Hate it when it's incredibly hot outside. Hate it even more when I don't realize that it's going to be very hot outside and accidentally wear dark-colored clothes which just help absorb the heat that my black car doesn't take from the sun. Fortunately, with Husband driving, I can either crank-up the air conditioning or hang my head out of the window. Celeste doesn't hang her head out the window like other dogs and prefers the air conditioning (and not having to see her "mommy" looking like an idiot).
Today I had to travel across the state again for my eyes. This time I was there for low-vision occupational therapy.
Yeah, I was like you. "How do you do visual occupational therapy?" was the first thing through my head when I heard about it. Actually, they have you try to read a lot of different items in many different sizes, try-out different types of light sources, determine how much functional vision you have, and make more suggestions on how to improve or adapt your current vision to what you need.
Unfortunately, there's not much they can do for me regarding my night blindness and decreased vision when driving. That's just something that I'm going to have to learn to live without even though I prefer being an independent person. Relying on someone to take me places just drives me crazy and I hate having to bum a ride from friends. I'm very thankful that Husband understands what's going on and isn't bothered by taking me places at night (well, not yet at least).
Fortunately with my desktop computer I have a large monitor and it makes it easier to see. When I'm on my laptop, I can increase the print size and make things easier to read. They showed me a special flourescent lamp that has a nice blue-tinted light that is very even and doesn't have a "hot spot" like an old incandescent bulb has. When we tried a regular desk lamp and one of the flourescent lamps, I was able to read much more and even smaller print with the flourescent one. It's not up to 20/20, but it's better. Now I've got to find some to put in the house so that I can enjoy reading my books like I used to. I can still apply for audiobooks through the state's library for the blind, but I hate having to listen to them and not being able to start and stop when I want like I can in a printed book. Some have suggested an E-Reader, but I prefer the feel and smell of a good old-fashioned book.
What surprised me the most today though was how the therapist helped me find a "sweet spot" in my vision. She noticed when I was having difficulty viewing certain items that I would shift it until I could read it more clearly or I would shift my eyes rapidly as if searching for something. I've always had issues with that. I would use my right eye for reading and seeing up close and my left eye for distance viewing. Anything in the middle is a toss-up. The therapist had me look at her face (focusing on the center of her nose) and describe what I could see. I knew she had hair, eyes, a nose, cheekbones, and a mouth. She asked me to describe what I saw and it was all there but blurry. She then pointed at different places along the sides of her face and asked me to focus there and tell her what I saw. There was one place where her eyes disappeared; another where everything was so blurry if I hadn't already seen her I wouldn't be able to tell where some features were.
And then, it happened. She pointed at a spot to the left of her eyes, causing my eyes to shift to the right. Suddenly, not only could I see her face but I could also see the color of her eyes and the darker ring around the outside of her irises which I'd never noticed before. We couldn't pinpoint whether it was my right eye, my left eye, or both working together that made the difference, but just shifting my vision about four inches to the right made things so much better.
She gave me a bunch of worksheets with practice lessons to help train me to look at things "crooked" so that I'm using the "sweet spot" of my vision. She also showed me with a light meter how much I need to be able to see more clearly and we tried different light sources again. The blueish flourescent lamp was the brightest and now I've got to find somewhere that sells them. I want floor models in the living room & bedroom and a desk version I can move about the house and take with me if I'm gone with work or on a trip.
I'll be going back for another session sometime in the near future. I have to look at Youngest Son's schedule for the summer since he wants to get a class out-of-the-way this summer so he won't have to take the class during the school year and free-up a period for something else he wants. But I can tell already that learning to look to the right to see something is a trick that's going to be really hard to teach this old dog to do. Wish me luck!
Showing posts with label Cars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cars. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Top Gear brings back car memories
I'm taking the rest of the day off so I can get ready for the Season 18 premiere of Top Gear on BBC America. I've wished that I could go and see the show live or someday become famous enough to be the Star in the Reasonably Priced Car. Heck, I only got Grand Tourismo 5 for the PS3 so I could "drive" the Top Gear track!
I was working away from home this time last year and living in a hotel that had crappy cable channels and didn't get to see Season 17 until this past weekend when I finally saw it on DVD. I love cars, even though I've not owned many remarkable ones. My first car was a 1980 Chevrolet Chevette. I usually referred to it as either "My 'vette" in the hopes someone would confuse it for a Corvette (never happened) or as "Fred." If I didn't give it a name, I wouldn't have anything to call it when it wasn't working correctly!
