LASIK Eye Surgery after 2.5 months...

It has been 2.5 months since I had LASIK eye surgery, so I decided to give an update as to how my vision has changed since the surgery. I would say laser eye surgery has to be one of the biggest miracles of modern medicine. Imagine (those of us with bad vision don't need to imagine) being practically blind without glasses or contacts for most of your life. Then you walk into an eye doctor's office and less than 30 minutes later you can see 20/20 or better! Laser vision correction is one of those technologies that can improve the quality of life for millions (billions?) of people in the world.

I can say that my vision continues to improve with time since my surgery. During the day, my vision is spectacular. It is BETTER than what I could see with contacts or glasses. My vision at night has also improved dramatically in the past month. For several weeks, I was seeing large halos at night and that could make it difficult to see sometimes. The halos have gotten dramatically smaller. They are still there, but they are about one quarter to one half the size of what they were a month ago. If you have any problems with your vision, at night is definitely the time you will notice it most.

One thing I noticed after my surgery is that how good your vision is has much more to do than just which line on the eye chart you can read at the doctor's office. That simply measures how MUCH you can see, but it doesn't tell you how WELL you can see. For example, you may have visual aberrations at night in the weeks after your surgery. I saw huge halos. Others have reported star burst patterns or other aberrations. You may be able to read evenly lit, distant street signs, but may have trouble seeing anything in certain situations when these aberrations get in the way.

Besides the halos, here are some other things that I have noticed that may not be as good as before I had my surgery.

• My eyes seem to take longer to adjust to changes in lighting. If I move from a very dark location to a very bright one, my eyes seem to take longer to adjust before I can see again. For example, if I come out of a movie theater in the middle of the day, it seems to be blinding for a longer time than before. Or if I go from a bright room to one that is dark, it seems to take me longer before I can see anything in the dark room.
• I don't seem to see as clearly at night or low light situation. There are times at night where I can't really see anything when I use to be able to. This might be related to my eyes not being able to adjust to light levels as rapidly as before the surgery. The light levels can change rapidly at night, so there are times I can't see anything when it gets dark quickly such as moving from a brightly lit street to one that is unlit. This can be an issue when I ride a bicycle at night and don't have a headlight bright enough to illuminate the road.
• I don't seem to be able to focus as rapidly as before the surgery. I spend long hours in front of the computer. Sometimes, after staring at the computer screen for hours, I have trouble seeing distant objects in one of my eyes and my vision gets unbalanced. It can be disorienting.
• Related to the focusing issues is that sometimes one of my eyes just goes blurry. The solution seems to be to use some artificial tears, close my eyes for a minute or so, and blink a few times. Once again, this seems to happen at night or after long hours in front of the computer.
• There is better clarity in my right eye than my left. I can't see any more, but the clarity is slightly better in the right eye compared with the left.
• I have some issues with dry eyes. It's not bad or uncomfortable, but it is noticeable. I do need to use artificial tears up to 3 times a day. The times it is most notice is when I wake up in the morning and late at night.
• I seem to have more eye strain in front of the computer or reading for long periods of time. I do need to take breaks more frequently than before.

So yes, I am seeing just as well or better after laser eye surgery, but not in all situations especially at night or after long hours in front of a computer. With these caveats in mind, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks for me. I no longer have to worry about contacts and solution everyday. I don't have to worry about falling asleep in my contacts or finding a sink to wash my hands to remove them. This is a big deal when traveling since there may not always be facilities around. I am seeing better than 20/20 in most situations. I wouldn't say LASIK is perfect and hopefully I won't have any long term issues. But so far, I am impressed!

Political Armchair Quarterbacking...

I have always been worried that despite Obama campaigning on change, he would simply continue the policies of Bush. Why was Bush so hated by everyone? The problem with Bush is that he was fiscally liberal and socially conservative. If you want to know how to be hated by virtually everyone, what Bush did is the way to do it. Liberals hate him because of his social views. Conservatives hate him because he spends too much money. Independents really hate him because they tend to be the exact opposite of Bush. Most independents are fiscally conservative and socially liberal. The fact that John Kerry lost to him in 2004 shows how terrible a campaign he ran.

