Tonight SWMBO and I went into Brisbane city for dinner.  On the way we picked up a friend of SWMBO's from the airport that had just flown in from Fiji.  We found a park in Albert street and walked toward Little Singapore.  Little Singapore is a gorgeous little restaurant that serves a mixture of tucker: Singaporean, Malay, Indonesian and Indian food.  Anyway, we had almost reached Charlotte street when the other two asked me to follow them in a chemist to pick up some stuff.  At the same time I saw Sam Thaiday, Israel Falou and some other footballer walking across the street toward us.  Then they followed the three of us into to the chemist.

*After walking in I met Sam's eye and gave him a nod.  'How you doing?' I asked him.  Without waiting for a response I told him he was in my Fantasy League team.  He gave me a quizzical look in return and I put it down to him recognising the Reds jersey I had on.  Can't a man follow two football codes?

Sam mumbled something that sounded like 'Thanks mate'. I took that as a cue to continue.  'You better pick your tackle rate up mate or I am going to trade you'.  Israel, who had been listened in, chortled and elbowed Sam.  'Yeah mate', he laughed.  You better improve eh?'. Sam threw me a dirty look, a grin and mumbled, 'Yeah mate'.  And they both walked off.*

Now if you really believed I said any of that you need your head read.  Sam would just have to flex his bicep and I would have been curled up in a ball, in the nearest corner, whimpering in fright.  I did see them both though.  And just in case you want to know, all three were perfectly behaved.

But

I mean it.  I will trade him.  Sam Thaiday's fantasy scores over the last three weeks have cost me.  If he doesn't score in the mid forties against the sharks this week, he's gone.

Yesterday morning Harry started acting like a pork chop at the front gate again.  This is normal.  Anytime anyone walks on our side of the street he lets them know he is there.  I am happy with that.  If anyone walks their dog past our house he lets the world know he is there too.  Today though the kerfuffle went on longer than usual.  So I looked out my window and spied two Bull Arabs frollicking on our front lawn.   I knew the dogs because I pass them everyday when I walk Harry.  Their house is within a hundred metres of ours.

Neither dogs had a lead on them and their owner was nowhere to be seen.  One was just a pup but the other was just as big as Harry.  Some people get a little nervous when a horse sized dog wanders around freely so I skedaddled out there and tethered the two of them.  Mind you, I make it sound easy.  They took me on a merry chase down the street before I could get to them.

I walked them back to their house but no one was there and I wasn't  going to fix the hole they had created in their fence, so I brought them back to my house much to Harry´s delight.  The three of them proceeded to tear it up all over the backyard.  It was a chaotic scene complete with flying gobs of doggy saliva, copious butt sniffing, bone un-earthings and many male-on-male mountings (Why is it that dogs can´t it figure out).

Their owners were pretty thankful when they did come home and realised I had them.  Harry and I were sorry to see them go but I do have some pictures of the visitors.

 Who's that at the gate?

A while back I was contemplating getting laser eye surgery.  As you can see from my previous post I hadn't really thought things through.  I had done a quick search of the internet and found many websites filled with glowing testimonials about the procedure.  So I stopped looking and was considering the next hurdle and to be honest the only thing holding me back was the cost.

I have worn glasses since I was a young child and so I can't remember life without them.  Wearing glasses is normal to me so the prospect of life without them was attractive but a reality I couldn't really comprehend.  It sounded good but 7000 AUD spent on the surgery was a lot of money. I guess someone who is forced to start wearing glasses in their adult life would jump at the opportunity to never have to wear them again.  I was attracted to the idea but no more than that.  Which is why the cost was such a factor.

Then OzSoapBox wrote a blog post a couple of days ago about laser eye surgery. His post encouraged me do some proper reading online.  I believe I can now make an informed decision rather than a decision based on word of mouth and the testimonials from 'spin sites'.  I recommend you check out his post should you be thinking about having laser eye surgery.

Here are some websites I believe will help you to make an informed decision;

Blogs & Personal Experiences

OzSoapBox - 10 must read blog posts on laser eye surgery

Pros

lasik.com.au

Wikipedia - Lasik

The Eye Institute

lasik.com

USA Eyes

Cons

Stahleyecenter-malpractice.com - The Lasik Report

Lasik-Flap.com - Anti Laser Eye Surgery Website and its forum

Lifeafterlasik.com - A post surgery community

Post Surgery Effects - blurring and halo

So what have i decided?  Well, I have decided not to go through with the surgery.  My decision is based on a few factors.

1.  Price - 7 grand AUD is a lot of money.

2.  I don't NEED the surgery.  Wearing glasses is not a hinderance for me and when I play contact sport I wear contact lenses.

3.  The procedure is irreversable.  So if something does go wrong ...

4.  Side Effects.  From what I have read side effects are common.  The halo, haze and dry eye symptoms affect many, many patients.  I know of one person who sufferes from all three (she actually still recommends the surgery - go figure).

5.  The Lasik Flap.  The laser cut into your eye, also known as the Lasik Flap, only heals to 2.4% of its former strength (I have read this is only a problem if your eye suffers a direct blow).  PRK could be an option for you if you wish to avoid this cut (an alternative laser eye surgery procedure that eliminates the need for this flap.

6.  I may still need glasses.  Even the positive spin sites often write that within a few years I may have to wear glasses again.  Should I have 'the dry eye' symptom contact lenses won't be an option for me - bye bye contact sport :(

7. Finally this report/list, posted on many sites, just scared the hell out of me. 

Don't let my bias convince or disuade you though.  What is important here is that I did some research.  If you are considering getting this surgery, you too should do some research. Don't take my opinion as gospel, or any one opinion for that matter.  Be sure to consider the facts, the testimonials of successful and unsuccessful patients and your personal circumstances.

If you know of a valuable website that fits into the Pros, Cons or Blog lists above please leave a comment and I will edit this post.

It is a common misconception that the Vikings are a people of the past.  The Princeton education website defines Vikings as, 'any of the Scandinavian people who raided the coasts of Europe from the 8th to the 11th centuries' - wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn.

It is a shame that the Princeton definition is wrong.  The fact is that Vikings are still among us.  I think this is awesome especially considering Vikings are now a positive force in the world.  (Some may argue they always were?)

If you want proof watch the first two minutes of the video below.

If you are anything like me, watching this video has made Vikings one of your all time favourite ... things.  So, I have posted the original video below so that you can spend time editing it.  This way you can spread more Viking culture around the world.

Remember, Vikings are cool.

Yes, it is funny at first ... but consider that I have to teach kids that talk like this - every day.   Ethnic slander is common practice for so many people today and they think lightly of it; if they think about it at all.   I feel swamped in a rising tide of ignorance, fear and cultural misrepresentation.  That's when the video stops being so funny for me.

What is this video about?  Article 1 and Article 2