I Can Can't See Clearly, Now

A few weeks ago, with the coming retirement meaning benefits were going away, I went to use up my vision coverage benefit and visited the Optometrist.  Got a new prescription, and ordered both a pretty nice pair of "walk around" glasses and computer glasses.  It was the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the fact that I got my computer glasses today probably tells you there was a screw-up involved.  They lost my order.

Unfortunately, I found out today that there was more than one screw-up.  The computer glasses are wrong.  They're just the reading prescription focused at infinity, not at arm's length for the computer.  To see this monitor clearly puts me so far away that my hands don't reach the keyboard.  I'm typing this with my regular glasses on, made with the Physio blended bifocal lenses.  They're good, but I'm leaning back a bit more than is comfortable. 

The other big time sink for the day was assembling a new benchtop bandsaw I picked up today and setting it up for its first cuts.  It's a Craftsman 10" bandsaw, and I picked this one after reading several online reviews, to replace a dreadful little three wheel, Horrible Freight bandsaw I have.  It always sounded like it was ready to disintegrate, so at least that's gone.  I don't do much wood and plastic cutting, but a general purpose little bandsaw is almost indispensable in a small shop, especially if you make knives and things (just not the way I've done knives before).  

Like many other lower end machine tools, you'll find the same basic look in tools by several brands, like Jet, Rikon, Harbor Freight, and some others, and like the metalworking tools, there are differences the different companies order when they get them made.  At $170, the Craftsman seemed to be a good choice.