Obama's problem is that he's fiscally and socially liberal and hasn't worked with the opposition party, instead relying on party loyalty to force his agenda through. The conservatives despise him and the independents are abandoning him as well. That is most of the country.

He paid for it this week with the loss of the super majority in the Senate with the loss in Massachusetts. Looking at the election results last Tuesday, you would think that Massachusetts is a red state. This is the most Democratic, liberal, state in the country. It is suppose to be the state where any candidate with a pulse and a D next to him/her should win. This will make the rest of his agenda far more difficult since he will now be forced to engage the Republicans that he may have alienated in the past year.

Obama must move towards the center or he will plummet faster than Bush did. Let's look at the health care bill, which has become a political disaster for Obama and the Democrats:

http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf

It is nearly 2,000 pages long! Does anyone besides the people who wrote it really understand what is in this bill? As busy as the politicians are, did they even get a chance to read and understand even just a fraction of what is in this monster before voting on it? Obama is trying to slay the health care beast in one massive bill. That is a terrible strategic error on his part. It is a political battle no one can win. Why didn't he go for a series of small, non controversial bills that the public can support and the Republicans dare not vote against? Out of 2,000 pages, he can't find 100 or 200 pages worth of legislation with bipartisan support? Didn't he campaign on working together and finding common ground for CHANGE? Finding common ground in a 2,000 page bill is virtually impossible. Everyone is going to hate it in some way.

Obama is now trying to get a scaled down version of his bill passed, but this is what he should have been doing from the beginning. However, he has wasted so much of his political capital and created so much animosity with independent voters and Republicans that he may get nothing for all the work he's put in on this for the last year.

Obama will pay for this politically, but it is we the people that suffer. 46 million people have no health coverage and many are under insured. Half of all bankruptcies are due to medical costs. Cost are escalating and much of the increased cost have nothing to do with health care. Health care is an issue that can bankrupt the country if it is not brought under control...

Leon's Guide To Backpacking In Europe...

For those of you thinking of backpacking through Europe, go ahead and do it! You will see things, meet people, and experience cultures that you will not find in America. It does not matter where you go. There is so much to see in Europe that it does not matter where you go. There are interesting places to go, history to learn, people to meet, and food in every direction. Just pick a place that interests you and is within your budget. Backpacking is incredibly popular in Europe with the under 30 crowd. Young people there do not just travel for 1 week like the typical American vacation. They travel for many weeks to months to several different countries and cities. It's not that these people have a lot of money either. Many were living on less than 30 Euros a day.

What To Bring

Backpacking is just that. Instead of luggage, you have a large camping style backpack to carry everything you need. Try to travel as light as possible. Only carry what you absolutely need and will use. The less weight you have to carry, the more you will enjoy your trip. My total weight was 45 lb., which is quite a bit heavier than what many backpackers travel with. The major items in terms of weight were my Xootr (10 lb.), laptop computer (10 lb.), and camera equipment (10 lb.). I only carried 15 lb. of personal items such as clothes, shoes, hygiene products, etc. When you have to carry everything you need, you learn how to get by with very little. Traveling in the warm months is much easier since you will need to pack and wear less clothes. Some items that you might find useful.

