Quite a hump to get over.

This week, in a nutshell:

And it’s only Wednesday.

Dragging a little today, to be sure. Kate returned from spring break very very early this morning, having gotten a lesson in the downside of super-cheap travel: While the outbound legs — and it’s always legs, plural, never leg — are an adventure because whee we’re on vacation and it’s so cheap! the ride home is a four-legged bitch. Of course she got sick along the way, so I picked up her and her companion from the Greyhound station at 6 a.m. to drive them back to Ann Arbor. The ride home was Budapest > Reykjavik > Chicago > Detroit, the last leg via bus and with many many layover hours between the other ones. I just hope whatever she brought home isn’t TB or something, because she was coughing pitifully all the way. However, she remembered to pick up a bottle of her parents’ favorite Japanese whiskey in the duty-free in Iceland, so I’m counting that as a parenting win.

They liked the old world, even though they stayed in “the only hostel in Budapest that welcomes alcoholics,” she said, and I gather the atmosphere was a little…tiring. The proprietors and guests were imbibing full-time, another idea that seems fun at first and becomes less so when all you want is a nap.

I’ll get a fuller debrief when the throat misery dies down, I hope.

Meanwhile, I was sitting outside the Greyhound station before sunrise, snow falling, bogarting the taxi lane because there was only one taxi even going for it, listening to NPR and scrolling Twitter, when an old man rolled his suitcase into the station and up to a line of chairs. Beard, black coat, black hat. He took off the hat, revealing a yarmulke underneath so OK, Orthodox here. Then he opened one of his bags and removed a prayer shawl and his tefillin, wrapped the former around his shoulders and the latter around arm and forehead, and proceeded to daven into his morning prayers. I don’t know if he was embarking on a trip or if this was a regular stop in some sort of quasi-missionary work or what, only that it was an odd sight to see on a cold morning, in a building where nine out of 10 occupants are African-American and bundled in layers of puffy coats and wool hats. A little surreal.

And then there was my coughing baby, so we set off for the west before the traffic got too heavy.

“There’s an old Jewish guy in there praying,” I said as she buckled her seat belt. Cough-cough-cough. Probably not the weirdest thing she saw in the last week.

So Richard Spencer was in Michigan this week, as part of his Let Me Speak So Fox News Can Get B-Roll of the Protests to Use in Their Campaign Against Higher Education tour. He was at Michigan State, which was on spring break, and booked into some ag building way over on the ag campus. Nevertheless, the usual suspects showed up, and there were the usual skirmishes, and there were arrests, and at the end of it all was this tweet:

Estimates of the crowd he drew to hear him speak range from 11 to 30. Free speech on campus will live another day. Here’s a dispatch from a local journalist for the gay alt-weekly. No autoplaying video, nice guy. He uses the word “melee” twice, but don’t hold that against him.

Time to get back to work and consider a shower. Or a nap.

Posted at 12:10 pm in Current events |
 

71 responses to “Quite a hump to get over.”

  1. Peter said on March 7, 2018 at 12:18 pm

    Kate was in Budapest? I’ve never been there, but being somewhat of Hungarian heritage, I’m supposed to go there like it’s Mecca. I’d go anyway just to check out the thermal baths. As for the alcoholic hotel – it’s Eastern Europe – it’s booze all the way to Vladivostok honey.

    I’m not a lawyer, but from what I understand, President David Dennison doesn’t have to sign the agreement to make it effective – her signing and getting the check seals the deal. However, the $1 Million (is that a Dr. Evil line waiting to happen or what?) fine per day per disclosure is what will be the undoing of this agreement – it’s way out of whack for the money she’s being paid to be discreet, so you can make the claim that this was done under duress.

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  2. Suzanne said on March 7, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    I just hope Stormy has photos and videos, but if she does, we’ll have Hannity and Frank Graham and Rush screaming that it’s photo-shopped fakes!

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  3. Scout said on March 7, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    My favorite tweet from last night when the… uh… STORM hit. https://twitter.com/TheViewFromLL2/status/971203808079634433

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  4. BigHank53 said on March 7, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    What is your favorite Japanese whiskey? And (more to the point) why should I pick up a bottle and give it a try?

    I’m asking because I’ve not fallen in love with any of the whiskies (?) I’ve sampled, and I’ve wondered how different the Japanese ones are.

