I can see (better)

After 5 years of wearing the same glasses, I’ve finally upgraded to a new set of frames and lenses.  As you might guess, Karen wanted some input on which frames I picked, so we went out shopping a couple Saturdays ago.  We found some nice looking frames at the eye doctor’s
"boutique" (the first place we went to) and I made the executive decision to stop the shopping right then.  I had a feeling that we would go to 5 other places (she loves to shop) and end up coming back for this pair (it has happened enough that I know I’m right). We were told that they would be ready on Monday.

Monday comes around and I get a call from the optics guy… we can’t cut your lenses here in store, so we will have to send them out to be cut.  Evidently my astigmatism correction is getting worse and now it isn’t a standard cut.  Two weeks later and my lenses and frames finally arrived; I picked them up last night.  Here is a shot of them; I thought they had an interesting “architectural” style to them, especially the hollow space on the sides.  Want to know the most shocking thing? In a boutique full of pricey design brand name frames, Karen ended up liking a reasonably priced, no-name brand.  The odds of that happening are not very good, she typically drawn to the most expensive things. 

The real bad news is that the same astigmatism correction that makes regular glasses difficult to cut makes getting prescription sunglasses an even bigger pain in the ass.  Evidently the wrap around curvature of most sunglasses does not play well with my correction, which needs to be more flat (that is how it was explained to me).  GREAT.  The sales person suggested getting regular frames and put tinted lenses in them, but, in my mind, the whole reason to get sunglasses is so they wrap around and protect your eye from the sun.  If there are big gaps where the sun can get in, what is the point of wearing them?

We started looking around at frames and the pair that Karen liked the most ended up being the exact same Ray Ban sunglasses frame that I’ve been wearing for the last 5 years.  I guess the style has aged well?  We also found a set of Oakleys that I liked, but I was a little skeptical about the ends that go over your ears.  On most glasses they are hooked down to hold them in place behind your ear, but the Oakleys are straight.  I am not sure if those will be as secure as what I’ve been wearing?

I decided to wait on sunglasses to make sure the prescription is OK before ordering them.  I found a nice website that takes your prescription and narrows down the frame choices to the ones that will actually work with your prescription.  Happily, the Oakley frames that I like should work for me, so maybe everything will work out OK after all.