The Couch 116: Puns Tsar Terrible...

Well that was well timed... I shouldn't watch they always lose when I watch. They don't have a very good record of winning when they don't score first.

I would take the idea that you can have fun with it as the ultimate sign of being grounded, enlightenment even (sorry, I hate Windows with a purple passion).

Don't lose heart...that was just a guy who has it in for his former team. Doesn't count.

(c'mon PC, why does a message have to be 8 characters?)

Maybe eight is a significant number in psychotherapy?

Perhaps, perhaps!

I finally got a desk for myself at home not long ago, so I finally moved my laptop into the office, convenient for now while I'm fixing his computer, I'm keeping one eye on it while I'm on here. I'm making progress, the thing wouldn't even boot up at all earlier. Getting there!

So I took my husband to get his eyes checked because he keeps complaining that things are blurry. Come to find out, looks like he may have a cataract that needs to come out. I had to tease him that his eyes are "older" than mine.

While I was at it I had my eyes checked. I didn't think they had changed that much, but apparently my left eye is worse than it's ever been and my right eye has actually gotten better. I have the oddest looking prescription. Might explain the eyestrain I've been having. I had been blaming it on the computer, which is probably part of it, but both eyes had changed fairly significantly. So . . . I had to find a new pair of frames and get them ordered. Kind of broke my heart because I love the frames I have, but they weren't going to be able to just do the lenses. I found a pair I think will be fine; not quite as nice quality as the ones I have, but they'll be fine.

That he does, understandable in a way as well lol

I also hate it when I have to get new frames. I don't like paying for them but I also don't like getting rid of a frame when I like the fit.

Fortunately my husband has really good vision insurance (good thing because everyone in this family wears glasses). Our exams were free, and I actually got out of there for $150 which is pretty darned good for frames, progressive lenses, transitions, lightweight lenses because I have a large prescription, etc. Without insurance it would have been $600ish. Picking frames is such a decision because you are kind of married to them for at least a year or so; better choose wisely.

Can't you just swap the lenses if the frames are ok?

When I picked out frames for my new glasses, they kinda chuckled at me because I picked the exact same one I currently had. But I like them, the nose piece is not a separate metal thing I hate those because they always break (I'm hard on glasses lol) it's molded as part of the frame. Just more comfortable for me.

Depends on how much your prescription has changed and how thick your lenses need to be and what they're made of.

I don't have vision insurance so we go to Costco, my new pair of glasses was $130 including the frame and I had them put that scratch protection coating on them this time too. The exam was $60 so it was still under $200 which made me very happy. The old pair still works ok enough for reading in bed or writing down my dreams in the middle of the night, so I keep those by my bed and I'm keeping the new pair in the case. Not that I don't trust the scratch protection but I don't trust the scratch protection. Ha!

Surely your vision doesnt change that much in short period. Aren't they all made of plastic these days?

That was nice work by our pitcher that inning!

Not with any guarantee they won't mess up my frames and I would end up eating the cost of the new frames anyway. The particular vision place I used doesn't have their own lab, so I would have to send off my frames which is impossible for me because I absolutely cannot be without my glasses.

Wow now Eric Clapton is having trouble with playing guitar...

Vision can change quite a bit depending on the person, and when you have more complicated prescriptions like mine, there are specifics about frame type and size I have to keep in mind.

As far as type of lense, yes they are all plastic, but there are different types of plastics and when you get up into a large prescription, they have lighter-weight materials or the lenses become really thick and heavy. The lighter-weight lenses are generally more expensive.

I know that I wear glasses myself. I am practically blind without them. I understand thick heavy lenses. Is it just the cost? What I don't understand is the insurance. Is it like over here where places will charge you higher just because you have insurance?

I'm not sure what you are asking, but without insurance, my glasses would run anywhere from $450-$700 depending on the frames. Different vision insurance plans cover differently. We pay a bit higher premium for our vision insurance because we definitely use our vision insurance and our prescriptions are all rather involved. My husband and I are both in bifocals and one of our sons has a pretty complicated prescription himself. So, our check-ups are covered 100%. Frames up to a certain cost are covered !00% and we just pay the difference. Progressives, etc. are covered at much less than usual cost, etc.

It has been my experience over here that the frames are a standard price while the cost of the lenses vary as to whether you have insurance or not. You pay more for the lenses if you have insurance. This was told to me by someone who works in the industry.

Might be, but these places always talk about how good our vision coverage is and we do pay a reasonable price with our insurance. The way every place I've worked with does it is that they figure it all up at full price as you watch on the screen. You can see the cost of different types of lenses, tinting, etc. as they work up the order. It is only after that is all done that they send it through insurance and the insurance factors in. So because we have really good coverage, they are always impressed with how much less they cost than what other people pay who don't have insurance at all.

We've had that same experience with our medical and dental coverage. They all pay much better than many peoples' coverage apparently. I dread the day that my husband is no longer working and we have to transfer over to the teacher coverage; it apparently does NOT pay nearly as well from what I have heard from my teacher friends. That's a whole other subject.

My insurance covers the lenses and the exam (what they identify as the medical stuff). They cover a percentage of the cost of the frames. I don't know if the lenses cost more since I have insurance, because I don't pay for them at all. Since I usually base frame selection on what makes me look good, I usually end up paying more for more expensive designer frames (yes, I know, it's shallow of me).