“Remoted” Day 291 (Friday)

The first day of the new year featured crisp air, sunshine, and blue skies. It looked like a great day for hiking, but it felt like a great day for the annual Doctor Who marathon on BBC America. Usually BBC America shows an endless stream of old American movies and TV shows. British shows presented to America by the British Broadcasting Corporation are few and far between, and usually old. New shows are held hostage by Britbox, BBC’s subscription streaming channel. Sorry Britbox, you are not in the approved budget.

Eyeglass issues forever.

Against the backdrop of interplanetary travel and strife, websites were revisited with the intention of finally ordering from the many eyeglasses being eyeballed since receiving the updated prescription on December 19. There are always styles I love, but the sizes are rarely right for me. This has been my plight since that first pair of glasses in third grade. 

My head must be weird, because even as an adult, many of my frames have come from the kids’ section. Three pairs of glasses and one pair of sunglasses were bought via online sellers in the past two years. The sunglasses are great, but two pairs of the regular glasses look too wide for my face. The third is a better, but the arms spread too wide so they are loose, even after every size adjustment demonstrated on the retailer’s website.

For the upcoming purchase, it was decided to be scientific and methodical, or, some may argue, OCD. The “try on” feature was accessed at both Zenni and Eye Buy Direct with photos posted so the frames can be superimposed. Theoretically, it’s a good tool, but the frame color always looks different and it’s hard to tell if the width is good, which is the fit issue of concern.

Decades of eyeglasses. 

Current and old eyeglasses were gathered. Most of the 14 pairs are from eyeglass shops with professional assistance. Each pair was tried on and a photo taken. Sizes are noted on about 75% of the frames. The most popular lens width in my eyeglass arsenal is 50mm, with a range from 48 to 53 mm. Bridge widths range from 15 to 21mm, and arm lengths from 130 to 145 mm. The missing measurement for most is the width from screw to screw. Given that different frames have the same lens width and some of the frames are too wide, the width seems to be the key. 

Product descriptions from past online orders were studied, which felt methodical but led to confusion. Two pairs from one online retailer feel too wide. One pair that is never worn because they feel like giant clown glasses is shown as 130 mm wide with 53 mm lenses. The other pair, too wide but slightly less clownish, is allegedly 128 mm with 51 mm lenses. That information seemed straightforward until compared with my favorite pair from a different retailer, which don’t feel too wide, but are listed as 137 mm with 50 mm lenses. This makes no sense because the allegedly wider glasses are visibly narrower than the two too-wide pairs from the other company. Somebody seems to be screwing with the screw to screw measurement.

“Buy new glasses” was initially estimated for an hour. “Favorites” on one site were whittled from 25 frames to two by eliminating all frames wider than the pair previously bought from that company and those with lenses wider than 50 mm. The shopping process took four hours. FOUR HOURS! And it doesn’t even include the preparatory photos and analysis of existing frames. And still, no glasses have been ordered. Talk about a major time suckage vision quest.