BND

So here it is, Buy Nothing Day, and I'm sitting in a mall.

A mall filled to the gills with shoppers straining under the weight of their purchases.

Loaded down (looking eerily like pack mules) looking to make their next purchase.

Looking to "save" more money!

It is Black Friday.

It is the busiest shopping day on the American consumer's calender. Credit cards are melting from the non-stop swiping. Consumer debt will continue to grow today as shoppers will find those things they must have.

They can't live without.

Their homes are already full but they will find more room for more stuff.

I just spent $3.

On Buy Nothing Day.

I'm mad.

But I showed up to work at the same time as another optometrist. He wasn't supposed to be there today but everybody forgot to tell him. So being the patsy I am I volunteered to come back in a few hours and we would split the day.

So I bought a cookie.

And a drink.

I had no where else to go.

And I sit in a mall on Buy Nothing Day and ponder all of the things I've purchased in my life.

All of the things I don't need.

Like this computer.

Although I use it I'm sure Swell and I don't each need one. Yet we both have computers and all of the associated computer paraphernalia that I needed.

Ipod? Check.
PSP? Check.
External hard drives? Check.

I shaved yesterday.

If you see pictures of me throughout my adulthood you'll see stark changes in my appearance.

The less I'm enjoying "life" the more homeless I let myself look. (I'll forgo telling the story of one of the proudest moments in my life. Most of you have heard the story of the concerned couple asking my sister if she knew me, and if she thought I needed a warm meal and a place to stay. Awesome!)

Its my pseudo-rebellion against the man. I may have to participate in Western society but I won't look the part.

After a few weeks of this I invariably realize how stupid I am and clean myself up a little (although I refuse to cut my hair more than twice a year. I HATE getting my hair cut).

Swell and I have both been unhappy with where we are. Money hates us.

More accurately knowing what to do with money is difficult for us.

Do we pay loans back more quickly?
Do we give more away?
Do we give money to distant poverty stricken relatives or spend money to send them stuff?
How much do we set aside to pay our taxes?
Are we going to go to jail because our tax situation is going to be a nightmare this year (thanks in no small part to our employers purposeful misuse of us as independent contractors)?

Furthermore, we have no strong desire to be optometrists. We have no passion for optometry, although we enjoy it. It isn't our lives. It doesn't give us a great deal of purpose in life although it is quickly consuming our entire lives.

Between Swell's hideous commute and our longish work days we've become the fabulous wake up-go to work-come home-eat-sleep duo.

No friends (me=Thank God, Swell=boo hoo).
No hobbies.
No family nearby.
No direction.

I think that's why this Nome opportunity is attractive to us. Its something different. It will break us out of our doldrum.

But it does nothing to further our lives.

It doesn't help us move forward.

We've done a lot of lateral movements in the five years we've been married. Hopping from thing to thing without any long term direction.

We're trying to gain that long-term direction by opening/buying our own practice but in our selfishness (that's not really the right word...) we don't want owning a practice to cramp our other opportunities. Its a catch 22. We can't continue to live here and work for others but we can't move anywhere else and work for others as we'll go broke.

So we'll devote our lives to owning a small business and this will make the pursuit of money (not necessarily in a bad way) become a central theme of our lives. We, after all, will have bills to pay, payroll to meet, etc.

This raises a whole bunch of other questions that is difficult for us to grapple with.

Do we open on Buy Nothing Day?
Will there be a market for an optometry practice dedicated to helping eradicate poverty, injustice, and inequity? (We plan on setting aside a certain percentage of income/profit? to give to yet to be determined NGOs. We will advertise (internally) this fact.)
Is it possible to find fair trade spectacle frames? Lenses?
Will we be able to pursue other interests outside of a small business without killing ourselves or the practice?

These and other questions weigh on our hearts and minds as we scrounge to survive a life we dislike. While we continue to work for money rather than enjoyment. While we continue to live lonely lives.

So in rebellion I became homely homeless looking.

What did that accomplish? Nothing. But it felt good to rebel.

We will continue our rebellion in our Christmas gift purchases.

We will continue our rebellion by refusing to participate in the busiest shopping day of the year (aside from my cookie and drink... I suck).

We will continue our rebellion by being small business owners who own a business that treats employees fairly and desires to leave lasting change in the world.

We will continue our rebellion by trying to forgo the trappings of wealth.

We will continue our rebellion by...?

Another Day

Happy American Thanksgiving

and don't freaking call it "Turkey Day" or I'll hunt you down and hurt you.

Why Not?

A portion of an email I found in my inbox a week ago is below:

Hello Fellow Optometrists:

Anyone interested in adventure and travel?

