I thought it was bad when my latest Eager Recruit looked at me with huge eyes, and exclaimed, “You’re even older than my dad!”
*sigh*
Fortunately I have an eye doctor who is a shooter (even if he looks too sodding young to have actually gotten a medical degree) and he’s tweaked my new cheaters to give me 20/15 vision in my shooting eye. The thought that I might actually be able to see the 500 yard target has eased the sting of OMFGBIFOCALS!!! a tiny bit.
The no-line progressive lenses are giving me fits, though.
My old glasses are darn near a decade old, and are were scratched and hazy to the point it’s a wonder I could see the Exxon Valdez, much less anything else, so just walking around is fantastic …
… And then I glance down and my feet are a nasty little blur — until I crank my chin onto my collar-bone, and hey! There they are!
*sigh*
I am assured that the Human Brain Is A Wondrous Thing, and that the blurring as I flick my eyes around the various distances in my field of view will be gone in two weeks.
And my lady loves the new frames.
So, all in all, I’ll call this one a win.
LawDog
You'll adapt to no-line bifocals. I did. Although I still have to take the damn things off to read. *sigh*
Glad you haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, Law Dog!
Eye doc said she was ready to give me tri-focals when I got out of the Nile, er, denial. Guess I'm all wet! Ulises from CA
Been wearing bifocals since I was ten (38 years as we speak), so all my friends come to me for advice when they get their first pair. Here's what I tell them:
You can't see down more than a couple feet. That means you have too check the ground in front of you before you get to something you may trip over (or nasty stuff you may step in).
Stairs are an adventure. Hold the railing until you get used to them, then keep holding on anyway.
Progressives take some getting used to, I hated mine for the first couple weeks. Now I love them.
Good luck with the Lawdog, stick with them, you'll adapt.
I've been wearing no-lines for about 35 years, now. I have the middle portion cut for my pistol's front sight to be its nearest focus (just a bit higher than they normally put it.) This works quite well for both point shooting and aimed shooting.
You'll get used to the no lines soon and wonder why you ever fussed with the break in your vision.
Pops
When I first got progressive lenses, I looked like a chicken hunting bugs bouncing my head around trying to find the not blurry spot.
Took me awhile to adapt from being an "eye mover" to being a "head mover". It takes some time but you'll adapt.
Though I have progressive bifocals, prescribed nearly 10 years ago, I still soldier on mostly without 'em, except for reading fine print or in dim light.
At the range though, I just shoot by braille.
Seriously though, it's not a near/far sighted problem that screws with my shooting. It's the damn astigmitism in my right (dominant) eye. Yep, I get two front sights in the picture!
I'm 53, so I can start investigating what procedure will be best for that. And saving up nickels n' dimes, too.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
wv: millinia (how old I feel)
I have avoided bifocals, but being nearsighted has its own disadvantages as you age: namely, I now have to remove my glasses to read.
That's okay, though — I first got glasses at 15, and the doctor told me then that I'd have to take them off to read. He was right, but he missed it by about 30 years.
I'm 48 now, and still resisting bifocals. The doc insists I "have to have them". Oh, really? What's my near-vision correction, again? "Zero", you say? No thanks, I'll keep the extra $250 and just take my glasses off as needed.
My far vision is still decent enough that I can sit here at my infernal computing device and type without glasses, while turning around to read the World Series score on the (ancient, CRT, 35") babblebox that sits 15 feet away.
Contacts and mono vision really isn't that bad when you get used to it. :>)
Glasses, we don't need any f#%king glasses, we have guns….
I must be some sort of Luddite, I buy bifocals, and just adapt. Not sayin' all the really "ding dong" new bifocal glasses are great, they probably are. Just sayin'. Killed a buck mule deer at 200 yards (maybe 150 or 100) with my AK47 and bifocals (bought at Walgreens). jus sayin'.
Nice to read your latest post. Will always check in everyday to read your next one.
Welcome to being an old fart Lawdog! But if you can now SEE the targets, I'm really scared, considering how well you shot when you were 'blind'!!! 🙂 And they DO take a bit of getting used to…
I've been wearing bifocals since I was in my early 30s. Doc said "you need to quit reading so much." I gave him my 'drop-fleeing-student-at-ten-paces' glare and have regular bifocals. But as others have said, my astigmatism mucks me up for anything other than shotguns and handguns: hey look! I've got three sights on a two-sight rifle! Grrrr.
LittleRed1
I've strugggled with this for about 30 years. After throwing two pair away, I discovered there is a difference in quality amongst the manufacturers. Currently I wear Varilux no-lines. It's my understanding that Zeiss makes the best no-lines. Also understand they are quite expensive.
Ah, ya buncha sissies! I got a lens implanted INSIDE my (one working) eye and I STILL have to wear bifocals.
I figured my VA eye doc could give me the odds on a retinal detachment from shotgunning. Nope. And me with an almost-cherry Model 12… Sigh.
Anybody know the g-forces imparted to eyeballs by handgunning?
You're not old, you're finally major-caliber!
Hey LD. long time no blog!
My neighbor cheats. He has 2 pairs of glasses, instead of bifocals he has one pair in each prescription. So no bifocals, his distance glasses are tinted so he wears them as sun glasses, his readers are untinted, but he can't see his own feet to well while wearing them.
Hmm, did bifocals myself for quite a few years, now exclusively contact lenses and would never go back. They even correct my astigmatism, and only gotta change them once a month. pop 'em in, month later pop them out, new pair! It's great, and no double front sights…..
I got my first bifocals when I was 6. That was my first set of glasses.
