Tag Archives: Portland

It's 2009!

Events, Travel, ,

In which we were out of town for 26 hours and it was HELLA FUN!

Teh BF asked our employer if we could leave at six o’clock on New Year’s Eve. Our employer agreed! So we checked the weather, talked it over, and then gleefully took mmmFiber up on her offer to overnight at her place in Portland for New Year’s Eve.

Of course, I was stuck on the phone until 6:17, but we were pulling out of the BMI parking lot at 6:21. We made the trip in three and a half hours, and arrived at Adie & Adam’s a little after ten. They gave us champagne, we changed, Adie gave me a cute hat, and then we went out. They live right near Alberta street, which has several blocks of cute stores and pubs.

We went to four different bars, stopping at a couple of them a second time on the walk back home. We got drunk and rambunctious and hollered “Happy New Year!” to complete strangers. We discovered “the Alberta”: a cocktail made of lemon, orange, vodka, and lime juice muddled with fresh basil. I made Teh BF buy me a blingy ring from this awesome hustler chick (I thought she was awesome because (a) I was drunk, and (b) she was, like me, wearing fucking Crocks in Portland. In the rain. Like an idiot. Who the hell wears shoes with HOLES IN THEM in Portland?!) that we’d met on the walk from one bar to another. Then he ordered me some awesome black bean nachos because we were drunk and had not had dinner.

We went back to the house and drank more and talked and played with the dogs – they have two terriers, a Schnauzer and a Cairn – and hung out until the wee hours of the morning.

Six hours later we were up again. After coffee we went to the Chapel Pub for bloody marys and brunch. Then we took the light rail downtown and stopped at the Thirsty Lion, mostly to get out of the rain. Then we took the train back to the car, and the car back to the house, where we watched an episode of Red Dwarf.

Then we collected our stuff and Bindu and drove home. Whirlwind 26-hour vacation! Whee! I HAD DO MUCH FUN OMGWTFBBQ.

Back in W2, we pulled into the driveway, marched right down the stairs, and held the couch down until bedtime. I slept like a rock last night.

Valley Vision is Awesome

Health, , , , , ,

In which I want the whole Intarwebz to know how good those folks are over at Valley Vision.

Last month, I acknowledged that I really could not see anything clearly any more. I know what traffic signs say because of their shape and color, but I had to admit I really could no longer truly see them, and that on those rare occasions when I do drive I’m probably a heinous menace to everyone else on the road.

I asked a local where I should go; Teh BF – who doesn’t even wear corrective lenses, and was therefore mostly just guessing – said I should “try Valley Vision, over on Main.”

So I went to their website to get their phone number, and discovered that I could not only make an appointment online, but I could also fill out and submit the intake sheet before even setting foot in their offices! And I received an email confirmation! The next morning, they called me to confirm my appointment! Awesome.

When I went to my first appointment, the receptionist greeted me immediately. She explained the fees, and allowed me to walk over and make a payment in advance while I was waiting. My time in the waiting room was barely five minutes, and all the front office service was fast, friendly, and professional.

I went through the various stages of my exam with no waiting; the doctor came in immediately after the assistant was finished with me, and when all that was done I was escorted over to the optician to choose frames for my new glasses and he helped me immediately.

With my old contact lenses in, I was seeing 20/100. That’s, like, half legally blind, people. Totally should not be driving a motor vehicle like that! (It’s amazing how the brain works; it really will fill in an awful lot of missing information by drawing on experience. It’s why people can listen to transistor radios and think what they’re hearing is music: their brains fill in all the missing resonances.) I have mild presbyopia (loss of focusing ability), but not enough to need bifocals – thank God. (This is a really cool article for those of us who have never understood what the hell their optometrists were talking about.)

When I picked up my glasses, they service was again fast and friendly. When I picked up my contacts, I was given an exam by the doctor to make sure they fit and was asked back in two weeks for a follow-up.

Today the doctor checked the fit of my lenses extensively (even used yellow dye to check tear pooling under the lenses), gave me another Snellen chart exam, and determined I actually need another set of stronger lenses. I can pick them up next week and give them back the ones I have now.

Over all, killer service. I am now able to actually see things, and when I get my new new lenses I’ll be able to see EVEN MOAR. (I’ve been wearing gas permeable hard contact lenses for twenty years and never had a doctor have me back for two follow-ups and then give me another set of lenses to make it right. HOW HOT IS THAT?!)

I-84 at Arlington 12302008

In other VERY EXCITING news, we’re going to see Adie & Adam in Portland for New Year’s Eve. Hopefully I-84 down the Gorge will be clear, and we’ll get there in time to actually go out before the year changes!