Sandals

My beloved Tevas finally gave up the ghost after 16 years of yeoman service.  In the course of purchasing a replacement pair (which will prove inferior in every possible way, no doubt.  Sniff.), I learned that I had been pronouncing their name incorrectly for that entire time.  They are not Teeevas.  They are Tehvas.  At least according to the promotional video that the Zappos app had.

News of Eyes

What I learned this morning at the optometrist:

1. Introduction: My left eye is slightly more astigmatic than my right, which is a thing that can't quite be corrected for by current contact lens technology.  Not a big deal, I'm still 20/20 with the lenses, and my actual glasses are even better if I really care.
2. Opening: Cataract surgery has gotten really good in the last few years.  It's often quick, relatively straightforward, minimal recovery time (as in hours instead of days), and in many cases includes as a side benefit the equivalent of LASIK correction.  Getting a cataract removed can actually improve your vision significantly.
3. Development: Cataracts are also being detected much earlier than they used to be, which contributes to the ease of treatment-- the less developed they are, the easier they are to remove.
4. Embellishment:  Cataracts can be caused (sort of) by "trauma to the front of the face."  It doesn't exactly cause them per se, but an impact force on the eyeball can sort of prime it, making cataracts slightly more likely to form later on down the line.  All of which leads to:
5. Climax: I have the tiniest infinitesimalest beginnings of a cataract in my right eye, and even tinier such in my left. Possibly caused (as it were) by the air bag in the car accident I was in in '98, or even the soccer ball I took to the face back in...'87?  Maybe?  Somewhere around junior high.  Although I think that hit more on the left, if I remember correctly-- I seem to remember suffering a cut over my left eye from the beveled edge of my glasses.
6. Denouement: It's basically of no more than academic interest.  My previous OD (since decamped for another office) noted it in my file and didn't even bother mentioning it to me.  The current OD saw it on the file, peered into my massively dilated eyes, and said, "Wow, he was really picky."  Basically, I can easily ignore it for the next a decade if not two.

And now back to work, as my eyes slowly regain their previous pupillite proportions.

Pop rocks

The retro candy confection known as Pop Rocks are made by bubbling carbon dioxide through a solution of molten sugar (mixed with some color and flavorings), which traps the gas as the sugar hardens. It was invented in 1956 as a potential mix-in for Kool-Aid, but didn't work very well and so sat on the metaphorical shelf until the 1970s, when someone had the unprecedented idea of just shoving the damn things in your mouth.  And the rest is history.