So I've been sneaking into my condo every week to see it coming along. Last week this is what it looked like.

Today I had the final walkthrough, and while there are lots of little things that need finishing, it's liveable. Tomorrow I do the whole move-in thing (I hired movers! I'm a grown-up!), and will lie down on the carpet at some point and stare at the ceiling. But I will be able to see it without my contact lenses in!

Today started off pretty crappy. When I woke up, I had trouble focussing, and the contact in my left eye felt out of place. Still, I got showered, dressed up a bit in my new pants and belt (which I bought yesterday when I was waiting for my checkup appointment, using my Bay Gift Certificate... thanks Mom!), and went in to work.

My eyes felt slightly more sore than yesterday; my coworkers commented on how red my eyes were, but they were really supportive and curious about the procedure. I'm sure a few of them are hoping for horrible results so that they can be that naysayer at the party who dredges up my story as proof that nobody should ever have laser eye surgery. I can't blame them; any tragedy is more interesting than a simple success.

I got lots of errands done at work, and then left early to meet my lawyer and finalize my condo business. The lawyer was awesome, and took almost two hours with me, going over every single document and indulging my nit-picky questions. At the end, he showed me the bill his assistant had prepared, and then cut it in half because part of it was for a payment in trust to be made to the seller in the future; it was legitimate for them to ask for it, but he just didn't want me to pay it. Hilarious.

My right eye is starting to focus pretty good, but my left eye continues to be problematic. Nothing serious, but it's just foggier than my right, and this loose contact is bugging me. About midway through the day, the soreness died down, and now I hardly notice it.

Tomorrow I go in for my second assessment, and to return the pants and belt. They are both too short.

Did I mention I never try anything on?

I was in good hands for my surgery. This is the painting I was talking about yesterday, located in the main greeting room for the company that did my eye surgery. I guess the "Prayer Request" card in my surgery package (where I could ask to have my surgeon, who "believes in the power of prayer," pray with me personally before the surgery) wasn't an isolated artifact.

I got a bagful of eyedrops, drugs, and emergency replacement contact lenses. I am on a rigorous regimen of squirting crap into my eyes. The unbelievable thing is that even after several dozen applications, I still miss my eyes regularly, and spatter precious medical drops onto my cheeks and forehead.

At least I'm getting better with the nighttime eye protection, but I can't help feeling like the human equivalent of a dog in one of those don't-bite-your-wound cones.

As far as my condition, I feel alert, and my check-up went well. I flinched a bit when the doctor, speaking to her assistant who was taking notes on a computer, said, "right eye... very clean wound."

Wound? WOUND?!? Lady, pick another word! The good news is that a clean wound is good. And I am healing well. She asked me if I'd had a "sleep" during the day. No, I said. "Gee, you're gonna feel it tomorrow!" she said.

I guess I was supposed to spend today resting in darkness. Nowhere in my package did it make any reference to this. Nobody told me to stay home, in shadow, and nap. Seems negligent. Luckily, my eyes are still intact, thanks in large part to my near-mutant healing factor.

As for comfort, it feels like I have spent hours swimming in a pool of chlorine; my eyes are sore, and water often, and lights have little haloes around them.

But I can see pretty darned well. Very exciting.

Thanks to everyone who called or emailed to wish me luck and check in on how I'm doing. I really appreciate it.

This is what I look like before going to bed. Seriously. This is to keep me from rubbing my eyes in my sleep. Which I would definitely do.

I don't know where to start about the surgery. The smell of my burning corneas? The almost Rainman quality of my surgeon? The enormous oil painting in the waiting room of Jesus touching the shoulders of two surgeons working on a patient? It's too hard to choose.

However, I will say that I am doing well, and my vision is already incredibly clear. I am experiencing very, very minor discomfort, and I have crazy drugs and drops to help deal with it. Also, I am not supposed to spend any time in front of a computer or TV screen, so for the health of my eyes, I must go.

More later.

I still don't really know why I'm having PRK laser eye surgery. I can see perfectly with my glasses, and I can usually tolerate my contacts for a day of school. My eyes get pretty sore and bloodshot if I go out for a night on the town with them in, though.

