Stuck at Sea Level with an Eye Bubble

[Andrea B.]

I am forbidden to go above 1500 feet. Until that happens to you, you tend not to pay much attention to altitudes during typical car travel. This time on the way to Maine, I had the cellie and the GPS both tracking the height between central New Jersey and Mount Desert Island to convince myself that we weren't going to inadvertently travel over some mountain pass. Fortunately we were pretty close to sea level most of the way. And the tallest point on this island is 1528'. So I'm good to go for the duration of this sojourn as long as I stop 28' short of Cadillac Mountain's tallest point.

 

1500 feet = 457.2 meters.

 

You see, if I go too high, then my C₃F₈ eye bubble will expand and put pressure on the area of the recent left eye surgery. They inject the eye bubble to hold everything in place while it heals. I had forgotten all about organic chemistry until I obtained my very own perfluoropropane gas bubble and started to worry about how 8 fluorines could fit with 3 carbons. Another name for C₃F₈ is Freon 218. But my eye does not feel cold.

 

I have another month of interesting, wavy underwater vision while trying to see through the eye bubble. So it seems appropriate that I'm dwelling at sea level. The eye bubble causes certain interesting optical effects in both eyes. When it gets too awful I don my pirate patch and flounce about hollering argh, argh, argggghhh while waving my Leki pole about and threatening innocent bystanders. The Leki helps me walk during this bubble adventure without falling over. About 4PM every day both eyes start battling each other for dominance, and I have to totally give up and take a rest in the blue chaise longue with a gin & tonic, heavy on the lime. Eventually the eye bubble will be absorbed, and I will be free to ascend to any heights once again. Without the Leki.

 

All this by way of explanation why I haven't written or posted much this last month or so.

 

As a weird side note, I have observed that auto-focus is useless unless you can see whether it is working. There's something very wrong with this. But that's how it's been.

 

Oh well.

[colinbm]

You don't lack adventure in your life Andrea.

Can you see level with that bubble in your eye ?

Now I understand Bjorn quip about the pirate eye patch......shiver me timbers & all that.

Get well soon Andrea.

Cheers

Col

[JCDowdy]

argggghhh :)

[Andrea B.]

Can you see level with that bubble in your eye ?

Love it!!

 

Just picked up on the fact that we have a bubble-eyed smiley. :) ;) :) :blink: Perfect!!!!

 

My SigOth has been laughing about my fear of encountering a mountain pass on some interstate or intra-state highway in coastal New England.

[rfcurry]

With or without the Freon, just chill for a while.

Enjoy the warm sun... and the fog, of Baaa Haabuh.

 

Get well... Now!

[Andrea B.]

getting there, getting there........

 

We are over on the quiet side of the Island in Southwest Harbor alongside Somes Sound. Love it when the fog banks roll in.

[Bill De Jager]

Andrea, best wishes for a speedy recovery! Mt. Desert Island is a great place - enjoy it.

 

I have generally been off photography (except for meetings with friends) and pretty much any nature or travel at all for months due to long hours of work and exhaustion/recovery afterwards. Now my arms are acting up so my typing is limited and driving to the Sierra or desert is out of the question for some time. At least I scored a couple of good used monolights (w/clear flash tubes for UV) relatively cheap so later on I can use them for UV macro. I may do limited outdoor UV work in a few weeks.

[Damon]

Any UV get through the bubble?

 

We will keep an eye on you.

 

Best,

 

-Damon

[Andrea B.]

I see a lot of interesting purple chromatic aberrations when looking through the bubble.

I haven't yet tested it for UVIVF. Could be interesting.......

 

Today I popped in both contact lenses for 2 minutes because I was so tired of wandering around in my own personal fog bank. It was like one of those miracle movies. She can see!! She can see!! It was great. Please do not tell the eye surgeons about the contact lenses. They get a little snippy about disobeying instructions.