20/20

And I am not talking about Barbara Walters & her other ABC show!

After years of wearing glasses & contacts I finally now have 20/20 vision. Oh technology is so amazing. All it took was about 15 minutes including prep time. The actual procedure for each eye took about 60 seconds. And even though it was a piece of cake I was scared. I mean who wouldn't be; it's your eyes, for Pete’s sake. It’s no small thing when a machine cuts the cornea of your eye to create the flap which is then flipped back to have the laser zap your cornea back into shape, to give you that 20/20 you so desire. Did I mention that while the flap was being created you loose your vision for about 10 seconds? - That was very scary (especially cause I was all alone - Hubby had to fly back the previous day for work). It was also the longest 10 seconds I have known but a normal cause & effect of the keratome machine doing its thing. Once the right eye was completed, I was hesitant to have the procedure done on my other eye. I kept wanting to say, 'do we have to do the other eye? Can’t we just leave it be? I am sure I will be fine with perfect vision in just one eye. What if it doesn't work on the other one?' It's amazing how many thoughts can run through your head in just a few seconds. But I had to bite the bullet & stop being a sissy. 60 seconds later I was done. Did I mention all of this was 100% painless? They do put numbing drops in your eye. I think the worst part was the nausea due to the burning smell that the laser emits while it's zapping your eyes into perfection.

The procedure was so smooth that the surgeon had five patients in the span of 45 mins (including 2 men in their 40's & a 61 year old woman). He must do at least 10 procedures a day, three times a week. But he was incredibly confident with more than 35,000 procedures under his belt and very vocal about the procedure while he was zapping away.

So, here I am a week later with 20/20 that I am very thankful for. Also, thanks mom for making sure I got home safe after the surgery. For those of you interested, check out lasik md.

stop your noise !

Just look at this thing. It’s called a Bermuda Whistling Toad & it's about the size of your thumbnail. And incredibly loud. How can something so small have a lung capacity unmatched to it's sound? Now imagine hundreds of them in your front yard, backyard or just any yard. Or even on the outside of the window like this one here. Oh they can be so annoying. Did I mention they were loud? Their constant incessant croaks are enough to keep anyone up so you can forget about sleeping with the windows open. On the bright side they do hibernate in the winter. Some of you know how loud they can be when we talk to you on the phone. You ask us, 'what is that noise'. Well take a good look at the culprit. They come in packs. So now you know. They’ve known to invade our patio & I just cringe when I’m out in the dark for the last thing that i want to do is step on one of them. Ugghh. I am beginning to share Ms.StopYourNoise's fear of frogs & toads. You want Bermuda road kill. Well, the frogs are it. It’s Canada’s equivalent of the squirrels. And here I thought we had escaped it all.

what, no promotion? strike!!!

Since it was the busy first week of the month at work, the hubby was working late yesterday & I was to take to bus home. I decided to call our landlady, Ms.StopYourNoise to see if I could get a ride home. Just because it's much more fun & she's a hoot to boot. She told me to wait at my usual pick up spot & when she hadn't shown up 30 minutes later, I began to take note of the crawling traffic on Front Street. I also noticed more people than usual trying to hail cabs. A women waiting for ride of her own told me the bus drivers went on strike as of 11:00 am that morning. Oh well, alright probably a pay increase issue. 40 minutes later the 'ms. stop your noise' still hadn't shown up & by this time I was feeling bad for her being stuck in traffic. She showed up just about that time & told me it took just 40 minutes to make through less than a mile. (One lane roads, people).

Anyway, so today I decided to read up on what the strike was all about & if it had been resolved, just incase I had to take the bus today. Here’s what I found: last year, The Bermuda Public Transportation board (PTB), created a new 'Supervisory Craft Foreman' within the PTB body shop. Two Bermudian employees of equal footing qualified for this post but union reported that the one employee awarded the position was less senior than the other candidate. So the matter was taken up & is still up at Labour Relations. But then on Sunday, PTB decided to have the employee perform in the new role in an acting capacity. Come Monday, this didn't sit well with the staff & so they organized a strike faster than you can say...well anything. From 11:00 am onwards you couldn't even see the shadow of a pink bus anywhere. Tourists & locals alike were stranded. On the bright side, it was a big pay day for taxi corporations & drivers.

What’s the real reason for the strike? Sure the union reps say it's an issue of seniority & that could be just a cover up & a politically correct reason to justify the strike. With the rest of the unionized staff backing up the non chosen employee & fighting for his/her rights, you have to wonder are the PTB union members one big happy family or if this is just a case of office politics. While it is admirable that they have chosen to strike for just one person's rights instead of a common right of say a pay increase, who in this day & age will stick their neck out for their fellow co-workers? But then every small obstacle cleared now paves a smoother road for the future. For all employees. Well there's something that can be done & take a stand they did. Oh these Bermudians sure do have guts.

But wait, who's rooting for the chosen employee, the one that was actually given the job?

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Post Script:
July 5th 2006

So its official. In order to placate the entire PTB unionized staff, the newly created position was dropped. No word on the originally chosen employee. Pays to be unionized in Bermuda, eh?