Investment in sight

The best money I ever spent was getting my eyes done last year. It's been a full year since Lasik and I can't tell you how wonderful it has been.

My first pair of glasses came sometime in about the first or second grade. Mom is legally blind because she's so nearsided; I inherited that from her. By the time I reached high school, I would wear contacts all the time. I even went into basic training with extended wear lenses and didn't take them out for the entire six weeks. It was tough, but sure beat wearing those birth-control glasses, as they are affectionately called. Believe me, you weren't getting any booty wearing those suckers. They were ugly.

Since moving to the Dallas area, I've become much more involved in sports and outdoor stuff. I can't tell you how many times I had to stop and fix contacts or just pull them out and put on glasses, just to get through events. If I cried during a sappy movie (a frequent event), the contacts would be toast and all fogged over. It sucked.

So last year, I bit the bullet and got the Lasik. Scared the ever-livin' poo out of me, but I did it. No regrets. I went from 20/700+ (legally blind) to 20/15 in a matter of 20 minutes. Best money I ever spent.

For the first time this year, I got to go tubing behind a ski boat. Before, I was afraid of losing either the glasses or contacts into the water. I got to do a triathlon without worry. I started riding bikes without worrying about the contacts drying out. I can cry and still see. The best part is waking up in the middle of the night and not only being able to see the clock, but being able to see enough to not hallucinate that someone is looking at me. It's amazing.

If you haven't done it and are considering it. Just do it. It'll be the best money you ever spent.

Monthly status update

One of the best way to make sure you're working on goals is to revisit them occasionally. Since I posted my real-solutions for the year in January, I thought I'd check them out again to see how the first month went. Some were good, others not so much. I'll hit some of the highlights.

Exercise 5x/week - Whoops. Forgot I put this one in there so I'm glad it's being checked. Last month I was in a bit of a funk because of work, so I, at best, got in about 3x/week. The work crap is still there, but I'll have to start working on this one a bit more. So far, I've exercised both days in February and plan to keep the momentum going.

Lose the 10lbs. Hide from them - I'm down about 4 right now overall, and the pants are fitting more nicely. I'm in a fat club at work that has only 2 more weeks to go. Might as well power down to get a few more off when a payout is possible.

Save some money - Check. The savings is up a bit. Not much, but a bit.

Pay off 2 cards. Hide them - Check. I sucked it up in Jan and paid one off. The next one will be a few months away, but still possible.

Finish at least 15 credits - 3 are in progress, 3 more will be started Feb 15th. I plotted out my plan of action for the year on a spreadsheet (I'm sure some of you are surprised - LOL!) and it looks like I might be able to get 21 in this year if all goes well. Yay!

Run 750 miles this year - Well, I only got about 32 in last month. Not a good way to start the year, but it'll pick up. It's still very do-able.

Ride at least 2000 miles this year - Again, none for this month (not counting spin miles), but once it warms up, I'm looking forward to commuting to work and getting ready for RAGBRAI. Whee!

So it's off to a start. Can't wait to see how the year turns out!