Four-Eyes

The summer of 2006 will go down in my immediate family as the summer of corrective lenses.

Both of my children started wearing glasses full-time; I got VDT glasses; and both my wife and I got contact lenses.

Aside #20/20:What is it about doctors and long, hard to pronounce names? My eye doc is referred to as Dr. B. and my kids' eye doc is Dr. S., both use initials because their names are long and hard to pronounce (by those who can't say words longer than two cylinders). And our pediatrician is Dr. D.

1 of 2 joined the glass eye community in first grade when he was diagnosed with a visual information management problem and sent to Dr. S., who specializes in such things. He got some prism glasses which didn't really have any correction, but which helped his eyes track left and right. We were shocked by the effectiveness of those glasses because his reading really took off with them. Before glasses, 1 of 2 was at risk of not meeting the reading goals for 1st grade. Within a month or two he was reading at the end of 2nd grade level. But those glasses were part time usage -- only for reading and close up work. This spring we went back to Dr. S. for an exam and found out that 1 of 2 needed full-time corrective lenses.

Aside Probability: 1. Of course, those glasses got broken within the week. In hindsight, it was a certainty because they were "unbreakable". The optician demonstrated their flex steel capabilities by twisting them into a pretzel right there in the store! But the give-away was the guarantee, which included a $25 replacement charge should they actually get broken.

So then it was 2 of 2's turn for a visit to Dr. S. Just to make sure. Turns out his vision is worse than 1 of 2's! Glasses are on order.

6/10ths (my better half) went in at the beginning of summer to get some contact lenses to wear while swimming. Like me, she's nearsighted and was concerned that she couldn't see well when we went swimming with the kids. It's hard to keep an eye on them when you can't see them. We both looked into prescription goggles, but decided that they were too expensive and that you'd kind of look funny if you left them on while talking to someone at the pool. So she got some disposable soft contacts and a pair of regular goggles. She's been wearing the contacts other times as well, but dry eyes prevent her from wearing them all the time.

I also got some soft contacts for swimming, but due to some tradeoffs I can't see well enough to drive with them (except in an emergency). But they're great for swimming.

Aside 300#: One drawback of being able to see better at the pool is that I can now see the "manatees" much more clearly. I've always known they were there, and could see their large pinkish forms well enough to avoid collisions, but I was always spared the full force of their — er — beauty. No more.

The problem I have with soft contacts is three-fold: 1) I have significant astigmatism; 2) I wanted disposable lenses; and 3) the lenses I got don't go up to my correction. There are soft contacts available that can correct much of my astigmatism and go up to my power, but they aren't disposables. I don't want to hassle with cleaning, especially since I expect to occasionally go weeks to months between uses. I doubt that soft lenses can be safely stored for months after use and then be used again.

And then there is the issue of presbyopia. I have reached that age when it often becomes necessary to adapt for the shortening of my arms and the shrinking of letters. Yesterday I took delivery of special VDT glasses (VDT = Video Display Terminal). I use a computer all day long in my work and I was having to greatly increase the font size on my computer in order to avoid eye strain. I can already tell a big difference with these glasses and have been able to shrink the font on my computer to something approaching normal. This actually makes many programs much easier to use and makes many web sites possible to use. They're also great for reading.

Unfortunately, my VDT glasses don't work so well for watching TV. I like to work the crossword from the newspaper while watching the news on TV, but I don't yet have any glasses that make it easy to do both at the same time. I can use my regular glasses to watch TV or I can use my VDT glasses to do the crossword. In August I'll be eligible for new lenses in my regular glasses and plan to get bi-focals. Sigh. I guess I'll have to sign up with AARP soon.

Interest Rates, Inflation, and the Economy

I'm getting very worried about the economy. In the past year or so the cost of energy has jumped quite a bit (no, really), upsetting the balance of many budgets.

The jump is severe enough that something has to be done to bring the overall budget back into line. The something, for companies, is to raise prices. The something, for laborers, is to ask for a pay raise, which will, of course, require employers to raise prices a bit more.

Some employers have other options, like investing in technology to boost productivity. But that often requires borrowing money and this is where the Fed comes in as the managers of interest rates.

To be fair, what the Fed manages is actually just the interest rate used by banks borrowing money overnight (or something like that). But this rate trickles down (isn't that a Laffer?) to other rates, including home mortgages, home improvement loans, and business loans.

The Fed adjusts this key interest rate as a control on inflation. They raise it to stop inflation and lower it to spur business growth.

So the business that wants to invest in technology to use in the US may find itself having to pay higher interest rates because the Fed wants to prevent inflation.

Do you see the conflict yet? In order to avoid raising prices (inflation) a company wants to invest in technology that will boost productivity, but can't because they can't afford the interest rates that the Fed is jacking up.

So what happens? Well, for some companies they are now forced to another option: off-shoring. Yep, you can invest in new technology in another country for less money (especially when factoring in the lower labor costs over there).

Good-bye jobs. Good-bye middle class. Thanks a lot, Fed.

I would argue instead that inflation can be a good thing in limited quantities. For example, the government isn't upset about inflation of 2 to 3 percent. I would also suggest that inflation which simply brings the cost of energy back into line isn't a problem either.

To be sure, inflation is hard for those on fixed or very low incomes. But since the government has a pretty good grasp on those they can be dealt with: Raise the minimum wage; raise benefits for entitlement programs (e.g. social security, welfare, etc.).

So long as inflation is simply to address rebalancing, it shouldn't be a disaster. And I fear that the alternative will be worse as the economy grinds to a screeching halt.

I am reminded of the axiom which says that everything looks like a nail if your only tool is a hammer. The Fed needs some vision correction.

Nausea

Yesterday was a rough day. Have you ever stood up quickly and become light-headed or dizzy? It usually goes away after a few seconds. But yesterday morning I got up from my desk to go to the bathroom and the dizziness didn't go away.

I managed to complete my bio-break without incident and returned to my desk, but quickly went into the kitchen (I'm a telecommuter, so I was at home) and got a bowl, then went to sit down on the couch.

By now the room was spinning quite out of control, which made me nauseated and, predictably, led to the Total™ loss of my breakfast (Total™ cereal and a banana). I was so dizzy and off balance that I almost fell off the couch (I was sitting).

The room finally stabilized a few minutes later, though the dizziness persisted in a lower state for some hours. After that I was woozy for the remainder of the day and am still not 100%.

Then came the Tonight Show. Jay sent Kelly Pickler, of Merkin Idle fame, to interview celebs on the red carpet outside the MTV Movie Awards (?).

OHMYGOD! This woman makes Jessica Simpson look smart! I predict that she will become very rich and get maximum media saturation for the next year or so, then drop (mercifully) from sight when she runs out of new ways to demonstrate her idiocy.

One example: she talked to some guy whom I've never seen before (I'm not a celebrity watcher) and he asked her if she'd ever hugged a Jewish person before. She admitted that she had not and asked him for a hug. While hugging she looks at the camera and says, "I've just hugged my first Jew!". Then, after letting go, she attempted to CROSS HERSELF! She botched it horribly, then asked the Jewish guy if she'd done it right! She thought she was making some sort of Jewish sign!

I almost tossed my cookies again.