"Doctor, My Eyes", part 6

I had the surgery on my right eye earlier today. Nothing much to report about the procedure itself; I went in, they poked around for a few minutes, and then we were done. I got my favorite cabbie to pick me up and bring me home after the procedure, because he's cool like that.

Now my right eye feels like it has something in it, and there's a peripheral reflection there, but I'm given to understand that's normal, and will fade in a few days. Likewise the blurred vision that I currently have in that eye. I guess it takes a little while for the eye to adapt to the new lens. Meantime, I can definitely tell you that I no longer seem to be looking through dirty glasses!

(For parts 3-5, check my blog on Communities, where I'm known as MagpieCat. I know I should have cross-posted them all here, but I didn't. Oh, well.)

"Doctor, My Eyes", part 2

Well, since it's an outpatient procedure, the insurance will cover 90% of the amount over the $300 deductible. Ouch. Well, I spent 3 times that on the cats' health in January, so it's more than reasonable that I spend this on my own health. Usually Honey's the expensive one for health care. (femme that she is, when she said she was high-maintenance, I always thought it would be clothes. sheesh!)

Anyway, next Tuesday morning, I have the pre-op appointment with the ophthamologist to see whether "the lens is ready to come out", whatever that means. Then in the afternoon, I have an appointment with my primary doctor, so that he can assert that I'm healthy enough to undergo cataract surgery. I think I'll be able to schedule the surgery once we've done that.
Now I have a week of waiting, before then next stage of the process. I hate waiting. I'm nervous, but I know that worrying won't help at all.

Doctor, My Eyes

I went to see the eye doctor today, because I need computer glasses. I need distance glasses, too, but my old ones are still okay for that.

I've been noticing lately that my vision is blurry, as if I'm looking through dirty glasses. Today I found out why: I have cataracts. I can't see them in the mirror, but I definitely have them, especially in my right eye. So I'm not getting glasses until I get at least the right eye taken care of, because my eyes will be different - literally. The doctor says that they basically open the cornea, slip out the bad lens, and put in a prosthetic lens. He gave me contact info for a couple of surgeons who can do the surgery.

Now I have to contact my insurance company to find out what hoops I have to go through to make it happen. You know, am I allowed to go directly to the specialist, or do I have to get a referral from my primary doctor, or is the referral from the eye doctor enough? If I have to go through my primary doctor first, that adds a whole other layer of delay to the process. He's a great guy, but he's not the easiest man to get hold of in a hurry.

Here's hoping this will be pretty straightforward.

Ah, Spring!

I love living in the San Francisco Bay area. It's nearly 6pm, and it's 71 degrees and sunny. I have all the doors and windows open to let the fresh air flow through my little house, and I'm sitting in my sunny corner listening to the birds outside discussing who gets to nest where this year. An ice cream truck drove by a few hours ago. I know that the price of such lovely weather is that we'll probably be rationing water this summer, but right now? I'm loving it.

7 Ways to Nourish Your Spirit

Many of us spend much of our time taking care of other people, or operating at others' direction. Whether it's taking care of our families or working for a boss (or both), the point is that we spend a lot of time and energy putting other people first. Now and then we need to put ourselves first for a little while. Here are some of the ways that I do that.

1) Meditate. Even just a few minutes of focusing on nothing more than breathing slowly and deeply can be quite refreshing.

2) Find a piece of quiet. There are many ways of doing this:
a. Take a long bath, with candles (lock the bathroom door)
b. Take a walk in the park.
c. Go to the library.

3) Take yourself out to dinner. Never understimate the therapeutic value of an hour spent interacting only with someone whose job it is to take care of you. Trust me, this is huge.

4) Do something creative. Whether it's writing or practicing an art or craft, creating is very good for the soul.

5) Get lost. Go for a long drive in an area that either:
a. is lovely, or
b. you haven't explored before, or
c. both

6) Explore your world. If you can't spare the gas for aimles driving (understandable these days), take transit or walk to explore where you live. Is there a museum (art or history)? Is there an old part of town with interesting architecture or funky shops? Take a camera or sketchbook to capture what you see, or take a break at a cafe to write down your impressions.

7) Run away from home. We always have reasons why we can't take a full vacation right now, but how about a weekend? You don't even have to leave town. Just take a weekend at a nice hotel, or a bed and breakfast, or even a funky little motel. The point is to be somewhere other than home for a little while. Sure, the messes at home will still be there when you get back, but give yourself a break. Let someone else pick up after you for a couple of days. Enjoy any (or all) of the other activities listed, without anyone around clamoring for your attention.

What's cool is that if you and your honey need some bonding time, you can do any of these activities together. The point is to give yourself a brak from the routine, so you can recharge your batteries.

45 Things About Me

My sister sent me this in an email. One is supposed to pass it on, but I decided to post it here instead.

