I can see clearly now...

I thought I'd recant this story here, it happened a few months ago.

I was on my last pair of disposable contacts (these ones had lasted me a long time, I only wear them a few times per week usually), and these contacts began to REALLY bother my eyes, to the point where I couldn't put them in without hurting.

Now, last time this happened, I had to dump something like $200+ to get a "current prescription" from an optometrist for my wife and I. Why? Apparently we've got a few nannies involved in writing laws, because there's a law "for my own good" that says "you can't buy contacts without a current prescription". Sounds like a good idea, right? Well, I had already been wearing the friggin' contacts to begin with. And I could have bought a 10 year supply if I really wanted to, but if it's July 2nd, and my one-year prescription ran out on July 1st, I need to go to an optometrist and dump $100+ per person on a contact lens exam.

And so that time my wife and I went to the eye doctor, each getting a prescription for the SAME exact contacts we were already wearing, basically wasting our time and money. I only ordered a 3 month supply (which lasts me about a year and a half because I don't wear them often), and that brings me to the time frame I was talking about in the beginning of this post. My contacts were starting to hurt, but I didn't have the $100+ each for a new exam, nor was I about to blow my money on a new exam to tell me what I already know, that my prescription is the same.

So, remembering the experience I had last time, I thought "maybe I'll call a place in Ohio, and see if I can order from there". Turns out Ohio has the same law. So I call another state, same thing, and I end up finding out that there is a federal law that forces US businesses (optometrists and other resellers of contact lenses) to verify a "current" prescription (usually 1 or 2 year) before they can sell contact lenses to someone. I try a few places online, thinking I can circumvent the law, to no avail.

So, with our nanny government pandering to doctors' special interest groups, and screwing American businesses and consuemrs, I did what any good American would do... {singing} "Oh, Canada... Our home to buy contacts..." (you have to know the Canadian national anthem for that to be funny). I google search for a Canadian company that sells contact lenses online, and find one. I go to my safe, pull out my prescription, type the information in, and order my contacts. A little while later, they show up at my door, put them in, and I can see clearly now...