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  5. Peter said on March 7, 2018 at 1:10 pm

    Big Hank,you have a good point – say Nancy, what brand is it? Suntory? Like the Bill Murray photo shoot?

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  6. Suzanne said on March 7, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    I like Japanese whiskey. We have some Suntory at home. It tastes more like scotch than bourbon. I think it’s good.

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  7. nancy said on March 7, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    It’s this stuff, Nikka. Had it once at a dinner party in the dead of winter and really liked it. One or two fingers, neat, is sweet as candy — as someone said upthread, more like scotch — and just really smooth. Even at 100 proof.

    We haven’t been able to find it here because it only comes in those 500ml bottles, which I guess are considered radical or something. But we saw it at the duty-free on our trip to Iceland, and since Kate was passing through…

    There’s a duty free here, at Windsor, but it’s never there.

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  8. Beobachter said on March 7, 2018 at 3:37 pm

    @7, a review at

    https://www.drink.ch/de/nikka-from-the-barrel-single-malt-whisky-50cl.html

    says:

    Und die Flasche ist einfach der Hammer.

    The bottle is simply awesome!

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  9. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 7, 2018 at 4:15 pm

    But, but . . . it’s Suntory time.

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  10. FDChief said on March 7, 2018 at 4:26 pm

    Here’s the funny part; of all the skeevy things Orange Foolius has done throughout his life this porny princess poking is perhaps the least egregious.

    I mean, the guy is a grifter. He has stolen people’s livelihoods, cheated people who pinned their hopes and dreams to his bullshit, done his doltish best to make people of color at best miserable and at worst dead – his screaming for the execution of the Central Park Five long after their innocence was established is particularly loathsome – and been, in almost every way and at all times, a gibbering moron stuffed full of bile and bluster who is the living embodiment of ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision.

    But canoodling with a porn star? Who gives a flying F?

    He’s fucking over an entire country as he bumblingly enables the cabal of GOP oligarchs and bloodsuckers. Who cares if he doinked one particular young woman who seems to have profited from the encounter? Unlike the rest of the U.S. and his other marks.

    Or, as Christ describes him in Matthew 22:33: “Me, what an asshole!”

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  11. Peter said on March 7, 2018 at 5:07 pm

    Over at The Hill, someone posted this: “Think about it – the President of the United States has less credibility than a porn star!”

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  12. Sherri said on March 7, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    Save the VHS industry!

    https://boingboing.net/2018/03/07/tom-the-dancing-bug-hard-time.html

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  13. basset said on March 7, 2018 at 6:16 pm

    Would someone with more legal knowledge than me explain how aliases and NDAs go together? just asked an attorney sitting next to me on the bus, she couldn’t rhink of any connection.

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  14. Deborah said on March 7, 2018 at 7:00 pm

    I love the Japanese whiskey bottle.

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  15. Colleen said on March 7, 2018 at 8:00 pm

    Loved Budapest. Want to go back again. I was last there in 1989, when the commies were just about to pull out of the country. I would love to see how it has changed.

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  16. David C. said on March 7, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    Might as well try the Hungarian autocracy so Kate can compare it to ours.

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  17. alex said on March 7, 2018 at 9:15 pm

    Deborah from the last thread–

    I paid $700-plus for new specs with progressive lenses and can’t see outta the fucking things worth a good goddamn. I find them completely disorienting. Worse than the world turned into funhouse mirrors. Can’t read street signs or recognize the faces of people passing me on the sidewalk. Doc told me to wear them and I’d get used to them. I told the doc that if I try wearing them at his insistence and find myself involved in an auto accident I would make him a party to any ensuing lawsuit. He then agreed to fill my fancy new frames with my old prescription free of charge.

    I did Budapest in 1991. I was there with my elderly parents and some of their friends right after the fall of the Soviets. Hilarity ensued when they saw a pamphlet handed to me by a male tour guide at one of the monuments on the Buda side of the Danube. Hastily scrawled on the back of it: Do you like to fuck? Followed by phone number.

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  18. alex said on March 7, 2018 at 10:15 pm

    PP

    Josh ain’t joshin’

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  19. Kaye said on March 7, 2018 at 10:48 pm

    Progressive lenses: After a revolt upon picking up the glasses it took 24 hours of non-driving use to adjust. I previously wore contacts and am still unhappy about the loss of peripheral vision.