Mine was a petrol/gasoline 5-door, manual transmission, vinyl seat version in that shade of beige that makes your car look like it's a perpetually dirty white car. The seats had a "patchwork" pattern embossed in them which gave you the look of someone with a strange skin disorder if you sat on them in the summertime with shorts on. It always seemed like hours would have to go by before the pattern would disappear from your flesh. And heaven forbid that you jump into the car on a hot summer day wearing shorts or a skirt! The dark brown vinyl collected the heat of the sun better than solar panels and nearly branded that ugly pattern into your legs! But Fred wasn't all bad. It at least had air conditioning -- one of the few optional extras added. I've always joked that the owner's manual said "Zero to 60 mph -- pack a lunch" and if it didn't really, it should have. But mine was better than the diesel versions my Biological Father bought himself after he moved-out. Many a winter morning was spent giggling under my breath when I'd have to stay at his house and he'd jump into the car and forget that the engine heater was still plugged-in and tried to back out of the garage. Those were my first introductions to the large "SNAP" of a live electric wire and the smell of ozone that comes before an electrical fire.
After I'd married the first time and Fred was getting-on in years, I traded it to my then-Father-in-Law in exchange for a Ford Tempo. The Tempo had automatic transmission (something new to me), cloth seats (no more having to fear sitting down in the summer), FM radio stations, and cruise control. Yeah...I thought I was living the big time with that car....for a little while. Ex-Husband sold his car and started driving mine because (1) it actually ran and (2) he like the "newer" car better. However, I knew the Tempo's live would be short-lived because Ex-Husband didn't know squat about cars and had no idea what to do other than put gas in the tank -- and even that was a challenge. In the divorce settlement, the Tempo (which I never really named because I didn't get to drive it as much) became mine since Eldest Son was going to be living with me and I needed transportation for work (something else Ex-Husband didn't have). He had treated the car so badly that one time after a day of rain I went outside to look for something and found that the trunk was flooded. Everything in it was ruined. Only my Ex could damage the seals around a trunk lid that badly.
So, Future-Husband (who is now currently Husband and will be for the quite foreseeable future) helped me get financing for a new car. Well, not a "new" car but a "new-to-me" car. It was a 1994 Ford Aspire. "George" looked like a jelly bean on a roller skate. It was a two-door green tiny thing with automatic transmission, air conditioning, AM/FM AND Cassette Player (moving up in the world!) that looked as if it would have difficulties getting down the road. Nothing could be farther from the truth! That little car got 55 miles-per-gallon on the Interstate and if you had a good tailwind, it would be pushed along and your mileage was even better. I swore that if I had enough people in the car and we stuck our arms out of the windows they'd act like wings and we'd take off like a small airplane.
Husband, Eldest Son and I enjoyed the Aspire for quite a while. Husband and I even took it on our honeymoon which helped a lot with the cost of the trip. But a few years later, when we were told that Youngest Son would be arriving in the world, we knew we needed to get a larger car so everyone would have plenty of room. I took "George" to the dealership and traded-up for a 1997 4-door Ford Aspire!!
Okay, a 4-door version of the same car isn't really any bigger, but we needed the back doors so we could get Youngest Son in-and-out easily in his car seat. Plus, Eldest Son was beginning to hit puberty and he was already pretty tall, so squeezing-in behind the front seat with his added height wasn't going to be an option for long. The 4-door Aspire was blue and had all the bells-and-whistles we could ask for and still got excellent gas mileage. I only had it a year when a distracted driver plowed into the back of it and shoved me under a pickup truck that was stopped in front of me. I had stopped as well and Husband, in his large Dodge Ramcharger, was ahead of the pickup and heard the accident behind him. The poor thing was totaled but for a subcompact, it protected Youngest Son in his car seat in the back and me in the driver's seat pretty well. We weren't too badly banged-up and everyone was surprised at how well the tiny car did.
