I lost my glasses!

I lost my glasses!

I lost them (I think) on the mean streets of beautiful downtown Corvallis, Oregon, ten days ago.

I put them in my jacket pocket when I parked in front of the US Bank (downtown), and walked to the very very retro (read: cheesy, but '50's reminiscent) Downtown Barber shop on 2nd. One block there, only to discover that they had closed early, and a block back to where I had parked. I had my cased glasses in my jacket pocket, and I can only imagine that they jiggled out when I pulled my cell phone to tell SWMBO that I was on my way back.

Not that you care about any of this, but I'm a GEEK and if I can't see the screen, I can't work. Or blog. Or net-surf. All of this is Bad Stuff.

I had a backup of drug-store eyeglasses, which worked well for me. So I decided to Do Nothing about losing my glasses (after going back and walking the street where I thought I had lost them.... no joy, no black glasses case found on the sidewalk). My best guess was that as soon as I made an appointment to get replacement glasses, the old ones would somehow magically SHOW UP!

This didn't happen; you may have seen this coming.

Still, I had the Drug-Store eyeglasses as a back-up, so I took them to work until Sunday Night when ... as I was taking the Drug-Store eyeglasses (1.5 Diopters, Bifocals, light wire frames) ... the right-hand part that hooks over my ears (the bow? I can't tell an Optician from an Obstetrician, so how should I know the parts of a pair of eye-glasses?) ... fell ... off!

The Ocular Gods hate me. After this setback, I decided I better do more than 'think about' getting replacement glasses, especially since the only other backup glasses were 3.0 diopter (read: magnifying lenses) non-bifocal glasses I bought from the Fred Meyers store five years ago ... and those lenses give me headaches.

Therefore, on Monday I called the folks who had made my original 'Computer Glasses', Valley Eye Care (VEC).

These are good people, and I highly recommend to the (one person who reads this blog and who lives in Corvallis, Oregon ... which is ME) local potential customers to go there for their ocular needs.

They made me an appointment for Wednesday at 10am (today) and took real good care of me. After the technician performed the basic tasks .. including "The Puff Test", which blows air in your face to see how well you can take it (I could get that for free any night at the Peacock Tavern), I was eventually to meet again with my Optometric Physician, "James".

I remembered James from my original appointment two years ago, and it was immediately obvious why he was so memorable: personable and professional, James understood that I was under some serious time constraints and worked hard to get me through the refresher eye exam and back to the office. What's more, the rest of the staff were able to meet my 'special needs', including a higher reach of the magnifying part of my new eyeglasses, and finding an exact match to the frames of my lost glasses. This is important to me, because I'm a picky old phart and hard to please.

After the prescription was updated and the order placed, and the check was written and I was told that I couldn't get my new glasses for two frickin' weeks ("there's a holiday in there, you know?") I was again closeted with James for the exit interview.

We got talking about my old glasses, and I mentioned that I had earlier specified Polycarbonate lenses because there was a bare possibility that I might want to use my Computer Glasses (back in 2005, when I originally acknowledged that I could no longer get a clear sight-picture of Iron Sights on a pistol). The good folks at VEC informed me that Polycarbonate lenses were, admittedly, extremely shatter-resistant. The problem is, they were very soft and they scratch easily.

In the good old days when you could get a new pair of Polycarbonate glasses from Silencio for $20 or less, that didn't matter. But I can't find Silencio glasses in these here parts anymore, so I'm looking for a better deal. Specifically, extremely shatter-resistant glasses which I don't have to replace every year or so.

The VEC folks told me about (and sold me) a set of lenses which are just as tough as Polycarbonate, just as light, but don't scratch so easily. And the name of this wonder material is ...

I can't remember. I swear, I remembered it as "Olympic" but I may be wrong. If not, here is a link I found which combines the search arguments "Olympic" and "eyeware".

Whatever it is, it should be replacing Polycarbonate glasses Real Soon Now. And I intend to get a pair from VEC or anyone else who can give me better eye protection on the range.


Moving along with the Exit Interview stuff, I started telling James about how my vision was an important factor in Practical Pistol shooting. James told me about his cousin who had encouraged him (James) to go to 'several' pistol matches at the Albany Rifle and Pistol Club, which is 20 minutes away, and mentioned the USPSA National Multigun match in 2006. I told him I had been to the match as a spectator and took a large number of photographs and videos. Also the 2007 USPSA Area 1 Multigun match.

We talked about the two USPSA National Pistol matches in Bend a few years ago. I told him I had worked them as a Range Officer, and BTW what was the name of his cousin, maybe I know him?

Turns out that his cousin is Mark Seeklander, current CEO of the USSA Shooting Academy at the new Tulsa, Oklahoma range. He also said that his cousin had sent him some videos of the 2006 MG match. I said I may have filmed those videos. I also mentioned that one of the reasons I needed good 'computer glasses' is because I not only work on the computer 8 hours a day at work, I also put in something like 4 hours a day several days a week working on my Blog.

James said "So how do I find your blog?". I said: "Look for Jerry The Geek"

So James, if you're here ... this is the place. Sorry it's a particularly unexciting article, but if you look around I'm sure you can find something more interesting here.

Same to the rest of you.