So, I had foolishly made a 7:30 am eye doctor appointment. It turns out that the eye doctor makes block appointments, not personal appointments. So, even though I was there at 7:29, with Steve acting as chauffeur, there were three people ahead of me. I was eventually taken in hand, and found out that asking for a prescription for contact lenses was much more complicated than it used to be.*
I stuck with it, though, and am now eyeglass-less in Central Maine. I then gathered Steve, who was by now — “now” being 9 am — starving, and we went to breakfast at Governor’s, as the option that got the plate to the table fastest.
Breakfast done, it was to Staples, to send the Chromebook off to its new home, and buy Steve a lap desk for his laptop. Then to the post office where bidness was concluded, and then! across the river to Fortin’s where we put in an order for a La-z-boy power lift and power dismount chair to act as Central Headquarters during the weeks I will be off my feet.
I was very, very conflicted about this purchase, since we really don’t, yanno, need another chair, but it seems the better part of more or less everything, and it will still be useful after its motivating purpose is completed. Still — yow! On the good news side, our timing was good, since the chair has to be ordered. If I want it in October, and apparently I do, today was the day to put in the order.
The rest of the day is taken up with a phone call, and writing, so I’d best get to that.
Everybody have a good Monday.
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* Remember when you used to just walk into a mall store, announce your willingness to be fitted for contact lenses and 45 minutes later you were walking out the door, contacts in place? The last century was such a simple place, in so many ways. Also, I had a little bit of a tussle with the eye doctor. Asking for information about my new lenses was confusing to him. After all, when I need a new pair, all I have to do is call the office and order them. I did finally get a copy of my prescription, but it’s really not the kind of argument you want to have on an empty stomach.
Huh, ordering contacts isn’t any harder than the “old days” at the place I go to, although they do charge a yearly fitting fee of $75 that insurance doesn’t touch. They have some lenses on hand and will usually send me home with at least a week or two’s worth, but unusual prescriptions or large quantities need to be ordered. They are a small single-office practice, though. I pay slightly higher prices than a big mall store, but it’s worth it to me in terms of location and attitude. When my dad broke his glasses while visiting us, they helped with a temporary fix with no charge. Unused lenses can be returned or exchanged as long as there’s no writing on the box or containers, which is great if a prescription changes before they are used up. We live in a small-ish town that is near a city and we still have some of these local family-owned businesses that have survived in the face of big box stores.
I’m sure the cats will find some use for the new chair, whether or not you are employing it at the time.
When soft contacts became available in the early 80s, I jumped to get a pair, because I wanted tinted lenses. Two weeks later, I went to my allergist, because my eyes were constantly tearing and washing the lenses out of my eyes.
Turned out my eyes were treating the contacts like pollen. I was out several hundred dollars. Luckily, I had kept my glasses. Sigh.
I am fortunate that contact lenses don’t bother me at all. If anything, my eyes feel *better* with the contacts in. I speak, naturally, of soft contacts.
I have learned to never leave the eye doctor without a printed prescription for contacts and glasses even if I am ordering from them. It is something that is never offered but willingly given. It often comes in handy sometime during the year.