After the insurance settlement, I got a 1998 4-door Ford Escort in their version of "British Racing Green." I liked the car but missed the gas mileage and the way I could zip in-and-out of small spaces with the Aspire. Husband finally had to sell the Ramcharger after it was too old to repair anymore and I gave him the Escort. I'd gotten another "new-to-me" car in a weird deal. I went to a large dealership "show" (where all of the big town's dealerships bring cars they want to sell and compete against each other for the customers' attention in an old parking lot) when I spotted a strange-looking black car. I'd never seen anything like it. It was a tiny station wagon but had a streamlined shape that just made it unique. I asked about it and was told it was a 2001 Suzuki Esteem Wagon and they were willing to sell it to me there with the best financing I'd ever gotten AND they didn't want a trade-in but gave me credit for one anyway. I secretly began to wonder what was so wrong with it that they'd want to unload it quickly but that little car is still running today with over 200,000 miles on the odometer!
Of course, Husband drives that one now. I'd had my fun with it while he drove the Escort and even decorated the back with Irken Army symbols from the show Invader Zim (and if you've never seen it you're missing out!). But when the Escort became too expensive to repair after we'd paid-off the title, Husband began his ownership of the Esteem. I was working away from home for up-to 8 months at a time and when I came home for a 2-week vacation in 2006, we traded-in the Escort for a 2005 Suzuki Forenza Wagon. It was to be my car when I finally was able to come home but Husband could drive it to keep it running. Two months later while I was in Texas a large tornado wiped-out a town south of us but the hailstorm hit our town and did over $3000 worth of damage to my new car! And it was a NEW car -- less than 300 miles on it!! Fortunately the insurance paid-off all the damages and the car ran well for a while. Then, we discovered that it wasn't really a Suzuki (built by them) but was really a rebadged Daewoo wagon. As a matter of fact, when we were taking it to be serviced once we passed a Daewoo EXACTLY like my car -- so we knew that we didn't have what we thought we did. And that explained why my Esteem -- designed and built by Suzuki -- still runs but the Forenza crapped-out on us early. I went to the Suzuki dealership and was not happy.
Fortunately, they were willing to take the "Forenza" off my hands and gave me an awesome deal on a 2011 Suzuki SX4 4-door sedan. It's black, like the Esteem, so everyone thinks we're just addicted to black Suzukis. I bought it and then was deployed away from home with my old job so much that I'd owned it a year before I could put any actual mileage on it. Husband could have driven it but he was afraid to since it was brand new and didn't want to get it scratched or dinged and make me upset.
So, if I ever do become famous enough to drive on Top Gear, you can tell that Jeremy Clarkson is going to have a hard time trying to say anything remarkable about my car-ownership history. But I like my cars. Husband and I used to have a 1941 Willys MB Jeep that I got to help tinker with as we restored it, but that's for another story. Meanwhile, I'll watch some of the old episodes on TV and wish that I had the Stig nearby to show me how to zip around the track without crashing or flipping-over on Gambon.
I was working away from home this time last year and living in a hotel that had crappy cable channels and didn't get to see Season 17 until this past weekend when I finally saw it on DVD. I love cars, even though I've not owned many remarkable ones. My first car was a 1980 Chevrolet Chevette. I usually referred to it as either "My 'vette" in the hopes someone would confuse it for a Corvette (never happened) or as "Fred." If I didn't give it a name, I wouldn't have anything to call it when it wasn't working correctly!
Mine was a petrol/gasoline 5-door, manual transmission, vinyl seat version in that shade of beige that makes your car look like it's a perpetually dirty white car. The seats had a "patchwork" pattern embossed in them which gave you the look of someone with a strange skin disorder if you sat on them in the summertime with shorts on. It always seemed like hours would have to go by before the pattern would disappear from your flesh. And heaven forbid that you jump into the car on a hot summer day wearing shorts or a skirt! The dark brown vinyl collected the heat of the sun better than solar panels and nearly branded that ugly pattern into your legs! But Fred wasn't all bad. It at least had air conditioning -- one of the few optional extras added. I've always joked that the owner's manual said "Zero to 60 mph -- pack a lunch" and if it didn't really, it should have. But mine was better than the diesel versions my Biological Father bought himself after he moved-out. Many a winter morning was spent giggling under my breath when I'd have to stay at his house and he'd jump into the car and forget that the engine heater was still plugged-in and tried to back out of the garage. Those were my first introductions to the large "SNAP" of a live electric wire and the smell of ozone that comes before an electrical fire.
