Making a spectacle of myself

That time of life again. Got my eyes checked and time for some new glasses.

I could tell that my prescription would probably be changing; and reading is becoming a bit more of a problem. I can't read the tiny-tiny stuff, like on a medicine bottle. I can read a book fine, but after reading and looking up, it takes a while to re-focus. That's what doctors officially call 'old age' :) Apparently your eye lens gets a bit thicker and more tired as time goes on. So changing focal lengths tends to take more time to re-focus at a distance. So it's time for the B word. That's right - bifocals. ugh.

Went to my usual spot, For Eyes. (Get it. Hey, it got you to remember the name). They have good prices and have done well by me for years. But just for kicks, I priced glasses at the "health plan" optical shop. OMG. Their prices were close to 3 times what For Eyes charges. Wow.

So I got two pairs of specs. One bi-focals, and one for distance. Being my first bi-pair, I wanted a regular pair just in case. Fashion has also changed a bit, so the new specs will be a tad smaller. So from 'aviator' style, to current style, to smaller. Maybe Pince-nez will come back?? All those who know what they are without clicking the link raise your hand. :) So both pairs of glasses came to under $300. Such a bargian. Hopefully they'l look good. But my friends are strange and will laugh anyway. ;-) but dexter and sinister should be happy (OK, who got that reference?)

Speaking of Pince-nez, I was looking for a random 'glasses' picture to add color to the post, which is were I found the picture above. Now, you may need to enlarge it, but you're "seeing" it correctly. There are people out there who are wearing pierced glasses. They have a pierce bar through the nose bridge, and then lenses attached. Pretty gross. But kids today... Check out the site here. Creepy.

Still safe

Walked home form the grocery store again today, a little more wary of my surroundings. because I can't put a lot of pressure on my left arm, I had most of my groceries in my right hand (my poor little fingers :)

I made it home safe, but the walk was even worse. You see, most gutters form buildings let out onto the sidewalks. The past few days we've had melting during the day, and freezing at night, so at least 30% of the sidewalks in the South End were pretty much solid ice from the freeze/thaw cycle. Doesn't anyone put salt/snow on their own sidewalks??

I see someone in orthopedics on Friday. We'll see how good/bad things are then...

Winter wonderland

Well, it happened to me. I was walking ome with groceries Friday night, and while trying to step through the bad plowing by the city, I hit an unseen patch of ice and down I went. Was one of those unexpected falls. W was walking, then I was down surrounded by my groceries. Suppose that's a better fall - when you expect it you tend to stick your hands out and break a wrist or such.

But my shoulder took the brunt of the fall. I couldn't lift my arm up due to pain in my shoulder, but my lower arm and hand worked fine. I made it home with bruised apples in tow. Started popping pills and tried to ride out my evening, knowing things would be sore in the morning.

I got a little suspicious in the morning. I figured a hot shower and some stretching would help work out the shoulder. Neither worked well, so I made a "day of" appointment at the HMO. I've been diagnosed with a probably torn rotator cuff. Kinda glad I went, as the 'to do' list for this is to "do nothing", so stretching might be great for sore muscles, but it's completely terrible for tendons. At the moment instructions are to take even more pills and wear a sling wheneve rpossible to keep the sholder from moving about too much. They want me to minimise any potential additional damage until we can get a better diagnosis.

So I need to see an orthopedist on Monday, who'll do more tests and see how good or bad my shoulder really is. Between the drugs and the slin there's no real pain, but it's annoying I can't really do anything around the house today. I had planned to tid up and put things away and all, but that isn't goign to happen. Mostly DVDs and slumming on the computer.

I love winter.

Those real estate agents

It's both fun and awful scary to read blogs and articles written by real estate agents. Since they sell homes, they have a vested interest in always making the real estate scene sound great. Every home is a gem, and the industry is always doing wonderful.

Today's entry in the Boston Condo Blog tells is to dust off the snow and rush out to an open house today. Two million dollar condos that just have to be seen. As if there's some kind of shortage of million dollar condos. As if we've all got a cool million burning a hole in our pocket. (but the price per square foot is such a bargain!!)

You wonder when they lost touch with reality... :)

Theaters gone by

In another blog thread the comments got around to the old Beacon Hill theater (movie house). A theater form the days when Boston had many cinemas, not just one mega-plex. (We all remember the Cheri, Paris and Charles cinemas, part of the same chain when closed)

Someone found a historical link, and the old BHT site has a lot more history than I would have thought. Including being a proper movie house (sister to The Modern), and the first theater in the Sack cinema chain...

For the new year I will...

I gave up on new Year's resolutions a long time ago. But the Globe has a fun piece with resolutions that everyone can adopt...