I got Chinese take-out on Saturday night. I know I had promised a review of online glasses retailers, but I just had to share this with you. Tune in tomorrow for the GlobalEyeglasses.com review and the day after for the Goggles4U.com review. My fortune cookie had three fortunes in it! 1 I typically consider this lucky. Saturday… not so much.
Saturday night was February 28th, as in the end of the month. I didn’t notice anyone drawn to me. 2
Soon is relative, so I guess this could still come true.
This one undoubtedly came true. In the wee hours of Sunday morning an unexpected visitor presented themselves. My typically delightful moo shu paid me a visit in the form of food poisoning.
Anyone interested in some Chinese take-out leftovers?
Original photo courtesy of TheTruthAbout. Photo editing – all me! [↩]
Get your prescription. When getting your eye prescription, being sure to have your physician provide your “Pupillary Distance.” 2 I’ve put together a chart at the bottom you can take with you to the doctor’s office.
Measure your glasses. Measure your current glasses using a metric ruler. The most important measurement is going to be “Temple Width.” The “Temple Width” is the overall front width of your glasses.
Choose frames. On the website of your choice, narrow down the available glasses by the “Temple Width.” From there you can narrow down the available choices.
Wait. Both of the websites I ordered glasses from took about two weeks to get the glasses to me.
Double check. Take your new glasses back to your eye doctor. They will have a machine that can check the prescriptions on the lenses.
Here’s what my fortune cookie on Saturday night said:
I rather enjoy putting my imaginative skills to work with these little doodles. ANYhow, now that that’s out of the way…
The last few days I’ve had several appearances in less than ideal weather. With no further ado, my Road Warrior Checklist for traveling in bad weather:
Timing. My rule of thumb is to leave 15 minutes earlier for every hour of a planned trip in bad weather.
Speed. Speeding will make you feel good about your pace, but will never save you a significant amount of time.
Pick the correct lane. There are a lot of factors involved in choosing the correct traveling lane. Driving in the path of other vehicles ensures your tires are touching more of the road and less of the water. Stay out of the fast lane if possible. Get out of other people’s way when they want to pass.
Stay in the correct lane. Try not to change lanes. There is a lot more water between lanes and more chances to hydroplane.
No Cruise Control! There is an urban myth that if your car is on cruise control and you start to hydroplane your vehicle will accelerate to make up for the loss in traction. The reason the highway patrol recommends against the use of cruise control in wet weather is that you only have moments to react to hydroplaning by reducing speed and maintaining control of your vehicle. Cruise control in these situations will deprive you of a few moments of a potential speed decrease (where you would take your foot off the gas) by maintaining your current speed.
Following distance. Other people are going to be driving like maniacs. Always make sure you have plenty of following distance.
Brakes. If your brakes are squeaking, they’re already in bad shape. Get them checked out and replaced regularly.
Tires. Get your tires rotated regularly, make sure they have plenty of tread, and make sure they are properly inflated. Remember the penny test: if you stick a penny into the tread and can see the top of Lincoln’s head you need to replace your tires.
Windshield wiper blades. Worn blades will just smudge. Just plan on replacing your windshield blades every year. Don’t forget your rear windshield wipers!
I upgraded to WordPress v2.7.1 as soon as it came out (after testing on another website, of course). I can honestly say WordPress is the only software I use that I actually look forward to upgrading.
Since version 2.7 RC 1, upgrading to the next version of WordPress has been this easy:
How to Upgrade WordPress
You click “Upgrade Automatically” and wait about 5 seconds.
You’re done.
Not entirely off topic: a friend of mine asked me yesterday about the best way to put up a new website. She had thought about using Yahoo Site Builder or some such. Yahoo and its like are great at building free, quick, and ugly websites. If you’re going to publish on the internets, why not just opt for something just as easy and that has hundreds, if not thousands of possible totally free themes to choose from? I say, go with WordPress.
I used to code sites by hand – that’s a chump’s game. Just install WordPress and call it a day.
I used to really dislike driving long distances. However, in the last few months I’ve done a few things to completely change my mind.
Use a GPS. I no longer have to worry about leaving directions at home, taking a wrong turn, finding food or fuel, or needing a detour. I just hop in the car, hit the road, head in the general direction of my destination, and plug in the address on the way.
Buy prescription sunglasses. Sunglasses have made a world of difference. Yesterday I drove out to Auburn in the morning and back to the East Bay in the afternoon, driving into the sun both ways. Having the sunglasses has completely eliminated squinting and strain on my eyes.