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  20. Dexter said on March 8, 2018 at 3:48 am

    I loved “Budapest Hotel” with Ray Finnes. That’s as close as I’ll ever get. My grandson’s dad made a close friend while getting his MBA at U Toledo. The man is from The Czech Republic and Pete has been over there a few times, railpassing along, seeing everything, and sampling beers from every stop. He has been gloriously lost a few times.

    Anyway, all Netflixers…try to watch the new series-doc about Flint. I had no idea it is so-way fucked up every which way. Damn. More even than bad water, dangerous streets, governments not functioning, and when this was filmed, there was a hard-ass woman mayor and a crack-down-crack heads Chief of Police whose tactics seem very Nazi-like to me, the out-of-state casual observer. Got yer drawers hanging down showing a little ass-crack? In the fucking car motherfucker! Indecent exposure! I ain’t making this up. After watching a few episodes, I choose to never go to Flint ever never no-o-o-o-o-o-o way. Cuz sometimes my sweat pants droop a little.

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  21. Deborah said on March 8, 2018 at 7:23 am

    Yeah my $850 progressives are driving me nuts. I’m on my second set of lenses, the first set had a glitch that the Dr blamed on the place where I got them and they blamed the Dr. I didn’t have to pay extra for the new lenses though, thank goodness. I really only wear them now when I watch TV or at a theater, I haven’t used them to drive yet. They are impossible to use when I read or use my laptop or iPhone. Which makes me wonder why in the heck I have progressives.

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  22. ROGirl said on March 8, 2018 at 7:59 am

    I’m not a big imbiber of brown liquor, but I do like Glenfiddich, a single malt whisky.

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  23. Dorothy said on March 8, 2018 at 9:11 am

    I can’t remember when I got progressive lenses but I’ve had them for awhile now and I do recall them being a big adjustment. But $850?! I got my most recent pair at Costco about 2.5 years ago and I think I paid $500 less than you did, Deborah. It was my first time going to Costco for glasses. I want a new pair mostly because I’m getting tired of these frames. Green is my favorite color (the frames are dark green) but it’s time for something new! I always love trying on new frames when it’s time for a new pair. I take as much time as I need – you have to live with the glasses for about two years, sometimes more, so you better really like the way they look and feel on your face.

    Question – Trump said in October ’16 that every single one of the women accusing him of groping/sexually assaulting them that they were liars. (Saw a clip of it on Rachel Maddow last night) Why haven’t any of them had a lie detector test – or better yet – HE should have one. I know they aren’t perfect but wouldn’t that help the cause of these accusers if they all were found to be telling the truth? It’s a reach, I know, but still. I can’t WAIT for Mueller to wrap up these investigations.

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  24. mcconk said on March 8, 2018 at 9:14 am

    I LOVE my progressive lenses. However, the trick is in how they measure where the lenses sit on your face, and how much of the lens is used for distance, reading, etc. I recently went back and told them my new lenses were not right. She measured me again and said the measurements were off by a couple of centimeters, which is huge in progressives. New remade lenses are fine. If you can find an optometrist who measures you properly it should help a lot.

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  25. Jeff Borden said on March 8, 2018 at 9:49 am

    It looks like one of Michigan’s favorite sons –professional murdering mercenary Erik Prince– may have his testicles in a vise in the Mueller investigation. His meeting with Russians in the Seychelles sounds exactly like the kind of low-rent fascist move the prick would make. . .setting up a secret backchannel communication with Putin and his pals. Yet he wraps himself in the mantle of patriotism. He and his sister are really hideous people. Poor Miss Betsy embarrassed herself at Stoneman Douglas High yesterday. Those students don’t suffer the “thoughts and prayers” fools lightly and she got torched for a hit-and-run photo op.

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  26. Deborah said on March 8, 2018 at 9:57 am

    My frames were about $200 and the rest of the $850 was for the lenses. I got them at a place called See in Chicago. I usually like their stuff, have been getting new lenses every year there because my eyes are changing quickly for some reason. This time I got new frames too because when I got my hair cut drastically it changed the way my old frames looked on me. I think I will go someplace else next year.

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  27. Connie said on March 8, 2018 at 9:58 am

    I just spent $477 for two pairs of glasses after vision insurance. Much of that is due to my husband’s expensive progressive lens. I just have cheap bifocals.