1. Do you like blue cheese salad dressing? No
2. Have you ever smoked heroin? NO
3. Do you own a gun? No, because I'm too likely to use it.
4. What's your favorite drink at Starbucks or other specialty coffee. In the winter, Double Decaf Mocha; in the summer, Strawberries & Cream
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Sometimes
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Good in Mac & Cheese
7. Favorite Christmas song? "St. Stephen's Day Murders"
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Decaf Mocha
9. Can you do push ups? Um, that would be NO
10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding band (my DP has its mate)
11. Favorite hobby? Knitting, Quilting, Crocheting, Cross-stitch, Beadwork, Embroidery. (do you sense a theme here?)
12. Do you have A.D.H.D? Quite possibly -- what was the question again?
13. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? I'm too willing to please other people before myself, but I'm working on that.
14. Middle name? Suzanne
15. Name three things you're thinking right now? I want to resume my current stitching project, I'm probably going to post this to my blog instead of sending out email, why isn't my satellite working today?
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, Milk, Decaf coffee
17. The friend you had the longest? Julie, since 1998
18. Current hate right now? Hearing the English language mangled by people who should know better
19. Favorite place to be? In my sunny window, playing with fabric (or yarn, or beads, etc)
20. How did you bring in the New Year? Honey and I watched old movies until we fell asleep
21. Do you like to travel? Yes, but it's such a hassle these days.
22. Name three people who will complete this: It depends on who reads my blog post
23. Do you own slippers? Yes
24. What color shirt are you wearing? Purple
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I've never tried it.
26. Can you whistle? Not really, but that doesn't stop me
27. Favorite color? Rainbow
28. Would you be a pirate? That depends; can I be Will Turner?
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Random bits of stuff
30. Favorite girl's name? Ariana
31. Favorite boy's name? Geoffrey
32. What's in your pocket right now? A patch
33. What is the last thing that made you laugh? An e-mail about an elderly Wal-Mart applicant.
34. Best bed sheets as a child? Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how long ago that was?
35. Worst injury you've ever had? I broke my ankle skiing, at the beginning of the best snow season ever. I was in a cast until spring.
36. Do you love where you live? I like it better than the last place I lived; it's a walkable neighborhood, and I have no upstairs neighbors
37. How many TVs do you have in your house? Three
38. Who is your loudest friend? Julie
39. How many pets do you have? Four cats
41. What is your favorite book? "This Alien Shore", by C.S. Friedman
42. What is your favorite candy? 80% cacao dark chocolate
43. Favorite Sports Team? PITTSBURGH STEELERS!
44. What were you doing 12 AM last night? Sleeping
45. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Mmmm, Saturday (roll back over)

Tell me 45 things about you.

Really Simple Goal Setting

Leo Baubuta of Zen Habits, has written another excellent post, this time on making goals more manageable.

Opening Your Creative Eye

Shameless cross-post here. I've started a series on nurturing your own creativity over on my other blog, Tactile Arts Play Group.

Check it out, and if you like it, please tag it on Stumble Upon or Del.icio.us.

The Computer Is A Great Time-Wasting Device

Seriously. I love my computer; it helps me do all kinds of things, but it also helps me waste huge amounts of time (as if I needed the help, right?). For example, yesterday, I spent several hours doing puzzles at JigZone. I've always loved puzzles, and they have a lot of good ones at this site. Choose your picture and choose how many and what kind of pieces you want, and have at it.

Myths About Creativity, from LifeDev

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything here, but I saw this article and had to share it.

For everyone who is a mom or who has one

This is just too funny!

YouTube - William Tell Overture Mom

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Leaf Blowers

I hate leaf blowers. They're noisy and smelly, and not really very good at moving leaves from where they are to where you want them to be. Not to mention spending all that gas.

For doing the job, I think a rake (or on pavement, a broom) is much more effective. You can push the leaves exactly where you want them to go - first time, every time - instead of having to chase them hither and yon as with a leaf blower. A rake or broom is also much quieter, doesn't require gas or produce pollution. What more could you ask for?

So here's the question:
Given a choice between (a) a tool that is effective, efficient, and eco-friendly, and (b) a tool that is inefficient, both in terms of performing the task and its use of resources, which would you choose?

Obviously, the logical answer is (a). So why is (b) the most common answer?

It's Been Awhile...

Boy, it's been quite awhile since the last time I posted here. Sorry aout that. I've been busy, and a little down. I felt as if I had nothing to say, so why post?

I suppose the biggest news is that i joined WeightWatchers in late September. As of last Saturday's weigh in, I've lost just over 20 pounds. I've got quite a bit more to lose, but I'm well on the way. At first, I was just doing it online, but last month I started going to meetings as well; I figured I could use the extra help, especially during the holidays.

Blog the Environment: 3 Green Things Anyone Can Do.

Good morning and welcome to Blog Action Day.

Here are some of the things that I do to help the environment. They're all pretty easy; anyone can do these things.

