Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

My powerful vision

I've had a few inquiries about how things are going with regard to my vision since my LASIK procedure back in June, so here is a quick update:

I just went in for my "final" checkup on my surgery, and my vision tested to 20/10 - much better than the 20/20 I was hoping for.

I am quite happy I went through the LASIK process, and would do it again without any hesitation. I have also received some oral and email questions in the past couple of months so I thought I'd share them here, along with my responses:

  • How's your night vision?
    • I've never had any issues with night vision either before or after the surgery.
  • Do you need reading glasses now?
    • No, I don't. They tell me I will, eventually, as part of the normal aging process but I can deal with that. There is no evading the march of time, I suppose.
  • Do you see halos or haze when you look at bright lights?
    • I did see a bit of haze for the first 45 days or so (most noticeable first thing in the morning and late at night), but it gradually faded. After that, I saw a bit of haze if I went too long without using my artificial tears (eye drops). I don't see any halos or haze any more.
  • What's your advice if I'm considering this?
    • Check out the doctor ahead of time. Ask for references, visit the office, and even ask to observe a surgery if you want to. If anything doesn't pass your sniff test, look elsewhere.
    • See if your insurance plan has any discounts available. Mine did - and I saved 20% by going to a doctor on the plan. I also used my company's medical "Flex" plan to make this a pre-tax expense (ask your benefits plan representative if this is an option for you).
    • After the surgery, do everything the doctors tell you to do for follow-up care. This is especially true of the regimen for keeping your eyes moist with artificial tears - that helps your eyes heal properly, and is one of the most important things you can do. I used a watch with a countdown timer on it to remind me to put the drops in on time.
  • Does this mean I have to put drops in for the rest of my life?
    • No, your tear production returns to "normal" levels over time. I still carry the drops, but I only really use them first thing in the morning now and when my eyes get tired from late nights.
  • Where did you have your LASIK done?
    • Teplick Vision, and I'd use them again. You can find them at www.oregonlaser.com, if you're so inclined.
    • In the interest of full disclosure, I don't (and haven't) received compensation for any of the stuff I've written about them on this blog. However, if you tell them I sent you and you get the surgery done there, apparently I'll get some kind of thank you gift from them. I'll gladly accept such a gift, should I receive one.
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Is there a hockey stick in your world?

You may have noticed the deafening silence in my posting this week (or not - but it was there). That's because I work for a software company, and it was the end of a quarter.

In our business, the end of every quarter is a frenzied period in which a large portion of our quarterly business closes in just a few days time. This is fairly common within every software company I've ever been associated with, and it can be an exciting and stressful phenomenon.

Exciting, because there are a lot of great, game-saving "plays" that pull a team together to do what it takes to get the business in. Stressful, because it's really hard to predict where your business will come in when so much of it remains "invisible" until the final days of the quarter. The fact that any delay in process on either side (the company's or the customer's) could cause the business to slip beyond the end of the quarter. In these cases, it can affect the software company's profitability or, in the case of many customers, the budget may "disappear" if it isn't spent.

This is called the "Hockey stick effect" in our business, because it means a big spike at the end of the quarter, causing our daily business graphs to be shaped like hockey sticks.

This effect seems to be rooted in the quarterly-focused metrics of the public software company, but it happens in privately held companies, as well (like mine). I often wonder how much customers perpetuate this phenomenon by holding their buying decisions until late in the quarter to gain extra pricing leverage against software companies?

This has gone on so long in our business that I think it's baked into the fabric of the software business.

What about those of you in other businesses? What kinds of cycles do you deal with? Are they good or bad for you, your customers, and the business?

I'd love to hear your stories.

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Is something eating you?

If you're a regular visitor to this blog, you may have noticed that I no longer have any of those hover popup windows coming up for any of my links.  Those originally came about out of my fascination for futzing around with things, and went away because of something that happened today.

Here's what went down:  I got an email from Eric, who told me that he was very annoyed with them and asked if I'd consider taking them off.  No problem - I figure that his one complaint could represent numerous other folks who find them annoying, so they are gone.

As he pointed out, he could have simply moved on and stopped coming here.  Instead, he chose to let me know so I would have the opportunity to make this site a more enjoyable place for him.  I love that.

It's unlikely people will fix things if they don't know they're broken

Fistshake Is there someone in your life that's bugging you, but you haven't let them know?  If they don't know it's a problem there's not much hope they'll do anything to improve the situation, is there? 

What can you do?  Here are some possibilities:

  • Complain about the person who's annoying you to someone else
  • Bottle it up inside and tough it out
  • Wait until things reach the boiling point and unleash the rage
  • Walk away and give up

Unfortunately, none of these is likely to make the situation much better.

Take responsibility for your own well-being

From time to time, I'd venture we could all take a cue from Eric.

If someone is doing something that annoys you:  In the spirit of wanting to make things better, let them know you're not satisfied with the current situation, and tell them how you'd like things to be. 

Sure, the popup thing was a pretty small issue for me to fix.  But Eric's approach works for the big stuff, too.  And who knows - you just might get what you ask for.

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[Updated] Keep your powder dry?

The new restrictions on carry-on items have put a cramp in my style, so to speak. I don't like checking luggage on short trips because of the extra time checking bags introduces, and the inherent risk of lost stuff (I've had my share of lost luggage and pilfered items from my luggage).

Since I can't carry gels, creams, or liquids in my carry-ons, I've ended up buying a lot of toothpaste and hair gel in hotel gift shops. Unfortunately, many of the hotels are out of these items and it's no fun to wander about looking for a drug store in an unfamiliar town - usually late at night. I also hate having to throw out perfectly good hair gel and toothpaste when I've only used one day's worth of them.

On the toothpaste front, I think I've found a solution: good old tooth powder. My grandparents used to use this stuff, and I haven't found it in a grocery or drug store locally, but I have found it online. I ordered mine through Amazon (there are a number of types and flavors to choose from). I settled on mint tooth powder from Eco-Dent, for $4.80 per package. Spendy? Yep. But easy to cost-justify when you compare it to the cost of toothpaste in hotel gift shops.

Now - does anyone have any solution for hair gel? I haven't found any "just add water" products for that...yet.

Update: I've received a few questions on how this stuff tastes. It's a baking soda base (sodium bicarbonate) and has a bit of sea salt in it, so it tastes a little salty when you use it. However, after trying it for a few days, I really like it. It leaves your teeth very smooth and clean, and the "aftertaste" is minty fresh and clean - not salty.

Also, they estimate that this 2 oz. container will be good for about 200 uses. Not too shabby.

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