3 posts tagged “money”

[Gosh, I seem to be posting a lot this afternoon.  This is the last one for now, I swear.]

Several weeks ago, some friends and I were screwing around and trying on each others' glasses.  To my horror, I discovered that I could actually see better while wearing blueeyedgriffin's glasses than I can without any glasses at all.  Furthermore, the constant sense of eye strain I usually have to walk around with all of the time went away almost instantly.  I've never needed glasses before in my life, but this confirmed that it was high time to get my eyes examined. 

I went in today, and the good news is that the eye-doc says that I have the weakest level of far-sightedness for which he can give a prescription.  In other words, No, I wasn't making up the fact that I thought my vision was slipping and No, I don't necessarily need glasses; I should be able to get around just fine without them.  (And, for that matter, everything in my eyes look healthy and there's no sign of anything progressive going on.  Phew.)  That all being said, he did say that I should probably get a pair for driving and otherwise being out and about.

Here comes the scary part.  After figuring out how the deductible works for my insurance, here's what the glasses would cost:

 $240  for the frames
-$138  for the deductible
+$ 40  for the anti-glare coating (doctor recommended)
+$ 50  for the scratch-resistant coating (me recommended)
+$ 80  for 'transitions' lenses (useful, but I'm not sold on this.)
--------
 $272  for the whole shebang.

I figure someone out there has to know more about buying eye-glasses than I do.  Is that a reasonable price?  I think I'm kinda stuck going to places that carry my insurance, but if there's someplace that didn't which was significantly cheaper, I'd go there in a heartbeat.  What should I be looking for?  How do I find the best deal?  How do I know I'm getting quality product? 

Gah!!!  There's too much I don't know!  Halp!  And Thanks!

By the way, I don't need the reminder anymore.  Folks went out to the DoubleT Diner after the Faire on Saturday, and I was able to use the $16 there.  It turns out that the group that went was almost exactly identical to the group that went out the Tuesday before, so it all works out.  (The only folks missing were erin*carly, igasu, and the suprisingly-net-presence-free ML.)

I went out to the usual spot with the Revels folks after rehearsal tonight.  There were nine of us there, and then something odd happened when we went to settle the bill.  After everyone pitched in money, we ended up over $20 above the total on the bill (which already included the gratuity for such a large group).  After talking it over, we decided that a 40%+ tip really was a little excessive.  The proposed solution was that someone should take home $16 and pitch it in the next time Revels folks got together for a meal.  The only question was, to whom should the money go?  Of the people there, who would be the most likely to be present at another Revels gathering.

So yeah.  Next time I'm out with Revelers, remind me that I need to pitch in $16.