The Weekend That Was

I wrote the following over many hours (between patients, at lunch, after work, etc.) and after posting it and reading it, it barely makes sense and I'm too lazy to fix it. C'est la vie, non?

Swell’s parents are leaving early tomorrow morning. It was a nice visit. On Sunday we celebrated Christmas with games, a continuous finger food buffet, and gifts. On our Boxing Day (Monday) we went to the aquarium and someone (ME) made a fabulous dinner and more games were played.

On Tuesday it was Swell’s birthday.

Why is it that a description of my beautiful wife’s birthday requires me to write about a multi-national corporation’s public relations, public health work and a boss who takes advantage of me?

It is necessary because I’m a fool and December 4th is Home Town Day.

What is Home Town Day? Well, that would be a billion dollar multi-national corporation’s attempt to show the people it consistently rips off that it is a good corporate citizen.

Home Town Day is one prong of Luxotica’s four pronged blitzkrieg of preventable vision impairment.

Prong 1 is regular Gift of Sight exams. In the office I work at we do 1 exam a week for free. The individual also receives free glasses from Lenscrafters/Luxotica.

Prong 2 is the Vision Van. This is a motor home/truck dealie that is equipped with two exam lanes that is used to do “eye exams” on individuals in need who are then also given free glasses from a nearby Lenscrafters.

Prong 3 is Home Town Day where a number of hours are set aside to see many needy people who are then given free glasses from Lenscrafters/Luxotica.

Prong 4 is an abomination to all that is good and is known as the Gift of Sight international programs. A huge waste of money from a public health standpoint but never ending PR for the Luxotica family.

Flashback

6 weeks ago.

Bosssss Home Town Day is December 4. Can you volunteer and see some patients that day?
Me I am going to have to kindly decline due to philosophical difficulties I have with Home Town Day.
Bosssss OK. I was just hoping you’d help out.

Saturday December 1, 2007

Bossss I’m going to give you a project that you won’t get paid for and is really beyond the realm of what an independent contractor should really do because I don’t think you’ve been busy enough lately.
Me Ok. but if you think I’m actually going to do it you’ve got another think coming.
Bossss See you next week.

10 minutes pass

Worker Bossss is on the phone for you.

Me Hello?

Bossss Home Town Day is on Tuesday. Can you come in at 9 (an hour early) and help me out? I’ll be there at 8:30am and start everything you just come in at 9 and help out.

Me Ummmm…fine.

Tuesday, December 4

Walking into the store at exactly 9 am I realize that there are about 15 homeless people sitting in the waiting room with plates full of Christmas cookies and Chick Fil A chicken nuggets waiting to be seen for their free eye exams.

I head immediately to the back office to put my things down when I am told that there are people seated in the exam rooms ready to go.

Me Where is Bossss?
Office Manager He’s not here yet.

This is where I said a few choice things about: i) A waiting room full of people, ii) The fact that I said I didn’t want to do this weeks ago, and iii) Bossss not being at the office yet.

With those appropriately chosen words I went off to see my first patient.

You should know that when I see a waiting room full of people I have a physiological change. I become very tense, my heart rate increases, I begin to sweat a little and I have trouble breathing. Basically I have a mini panic attack. So when I said my choice words I was in that state.

After seeing a bunch of these good-for-nothing, lazy, unemployed, drunken homeless people the preceding was sarcasm for those that don’t know me Bossss took me aside to make sure that I wasn’t about to quit. Apparently office manager was upset with Bossss for not being on time. Bossss is habitually late and purposefully decided to come in late on Home Town Day due to his belief that homeless people will always show up late.

They didn’t.

He did.

I was mad at Bossss.

Office manager was mad at Bossss.

Bossss was mad at office manager as office manager let Bossss have it via multiple phone calls between 8:15 and 9:15. And a curt discussion in the office at 9:15.

I assured bossss that I wasn’t about to quit but I had in fact stated my displeasure to office manager. He was slightly taken aback but the three of us had a little sit-down and worked out our differences. Well until I'm forced to participate in the next Gift of Sight program that makes its way to our great office.