• Passport. You absolutely need to have a passport. You will need this at many border crossings as well as identification at hotels and hostels. Keep it safe and always have it on you. Don't lose it!! A US passport will allow you to go just about anywhere in Europe without a visa. Belarus and Russia are the exceptions.
• ATM Card. This is the cheapest way to get money. The best exchange rates are at the ATM machines. Use the machines rather than the currency exchange counters wherever possible. Try to use an account with a bank that refunds your ATM fees. I use United Heritage, which is a local credit union in Austin.
• A medium jacket. If you are visiting northern countries, it can still get cold enough for a jacket even in the summer. Being from Texas, I found myself needing a heavier jacket than what I brought with me when I was in Iceland in July.
• Laptop Computer. The Internet is an indispensable source when traveling. You can find out where the accommodations are, events that are going on, book travel reservations, etc. I carried a heavy Macbook. Next time, I may try to take something smaller and lighter, but I used my computer a lot, so perhaps the extra weight was worth it.
• Xootr. A kick scooter greatly expands the area you can explore compared to being on foot. Unlike bicycles, these are small enough to bring onto an airplane as carry on baggage. It's also small enough to carry into most places rather than having to lock it outside. I can cruise at 12-15 mph on smooth pavement. It's not that useful in cities with cobblestone roads (i.e. Prague), but in most cities, you can cover 3 to 4 times more area on a kick scooter compared with walking. This was my primary mode of transportation within a city. If you have decent fitness, you can easily cover 30 miles or more in a day. This makes it worth carrying the 10 lb. as I was able to see and do a lot more than I would have without it. It also saved my feet from painful blisters, which happens to me all the time while I travel because of walking so much.

There are 2 ways to do your trip. The first is to plan out where you want to go, where you are going to stay, and what you can do. The other is to just decide as you go. If you have limited amounts of time or  money, it is better to plan ahead so you don't run out of time or money. For my trip, I decided as I went depending on what I saw, who I met, how much it cost, and the local events that were going on.

Transportation

To find a good deal to get to Europe, I use Travelzoo.com. They publish various sales that the airlines have.

Once you are in Europe, the first thing you need to worry about is where you want to go and how you are going to get there. My main mode of transportation within Europe was by trains. I took the bus twice; once into Maribor, the other into Sarajevo. Airline flights can be just as cheap or cheaper than trains, but they usually require you to book in advance for these low rates. For traveling on short notice, trains are cheaper than flying and more comfortable than a bus. The trains in western Europe (i.e. France, Germany) are generally clean, comfortable, fast, and reliable. The trains in Eastern Europe are much more unpredictable. Take this into account when you need to change trains. You can buy train tickets either at the train station or online. The DB Bahn website is invaluable. I found myself visiting that website consistently for train schedules even outside of Germany. Depending on how and where you travel, it may or may not be worth to buy an EU Rail pass. I did buy one, but for where I traveled, it would have been cheaper to just buy the individual tickets.

My favorite trains were the German ICE trains. They are fast, clean, modern, and reliable. They reach speeds up to 300 km/hr which is the fastest I have ever traveled on the ground. The worst trains were in Poland. These communist era trains were dirty, smelly, unreliable. The international trains and trains between major cities were acceptable. But stay away from the regional trains in Poland if possible.

Mass transportation is much more developed in Europe than in the US. For the entire two months, I did not ever need to rent a car. Most cities have a well developed mass transportation system of buses, subways, or trolleys. But remember that most of these mass transit systems stop operating at midnight. You may need to take a taxi if you stay out late at night.

Accommodations

After you have decided where to go and how you will get there, the next step is to find a place to stay. My recommendation is that you book a place to stay BEFORE you arrive. Getting your bearings in a new city is already stressful enough. I find that it is a bit too stressful if I don't know where I am and I don't know where I need to be. Book at least one night at your new destination. This will give you time to orient yourself to the new city. This will also give you someone to call if you get lost and can't find anyone to help you with directions. Before you leave, find out where your train or bus will drop you in the city. Then find out how to get from the station to your accommodations. This is the most stressful part of the trip. Once I get to the place where I am going to spend the night, I am "safe". From then, I am free to plan the rest of my stay since I have a home base to operate out of.

Life revolves around hostels for backpackers. They are how backpackers can travel for months at a time in Europe. Hostels are dormitories where you share a room and bathroom with multiple people. Staying at a hotel every night would make trips far too expensive for most backpackers. I recommend staying in hostels for most of your nights and only staying in hotels when you need some privacy or just want to pamper yourself. It is a big part of the European travel experience.