    I had cataract surgery a couple of years ago, and after being almost blind since childhood, it is good to be able to see. I was 20/400 and I am now 20/25 plus bifocals. I can drive without glasses. I am quite sure that this is the first time in my live That I did not get a new stronger prescription after my eye exam.

    A few days after I made the appointment for an eye exam I sat on my glasses and busted them to bits. Lived with four weeks of duct tape by the time I had my exam and the glasses came in.

    I do love my new purple glasses.

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  28. Dorothy said on March 8, 2018 at 10:26 am

    Caveat: My prescription eyeglass exam was done with my ophthalmalogist whom I adore, Dr. Ammy Kopp. She’s a really excellent local doctor if you have glaucoma. I just got the glasses made at Costco. I would never go to a doctor associated with Costco, Sam’s Club, etc. Eyes are too important.

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  29. Suzanne said on March 8, 2018 at 10:26 am

    I’m on my second progressive lenses. The first were OK, but the newer ones have larger lenses which works better. I’m on my second pair of bifocal contacts and they are wonderful. Like progressive lenses, it all depends on the measurements, I think. This pair is much better than the last. I went to bifocal contacts because I got so tired of dragging reading glasses with me everywhere.

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  30. basset said on March 8, 2018 at 10:27 am

    Joe, Allegiant Air announced yesterday that they’re starting flights from Nashville. Tell us more about their maintenance situation…

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  31. Judybusy said on March 8, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    I’ve had progressives for about 10 years and had very little trouble adjusting. However, two years ago I went to a high-end store and they messed up the measurement using fancy-ass scanning tech. I went back and it was off by about 2mm. I got re-measured manually, new lenses and they were fine.

    Guadeloupe was amazing. I highly recommend going, as the food is delicious, with lots of seafood. It’s very beautiful and dramatic there. My poor wife did break her wrist. There was a waterfall rappelling thing, which we’d done in Costa Rica. Well, this was a whole’nother animal involving a slog through a rainforest which yes, had experienced heavy rain, and so was very muddy and slippery. She fell, and we had to turn back *on our own*! That was pretty scary, as she could not use her arm at all. But, other parts were super cool, including kayaking and snorkeling, a very good chocolate museum, one of the best botanical gardens I’ve ever been to, a sunset sailing cruise, and beach time. The B and B we stayed at was perfect, run by a charming couple who provided a great French breakfast every day.

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  32. Deborah said on March 8, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    Judy Busy, having to walk back through a rainforest without a guide would be something I’d freak out about. How did you know how to get back? And knowing there’d be a bunch of insects and critters scurrying around underbrush would freak me out even more.

    Off topic: can anyone explain bitcoin, blockchains and crypto art in a way I could understand. I read an article in Five Thirty Eight that is completely greek to me. And I tried to look it up on Wikipedia, still can’t understand it.

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  33. Judybusy said on March 8, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    Deborah, the track was obvious, as it was well-marked by footprints and spots where people had slid down. We made a lot of jokes about getting eaten by bears. Funny, because there aren’t bears. We couldn’t afford to freak out, but there was one bout of near-hysterical laughter at the absurdity of it. I was also given feedback that gasping “Oh, my god” when we came upon a new, tough-looking part of the trail was not helpful. I nearly cried when we got to the road and saw the cars. Once I figure out to download pics from our waterproof camera, I will be putting an album on Facebook so you can see the terrain.

    We got cleaned up and were getting lunch at a cafe, as the clinic and pharmacy were closed, because Europe hours are in play. We told the server our woes, and he got ice. Next, a very nice woman approached our table, expressed apologies for listening in, but then said she was a hand surgeon from Denmark. She did a sidewalk consult then and there and advised getting it splinted, which we were able to do the next day.

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  34. Heather said on March 8, 2018 at 4:24 pm

    Judybusy, sorry to hear about your wife’s wrist but glad you had a nice vacation anyway. I am currently in Grazalema, Spain, one of Andalucia’s “white towns,” i.e., all the buildings are white. It’s very charming but it’s been raining buckets since about 4 PM, putting rather a halt to some of our plans. It’s been rainy off and on this whole trip, which is kind of a bummer, but in the low 60s and rainy it’s still better than 20-30 degrees in brown and grey Chicago. Spain is pretty green already. We went to a garden outside the ruins of a 10th-century Arabic castle in Jerez de la Frontera and it already smelled so good. On my last trip to Spain 16 years ago I decided that Spanish gardens were the best because they are so fragrant–this trip reiterates that I was right. Orange trees are everywhere–in gardens and lining city streets.

