It’s been a few week since I got lasered, and I have better than 20/20 vision now which is great but that’s not the best thing about the treatment, it’s the little things like:

Getting out of the shower and no longer have to blindly find my steamed up glasses on a shelf, knocking them off and trampling on them.
No longer have to put up with steamed up glasses when coming indoors from the cold.
No longer do the dog (my brother’s) chew my glasses as if it were a bone while I’m sleeping and hide them under my bed.
Wearing nice non-prescription sunglasses.
Wearing ski-goggles without the need to squash my glasses in between against my face.
Swimming without crashing headfirst into the edge of the pool and knocking myself out.
And best of all, some of my mates can no longer call me Harry Potter.

I would add “seeing the time/alarm clock while in bed overnight” but then I usually don’t want to know the time as ignorant is bliss, especially if there’s only 1 hour of sleep left.

Its only been a few weeks and my opitician advised that my eyes will be dry when I go out to Libya. So far, I’ve not noticed any changes, and everything remains problem free.

My websites and my email went offline due to a mis-communication with my hosting company who thought I want my account closed. My fault for not explaining something clearly I think, as I meant my card account, not the web hosting account.

I had a hot sickly feeling that all my data would be lost, but fortunately they kept some behind (I presume as a backup) – so good kuos to them!

Typical it had to happen while I was on travels in Libya, away from the Internet, I’m only back online now, in the middle of the Sahara, “enjoying” daily temperatures of 40c, touching 45c without a functional a/c in my office. With five and a half weeks to go, I want to go home already!

Ghat, Awbárí is located in the extreme south-west corner of Libya, right on the border with Algeria. I will be working in that rough locale. Daily temperatures as I write this blog is at 40c (102f for you Americans).

There doesn’t seem to be much info on Wikipedia on this area… but it sounds interesting… Pictures below from Google Maps and click on them for a bigger picture.

Update: Photos from Ghat and the nearby mountains east of Ghat looks stunning…

Nowadays, it is an important tourist destination due to the existence in the neighboring Tadrart Acacus and Tassili N’Ajjer mountains of prehistoric rock paintings and engravings, in addition to the beauty of the surrounding desert landscapes.

I treated myself to a bit of luxury… a Di-Novo Edge keyboard by Logitech. It is quality stuff indeed, and wafer thin yet strong. A wireless keyboard with integrated touchpad and comes with a charging base which compliments the styling and powered by a separate mains lead, so there’s no physical connection with the computer.

Wireless is by way of bluetooth, and for those of you are are toothless, there’s a USB-bluetooth adapter included with it.

The keys are just right, with plenty of travel and in the right places.

Shame it’s so expensive! But if you got the money, and can spare it, then go for it! You will like it. Check out the reviews….

As the time comes nearer for me to go back to work after a 7-week hiatus, I’ve been given an itinerary detailing my flights.

I then contacted the airline… Air France …only to be told that all the reference and ticket numbers and my names are not on their system. Arrgh France advised me to contact their ticket handling agents – a third party company also used by British Arseways.

Deja vu time.

Sure enough, Swissport doesn’t have anything on me, none of the reference numbers I gave, or the itinerary I mentioned showed up any reservations.

Oh boy. Funtimes in the next few days as I prepare to fly on Monday.

I used to hate shaving, so much so, I’d put it off for weeks on end. Luckily for me, my facial hair doesn’t grow all that fast, so I could get away with it more than some blokes can.

I was told by a friend in upstate New York to try the old fashioned safety razors and the soap bars frequently associated with it – not totally convinced it would be such a big improvement, I checked the prices of a replacement blade. Each double-edged blade can cost as little as 20pence each versus £2 or even £4 each for the moden multi-razor blades, I decided I might as well try it out. I ordered all my kit from www.gentlemans-shop.com and set about trying it.

Bloody hell! No longer do I have a horrendous lobster-red rash on my throat and underchin area, and no irritation whatsoever! Granted, it wasn’t a close shave – for that, I’d need to go “against the grain” – but this is early days, I’d needed to learn how to handle the razor properly, eventually taking the plunge to do it. It irritated like hell. I changed razor blades, and it improved a little, and again to another blade manufacturer where it is nearly perfect.

It’s amazing how different blade manufacturer can be so different! I know can shave with the confidence of not having an inflamed, rashy, spotty raw throat, and get a smooth close shave.

If you have a problem shaving, I’d strongly suggest trying the old fashioned route.

As for my friend, he got himself one of those straight blades (see picture below)!!! Good luck to him!!

I got laid lasered on Friday and took the relative risk of getting both eyes done at the same time.

Anyway, while getting lasered, I’ve been told I have large pupils, almost twice the average. As a bloke, it’s nice to be told things like that.

It is a bit of a risk for me personally as I need to use my eyes to hear (lipreading/body language/observations) and last time I checked, they can’t zap my ears to make me hear again. So if anything went wrong, I’d basically be in a bit of a fix and pretty much deafblind.

I have to say it was not a nice experience and the sensation in my eyes afterwards for about five hours was not pleasant at all. Going to sleep was a hopeless task.

Now, my eyes are still recovering but I can see much better now with some slight patchy blurriness and haloes which should clear up.

After 10 years of wearing glasses, I keep finding myself looking for my glasses and have to stop myself mid-pace even when I can see perfectly clear. It is weird.

It makes me think what it might be like if there was an option one day to restore my hearing. Do I keep hunting for my hearing aids…?