Hostels are set up to allow you to meet fellow travelers unlike hotels which are designed for privacy. It allows you to chance to make friends with people from all over the world and perhaps even meet that special someone. ;) The hostel experience is something that you don't really find in America. My favorite website for booking hostels was Hostels.com. Their list of hostels is very comprehensive and I booked the vast majority of my stays there. Most of the hostels were reasonably clean and many included breakfast with their stays. It seems to be a very competitive business and the subpar ones aren't around very long or get poor reviews. Since you are sharing a room with strangers, most hostels provide lockers where you can secure your belongings. I've never had anything stolen while staying in a hostels, but do take common sense precautions.

What To Do

Once you know where you are going to spend the night, the fun begins! Talk to the staff about where to eat, what to do, where to go, etc. They will be more than happy to guide you and provide you with maps and literature. The people working in hostels and hotels know their city very well. This is far better than carrying around a thick guide book. Talk to your roommates about where they have been and what they plan on doing. All of the people staying at hostels are there as tourists. It's far more enjoyable to find out about the city by talking to the locals and other travelers than reading a guide book. In many cities there are "free" walking tours that start off in hostels. They are free in the sense that you are only expected to tip the tour guide what you feel he or she is worth. They are a great way to find out the best things to do and to meet new friends as well.

That is all there is to it. Transportation and accommodations are your main worries. Once those are out of the way, it's pretty easy no matter where you go.

Stay Safe

Europe is generally a safe place to travel. I'm sure that there are places you should not go to, but you seem to have to go out of your way to find them. I never felt unsafe in any of the 17 cities I visited. The main thing to watch for are pick picketers and money exchange scams. I have heard of stories of people being robbed in trains while they slept, but the only time I felt a bit uncomfortable was the trains in Poland while I was heading into Krakow. It seems safer to travel in Europe than it America. Nearly every American city have a bad neighborhood which the locals will tell you to avoid.

Most European cities don't seem to have this. It is safe enough that you will see young girls traveling alone by themselves. But as always, stay alert, be aware of your surroundings, and take common sense precautions.

Communications

A nice thing to have is an unlocked quad band GSM wireless phone. Prepaid SIM cards are widely available in every city. If you get lost or have an emergency, it is good to be able to call for help. In Vienna, I got terribly lost, and having a mobile phone to call the hostel I was staying at me saved me a lot of grief. Incoming calls are free. You only pay for outgoing calls.

McDonalds is a good place to get Internet access for free. Hostels may either charge you for Internet access or give you access for free.

Many people speak English in Europe and you will not have trouble communicating in any of the big cities. The further east you go the fewer people there are that speak English, but I was able to get around just fine. All of the staff in hotels and hostels, and most restaurants  and retail stores speak English. Just ask if they speak English and most of the time they will say "a little". :)

Cost

With the US Dollar so low against the Euro (Between $1.40 to $1.50 to €1), Europe is noticeably more expensive than the US for many things. Your main cost is accommodations, food, and transportation. Some common costs that I paid while I was there:

• Hostels: Between €15 to €30 per night.
• Restaurant Meals: €10-€20. Tipping is accepted but not mandatory. If you want to tip, 10% is usually fine. The wait staff get a salary unlike in America. 
• Turkish Kebab: €3.50-€4.0 
• McDonalds Big Mac: €3.50 - €5.0
• Rail Tickets: €30-€90.0
• Museum entrance ticket: €10
• Prepaid wireless SIM card: €10

Western Europe is much more expensive than eastern part. Paris was the most expensive city I was in. But Eastern Europe isn't dirt cheap as it once was. Prices have gone up considerably since the fall of communism.

That's all there is to it! Europe is definitely a different place than America, but it's not hard to do for anyone that is a little adventurous. :)

Electric Cars:Why they make sense...

With the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf being less than a year away and other vehicles scheduled in 2011, electric vehicles may finally make a difference in how much oil we need to consume. Electric vehicles are actually nothing new. In fact, the first automobiles were created in 1800's were electric before gas powered cars. Moving to electric powered vehicles offers several advantages.

