I've been looking at the world a little differently recently. Why, you ask?

I now wear glasses.

Friends and colleagues will tell you in no uncertain terms that this is a long time coming. From a diminishing ability to read signs to the near-permanent squint I've adopted when using the computer, the signs that I needed some sort of eyewear were pretty obvious. But, in true procrastinatory fashion, I didn't get around to getting things checked out. At least not until my wife dragged me into the optometrist.

I got to read eye charts, pick out numbers from their differently-colored backgrounds, and even did some sort of 3D test where I had to pick out which circle of a group of three appeared raised. We did the air puff glaucoma test (which wasn't as bad as some have made it out to be), and some other stuff, too. Finally, I got into the chair and played the "which is clearer?" game.

When all was said and done, the doc said I had an astygmatism, which he described as my eye being shaped more like a football and less like a baseball. I'm also apparently slightly nearsighted (I think; I can't remember which -sighted it was). Nothing too out of hand, but still worthy of glasses.

So it was off to Lenscrafters to pick out frames and such. I actually found a pair pretty quickly, something like the second or third pair I tried on. I was angling for Drew Carey-type black rims, but the wife wasn't buying any of it. In any event, I'm told by various people that they look good, they don't make me look different, they make me look smarter, and that they make me look younger. Heck, I would have gotten glasses years ago if I knew they could do all that!

Anyway, the good news is that print appears much sharper now than it had in the past. The bad news is that the lenses distort how objects look. Not too badly, but as long as I'm wearing these things my monitor will never look the same again.