We have recently received a unique request for OD coverage in Nome, Alaska. Yes, that is way up North. The client is looking for someone to provide optometric coverage for a period of 11 days every 6 weeks through September 2008. They will pay airfare and provide housing. The housing is within walking distance of the facility.

My thought? Why not?

Will hear more later but it would be pretty cool to do this. We'll see if we can make it work or not.

Facts

To the tech who decided to walk into my office to tell me how to do my job:

Fact 1) It doesn't take me 30 minutes to realize that an 81 year old woman with complaints of decreased vision has cataracts.
Fact 2) I spent the majority of my time in the exam room explaining to the "little old lady" that she has cataracts and new glasses would do nothing but empty her wallet.
Fact 3) The "little old lady" did not want to listen to a word I said.
Fact 4) The "little old lady" wouldn't listen to reason. I know what I'm talking about. No matter what she says new glasses are not going to help. I don't care what she believes or thinks.
Fact 5) I am not going to make my next patient wait so that I can talk to the daughter of the "little old lady" without the "little old lady's" permission. Put them in a room and I'll get to them next.
Fact 6) Don't ever, ever tell me to explain things to people, especially "little old ladies", again. If you knew anything about me or my exam techniques you would know for a fact that I educate too much. I spend far too much time educating at the end of my exams. It puts me behind.
Fact 7) I couldn't care less if this "little old lady" wants to get a second opinion. More power to her. Don't throw that out like I did something wrong. She's a stubborn old mule masquerading as a "little old lady" who won't listen to reason. I am confident that her second opinion will cost her more money as she will pay for the exam and may wind up at some unscrupulous OD's office who will change her prescription and sell her useless glasses.
Fact 8) I know its hard to believe but in addition to my rugged good looks I have a brain and I know how to use it so you can rest assured I don't need you to tell me how to interact with patients or how to do my job.



Oh and I should add:

To the jackasses selling Christmas trees today.

Really? Are you serious?

Still doing little to nothing exciting in life.

It will soon be Swell's big 3-0.

Her folks are coming to help her celebrate. They will be here on the first.

On Swell's Birthday we'll probably go to a restaurant not far from where I work and then to a lounge downtown that spins and gives 360 degree views of Atlanta.

We'll also do our Xmas with her folks while they are here. We'll exchange gifts, have some sort of "Xmas meal", and play games. Unfortunately we only have a couple days off with them and we can't afford/are not able to take time off. It will be a jam packed visit but should be fun.

Looking into a unique part-time job opportunity. Will find out much more in the next few days but suffice it to say:

1) Employer pays airfare
2) Employer provides housing
3) Work 2 weeks every 2 months
4) Lasts until next September
5) Need warm clothes

I always jump at things that sound fun and exciting but this one would require a lot of things to fall into place to make it work.

We're looking forward to our time off at Christmas and our time in E'Town. It never seems like Christmas time around here. No snow. Warmish weather and nothing to excite us. Although this year, unlike last year, we'll be decorating our house for Christmas.

We didn't last year because we left the country shortly after Christmas. This year we'll decorate on Thanksgiving because we both work before and after.

I'm just sitting at one of my gigs doing nothing but feeling guilty as my "employer" is seeing patients and I'm doing nothing. Oh, well. Not my fault. If he wasn't busy enough to keep me busy he shouldn't have hired me.

I hope it gets busier so that I can keep this job at least.

The Internet is Pretty Cool

Not much going on in Atlanta these days. We're still working.

We're still breathing.

That's about all we're doing.

Although on Tuesday we were able to go to a hockey game for free. It was fun.

We saw the Atlanta Thrashers beat the Washington Capitols 2-1 in overtime. I'm not entirely sure how we got the tickets.

I know they were given to us by one of my employers. I know that he got them from a local Ophthalmologist. I don't know how the ophthalmologist got them.

Are they the practice's tickets that they give out to various optometrists as a thank-you for referrals?

Were they given to the ophthalmologist from a pharmaceutical company and then passed down the food chain?

Are they the ophthalmologists personal tickets and he just couldn't use them?

I don't know and I don't really care.

Swell and I were joined by the office manager and his friend as no-one else from the office could go. We were sitting directly across from one of the goal posts about 3 rows up from the glass. We had our own personal waiter although the food was not free.

Well it was but it wasn't.

As I reached for my wallet to pay for our hot dogs and drinks the office manager pulled out the company credit card and we ate for "free". Good times.

It made us want to go to more games because they're fun. We'll see if we actually pay for something though.

I don't like to pay for things.

I like free things.

Many of you will remember that before this incarnation of our "blog" we had a different one. We did not do a very good job at keeping that "blog" unidentifiable.

A few weeks ago a fellow Swell works with had the following exchange with her.

