Month: October 2008

Doctor My Eyes

One summer afternoon I stood at home plate taking cuts with my aluminum Easton while my father tossed batting practice. He’d mix in a few curve balls among the fast balls. After I swung well ahead of one curve ball he told me to “pickup the rotation of the ball”.

The rotation of the ball? I had no idea what he was talking about and I told him. That was the first sign that my vision needed correcting. monster

It wasn’t long before I was back at the plate swinging away while sporting new contact lenses. I finally understood what my father meant when he told me to pickup the rotation. I could actually see the stitching on the ball as it came towards me. Over time, I learned to patiently wait on the curve and drive it into right field. 

It’s been a long time since someone has tossed a curveball my way, but I still make an annual trip to the eye doctor to be fitted for new lenses and glasses. This week I visited a new doctor who gave me the standard exam which included holding a black soup spoon over my left eye, having my eyelids flipped over over head, and putting my chin in a torture contraption only to have an unexpected burst of air blasted into my eye.

I don’t have a problem with any of that. But I do have a problem with something, and it’s not limited to just this eye doctor. Every eye doctor I’ve been to has the FREAKISHLY HUGE EYEBALL poster hanging on the wall. What is the point of this?

That big eye gives me the creeps.

The last thing I need while trying my best to read a line of microscopic letters is the evil glare of Mike Wazowski.

When I visit the dentist, I don’t have to look at a gigantic teeth and gums. I won’t take this any further, but you can imagine the uneasiness if all doctors decided to hang their body part specialty off the wall in poster size form.

I don’t need to see a close up of my cornea or my iris or, heaven forbid, all those blood vessels partying it up in the back of my eye.

It would make a good cheat sheet in case the doctor forgets where the sclera is located.

Or maybe there’s a obscure law that requires it to be hung on the wall in full patient view in the same manner businesses must hang the Minimum Wage laws in a conspicuous location.

Either way, I wish it would stop staring at me.

-Link to Doctor My Eyes from Jackson Browne

Cool Firefox Add-on

This is one of my favorite Firefox add-ons I’ve come across in a while, and I use it several times each day. I come across words I don’t know all the time and I use this add-on called Dictionary to find the meaning. All I have to do is highlight the word, right click and Dictionary launches a tab with the meaning.

You can choose from the Oxford, Cambridge or the Dictionary.com definition. I prefer the results from Oxford because they are short and to the point.

Tonight I looked up the word, xenophobe, when I came across the word on a blog. I don’t believe I’ve used that word in a sentence before. It may be a word that’s difficult to work into a conversation, but I’m going to try it out tomorrow now that I know exactly what it means.

 dictionary

Brain Freeze

I closed the door to my apartment, took a few steps towards the sidewalk and started to shiver. Only a two block walk to meet the bus. Felt like two miles. Each breath felt like a pin prick to the lungs.

By the time I arrived at the bus stop by toes were numb. I curled my fingers into a fist inside my gloves to keep them from the same condition. I told myself I could keep my body from shivering. But that came at the expense of my clenched jaw muscles.

And then I waited. In the dark just off Orchard Drive for the bus to arrive and transport me to the University of Utah. If the snow was packed tightly to the road I would stand still in wait. But if even the smallest patch of slush was on the road, I had to duck and dodge whatever dredge passing cars would toss my direction.

When I look back on these years I’m surprised I didn’t drop out of college. Or, at the very least, find a school far away from Utah’s cold long winters.

Yet, I was reminded why I stuck it out as I interviewed a recent college graduate this afternoon. I could see it in his eyes. That unbridled excitement. I could also sense his fear and uncertainty on a day the DOW dropped 733 points. There’s  no way he could predict our current economic crisis when he enrolled four years ago. Yet why now? Did he waste four years of his life?

I don’t think so. He related his reasons for going to college. It wasn’t to get a job. It wasn’t a springboard to another degree. Nope. It was to be challenged. To make himself a better person. To study subjects that challenged his beliefs. To grow up outside the safe confines of home.

And now he sat in front of me asking for a chance. Almost begging for an opportunity that may kick start his career. “I don’t know everything. I wasn’t a straight A student. But give me a chance and I won’t let you down.”

That could have been me begging for a break into the computer field nearly 14 years ago. I interviewed for a job at a local ISP and convinced the interviewer that I could learn Windows 95 although it wasn’t on the market yet. “I really want this job. I won’t let you down. Just give me a chance to prove myself.”

I laugh when I look back on those days. I loved the work so much I would have done it for half the salary. Remember Milton from Office Space who shows up to work each day long after they stopped his paychecks? That’s me minus the red stapler. 

What I learned at that first job was far more valuable than any check I took home.

Part of me misses those frigid cold mornings waiting in the dark for the bus. And the professors who challenged my beliefs. And feeding quarters to the Addams Family pinball machine between classes. And cramming all afternoon and into the evening until Seinfeld flickered across my old Magnavox.

Technorati Tags: ,,,