1. I don't own a car; I haven't done for years. Instead I take public transit or walk.
a. Four days a week, I walk to the BART (commuter train) station near my house, ride it for two stops (fare = $1.40), and then take an express bus to the office park where my main office is. This is made easier (and less expensive) because the office park sponsors a free bus pass for anyone who works there. That means that my round-trip commute costs less than a gallon of gas. Plus, taking transit means that I can spend that time doing what I want, instead of grinding my teeth because I'm stuck in traffic.
b. On Fridays, I alternate between having the day off and walking to an office that's about 1.5 miles from my house. Not only am I saving the environment, I'm getting some nice exercise.
c. The grocery store is a 20-minute walk from my house. I bought a folding shopping cart and assorted tote bags (including an insulated bag for cold/frozen things). The folding cart plays nicely with the store's shopping carts, and the checkers are getting the hang of pcking a lot of things into a few fabric totes instead of putting a few things in each of a dozen or more plastic bags.

2. I don't own a washer and dryer. I do my wash in the kitchen sink and hang it out to dry in the back yard. Yes, it takes longer this way, but I'm saving electricity, and I don't need dryer sheets to give my clothes that fresh-air smell.

3. I've replaced almost all of the incandescent bulbs in my house with compact flourescents. The exception is certain fixtures where they just don't fit, and which I'm not presently in a position to change.

Friday Quiz - What Type of Writer Should You Be?

You Should Be a Science Fiction Writer

Your ideas are very strange, and people often wonder what planet you're from.And while you may have some problems being "normal," you'll have no problems writing sci-fi.Whether it's epic films, important novels, or vivid comics...Your own little universe could leave an important mark on the world!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

What Were They Thinking? - Bathroom Design

Every day, I encounter things that seem not to have been very well thought out. Things about which I have to ask myself: "Who thought this was a good idea, and why?"

I'm going to start posting about these things once a week or so, and the first one is about a bathroom design element that seems really wrong to me.

Why is it that public restrooms almost always have a large sink with a short faucet? You know what I mean: the sink is so wide from front to back that you have to reach almost arm's length to turn on the water, and the faucet is so short that you almost bump your hands against the back of the sink when washing them. Who thinks that makes any sense at all? Besides making washing awkward, it virtually guarantees that water will be splashed around on the counter, making a mess.

What were they thinking?

Busy, Busy, Busy

I know it's been way too long since I've posted here. I'll try to do better going forward.

Meanwhile, the highlights of life since my last post:

• Honey wants me to side with her in "encouraging" my daughter to get a job and move out. Yes, I want my house back, but no, I don't want to throw my daughter out to get it.
• Honey has been having episodes of dementia; the most recent one lasted almost four days, ending late Monday night. I'm getting worried, because Alzheimer's does run in her family. I wasn't expecting to have to start looking for assisted living for her for at least a few more years, but I may have to move that up.
• On the plus side, I started WeightWatchers Online this week; I need to get rid of this excess I've been carrying around.

What part of "Spare the Air" don't you understand?

Here in the SF Bay Area, when the temperature gets (and stays) in triple digits, and the wind goes away, we get smog. Maybe not like LA smog, but bad enough. To try to minimize that, the worst of these days are declared to be "Spare the Air" days.

On Spare the Air days, we are asked to cut down any unnecessary power usage, and especially cut down on driving. Instead, we are encouraged to car pool or take public transit. To encourage this, all the local transit agencies provide free rides. Most of them are free all day on Spare the Air days. A few - like BART and the ferries - offer free rides through 1pm, and charge the regular fare thereafter. They started that this year, because last year a lot of commuters were unable to get on the trains and ferries, because those were full of people who took advantage of the free rides to spend the day playing in SF.

But an odd thing happens, and I notice this on almost every Spare the Air day: traffic is actually worse on those days, and it's mostly solo drivers. I've thought about why this might be, and I've come up with a few possibilities:

• They didn't find out that it was a Spare the Air day before they left for work
• They didn't feel that transit was sufficiently convenient for them (and maybe it wasn't - we have good transit here, but it's not perfect)
• They figured that everyone else would be car pooling and using transit, so they'd have the roads pretty much to themselves.

I think the last one is the most likely, and I think it's the most common reason for it. The trouble is that when everyone thinks that everyone (or someone) else is doing something, what usually happens is that no-one does it.

I haven't owned a car in over a dozen years; I've managed quite well using transit and the occasional taxi. On most weekdays, I walk to the BART station (about a half mile), take the train to the second station down the line from me, where I catch an express bus that drops me practically on the doorstep of my office. This has removed a major stressor from my life. Instead of spending an hour behind the wheel in traffic being mad about the waste of time, I can spend that hour reading or writing or just staring out the window - whatever, that time is my own to use as I wish. On alternate Fridays, I work at an office that's closer to my home - about 1.5 miles away - so I walk to and from work. Yes, it takes longer than driving, but it's free workout.

Anyway, if you have Spare the Air days where you are, leave your car at home!

Found Money

The other day, I found a nickel on the sidewalk. I picked it up, even though it was head-down. Some people will only pick up a coin if it's heads-up, believing that to pick up a head-down coin is bad luck. For that matter, many people don't think it's worth the effort to bend down and pick up any coin. My feeling is that if the universe wants to throw money at me, in whatever form or condition, who am I to snub it?

Don't be Eeyore

Don’t Be Eeyore - lifehack.org

A lot of what's negative in our lives we impose on ourselves. This article talks about how not to do that.

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