After I'd married the first time and Fred was getting-on in years, I traded it to my then-Father-in-Law in exchange for a Ford Tempo. The Tempo had automatic transmission (something new to me), cloth seats (no more having to fear sitting down in the summer), FM radio stations, and cruise control. Yeah...I thought I was living the big time with that car....for a little while. Ex-Husband sold his car and started driving mine because (1) it actually ran and (2) he like the "newer" car better. However, I knew the Tempo's live would be short-lived because Ex-Husband didn't know squat about cars and had no idea what to do other than put gas in the tank -- and even that was a challenge. In the divorce settlement, the Tempo (which I never really named because I didn't get to drive it as much) became mine since Eldest Son was going to be living with me and I needed transportation for work (something else Ex-Husband didn't have). He had treated the car so badly that one time after a day of rain I went outside to look for something and found that the trunk was flooded. Everything in it was ruined. Only my Ex could damage the seals around a trunk lid that badly.
So, Future-Husband (who is now currently Husband and will be for the quite foreseeable future) helped me get financing for a new car. Well, not a "new" car but a "new-to-me" car. It was a 1994 Ford Aspire. "George" looked like a jelly bean on a roller skate. It was a two-door green tiny thing with automatic transmission, air conditioning, AM/FM AND Cassette Player (moving up in the world!) that looked as if it would have difficulties getting down the road. Nothing could be farther from the truth! That little car got 55 miles-per-gallon on the Interstate and if you had a good tailwind, it would be pushed along and your mileage was even better. I swore that if I had enough people in the car and we stuck our arms out of the windows they'd act like wings and we'd take off like a small airplane.
Husband, Eldest Son and I enjoyed the Aspire for quite a while. Husband and I even took it on our honeymoon which helped a lot with the cost of the trip. But a few years later, when we were told that Youngest Son would be arriving in the world, we knew we needed to get a larger car so everyone would have plenty of room. I took "George" to the dealership and traded-up for a 1997 4-door Ford Aspire!!
Okay, a 4-door version of the same car isn't really any bigger, but we needed the back doors so we could get Youngest Son in-and-out easily in his car seat. Plus, Eldest Son was beginning to hit puberty and he was already pretty tall, so squeezing-in behind the front seat with his added height wasn't going to be an option for long. The 4-door Aspire was blue and had all the bells-and-whistles we could ask for and still got excellent gas mileage. I only had it a year when a distracted driver plowed into the back of it and shoved me under a pickup truck that was stopped in front of me. I had stopped as well and Husband, in his large Dodge Ramcharger, was ahead of the pickup and heard the accident behind him. The poor thing was totaled but for a subcompact, it protected Youngest Son in his car seat in the back and me in the driver's seat pretty well. We weren't too badly banged-up and everyone was surprised at how well the tiny car did.
After the insurance settlement, I got a 1998 4-door Ford Escort in their version of "British Racing Green." I liked the car but missed the gas mileage and the way I could zip in-and-out of small spaces with the Aspire. Husband finally had to sell the Ramcharger after it was too old to repair anymore and I gave him the Escort. I'd gotten another "new-to-me" car in a weird deal. I went to a large dealership "show" (where all of the big town's dealerships bring cars they want to sell and compete against each other for the customers' attention in an old parking lot) when I spotted a strange-looking black car. I'd never seen anything like it. It was a tiny station wagon but had a streamlined shape that just made it unique. I asked about it and was told it was a 2001 Suzuki Esteem Wagon and they were willing to sell it to me there with the best financing I'd ever gotten AND they didn't want a trade-in but gave me credit for one anyway. I secretly began to wonder what was so wrong with it that they'd want to unload it quickly but that little car is still running today with over 200,000 miles on the odometer!
