Taking Care of Business

My eyes are bad and they've been bad for a long time. I don't see that well. I don't see real bad, but, I don't see well. Many years ago I had my eyes checked at a downtown Corvallis location and got glasses. The glasses were horrendously ground and refracted one light into a dozen. Same thing in rain. They were not only unusable, but they were dangerous to wear if driving at night or in the rain.

I tried to return them, get justice since this was an exam under the Oregon Health Plan but they said I was nuts, and imagining the refracted lights. At that time, I had no self-esteem to fight back such claims, which were common when I was in the mental health system--dismissing what I said with "You're crazy. Go take your meds." It was an Oregon Health Plan fraud thing going.

Anyhow, I've also gotten glasses to wear from my tow truck company friends, by going through boxes of things they remove from unclaimed wrecked cars, including eyewear. I found a set of glasses that improved my vision greatly, in the box and wore them until they broke.

Finally I decided I'd just get my eyes checked again. It's been a long long time and there is a lot of glaucoma in my family tree. Lots of it. So I made an appointment. I might get the prescription and buy frames elsewhere, like at Walmart. Also, I saw a story about $7 lens and frames, bought online from overseas and likely from some of the same places local eyeglass suppliers send out prescriptions for lenses to be filled. The reporter then had his own eye doctor check the grind of the lens and it was perfect. So, I will likely get some frames and lens that way, so if I lose them, it won't be such a great financial loss.

Tomorrow I get my eyes checked.

I also called the Footwise Store in Corvallis. See about three years ago, when I was struggling with shoes to wear, which has always been a struggle for me, someone left a gift certificate on the steps of the shack where I lived for the Footwise Store and said to get some decent shoes. I have very oddly sized feet. I wear size 10 1/2 narrow, in women's. Men's shoes don't fit me and it is very rare to find anywhere with women's shoes that long. And narrow, too.

I'd get K-mart tennis shoes, that would have holes in the bottoms of them within two months or rub my feet into masses of blisters. Because they didn't fit. I have a very hard time finding shoes that even come close to fitting. There used to be one model of Norstrom tennis shoes that fit, and one year, I even bought two pair, but then that line was discontinued. Sad.

So, I went to Footwise and tried on all their shoes. Nothing fit and they had my size in very few shoes. Then, I saw the Keens and they had my size and they fit. So that is what I got and I've been wearing them, day in and day out, ever since then--about three years. I also have some boots but I don't wear those, as they hurt my feet if I wear them for more than a couple hours. And I have some water shoes, and they are from K-mart, to wear when swimming, and some sandals that are also falling apart and some flip flops from last summer that are still in ok shape.

But, as things do, the Keens have worn out. They have worn very thin, almost all the way through, on the bottom, and the stitching on the sides has pulled out of many seams. They've about had it.

So, I thought I'd call them up, surely they could be resoled and the seams resewn. After all, it's the Footwise store and I figured they'd be selling things that could be worn forever. Not so lucky. They told me the Keens are not designed to be resoled, that when the soles wear thin, they're goners. I was disappointed, but then, I"ve never had a shoe before that I've worn every day for three years and had them last that long. I think they will last another couple of months, however.