It must be a terrible combination of vanity and economics: I know I look better without my glasses, and my health care plan will actually pay for a large portion of the surgery.

As for safety, my surgeon is apparently a superstar. I googled him, and found a whole bunch of research he is working on, along with a guy who had him as his eye surgeon, and gives the doc a huge thumbs up. About the most disturbing thing I could find about him is a small square of paper in my preparation package with the title "Prayer Request." It starts "Your surgeon is a Christian and he believes in the power of prayer." If I check the box, put my name on the line, and hand it in on the day of my surgery, the doctor will take a moment to pray with me for a good outcome. However, the card also says that "Each day [the doctor] personally prays for his patients and he prays for divine guidance as he operates on each patient." I think that should be enough. After all, if God is looking out for the doc's performance (and, by association, his malpractice insurance), I'm sure that means I should be fine.

I will miss running out of lens solution, and waking up in the morning not being able to read the alarm clock.

If I'm able to see the computer screen on Tuesday, I'll let you know how it goes.

When we last left our intrepid new homeowner, he was considering having gas installed in the kitchen. Let's join the adventure in progress....

The builder says $3,500 to run gas to the kitchen. I am skeptical. I call a private gas fitter who confirms that this is probably more than double what it should cost. I can't get the private guy in until the builder is finished, at which point I will need to OK the work with the Condo Board, which isn't even established yet (and may not be for months).

Sigh.

Always looking for the silver lining, I went back to the appliance dealer. I found a nice gas BBQ for my balcony: $879. I looked at the price tag on the stove included with my basic appliance package: $879.

"Hey," I said to the dealer. "I have a crazy idea." I explained my situation, and he agreed to swap the BBQ for the stove, so that I can wait until the whole kitchen-gas thing gets resolved before I make my stove decision.

Cool. I love BBQ cooking. I just have to figure out how to make cookies in there.

I've bitten the bullet, and purchased a "cozy" condo of my own. In this context, "cozy" means "don't swing your arms when you're moving around." I get possession near the end of the month, and am caught up in all kinds of wonderful legal minutiae.

For example, it's a new building, but I bought the unit from the person who put up the deposit before construction started. If the building doesn't get "registered" with the city by the time I take possession, I have to pay the previous owner interest on the full value of the unit as "rent," since the mortgage company can't release the funds until the owner can transfer the "title," which requires registry with the city. Get it? Me neither. And this is very, very bad, since interest on the cost of the condo is insanely, blow-your-brains-out expensive.

Today I went shopping for my appliances; I'm upgrading to a fridge with an ice maker and water in the door, since there is a water hookup piped in. I'm upgrading to a front-loading washing machine. I'm keeping the standard microwave, and I upgraded the dishwasher, but the real drama is the stove. I want a gas stove and cooktop, but there's no gas hookup in the kitchen. The cost to install it? $3,500. Thirty-five hundred dollars. Plus GST. To drill through some concrete and run a gas line 10 feet. In my opinion,
this is just a "nuisance" charge, meaning that they really don't want to bother with this, but if I'll pay a crazy price, it'll be worth their while. That's the state of labour in Calgary today.

Regardless, the shopping was lots of fun, and I got the washing machine on sale, and my upgraded dishwasher is a better model that's on sale for less than the standard machine. Small victories.

The conclusion I've come to about the difference between owning and renting is this: anytime you make a purchasing decision as an owner, it seems like there's an extra zero on the end of the total. Weird.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's Eve celebration, and a great Xmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever. For my part, I managed to spend some quality time with the family and also see a couple of friends while I was back home.

Here are some things I have resolved to do in 2007:

1. No alcohol until New Year's Eve 2007. Seriously. I'm not really sure why I'm doing this, but I've found that the last few benders, social cocktails, and poker game beers, have been highly unsatisfying. And expensive.
2. Post to this blog at least once every week. I've got this week covered.
3. Eat smaller portions. I'm not fat, but I'm not really exercising either, and I've noticed that when I cook for myself, I tend to each everything. Even when the recipe says "Makes 8 servings."

I think that should do it. Post your bets on when each resolution fails in the comments. I will be honest about whether I stick to this or not.