How can I be opposed to a program that gives free eye exams to needy people? This program is about getting as many people through the door as possible without impacting the day-to-day operations. That means they get 5 minute exams and a kick-in-the pants along with their Christmas cookies.

I don’t mind the weekly Gift of Sight patients as they get a regular exam slot. Home Town Day patients on the other hand…


So anyway I saw a bunch of needy folks and then the real patients started to come in at 10:30. With their arrival Bossss left for his day off. Within the onslaught of real patients a few Home Town Day stragglers also came in.

Due to Bossss’s lateness, and his early departure I ended up seeing more Home Town Day patients than he did.

All this despite my earlier declaration that I didn’t want to participate.

Oh well.

By the time 7 rolled around I had been working quite steadily since 9 that morning. I was tired and grumpy due to the circumstances surrounding the day and we still needed to go out for Swell’s birthday dinner.

Next year I’ll take the day off.

Upon the sight of Swell I cheered up and we were able to enjoy a nice dinner at Dante’s Down the Hatch (a cool divey-looking fondue place). I think her parents enjoyed it although her Dad was yelled at during the cheese-fondue appetizer. (He insisted on touching the pot despite being told not to by the girl in charge of keeping our flame lit. Boy could she light a flame! His touching the pot and breaking the rules caused great concern and the exclamation of Stop It! by the two ladies at our table. This in turn caused him to want to touch the pot some more… and the saga began.)

Following way too much food we drove to a local coffee/wine bar for birthday cake. Swell had the great idea of doing this rather than buying a cake because she knows I really don’t need to have left over cake in the house. We shared three pieces of cake between the four of us… well really two pieces between the three of us and an unnamed 50 something man had a piece mostly to himself. Which was the plan.

The evening ended with Swell receiving some birthday gifts. It was a nice birthday I think. She’s old now but still really cute.

Due to her birthday and our “Christmas celebration” our lists have been amended (we'll try to add more ideas if needed.)

Sheepie
Swell

Yippee!

Today is Swell's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Swell!

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.

Road Trip

So Swell and I just got back from our very quick, very spontaneous road trip. I was doing what I do best, nothing, when I saw an itinerary on the internet for a meeting occurring a mere 464 miles from our home. The first order of business on this itinerary was a presentation by a particular man. When I saw that this man was part of this meeting I said: "Swell. We've got to go to Tampa."

Swell: "Why in the world would we go to Tampa?"

Me: "I've got to see a man, about a thing."

With that she said, "Let's go."

Plans were made. Plans being we'll leave on Saturday after work get there in time to see the man about the thing and then come home on Monday. Plans did not include finding a place to stay. That would be too much planning.

On Saturday I was busy at work. The busiest I've been in years. No lies. Upon leaving I looked at one of the opticians (who used to work with me at my old job) and said, "that was worse than DVW" which is saying a lot.

A whole lot.

I saw my 30 patients and by 7:30 we were on our way to Tampa.

Long story short we were in bed by 4 am after searching for a reasonably priced hotel nearish to where the man was going to be.

I was up at 7 and out the door by 7:45.

I sat nearby the meeting and when I heard the applause indicating that the man was done speaking I stood near the door.

Upon seeing him I did what any sane person would do.

I said: "Dr. Man, I drove from Atlanta last night to give you this." and I handed him my CV/resume.

And that my friends is the way one gets noticed.

He was slightly taken aback and spent the next 10 minutes or so talking to me before he had to run to the airport to catch his flight to...


...Atlanta.

Goshdarnit.

The rest of Sunday was spent sleeping, visiting with some others who were in Tampa for the meeting and then going out with Swell for one of the best dinners we've ever had.

Swell asked the front desk person at the hotel what was nearby in terms of a good place to eat. We could have stayed for the meeting's dinner but since we had already stolen lunch from them as well as snacks we didn't feel it in our best interest to steal a $60 pp dinner although we easily could have...