    We’ve also been eating tapas and drinking wine and sherry at every meal–my stomach is starting to rebel a bit at all the rich food and drink, but not really enough for me to stop. And it’s all so affordable! Dinner for three tonight was 54 euros, with several glasses of wine and sherry. A glass of wine is about 2-3 euros and a tapa is generally around 4. We get about two tapas each to share and that’s plenty.

    Well, I better get to bed so I can meet my friends at 8 for an early start to see some of the other “pueblos blancos.”

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  35. David C. said on March 8, 2018 at 4:49 pm

    I had problems adjusting to progressive lenses, but now I am so used to them I wouldn’t want anything else. My last two pair were $85 from Zenni Optical. They work just fine. Optical prices are essentially controlled by a monopoly and nothing but a flat out crime.

    https://20somethingfinance.com/why-eyeglasses-are-so-expensive-how-you-can-pay-less/

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  36. Dexter said on March 8, 2018 at 4:52 pm

    I hate bifocals and especially progressive lenses…just one of those people who only needs readers for small print and only wear my long-distance lenses for night-driving on long trips. Computer sitting, no correction needed. I was wearing my old bifocals last week in Toledo at a gas station on Reynolds Road…used the john…big drop-off ramp I did not see because I forgot to take the glasses off…came damn-close to going ass-over-applecart.

    I know some are cord cutters and some prefer sat-TV and some like cable, but Spectrum has the best ads, ever. The dummy-puppet, the ogre, the mummy/scientist and the grim reaper crack me up every time.

    Man, the creeps are resilient…I reported these assholes calling 6 times a day saying they want my bank info to deposit money from computer repairs I overpaid for to my phone company, twice…blocking does not stop them. Now they say I gotta call the FCC.

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  37. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 8, 2018 at 5:13 pm

    If you do Twitter (and if someone else has pointed this out, my apologies, it’s been a wild few weeks), you have to see @ObamaPlusKids — it has been both a balm to the soul and a goad to our current conditions. Sometimes scrolling through it makes me just want to scream, but every few days I go back to see what I’ve missed. We have fallen so far, so fast . . .

    Seriously, you should see it and just try to enjoy it: @ObamaPlusKids

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  38. Deborah said on March 8, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    We are doing a major clean in Santa Fe, everything always seems so much more pleasant after that. Dust is a big issue here.

    We have indoor plants that we have a hard time keeping alive. One we bought recently at Trader Joe’s that is being eaten alive by something. So it either came with it or we had it here before we got it. Wish I knew.

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  39. David C. said on March 8, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    I love it. Remember this one Jeff?
    http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/family/2015/11/the_2_year_old_who_threw_a_tantrum_in_front_of_the_president_she_was_my.html
    Her mom, Laura Moser, is running for Congress in Texas was dissed by the DCCC as too liberal for Texas. So of course, she came out on top during the primary. She still has to win a runoff to get into the general though.

    https://www.vox.com/2018/3/7/17084808/dccc-laura-moser-texas-democratic-primary-2018

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  40. Dexter said on March 8, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    Damn IRS wants your EVERYthing…goddam rapist agent anyway…well, he was caught, at least.
    https://nypost.com/2018/03/08/irs-agent-charged-with-choking-raping-intern/

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  41. Dave said on March 8, 2018 at 6:51 pm

    I’ve worn progressive lenses for what seems like twenty years now. I’ve never had an issue with any pair I’ve had except the ones that were safety glasses that my employer paid for. The field of view was so narrow that I had terrible issues with peripheral vision, any glance at anything that wasn’t straight on was a problem. I switched to traditional bifocals for my work glasses and had no more trouble. Eye doctors told me that I would have a hard time switching back and forth from my bifocals to the progressive power but I never did.

    I have to wear glasses or everything is a blur and it’s been that way since I was about 40. I confess to being rather envious of those who don’t. There’s no way I can sit here and read this screen without them.

    I don’t know what I paid for them, they weren’t cheap. The prices are a crime, as davidc at 35 says.

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  42. Sherri said on March 8, 2018 at 9:26 pm

    I’ve only worn progressives, because I didn’t wear glasses until I just couldn’t read without them anymore and got tired of constantly looking for readers. So I got progressives that have only a slight correction for distance on one eye and no correction on the other eye, just the magnification. I haven’t had any problems, except that glasses are a pain when working out. If I wear them, they fog up when I sweat, if I don’t, then reading a workout to do or recording a workout is a pain.

