kb-new-spectacles_240530

Sat, 31 Aug 2024 22:41:57 -0500

Sort of a long story..

I was fortunate to receive good eyesight DNA and have never worn eyeglasses full-time. However, I have been wearing cheaters for well over thirty years and that was especially true at work. The vast majority of my trips were during the middle of the night and while the Airbus cockpit lighting for charts was good, I still needed the extra magnification for the ultra-tiny typeface point sizes used by Jeppesen, the chart maker.

Near the end of my flying career, I tried actual prescription eyeglasses, first bifocals and then trifocals. Both helped but I could never get used to automatically changing the pitch of my head to find the in focus "zone." Consequently, I went back to just hanging cheaters around my neck.

But, over the last year or so, my acuity has decreased enough that I have difficulty reading text on the toob in the family room. Where we sit and where the TV is mounted is a big part of the problem because it's about fifteen feet away and, it's only a 55-inch display (which I hope to change Real Soon Now.) ;=)

Decided to have my eyes checked and learned that I still have 20/20 in my left eye but my right eye dropped to down to 20/25 which technically, according to DPS rules, requires me to wear corrective lenses at night.

At one time when I was younger, I tested 20/15 in both eyes, so I was spoiled and now I definitely have more sympathy for those folks who have had to endure eyeglasses all their lives AND, why the latest tech in lens replacement is so attractive.

Sadly, even the best contacts won't give you the acuity that you get from a well-ground eyeglass lens so while I considered this option intially, the optometrist convince me otherwise.

So, I took a couple pair of my old work frames to the outfit Jen used for years when she got new lenses or frames and had them make progressive/transition lenses and one of those pair is what you see me wearing in the photo.

Yes, wearing glasses is a PITA, no way around that, but I was quite surprised to discover just how much I LIKED sharper vision all the time. Tried a pair while driving the other day and liked them very much in that environment as well. They don't become "sunglasses" but, they darken enough for driving in most situations and I will be using them more indoors and out so we'll see.