Swell: You're making me angry. Stop it. I'll figure it out.
Guy: If anyone should be angry it should be me! I read what you wrote on your blog.
Swell: What? What blog? We have three of them. What are you talking about?
Guy: You wrote it just before you left to go to Palestine.
Swell: Was what we wrote a lie? What are you talking about?
Guy: I could have said something about this when I first saw you but I bit my tongue...

aside. The funny thing is he may have bit his tongue then but he was waiting for a time to bring this up. It was eating at his very soul.

...I wouldn't say it was untrue but I would say that people have different opinions about things.

Swell: Well I don't know what you're talking about but I do know that I didn't write it. It was my husband.
Guy: I know it was your husband.
Swell: How did you get it.
Guy: Some one printed it off and gave it to me.

Someone PRINTED IT OFF AND GAVE IT TO HIM!

Swell: Who.
Guy: I'm not going to tell.

Now this is the funniest thing. Someone took the time to print off one of our posts and show it to him after we had departed Atlanta. His talking about this made us want to go back and read what we I wrote.

I stand by it, although it seems a little mean. When I apologized to Swell for getting her in trouble she didn't care. She stands by it as well. Hopefully, we have done a better job of keeping this one from being found by those we don't want to see it, although we continue to stand by whatever we've written here as well.

Here is a portion of what was written:

Person "1" is by far the most annoying. I'm thinking specifically of a guy named [his name was written here]... a co-worker of Swell's. Suffice it to say he is an ass. Not just about this but about everything he ever does. He's mean, arrogant, and cruel. The funny thing, to me, is that he has absolutely nothing to be arrogant about. He has a terrible job at which he does a terrible job. He has a miserable life - mostly thanks to himself - yet he treats everyone he meets with great contempt. He thought it necessary to scare Swell all day at work yesterday by saying BOOM . To get her "used to hearing the bombs". Luckily for Swell her work experience this year has been limited with this guy. She was very fortunate to be transferred out of his store. But by trying to scare Swell (in two ways at that) I nominate him for jack ass of the year. I am sure he will receive a plethora of votes. I think his saying that she should get used to hearing the bombs speaks loudly to his intelligence (read lack of).

Oops.

But Ha, Ha!

When reading this post over Swell and I began to wonder how we could go about saving all those posts for posterity's sake. I was searching the internet and found a program someone devised that would take every post we made and convert it to a PDF file along with all the comments people left.

He made the program to be used for free, although I did donate some money for his troubles. So we have saved all our posts but I'm currently trying to do it again because none of the pictures came through. If the pictures never come through I'm still really stoked that someone took the time to make this program for donations only. It's really cool and we're happy to have those 18 months saved.

So to the internet gurus out there I salute you.

My computer may not be long for this world as the monitor is having intermittent seizures. It will get all dark and then the monitor will begin to flash at a relatively rapid pace.

Maybe I'll get a free replacement?

Christmas list redux

Ok.

This is a post for family only. Why don't I email them? Because I don't have any family email addresses or regular addresses or phone numbers for that matter.

Presents from us will be limited for a variety of reasons including our my growing disdain for consumerism (so feel free to ignore my list altogether), our desire to move (and consequently strained budget), our inability to travel with 100 pounds of gifts (and the Canadian Government's desire to tax us on gifts we bring in).

Please budget your gift buying accordingly.

If you are even considering going into debt to buy us a gift we would, yet again, prefer to buy you a coffee and doughnut from Tim Horton's while we're there.

When looking at our lists please be advised that there are comments about the gift on some of our items. They will explain some of the reasoning behind our request.

Again. Nothing is often better than something. You are going to get closer to nothing than something from us and we expect (nay demand) tit for tat.

While we're on a "family only" post I'd like to wish my parents an enjoyable seeing animals being tortured week. We know you enjoy the rodeo every year and hope that this year the animals win at least some of the battles.

I'm just kidding about the animal torture. I really couldn't care less about what happens to those poor fuzzy little bulls/horses/sheep/goats/chickens/dogs/whatever

Works in progress...

We HATE doing this.

Hate with a passion.

Dislike.

It causes us great pain to do this.

But here they are. They will be updated when the mood strikes us.

We expect nothing. We hope for less.

Swell's
Sheepie's

Remember, remember the fifth of November

"Good evening, London.

Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.

There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission.

How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense...

...More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot." - V (V for Vendetta)

Send money and new jobs*

Leave
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Depart: 7:24am Atlanta, GA
Arrive: 12:33pm Edmonton, Canada

Return
Friday, December 28, 2007
Depart: 12:25am Edmonton, Canada
Arrive: 9:40am Atlanta, GA

*Kidding about the money. Not so much about the jobs

Halloween for Cheapies

We live in a condo building.

140 units.

We are cheap.

We did wander the halls of all 6 floors tonight.

We did collect candy.



Yummy, yummy candy.