...and were encouraged to.

We just wanted to go out on our own.

The front desk lady directed us to go from Tampa (nearish to the airport) to a town called Clearwater where we ate at the Island Way Grill. It was really good.

We started with an appetizer called Frankie's Tuna roll which is a sushi-like dish that was fantastic. Per the menu it is "TUNA, CREAM CHEESE, GOBO, ASPARAGUS, AND CRAB, BATTERED AND TEMPURA FRIED". It was out of this world.

Then we were, much to our surprise, given very large salads with Rice Wine Vinaigrette. This, too was fantastic.

Then for our main courses we had Szechwan Pepper Crusted Tuna. Which was recommended by the waiter to be prepared raw. It was served with wasabi mashed potatoes and sauteed Asian greens. We also got Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi. It, too, came with the wasabi mashed potatoes. Notice I said "we got" because we shared each. I ate half of the tuna while Swell ate half of the Mahi-Mahi and then we switched. Portions were huge. Too big. We couldn't finish either.

It was a nice night. We were sitting near the water (although it was just a marina it was nice) on a large patio. It was nice to get away from Atlanta. We decided we have to do it more often.

Then funny thing about being in Tampa - funnier than driving all the way there just to give someone my resume - was that I felt a strange twinge of guilt.

You know that feeling you get when you pass near or through a city where you know someone and you feel like you should at least give them a call to say "Hi"? Well we "know" someone who lives in Tampa and thought about looking them up on Monday morning but didn't. So as we left town on a disappointingly rainy Monday we felt a small twinge of guilt for not at least dropping some cookies off at this person's work place.

What's funny about this?

We've never met this person in real life.

We only know of them via the internet.

Yet we felt like we should say "Hi" because we were in the area.

That really would have taken my stalking to a whole new level. Pounce on someone unannounced as they leave a meeting just to hand them a resume and then show up at a person's work cookies in hand that we've never really met.

Maybe its good that we didn't.

Livid

So my column was put online yesterday. I still haven't received my hard copy. If the online version is the same as the published version I am livid.

It is not what I wrote. I never agreed to have my name associated with this version. It has blatant errors in it! I will soon see if the published one is the same as the online one.

See the online one here

My version is below:

A Mission for Vision

Teaching or training optometry to those less fortunate has a far greater impact than providing direct care.

Sheepie O.D., M.P.H., Atlanta, Ga.

A look of sheer terror crossed my wife Swell’s face, as we heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire nearby. As all five passengers in the dilapidated van ducked for cover, I couldn’t help but think, “What have I gotten us into?”
Swell (also an optometrist) and I were returning to our flat in the beautiful, mountainous Palestinian city of Nablus after a full day of orientation meetings at An-Najah National University in the West Bank.

Vision camp flashback
In the few moments between hearing the gunfire and regaining my composure, I flashed back to my first trip to the occupied territories. It was the summer of 1999 and I had just finished my first year of optometry school.
I was in Palestine to provide eye care to the local population as a part of the Pacific University College of Optometry Amigos EyeCare group. Despite having made advance contact with our Palestinian hosts, once we arrived in the Gaza strip, local government officials told us our services were not welcome. These officials said the Palestinian people would find ways to take care of their own vision needs. After some pleading from our team leaders and our local hosts, however, the government officials relented, permitting us to provide care to a population they would select: grade-school children.

For the remainder of our trip, however, the statement, “the Palestinian people would find ways to take care of their own vision needs,” reverberated in my mind. Yes, our camp was able to treat many individuals, but we did nothing to create an infrastructure or human resources. I, therefore, felt the impact we made was temporary at best. After all, once we departed, so did the community’s opportunity for eye care.

The right to sight
Earlier in 1999, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and other organizations concerned with global blindness, such as the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) developed VISION 2020: The Right to Sight. This global initiative calls for local human resource and infrastructure development in developing countries to combat preventable blindness by the year 2020.
Because of my concern regarding the long-term benefit and sustainability of care that came from my vision-camp experience, I was eager to put the principles of VISION 2020 into action in Palestine. So, when I discovered that An-Najah University was seeking foreign O.D.s to teach optometry, I convinced my wife to join me in Palestine for the spring 2007 semester.