I "outgrew" the bifocals when I got contacts as a teen, and I'm still not back in them (though my next eye exam is in a month or two). Hopefully, I'll still be able to avoid going back to them.
But I know the feeling of a new set of glasses and trying to settle in to them. When I was in college, I'd gone a couple of years between eye exams, to the point where I was pretty much no longer using one of my eyes. A new set of glasses took me a couple of weeks to get used to, but then I had depth perception again.
I've got tri-focal no- line progressives, and the doc gave me good advice that i'll pass along: point your nose at what you want to see. Sounds weird, but it works for me. Good to have you back, Dawg…
Well look who's back!!
Welcome Sir.
As for the cheaters, like the above said, point your nose.
OK so now you can see no excuses for no new stories. I miss them.
Ben
I'm 50, and got bi-focals for the first time about 5 years ago. What a PITA! I got the no-line version, and it did take a couple of weeks to get used to them.
Got a new prescription last year, and decided to get the bargain of 2 pairs for $99 at Sears – but they have a line. I very much regret getting the line, because once you don't have one it is hard to get used to looking up and down with the fuzzy thing in the middle…talk about looking like a chicken hunting bugs! Next set will definitely have no line.
I went kicking and scratching into the world of bifocals…I always (and still do) believe that they're for geezers. Must just be something messed up with my eyes, or something in the air, cuz I ain't that old. :>)
ON AN UNRELATED MATTER, I'd like the official Law Dog comment on the Montgomery County LEOs getting robot helicopters (which, of course, they claim won't be used to spy on people, even though they have IR cameras mounted on them). See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2799979/posts
Note also that these little choppers have the capacity to have guns mounted on them. Doesn't that give you a severe case of the warm & fuzzies?
I'm 50, and got bi-focals for the first time about 5 years ago. What a PITA! I got the no-line version, and it did take a couple of weeks to get used to them.
Got a new prescription last year, and decided to get the bargain of 2 pairs for $99 at Sears – but they have a line. I very much regret getting the line, because once you don't have one it is hard to get used to looking up and down with the fuzzy thing in the middle…talk about looking like a chicken hunting bugs! Next set will definitely have no line.
I went kicking and scratching into the world of bifocals…I always (and still do) believe that they're for geezers. Must just be something messed up with my eyes, or something in the air, cuz I ain't that old. :>)
ON AN UNRELATED MATTER, I'd like the official Law Dog comment on the Montgomery County LEOs getting robot helicopters (which, of course, they claim won't be used to spy on people, even though they have IR cameras mounted on them). See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2799979/posts
Note also that these little choppers have the capacity to have guns mounted on them. Doesn't that give you a severe case of the warm & fuzzies?
Sorry for the double post.
.tsop elbuob eht rof yrroS
Must be the damned bifuckles.
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I get the same thing from some of the FD recruits – "You're older than my Dad!" My response is to remind them that's all the more reason to PAY ATTENTION!
When they said bifocals I said LASIK.
Best thing I ever did.
Gerry
You can't be old. You're roughly my age. :p
Have you considered a phakic lens (ICL) implant?
Mark McGuire did it and it made him see 20/13 and he hit a bunch of home runs.
Shootin' Buddy
My first glasses, four years ago, were no line bifocals. The next pair will be trifocals. I need the readers at the top, also. My aging neck gets strained when I continously look up to read things at higher locations, like overhead displays in my truck.
I've seen Jim shoot. If that's him shooting by braille, I surely do not want to *ever* piss him off once he gets his specs…
Trifocals with lines, bottom for reading, middle for monitors and front sights, top for the rest of the world (TM)
Geoff
Who needs an eye exam..maybe next pay day, or the one after that…
You get used to no-lines. I tried on a pair of lined & almost got sick from the jump. By the way, your santa story from years ago, sent sweet tea onto the screen of a friend who read it. And you'll find out that the "in" smaller frames – won't do for lineless bifocals. The larger the glasses area, the more area you'll have for the view. Just don't get grampa glasses, otherwise they'll never let you live it down.
I'm sure you look quite dapper in the new specs. And when did doctors get so young anyway? I'm not old enough to want to call my doctor 'Skippy'.
Without my glasses I can't even see the REAR sights of my handguns.
One of my colleagues said "You're the coolest guy your age I know." I'm sure she meant that in the nicest way.
I realize this post is almost a month old, but thought I’d post my two cents anyhoo.
First time I got trifocals, I noticed the top portion was great for seeing the road, the middle was great for the dash, and the bottoms were great for seeing stairs and steps that were not there. I really like the progressive lenses I have now, much better than the old bifocals & trifocals.
The company I work for springs for new safety glasses whenever my prescription changes. Titanium frames because my skin oils will etch off the gold from steel frames, Transitions tinting because I go outside during the day in Southern Arizona, antireflective coating because I work with computers as part of my job. Same glasses from a dispenser would probably run over $300.
I have a great, understanding eye doctor!
I explained the trouble I had trying to see the front sight and target with the glasses I have, and he wrote a special script that I took to a local discount ($29.00) optical dispenser.
The adjustment allows me to be able to focus on the front sight and see the target through the upper left corner of my right lens. The right lens center of correction has been moved to the upper left corner of my right lens. The left lens is correct for general use with my left eye; walking loading the magazine, etc. The setup also works better with scopes too.
I am not sure if effect follows cause here but I have been printing books off the ‘net out in fine print to save paper. (Tahoma 3 & 3.5 point, 5 or 6 columns, ½ inch margins) And for the last 3 years my eyes have been getting stronger. Smaller corrections in both eyes than before starting reading the fine print without glasses.
Oh you just wait till you need tri-focal no liners…
Gmac