Getting older is not *just* a state of mind

About 6 years ago I had laser surgery on my eyes to correct my vision. Prior to the surgery I couldn’t see my own hands clearly, and I definitely needed my glasses to find my glasses.

Post surgery I had perfect vision in my right eye, and only a slight astigmatism in my left eye (as opposed to being dreadfully short-sighted in both and having a severely astigmatic left eye).

Whoo Hoo!

<insert time passing music>

Last week I started to get all to familiar headaches when sitting at the computer for any length of time… So I went to the optometrist

She checks my eyes and confirms what I’d started to suspect, my left eye isn’t focussing properly - it’s very slightly long-sighted, and it’s having more trouble with the residual astigmatism. It’s not bad enough to really *need* glasses, provided I can minimise the amount of time I spend staring at computer screens.

I write for a living, I explained, minimising the time I spend in front of a computer isn’t really conducive to earning a living.

So, now, I have reading glasses, just like nearly all old people have to get.

<sigh>

On the bright side - I do only need them for computer work, and having to get them eventually was always on the plan. And if I hadn’t had the surgery I’d have had to get bifocals (which are even worse!)

So I’m still of the opinion that the laser surgery was the amongst(1) the best things I’ve ever done.

And my glasses do have quite funky blue frames.

1) other things include getting married and the red run at Niseko

MIT Students’ tribute to Gygax

According to MIT’s student paper, the students put the giant die up in the campus’ Killian Court as a way of paying tribute to Gary Gygax, who created the iconic game of D&D.

The New Neal Stephenson

So - It’s not released until September - but it is 90ish (edit) 900ish pages of Neal Stephenson goodness….

Craft project for the Easter Long Weekend

Turn your iPod into a Taser

Now I know what I’m doing over the weekend….

Error messages you never want to see

From the people who brought you Flowcharts to taking over the world.

Error Messages you never want to see

Busy day yesterday…

It was the busiest day ever on this site - largely through people coming here from the search term “zombie feynman”

I’m slightly disturbed by that…

Zombie Richard Feynman!

This made me laugh out loud…

AOL Buys Bebo » Adrants

Surprise, AOL Buys Bebo » Adrants

It costs less than Facebook too.

I’m linking to this article for it’s insightful commentary that…

Word is that Bebo will help AOL expand internationally — and by “help” we mean Bebo’s gonna expand internationally and AOL will point and go, “That’s totally US!”

Blogged with Flock

Multi-tasking…

Right now - I’m blogging, listening to a webinar on PR 2.0, writing a strategy paper, and holding a conversation with a co-worker…

Without new technologies this wouldn’t be possible.

I love it…

RIP Gary.

Gary Gygax died on Tuesday, and the world is a poorer place.

I was introduced to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons when I was 16. Some friends of mine were registered to play at a small, local games convention “Octocon” one of their team members had got sick, so I was asked to fill in at the last minute.

I had the most fun I’d ever had, I played at home, and in more conventions than I can count - and it sparked a life-long enjoyment of roleplaying, again cribbing from slashdot….

“A good D&D game combines sitting around talking with friends about movies, school, your life with
* puzzle solving
* ensemble acting
* lots of calculating
* making moral choices that give you practice for real life
* or just reveling in being bad since it doesn’t really count
* painting
* collecting
* drawing
* writing stories
* telling jokes
* a lot of laughter– sometimes so hard you can’t breathe.

Even a bad game has most of these. “

CNet have a nice tribute here.

I’m too old for Cons these days - but for those of you who aren’t…

Cons in Sydney

• Easter - EyeCon
• Labour Day Long Weekend - SydCon

Cons in Canberra

• Australia Dayish CanCon
• Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend - Phenomenon (I was one of the original organizers of this con!)

Cons in Melbourne

• Australia Dayish - Arcanacon
• Easter - Conquest

(And for a trip down memory lane - the Australian Convention Roleplaying Glossary can be found here )

So - Rest in peace in Gary - you made the world a better place for so many of us.