A yearn to learn
Swell and I spent 16 weeks teaching various optometric courses, and we were thrilled with our bright young students. They earn their Bachelor of Science degree in Optometry while taking all classes in English. Due to procurement difficulties the entire faculty was without optometric equipment until just before our arrival yet the students were well prepared to pick up the equipment and begin to fine tune their finger skills. Despite a lack of previous teaching experience, we found teaching optometry came very easily. We were, after all, simply teaching what we do and see as clinical optometrists.
The program at An-Najah will produce optometrists skilled in all aspects of vision care including “medical optometry.” In May 2008, the first graduating class of Palestinian optometrists will receive their degrees. This will enable them to meet the vision-care needs of Palestinians for many years to come through constant direct service as a result of their optometric education and by acting as optometric educators.
The gunshots we heard on our first day turned out to come from a young policeman firing his rifle into the air. Perhaps he was acting as our unofficial welcome wagon, thanking us for trying to leave a lasting impact on the visual health needs of the Palestinian people. OM


If you're really in a reading mood you can Read this as well

The weekend is coming

Swell's Mum arrives for a visit early tomorrow morning. Sometime around 6 am we need to be at the airport to pick her up, then its off to our respective places of business. She will leave bright and early Tuesday morning - I think.

Swell faxed a contract and a payment to the consulting company I wrote about earlier. That means we're on our way to moving - somewhere - and owning a practice.

We're very excited. Although I'm hesitant to get terribly excited because there are other things we want to be able to do that could take a back seat with the stresses and demands of being business owners.

I'm a professional author... officially.

My column will be published in Optometric Management this month's issue (i.e. it is in the mail now). I will be paid for its inclusion in the journal.

My collaboration article is in November's issue of Clinical and Experimental Optometry which will be out soon. (I've seen the final version as it will appear in the Journal. Very exciting.)

My written all by lonesome article has passed one of two reviewers' second review but I have not yet heard back from the second second reviewer.

I am working on analyzing some silly data that we collected while in Nablus that Swell and I will turn into a paper soon after.

Upon receipt of the contract for my Optometric Management column I was reminded that they are always looking for "good" writers. I suggested a series of articles that I would write that would track our opening of our practice. Discussions on choosing a location. Choosing whether to buy or open cold. Decisions on what insurance to take, etc. The idea is being passed along so I may have some more writing to do. I'm already doing a very silly version of those articles on a secret blog that you're not allowed to see so it would just be taking those ideas and making them more serious and thoughtful. Fun to think that I may be able to write some serious public health things and then some more generic optometry things.

Things are really good around here. We spent a small fortune getting some paintings framed. They turned out awesome. We've framed 5 paintings (Two from Egypt, two from Moldova, and one from South Africa). A sixth (from South Africa) was simply stretched onto a frame.

The Moldova ones (which were sitting in a book for 7 years) are my favourite although the others look really, really good as well.

Sorry so boring but we really haven't been up to much lately. I think we're going to head down to Florida next weekend for Sunday as we want to get away for a bit and there are some folks we wouldn't mind saying "hi" to. I also want to give a small gift to the outgoing president of the main optometry group that provides volunteer services in developing countries. They are having their annual meeting a week from Sunday in Florida (we went last year). I want to give her a gift for being such an understanding and kind person despite the recent "attacks" on her organization's methods.

Thats it. More later.

I can't believe I get paid.

Today was, as was last Wednesday, my easy and guilty day.

I got paid - well - to see one patient. The rest of the day I just sat around doing nothing.

Nothing.

This particular practice depends upon insurance to draw patients in. I am in the process of being credentialed on the main insurances they take.

In the process means I am unable to see many of the patients as we wouldn't be reimbursed by their insurance company. So I sit.

