Cataract Surgery Round One

Apparently cataracts aren't something you just suddenly wake up and notice. They come on gradually and the symptoms aren't what I was expecting. I always felt they were more like points of darkness on your vision. Turns out it's more like a smudgy yellow window. Being only 47 I went to the eye doctor assuming I just needed an update on my prescription. A year later and a second opinion and it seems I had early onset cataracts. I say early onset because most people don't develop them until later however 1 in 20 can get them before the age of 50.

At first I though my main symptom was slightly double vision. I didn't feel I had issues seeing colors. It was only after I had my first eye done that I realized how messed up my vision was. The picture on the right is a very close approximation. I can say this because I'm at the point where I have one eye done and can open and close my eyes to see the difference. Everything is brighter and there is no blurriness. 

After my initial diagnosis I started down the process of getting ready for surgery. I missed a very important step for my first appointment with the ophthalmologist. I was supposed to stop wearing my contacts for 5 days so that my eye returns to it's normal dimensions and they can do proper measurements. I had to wait an extra week for a second appointment. Once I got in they formally diagnosed me and scheduled my surgery. Being younger and based on how advanced my cataracts were they rushed me in. I could have had it done within just a few weeks but decided to wait a bit as we had a vacation planned and it can take a few weeks to recover. Once the date was set it was on to lens selection. I've spoken to several family members who have had the procedure done and each has had a slightly different experience. For myself I had access to 5 lens choices. From a free one covered by medical that had a shorter life span to one that would solve all vision issues from far to near but wasn't great at night. I went for the one that gave me good vision for all but reading.

They weren't free but they are supposed to last a life time and vision isn't something I was about to cheap out on. With the lens selected it was time to prepare for the surgery. There wasn't a lot to do except for wait. They sent me a prescription for eye drops that I started taking the day before the surgery. On surgery day we arrived at the hospital and after a short wait were ushered into the surgery prep area. There were four seats and it was like an assembly line. The ophthalmologist does 3 sets of 7 on each of his surgery days. Everyone was very professional. I had to wear booties and a hat and they spent about 30 minutes administering eye drops of various types to numb and sterilize the eye. They offered Ativan which they said about 50% of people take but I chose not to. I wasn't really sure how I would react on it since I had never had it before. They indicated there would be minimal pain and the Ativan was more to relax you. Once it was my turn they walked me into the surgery room.

Surgery itself was quick. You lie on a table with no restraints and they place a plastic bag with a cup cut into it over your eye so that you can't blink. The ophthalmologist then asks you to look directly at the light above and he goes to town. He starts by using a cotton swab to sterilize your eyeball and then makes the incision to take out the old lens. After a bit of spoon work you can tell your lens is gone because everything is bright with no clear points of light. He then pushes the new lens in and you can immediately start to see clearly. For me it was a bigger change because I have always warn contacts and now it was as if I had contacts in. He closes up and sends you on your way. My doctor was like Doctor Strange where he has music playing and sings along. There was also a computer voice assisting him indicating things like 'constant irrigation is on'. So far recovery has been quick. The first day was very bright because my eye remained dilated. I have to avoid heavy lifting but my sight is already clear and my main issues are that my second eye still needs to be done. That's happening in four weeks.

 

Dryer Repair Round Three

We use our dryer a lot so the fact that we are on to our third major repair is not exactly surprising. Laundry happens on Wednesday and Sunday and although I don't usually do the full set myself I think there is typically at least three loads each time. We dry a few things on the line in the summer and most shirts get hung to dry. On top of that there is the usual bedding and special events like me getting muddy in the garden or the shop. 

The first repair happened during Covid and involved the replacement of one of the drum rollers. At the time it happened out of necessity. There weren't any options for repair people to come and so it made sense to see what I could do. Since I knew it was something physical I figured I'd at least be able to confirm what it was. In the end there was a single roller damaged and although I wanted to replace them all while I was in there, I could only source a single roller due to supply chain issues. Everything went back together fine.