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  43. Dexter said on March 9, 2018 at 2:01 am

    I do have gratitude that my eyeglasses are covered by my V.A. care. I can live with cheap-looking out-of-style frames and lenses that fall out of the frames sometimes if I do not have to shell out hundreds of dollars every year. Yeah, every year I get new frames and lenses after a thorough eye exam by a great opthamologist . I am not complaining.

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  44. Suzanne said on March 9, 2018 at 7:28 am

    Anyone want to take bets that Trump is totally being played in this meeting with Kim Jong-Un?

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  45. David C. said on March 9, 2018 at 8:51 am

    Even if Trump doesn’t make it a total clusterfuck, and I give that only a 50-50 chance, it gives Kim exactly what he wants – legitimacy. All Kim needs to do is spend a half hour complementing Trump’s hair and Trump would give him the entire West Coast in return for a handful of magic beans because the art of the deal.

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  46. CathyC said on March 9, 2018 at 11:09 am

    Deborah, have you tried Varilux lenses? I struggled with progressives until IU Optometry suggested Varilux, and they’ve made a world of difference. No breaking in period, good from the get go.

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  47. Judybusy said on March 9, 2018 at 11:11 am

    Heather, your trip sounds so wonderful. What type of place are you staying at? Various parts of Spain are definitely on my must visit list.

    I also started doing Duolingo–it’s fun and easy. I love that when you do auditory stuff, you can click on the tortoise so they speak much more slowly. It’s surprising what a difference that makes for me. I can then go back and hear it at normal speed and understand it. Thanks for the tip!

    Like many folks here, I am dealing with an aging parent. My mom’s in an assisted living, but is having a super hard time quitting smoking. After some hiccups, we’ve got her connected with a program with BCBS. I hope it works, because she is risking eviction if she continues to smoke in her apt.

    She has also had to give up her little poodle because walking her would be a fall risk. I think I may have found a home for her; she’s (the dog) with us this weekend. This whole move has been such a hard adjustment for my mom.

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  48. Deborah said on March 9, 2018 at 11:25 am

    Thanks CathyC, I googled Varilux lenses, seems interesting regarding the near to far adjustment. I think I’ll keep these lenses (after all I’ve already paid a fortune) until next year when I probably will need a new prescription then I’ll go back to two pair of glasses again. The thing that is weird to me about progressives is the side to side distortion, maybe I’ll get used to it?

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  49. David C. said on March 9, 2018 at 11:59 am

    I got used to it Deborah. My progressive lenses drove me nuts the first week or two between noticing the side distortion and my head always bobbing up and down looking for the right spot to look through for the task I was doing. But after a while I did it without thinking and learned to ignore the distortion. People’s off center vision is pretty bad anyway, so once I stopped looking for it the problem went away.

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  50. Icarus said on March 9, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    I got Lasik in 2004. one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Eyes are still nearly 20/20 though the left is a little weaker. I will need reading glasses in a few years but it is great waking up and being able to see clearly.

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  51. Deborah said on March 9, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    My husband wanted to get Lasik but his eye dr says he can’t for some reason. He wears the ends of coke bottles when he wears his glasses which he only does late at night and early in the morning. He wears contacts most of the time, he has mono-vision so that one eye is corrected for distance and one for close up. About 10 years ago I wore one contact for reading and the other eye was correction free for seeing distance which I had no problem with. Then my eyes changed completely and keep changing.

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  52. Icarus said on March 9, 2018 at 4:34 pm

    deborah @ 51: my ex was an Optometrist (or Ophthalmologist I can never remember the difference) and she said that there was a time when anybody could get Lasik but some people were not good candidates. Those people ended up suing and winning so the industry decided to self-police and limit Lasik surgery to those who were only the best candidates. I don’t know how true that is though.

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  53. BethB from Indiana said on March 9, 2018 at 4:45 pm

    I’ve worn glasses then contacts then glasses again since 5th grade. I wanted to have Lasik, but both my Optometrist and my Neurologist said I wouldn’t be a good candidate because MS is an auto-immune disease, and there could be problems.

    I have enough issues as it is, so I will stick with my lined bifocals in a fairly trendy frame. I get compliments on my glasses, so I guess the very dark tortoise shell frame (looks black in certain light) and my gray to white hair look good together.