And do nothing.

And get paid.

I feel quite guilty but they could have phoned and said: "Don't come in" but they didn't. So I did.

I am keeping up relatively well with my workouts.

I am following a training guide and do quite well with it. I didn't do my long run last Sunday so I'm repeating that week. Yesterday I upped my pace from the sloth-enly pace of 10:30 minutes/mile to the slightly more swift 10:00 min/mile and it actually felt better.

I missed last Sunday's long run because I was cooking with Swell.

We attend a bible study (Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey) immediately following church on Sundays. Church starts at 5:30pm and our bible study (not really at all a study of the bible...) ends at around 9:00 pm. This doesn't bode well for people's consumption of supper so one couple or two singles bring food for the group each week.

This week was our turn. Swell bristled at my suggestion of fruit roll-ups, chips, and doughnuts. She wanted to impress people (real Christianly, no?). So on Sunday, we cooked.

Swell We decided on chiftele, potato salad, tomato/cucumber/feta cheese salad, bread and confetti squares for desert.

Chiftele is a typical Romanian dish.

Meat mixed with more meat with a dash of meat for good measure.

Sunday morning found us at the local Farmer's market (Your Dekalb Farmer's Market - Mine? I didn't even ask for it!) buying ground beef (3 pounds), ground turkey (1 pound) and ground pork (1 pound).

I told you it was meaty.

In addition to these meats (of which we used all the turkey, pork and 2.5 pounds of the beef) mashed potatoes were added along with egg, seasonings, and bread crumbs.

The meats were mixed expertly by your's truly made into balls squished into patties and then fried.

I did a fantabulous job on the meat and meat by-products while Swell made the potato salad.

As a former vegetarian I was simultaneously revolted and intrigued.

Despite a late start to bible study and another couple bringing a dish (poor communication in our group - our leader wasn't there this week [it's a video series] and he neglected to inform them that we had volunteered to bring the meal this week) oh well.

They were sufficiently impressed and Swell beamed appropriately.

ASIDE:

For goodness sake if someone doesn't tell this ignorant hick family to stop yelling at each other sometime soon I may have to scream. Furthermore if the mother doesn't stop telling her kid he's wrong about why we celebrate Thanksgiving by telling him that it is the day the Mayflower landed I'll go over there take their youngest, screamingist child and beat them each with her.

/ASIDE

It was declared that we made the best meal yet and that we should just be left in charge of the food.

Now if Swell would only cook for me.

Tomorrow is my day off. Swell works. I don't. Life is good. Thanks for asking.

We haven't updated in a few days. Not because we don't love you, simply because we have nothing to say.

Nothing ground breaking to talk about.

Nothing exciting going on in our lives.

We're just existing.

Working.

Sleeping.

Dying a little on the inside every day.

Our time in Atlanta has to come to a close sooner, rather than later.

JDL and The Good One can testify to this. They are the ones who, if they were paying attention (unlikely), saw Swell crying up a storm on the shuttle from our hotel in Vegas to the airport.

She's tired of being alone in the big city.

Tired of missing out on all the good things life has to offer.

Decatur is great. Our condo is great but 3000 miles away from closest family is not. We can't leave Atlanta without new jobs in our new city. Even with new jobs we will be taking up to a 30% pay cut just by leaving the Southeast and heading to the Pacific Northwest. That is not something we can take lightly. An excess of optometrists leads to low wages. Three new optometry schools being opened in the next 5 years will drive wages down even further. While those that know me know that I'm not a money kind of guy I do have 6 figure student loans to pay back and I can't do that making minimum wage. We'll have to find something with guaranteed cash flow in a city with a relatively low cost of living. We'll see.

I'm on my Saturday lunch break again. Had 13 patient encounters in my three before lunch hours. Will have an equally busy afternoon and I'll then be exhausted until tomorrow. Swell must be busy selling glasses (She rarely sees patients but is expected to work the floor when not busy *roll eyes* as I've haven't heard from her all morning.)

