But, I have some issues. For example:

When CFLs first hit the scene a few years ago, I was excited about it. A new light bulb that would save energy and last much, much longer! I bought ’em, compared ’em. Now, not so excited. Incandescent bulbs created more light than the same watt CFL bulb. How much light a bulb emits is important to me. I read. A lot. And I need good light to do that until the wee hours of the morning. Why? Because I have something like 20-80 vision. Glasses help of course, but the cataracts make it more difficult. (I am having surgery to fix that little problem in a few weeks so maybe that’s not a valid argument.)

Incandescent bulbs are dirt cheap. CFLs, not so cheap. I’ve heard the arguments about how CFLs save money in the long run but I tested that when CFLs first came out, and I’m just not convinced. I am willing to concede, however, that there may have been improvements in the last 5-7 years, so maybe I need to retest. We’ll see.

Incandescent bulbs put out heat. My cats like sitting on the table with their little heads close to a warm light bulb. CFLs won’t keep their little ears toasty. And I’m pretty sure Ollie’s sinuses will stop-up permanently if he can’t melt them with heat from my reading lamp. Aside from that, if the lamps are putting out heat, then my actual heating bill should be less. Right?

I have lamps (lots of lamps, well, three) with clip-on shades. Ever tried to get one to clip onto a CFL bulb? I have. It doesn’t work.

There is movement in Congress to delay the implementation of the EISA. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Will my clip-on shades survive the light bulb debacle of 2012?

We’ll see. Or, maybe we won’t. See, I mean.

And poor Ollie.

Oh the inhumanity!

Pssst, see that pic above? The one with the two light bulbs? That big ol CFL bulb wouldn’t allow the glass cover to go back over the light fixture in my closet so I had to leave it bare-bulb just to be more “green.”

How tacky!