Of course, Husband drives that one now. I'd had my fun with it while he drove the Escort and even decorated the back with Irken Army symbols from the show Invader Zim (and if you've never seen it you're missing out!). But when the Escort became too expensive to repair after we'd paid-off the title, Husband began his ownership of the Esteem. I was working away from home for up-to 8 months at a time and when I came home for a 2-week vacation in 2006, we traded-in the Escort for a 2005 Suzuki Forenza Wagon. It was to be my car when I finally was able to come home but Husband could drive it to keep it running. Two months later while I was in Texas a large tornado wiped-out a town south of us but the hailstorm hit our town and did over $3000 worth of damage to my new car! And it was a NEW car -- less than 300 miles on it!! Fortunately the insurance paid-off all the damages and the car ran well for a while. Then, we discovered that it wasn't really a Suzuki (built by them) but was really a rebadged Daewoo wagon. As a matter of fact, when we were taking it to be serviced once we passed a Daewoo EXACTLY like my car -- so we knew that we didn't have what we thought we did. And that explained why my Esteem -- designed and built by Suzuki -- still runs but the Forenza crapped-out on us early. I went to the Suzuki dealership and was not happy.
Fortunately, they were willing to take the "Forenza" off my hands and gave me an awesome deal on a 2011 Suzuki SX4 4-door sedan. It's black, like the Esteem, so everyone thinks we're just addicted to black Suzukis. I bought it and then was deployed away from home with my old job so much that I'd owned it a year before I could put any actual mileage on it. Husband could have driven it but he was afraid to since it was brand new and didn't want to get it scratched or dinged and make me upset.
So, if I ever do become famous enough to drive on Top Gear, you can tell that Jeremy Clarkson is going to have a hard time trying to say anything remarkable about my car-ownership history. But I like my cars. Husband and I used to have a 1941 Willys MB Jeep that I got to help tinker with as we restored it, but that's for another story. Meanwhile, I'll watch some of the old episodes on TV and wish that I had the Stig nearby to show me how to zip around the track without crashing or flipping-over on Gambon.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Curse of the couch
Not much happened here today. Youngest Son went to work on his school's play which will be showing next weekend. Husband and I actually got to have lunch together. The star of our community theatre production came by the house for some special effects makeup work for his church's Easter pageant (will be back in the morning for more). Sat and watched A Bugs Life and Cars with the family.
Well, sort of. I sat and watched A Bug's Life and Cars. Youngest Son fell asleep on the couch and I had to send him off to bed. Husband decided to take his spot ("Because it's warm there" was his reason) and promptly fell asleep. I kept having to wake him up so he could watch the parts he likes in the movie. There must be something in the cushions of the couch that affects males because both Youngest Son and Husband will fall asleep there regardless of how much sleep they got the night before or what they've been doing during the day.
I usually sit on the loveseat because it's closer to the television and there's just enough room to stretch-out a bit (it helps when you're short). I let the guys argue over who will sit in the chair or fall asleep on the couch. At times when I sit in the chair so I can work on my laptop, they'll each take either the loveseat or the couch -- and invariably one or both (usually Husband first) will fall asleep. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't snore loudly. Even the dogs are often awakened from their sleep by the noise, which is odd because even the dogs snore around here.
It's late and I've got to get this posted so I won't miss my personal deadline of posting every day. Maybe I'll go to bed early. Maybe I'll stay up and watch television. Maybe I'll get some sleep in-between everyone else's snoring.
Oh, and what they say about me snoring....I've never heard myself snore so I can neither confirm or deny whether it happens or not.
Well, sort of. I sat and watched A Bug's Life and Cars. Youngest Son fell asleep on the couch and I had to send him off to bed. Husband decided to take his spot ("Because it's warm there" was his reason) and promptly fell asleep. I kept having to wake him up so he could watch the parts he likes in the movie. There must be something in the cushions of the couch that affects males because both Youngest Son and Husband will fall asleep there regardless of how much sleep they got the night before or what they've been doing during the day.
I usually sit on the loveseat because it's closer to the television and there's just enough room to stretch-out a bit (it helps when you're short). I let the guys argue over who will sit in the chair or fall asleep on the couch. At times when I sit in the chair so I can work on my laptop, they'll each take either the loveseat or the couch -- and invariably one or both (usually Husband first) will fall asleep. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't snore loudly. Even the dogs are often awakened from their sleep by the noise, which is odd because even the dogs snore around here.
It's late and I've got to get this posted so I won't miss my personal deadline of posting every day. Maybe I'll go to bed early. Maybe I'll stay up and watch television. Maybe I'll get some sleep in-between everyone else's snoring.
Oh, and what they say about me snoring....I've never heard myself snore so I can neither confirm or deny whether it happens or not.
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