I joined the American Public Health Association and they send me a monthly Journal with public health articles in them. The first one I read was quite interesting. It outlined the history of the availability of birth control through insurances.

Basically saying that through the history of birth control very few insurance companies are/were willing to pay for contraception despite the obvious cost savings they would have if women were able to plan their pregnancies.

This lack of coverage regained attention with the development of Viagra as it was quickly put on most insurance companies' covered drugs whereas many still refuse to cover contraception.

A strange contradiction. But to me shows the importance that western society places on Women's health, which is...

...it doesn't.

Today is my easy day.

Today is, therefore, also my guilty day.

It’s 9:30 am as I type this.

I’m at work.

My first patient is at 3:00 pm.

Easy and guilty.

So needless to say we’re back. We had a great time in Vegas which is always surprising to me as we don’t drink. At all. And we gamble very little. (Does throwing $20 in the penny slots constitute gambling?)

Vegas is a good time to people watch, see the sights, and eat too much. It was nice to have some visitors from Edmonton come down and spend some time with us. It was somewhat nice to be at an optometry conference although most of our education was dull. Swell was very keen on collecting free things from the vendors displaying their wares. She didn’t care if it was a pen, a balloon, a bag, or a piece of paper. If it was free it was snatched up by Swell.

Most of it will find its way to Romania.

It will cost more to mail it then it did to manufacture it.

The most exciting part of our trip was when I nearly won $30,000. One of the vendors at the show was giving away a two year lease on a Lexus Hybrid or $30,000. Knowing that money is far superior to a Lexus I would have chosen the money. They were giving away the car/money through a basic raffle.

They collected raffle cards every day. At the end of every day they drew 10 names. Those 10 people would be in the running for the car/money. You had to be present at the time of the drawing to win/get entered in the finals.

Day 1- We were unaware of the raffle and did not enter
Day 2 – We entered but did not have our names drawn
Day 3 – Swell didn’t want to hang out until the time of the drawing. She just wanted to leave. I insisted. Lo and behold my name was drawn. I was in the Semi-finals!

I now had a 1 in 30 chance of winning $30,000…

They actually changed the rules slightly and said they would now draw five names out of the 30 (actually 28 as 2 people didn’t show for the final drawing!?) and those five would have the chance to win the car/money.

My name was not drawn to be a member of the finals.

So I missed out on the money. Boo hoo.

While in Vegas we also went and saw Matsuri which is a great Japanese acrobatic/gymnastic/dance show. It was a lot of fun.

Other than that we wandered, laughed at people and ate too much food.

Swell and I also made an appointment to speak with a consulting group who will help us find a location to open a practice and give us business insight that we don’t currently have.

Very expensive but will be worthwhile. We will pay them a small amount in the next month or so and that will get us advice on where and how to open/buy a practice. When we buy or come closer to buying a practice we will fly down to their headquarters and go through business boot camp, we will then open and they will provide 6 months of support.

We’re both excited about this program as neither of us have any business skills and that was causing some concern when it came to working for ourselves.


Tomorrow, Thursday, October 11 is World Sight Day.

314 million people in the world are estimated to be visually impaired – with 45 million of them blind. 153 million are visually impaired due to uncorrected distance refractive error (need for glasses to see in the distance) and millions more are affected by uncorrected presbyopia (need for reading glasses). Optometry Giving Sight is an organization that collects money to be used to deliver eye care services and develop human resources and infrastructure.

Imagine going through life with decreased vision simply because you have no access to eye care and/or spectacles.

Consider helping to eliminate avoidable blindness/visual impairment by supporting Optometry Giving Sight on World Sight Day!

How can it be?

2 hour delay of a red eye flight + waiting for luggage + having to take the train home + having to be at work by 10 am + only 3 hours of airplane sleep over the past 36 hours = me being very tired.

Sooo tired.

Tired.

On to more important things. How can it be October already? On top of that How can it be Thanksgiving already?

I don't know but it is so...

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!!!