• They are far cheaper to operate. A Chevy Volt needs 8 kilowatt hours to go 40 miles before its on board gas generator kicks in. 8 kilowatt hours costs about 50 to 80 cents in Austin. Compared to a 25 mpg sedan will need 1.6 gallons of gasoline. At $2.50/gallon that's $4 of gasoline to go the same 40 miles. The reason for this is electric motors are 4 times more efficient than gas engines. In an internal combustion engine, about 80% of the energy is wasted as heat. It is not uncommon for electric motors to operate at efficiencies above 90%. In other words, most of the energy you put into a gas engine is wasted as heat, while electric motors turn almost all of the energy into forward motion.
• Gasoline only comes from crude oil. Electricity is generated from a variety of sources including gasoline, diesel, natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, hydro, and even exotic method like capturing the ocean currents. Basically any method that can be used to turn a turbine can be used to generate electricity.
• Electric vehicles don't pollute. While it is true that 60% of the electricity produced in the United States is from coal which do pollute, generating power at a central power plant is far more efficient than millions of individual vehicles burning fuel. Also, the pollution emitted by power plants is often located away from urban centers, so the pollution that does get emitted does less harm to people. As more electricity is generated from clean sources (i.e. wind, solar, hydro) or cleaner fossil fuels (i.e. natural gas instead of coal) we have chance to significantly reduce air pollution and that will improve the health of all of us.
• Electric motors have far higher performance compared to similarly sized gasoline engines. It is not even close. If we used a similar sized electric motor as gas engines today, it would generate enough torque to shred the tires off most vehicles. Electric motors generate so much torque that they do not need complex transmissions. A simple single speed transmission would be enough. Today's cars have complex 5, 6, and even 7 speed transmissions to keep the gas engine in a narrow operating speed. In contrast, a Tesla Roadster does 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds. There is no shifting. It has a single speed transmission. In addition, electric motors are nearly silent offering a quiet, smooth ride. There is no exhaust system to control noise because the motor generates no noise or exhaust further simplifying the drivetrain.
• The maintenance on an all electric vehicle is far less because of its simplicity.
• Nearly one half of our trade deficit is due to oil imports. Most of this oil comes from politically unstable parts of the world or nations that are not friendly to the United States. Cutting our oil usage would go a long way to improving our fiscal budget and political situations. Compared to oil, electricity is generated almost entirely from local energy sources, whether it is coal, natural gas, hydro, wind, nuclear, etc.

So given all these advantages, why is it that electric vehicles are only now just starting to come to the market? The answer is the battery. Current battery technology is the Achilles Heel of electric vehicles. The three major drawbacks of batteries are:

• Weight. A gallon of gasoline weighs about 6 lbs. A battery that stores the same amount of energy contained in a gallon of gasoline would weigh ~600 lb. and would be incredibly expensive. Fortunately electric motors don't need to carry as much onboard energy as a gas engine because of its efficiency. But this still severely limits an electric vehicles range and speed. Putting a large enough battery to match the range of a gas powered vehicle would simply make it too heavy and expensive. This is why electric vehicles are thought to be slow. Putting a large, high performance motor in an electric vehicle would simply shorten the range to an unacceptable level.
• Refueling. Once the battery is depleted it takes several hours to recharge the battery. Meanwhile, a 5 minute stop at a gas station means the gas powered vehicle can go another 300-400 miles. You are always worried about being stranded in an electric vehicle. It is also difficult to find an electrical outlet nearby most public parking spaces. This makes it unsuitable for long distance trips especially in remote areas.
• Cost. Storing energy in batteries is still very expensive compared with stored energy as fossil fuels. Electric vehicles are far more expensive than equivalent gas powered ones. But the operating costs are far lower. As the technology and economies of scale improves, we will see electric vehicles close the gap to their gas counterparts.  

The Chevy Volt attempts to solve this problem by having a small battery to keep the weight and cost at an acceptable level, but large enough for most day to day use. The gasoline engine never powers the car directly. It acts as a generator for the electric motors once the batteries are exhausted. This means you have a car that is fully electric most of the time, but you don't need to worry about being stranded once your batteries are dead as long as you have gas in the tank just as in a regular car. If you exceed the 40 mile electric range, you have fuel economy similar to a gas hybrid vehicle. If done correctly, this and other electric vehicle that are coming have the potential to drastically reduce our gasoline consumption.