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  54. Julie Robinson said on March 9, 2018 at 5:24 pm

    Dry eye is one of the contraindicators for Lasik, so I was out there. My progressive lenses are wonderful. I couldn’t adjust to bifocals and took them back after a couple of weeks; luckily the optometrist remade them in progressives and I’ve never wanted anything else.

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  55. Jolene said on March 9, 2018 at 5:26 pm

    Like Sherri, I’ve only worn progressive lenses. Never had glasses until I was about 40, but, when I found myself stretching out my arm to read the label on something I’d taken out of the freezer, I knew it was time. Whatever oddities they presented, I adapted to quickly. And yes, they are expensive.

    Just read this gut-wrenching story about drugs and suicide in a small town in southern Indiana. Something cheery to start the weekend.

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  56. CathyC said on March 9, 2018 at 5:27 pm

    Deborah that’s why I’m such a fan of Varilux, there isn’t any distortion. I can see everything the way I’m used to seeing it. They put me back in regular progressives a couple years ago because new insurance plan. It was awful. Same experience I’d had before, no field of vision, you’ll get used to them, etc. I knew it didn’t have to be that way, so I asked if they’d check with my previous provider to find out what had worked so well. That’s when I learned to remember the name Varilux.

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  57. Scout said on March 9, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    You know you’re living in interesting times when you’re following an ‘adult entertainment star’ on Twitter.

    https://twitter.com/StormyDaniels/status/971950666653536257

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  58. Deborah said on March 9, 2018 at 6:34 pm

    Jolene, I couldn’t get your link to work.

    I’m in Albuquerque at the Apple store, LB needs a new battery and there’s no Apple store in Santa Fe. Later tonight my husband arrives at ABQ. Tomorrow we head out to Abiquiu for a week, then. It’s back to Chicago.

    It’s 71 and sunny in Albuquerque, flowers are blooming.

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  59. Deborah said on March 9, 2018 at 6:46 pm

    Awwwww, Pharma Bro wept at his sentencing. Cry me a river, Pal. Seven years! There is justice.

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  60. Deborah said on March 10, 2018 at 2:29 am

    Here’s a couple of reasons I hate to drive interstates: when we drove south on interstate 25 to Albuquerque this afternoon a woman flipped her car multiple times and landed on the railroad tracks in the median, then on the way back to Santa Fe late at night a mattress and box springs flew off of a truck heading north on the interstate and scattered debris all over the place. I can’t tell you how many things I have seen fly off the back of pick up trucks around here. Nowhere else have I ever seen this phenomenon.

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  61. Dexter said on March 10, 2018 at 3:21 am

    Trifocals have that tiny sliver for those who need a third correction for mid-range viewing, further than reading, closer than long distance. I asked the tech at Longe optical when I got my bifocals in 2002 and he just said, “oh, you want those too? We can add those in if you want them.” I just said no, I just wondered what they were for exactly.
    Lasik was illegal in the USA but Canada would do the procedure for a pretty penny back in the late 80s. Pete (grandson’s dad) wore Coke bottle bottoms as well, went to a Windsor clinic, and his well-to-do mom paid for it. As a USA citizen he didn’t get it free. It’s now 30 years later and Pete has perfect vision with never a problem.

    Back when I was a kid, some basketballers wore contacts and it was a full-blown crisis when a lens popped off onto the court surface. All players and coaches and a few fans crawled around until the little thing was found. If not, hundreds to replace it. Now ya just buy ’em by the jar. Lose one, so what?

    The Yountville slaughter made me sick. At Toledo VA, one Toledo cop, uniformed, vest, cuffs, sidearm, but he serves as a floor walker…no entrance security at all.

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  62. Dave said on March 10, 2018 at 9:56 am

    My father wore trifocals years ago and so did a man I worked with. I know Dad was wearing them well before he retired so that makes it prior to 1982, I say mid to late 70’s.

    I remember pictures of basketball teams and refs crawling around on the floor looking for a contact. It was rare enough in those days to make the newspaper.

    I’m sick of guns, I’m sick of all the stories, I’m sick that Florida did as little as possible and yet the governor is getting positive press. I’m sick of opioids killing folks. Oh, and I’m sure that the idiot occupying the White House is no diplomat, making North Korea that much more scary.

