Something more personal than this has been of late...

[netmouse]

See those glasses in that picture of me? Well, they're pretty badly scratched all over the surface, and they're a couple years out of date. I didn't realize how bad my vision is with them until I went to the optometrist last week to get fitted for Contacts. And then I didn't *really* realize how bad my vision is with my glasses until yesterday when I wore the contacts to work, wore them the 8-10 hours that I've worked up to in this breaking-in period, took them off, replaced them with my glasses, and then tried to read my computer screen.

The brain adjusts to being able to see.

Re-adjusting in the other direction is sad.

Luckily, I've ordered new glasses as well.

So, other personal news from this week is I seem to be fighting a cold. Just in time for Minicon. :(

Yes, I'm taking Cold Ease. And vitamin C. And echinacea. Right now I should be getting to sleep actually. The most obnoxious part is that my nose, already aggravated by allergies, has started bleeding once or twice a day if I blow it. Today it started bleeding while I was at a guest lecture at the school of information. (that was interesting - it was about smart mobs and other possible future emergent social uses of the internet and mobile communication). I managed not to get any blood on my shirts, which I was really proud of, and my co-worker next to me seems oblivious, so I guess I'm good at bleeding unobtrusively.

I've started coating the inside of my nose with vaseline or neosporin and I'm really hoping it will heal.

If spring would just come, that would sure help.

Oh, and I'm now certified in adult, child, and infant CPR and AED use and first aid. The only thing they tell you about bloody noses is to tilt your head forward (*not* back) and pinch your nostrils together. My nose stops bleeding quite quickly this way. I called the nurse at my doctor's office and she said her nose is bleeding in the same way, so I figured she wouldn't be much help. But I will go snort some saltwater before I go to bed....

Comments

[encorecrazay.livejournal.com]

Try ice on the back of your neck, that sometimes helps.

[rikhei.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about the bloody nose; they do seem common with the air being so dry right now. Do you have a humidifier? I bet that will help too...

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Second the humidifier suggestion.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

yeah... we always figured the fishtanks operated as humidifiers, but this winter we didn't seal our windows as well as last winter, so the heat's been on more. Really, the dry space that seems to be particularly getting to me is the atmosphere at work. I wonder if there are little portable humidifiers...

[tlatoani.livejournal.com]

Yep, there are. Even Meijers may have them.

[thatguychuck.livejournal.com]

$40 for a decent one. I used to keep a two-gallon one next to my desk at work. In the not-huge room I was in it worked great. (After they knocked out two walls I simply told myself it was still helping.)

[kyril.livejournal.com]

I haven't been having dry nose problems, but stuffy nose and dry throat are annoying down here in Chicagoland. And the dry throat thing is giving my wife an annoying cough...

I'm betting it's not so much infection, as seasonal allergies and/or air quality dropping now that the weather is above freezing (at least some of the time, at least down here)...

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

I probably was near-sighted from about fourth grade, but nobody realized until I was in Junior High. When I finally got glasses, I remember walking around and feeling like the ground was coming up at me and it seemed WAY closer than it did without them. It was disorienting for a while.

I don't actually NEED new glasses, but the coating on the frame is chipped and marred and I WANT new glasses.

[stardustgirl.livejournal.com]

It's good to hear someone else say that. I had lasik last year. I'd been nearsighted but didn't wear glasses, nor contacts for more than the few hours necessary to make it through the license branch to renew the DL, so the change was abrupt. It took me several days to get used to it, and I often found myself closing my eyes while riding in a car because I could see *so much* in the distance that it was unsettling.

[yarram.livejournal.com]

I had that annoying sinusy thing a while back, complete with nosebleeds. I think it may partly be the dry air, but based on chatter and personal experience, it seems to actually be part of the sinusy thing itself. I hadn't had any nosebleed trouble all winter until I had that stupid bug.

It does go away eventually. I still have some sinus want-to-nosebleed feeling. I do heartily recommend the salt-water rinse. Even better if you can put the concoction in a nasal-spray mister.

Well - it was good to see you at Minicon for those few minutes before you had to leave... hope you had a safe trip home! :-)