Good, fast, or CHEAP?

You may remember from a previous post that I went to the eye doctor, and got a new prescription. I even tried on a couple of pairs of glasses at that eye doctor's office. Now, as I am getting older, my glasses needs are more specific, and therefore more expensive. And you could see from my comparative photos, that I wanted to get e new look.

The news was, even with my optical insurance reimbursement, those pairs of glasses I was looking at were going to be $420 or $480. I was gulping and remembering that the last time I bought glasses it was nearly $400. Even though I was not happy about it, I was prepared to shell out, all in the name of better vision.

Then Mrs. Bob runs into an ophthalmologist friend of ours who tells her about this on-line place she buys glasses from. Glasses on-line you say? You need to learn a little more about the specifics of ordering glasses, taking a few measurements with a metric ruler (which you can print off the internet by the way), and you need to be very familiar with the specifics of your prescription. But these things are not really hard to learn, in my experience.

Ever the comparison shopper (Mrs Bob is rubbing off on me), I research a ton of on-line discount eyewear companies, and find myself right back at the place that our friend recommended. My journey took me about 5-6 weeks to shop around at local retailers, including Costco, comparison shop on-line and finally place the order. Then the usual 2-week shipping time from the place that I bought them from got extended a little because to quote the customer service person "a large order of glasses was held up longer than usual at customs." Qua? Whatever. They were on the way and I got them within a few days.

So for $78 I got these rimless progressive focus, glare coated glasses, with not one, but three pairs of magnetic clip-on matching sunglasses. You know, those things go missing frequently.

So what do you think?
I got them at a place called Zenni Optical

Tourist Sites of Minneapolis

Last weekend I was in Minneapolis for the Production Manager's Forum fall meeting. This was the first tourist sight I stopped to look at. Actually I was just walking by, and there it was. I couldn't resist taking a photograph.

Is my sense of humor somehow warped? I didn't bother to go in. I wasn't sure where I was supposed to put my feet and I didn't want to chance it.

Serously, in a couple of days I will take a few minutes to leave a post about the PMF meeting.

Kids today...

Every once in a while, I practice for becoming an old man by scrunching up my face, shaking my fist in the air and grumping "Hey you kids, get off my lawn!" I was reminded of this when I came to work this morning. First I had to get over this sight sitting smack in the middle of the parking lot entrance.

Once I calmed down a little and stopped worrying about the implications of the Bomb Squad sitting in the parking lot, I got to thinking "Not again!" See, this is the third or fourth time that we've had a bomb scare on campus this semester. Apparently this is a trend on campuses this fall. I don't remember a bomb threat in the past four years, and now three or four this semester.

In this post 9/11, homeland security era, I can't believe anyone is stupid enough to try this. Not only are they stupid enough to make a bomb threat, the threats have been e-mailed in. Not only are they stupid enough to e-mail the threats, in two cases they e-mailed them to a "general administration account" late on a Friday. In one case this was on a long weekend, so the e-mail wasn't even retrieved until the following Tuesday afternoon.

And when I think to myself: "Kids today..." I wonder how old I really am.

Oy!