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  63. Julie Robinson said on March 10, 2018 at 10:43 am

    What rhymes with Pharma? Karma. Can’t take credit for that one, but I love it!

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  64. Jolene said on March 10, 2018 at 11:05 am

    Deborah, here is the link to the story I mentioned yesterday. Dave, this story is not going to make you feel better. But I agree with you. Too many stories of death and suffering from stupidity, cruelty, and despair. To the stories that involve guns and opioids, add those that involve child abuse. Lots of those lately too, some involving guns and drugs, some just human awfulness.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/sports/opioids-suicide.html

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  65. Connie said on March 10, 2018 at 11:44 am

    I lived not so far from Madison, the city of the sports and opiods story for many years. It is a lovely place to visit, both the old city, one time important river city in the Northwestern Territory, and nearby Clifty Falls State Park. And just a county or south of Austin, where Indiana’s first needle exchange program was much talked about a year or so ago. I believe that program has lost it’s state support.

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  66. Deborah said on March 10, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    Julie, I love it! Going to remember that one.

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  67. Jakash said on March 10, 2018 at 3:28 pm

    A random bit of humor for a Saturday afternoon. Uh, YMMV — my wife, for instance, isn’t as easily entertained as I am…

    “AmishPornStar™” tweeted “If you could find someone who represents the complete polar opposite of everything Jesus represented… You would have Donald Trump.”

    Which prompted a couple of swell replies:

    “Donald Trump is the kind of asshole other assholes look at and say ‘Now THERE’S an asshole.'”

    “Instead of feeding fish to 2,000 people he fed 2,000 filet o’fish to himself.”

    https://twitter.com/AmishPornStar1/status/972305188525666305

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  68. Dexter said on March 10, 2018 at 5:22 pm

    Remember when the web and computers were developing quickly, nearly 30 years ago? This guy Pete I referenced twice this week had an interesting step-father. All I ever knew was that his name was Dan and he was a computer nerd. He developed some sort of software transference model and patented it, and sold it to one of the big firms for big dough, like millions of dollars. Then he quickly developed a fast-moving brain cancer and died like a year after his marriage to Pete’s mom. And so Pete got his Canadian Lasik surgery, and his three degrees from U. Toledo paid for, and was able to tour Europe a few times before marrying a lady and having a brood of children. And good for him, as he trades for a new Harley every two summers and drives his brand-new Ram pickup truck. Money is good, or so I hear. I vie for poverty; it keeps me in check. 🙂 And Pete frequently posts on Facebook of his beer-tasting festivals he attends in NYC a few times a year, or his beach vacations several times also, or his little side trips to Napa for wine-tastings. I think his mom cut him in a little bit on Dan’s windfall. Here’s Pete promoting his “The Healthy Minute” gimmick. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08Ty6pD0Xi0 He also runs a quality control operation , employing inspectors to pre-inspect Ford and Chrysler plants before the auditors from corporate inspect them.

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  69. brian stouder said on March 10, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    I’d say Jackash & the AmishPornStar has the thread-win!

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  70. brian stouder said on March 10, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    The best thing I read today…and which comes from friend-of-nn.c Laura Lippman’s city of Baltimore

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/baltimore-park-where-confederate-statue-once-stood-is-rededicated-to-harriet-tubman/ar-BBK5kDN?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

    More than 200 local residents and elected leaders gathered in a tree-lined corner of Baltimore on Saturday to rededicate the space, which had long venerated two Confederate generals, to the famed abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman.
    “We stand on the shoulders of this great woman,” said Ernestine Jones-Williams, 71, a Baltimore County resident and a descendant of Tubman who spoke on behalf of the family. “We are overwhelmed. Overwhelmed. Thank you, and God bless you.”
    The ceremony in Wyman Park Dell, on the 105th anniversary of Tubman’s death, took place feet from the now-empty pedestal of a large, bronze, double-equestrian statue of Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

    Marvelous!

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  71. alex said on March 11, 2018 at 10:01 am

    The big news around here this week was about a woman murdered for her Prada purse supposedly worth $10K, although law enforcement has dropped hints that it was just a knockoff. I was surprised this morning to come across the victim’s obituary, and even more surprised by its levity of tone.

    She LOVED music, especially the 1980’s and techno genres. Mandy enjoyed taking walks, wearing great bling, drinking Starbucks, reading Astrology and was extremely funny. She even quit smoking so she could more fully enjoy vaping.

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