Take Music. Loading up the GPS with music has really helped pass the time. I even added a few hours of MCLE, just in case!
Drive slower. I’ve made a point of obeying the speed limit, even when I’m running late. Driving fast saves a negligible amount of time and can be very stressful.
These four things have transformed my long drives from stressful events into fairly enjoyable trips.
One pair of glasses had “polychromatic” lenses and cost about $35.00. The other three pairs included a regular pair of glasses, a pair of tinted glasses for use as sunglasses, and a funky pair since they were totally free free (complete with frames and prescription lenses!?!?!)
I ordered from two different retailers because (1) $35.00 for those “transition” lenses aka “polychromatic” lenses was too good to pass up and (2) so I could compare the customer service and quality of the two companies.
Service through one company was a little better than the other. However, I’m not qualified to judge quality. Although I’m very happy with the look of these frames and lenses, I’d feel a lot better if I took them to my optomologist to be sure.
That said, I’m going to postpone an in-depth review until I see my eye-doc. When I post the review I’ll include a few tips for ordering glasses online.2
I’ve already said I’m a big fan of NPR. A few weeks ago they ran a story about the “Best-Kept Online Secret: Cheap Eyeglasses.” The author, tired of paying hundreds of dollars for glasses, tried out a few different online glasses retailers. 1
This weekend I ordered glasses from two different websites. (I’m going to hold off mentioning which ones for now. I’ll wait to find out what kind of a job they do.)
I ordered four pairs of glasses for much less than what a single pair used to cost me. If all goes well, I’ll be getting one pair of sunglasses, one pair of color changing glasses, one pair that looks almost identical to the ones I wear now, and one pair of funky glasses (this was the free one).
The trade-off is that the glasses will take about two weeks.
Here’s a recipe I’ve used to make ravioli, including the filling, from scratch. 1 I found the recipe several years ago on the web, but unfortunately don’t remember where. In any case, here’s the recipe. It makes a LOT of pasta – enough for at least 6 people. The ravioli filling is my own creation – and its damn tasty.
Place about 3/4 of the flour into a large bowl. Separately mix the egg, oil, salt and water. Add the wet ingredients to the flour. Mix everything thoroughly.
Kneed in the remaining flour. This takes a long time.
Wrap in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes in the fridge. In the meantime, let’s move on to…
Defrost spinach in bowl and drain. Mix in everything else. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate when not in use.
Step 3: Make the ravioli
When ready to make the ravioli, only remove a very small amount from the plastic to work with at a time.3 I only worked with pieces of dough about the size of a standard 6-sided-die.
Squish the piece of dough into a disc about the size of a silver dollar.
Place the dough on a plastic cutting board. I prefer the kind with the non-skid rubberized ends.
Roll the dough as thinly as possible. You’re going for almost translucent in the center. A heavy rolling pin helps.
Add about 1/2 tablespoon of the filling to the center.
Fold the dough in half and pinch the edges.
Set each piece aside on wax paper on a large plate. The wax paper is to prevent the ravioli from sticking to the plate. Don’t let the ravioli touch each other since they will stick together.
Cover the ravioli on the plate with plastic wrap while you work.
Step 4: Cook
When ready to cook, add the pasta to boiling water in a large pot and then lower to medium heat after a minute.
After a short break from blogging, I off two tidbits: one full of holiday cheer… and the other about an incorrigible Grinch.1
Holiday Cheer
A few days before Christmas I received an extremely nice e-mail from David DePaolo, of WorkCompCentral fame. He had read my blog post about my local food bank and made his own donation to his local food bank. Thank you David!
Incorrigible Grinch
I have a loud neighbor. They talk on the phone loud, watch TV loud, play music loud, etc. Loud enough so that I can hear whatever it is they’re doing over my own TV with the doors and windows closed. The night before Christmas Eve at around 8 O’clock PM they were playing something that sounded like a marching band – complete with tubas. I couldn’t tell if it was a radio or TV or what – but it was extremely loud. Being a good neighbor and filled with the aforementioned holiday cheer, I went out onto my patio and hollered, “Hey! Turn it down already!” In a few minutes their marching band music died down to a low rumble.
A few minutes later I find out that I had just yelled at a group of teenagers with instruments walking down our street… carrolling. That’s right, I yelled at carolers – I’m the Grinch.