The second major repair was the heater. A dryer that doesn't heat up isn't very useful. When it broke this time I figured I didn't have the tools to diagnose so we had someone come in. The irritating thing about getting an appliance fixed that isn't under warranty is that there is usually two visits and you pay for each. One to diagnose and one to come back with the part. Gone are the days when repair people only had to repair a few models and had a stash of parts in their truck. 

This time the issue was the rollers again. With no supply chain issues and an Amazon account, I quickly discovered that there were many options for parts online and it was easy to look up the one for our model. It arrived the next day. I decided this was a good father-son project and had Carter help me take the machine apart and put it back together. Everything came apart with a Phillips screwdriver with the exception of the rollers themselves that required a wrench.

Once we had the machine apart, it was very easy to see that the problem was what I expected and we had everything back together in one day. This time I replaced all the parts that involve spinning including the rollers, tensioner and the drive belt. They come as a kit and are considered 'wear' parts. Although mildly intimidating, the physical aspects of the dryer are something most anyone could do. We kept track of the steps it took to take it apart and then did the reverse to put it back together. Along the way I realized that replacing the heater wouldn't have been that difficult either. It's a whole module. My only issue would have been that I wouldn't have known it was the problem vs the control panel. Maybe I will try to pick that skill up next time. We did have one minor hiccup. When we take our dryer out I have to move the washer at the same time and when I did that it dislodged the drain hose. This sent a whole wash cycle into the crawl space. It was a good test of our water sensors though and dried out quickly. 

A Trip to Japan - Our Final Day

Our flight out was at 5:20p so we had plenty of time to do something in the morning but it took a bit planning to figure out what. Our hotel really was in the middle of nowhere and we discovered one issue with our E-Sim which is an alternative to using your regular phone plan for travel. It essentially turns your phone into a different phone where it can receive data but it doesn't have a phone number. This is great for cheap data but it limits our ability to receive text messages. This made it impossible for us to sign up for the local taxi app and as well as anything else that sent you a confirmation code. I'm sure there was a way around and we could have asked the front desk but we had another option to try.

Our hotel included a regular shuttle to the airport and from the airport there was an old-timey area in Narita that we could go to to do some shopping and check out some more temples. We had no idea what to expect because we hadn't done a ton of research but in the end it turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. Once we got off the train it was a 10 minute walk to a street that curved down towards a series of temples. The interesting thing was that unlike some of the other areas we had gone to, this area had virtually no english signage. It felt like we had happened upon something not meant for regular tourists.

With few english signs we had to do our research afterwards to find out that at the top of the hill after the fourth or fifth set of pagoda's was the 'Great Pagoda of Peace'. Along the way there were what we are assuming were grave stones but they were often carved into rock so we're not exactly sure what they symbolized. Everything was well maintained and most stones were solid granite. The pagoda itself had several gardens surrounding it that offered symmetric views of the temple. Up to this point, this was very similar to some of the other areas we had gone to.

Things got really good when we took some of the paths away from the pagoda into the surrounding forests. There were creeks and ponds that included fish and apparently cats. You were allowed to feed the fish but not the cats. There must be some engineering somewhere that feeds water to the whole area because there seemed to be the 'perfect' amount of water in every stream. Just enough to keep things moving but not overwhelm the stepping stones that you used as bridges to cross the creeks. 

I was already amazed by the creeks and ponds but the highlight was a hidden waterfall. You entered from below through a trail that seemed like it wouldn't lead anywhere. You could also access it from above but I enjoyed the discovery from the lower access point. Again, the perfect amount of water was cascading onto mossy rocks with well placed boulders that you could use to navigate the site. There was an original home just up the path that was long since vacated. I think if you somehow ended up with that as your home, you would quite possibly never leave.

Considering all of this was just unexpected I'm now glad we didn't end up at a hotel in Tokyo. That would have been more of the same and we would have missed all of this. It was time to leave and we walked back trough the city street and did some last minute souvenir shopping. We finally happened upon some shops and vendors that preferred cash. For the most part we had found people took card and I think some of these places might but they preferred cash. Japan was an amazing experience and definitely a destination I would love to explore more in the future. 

A Trip to Japan - Travel to Narita

Osaka is almost 600 km from the Narita airport where we were flying out on Wednesday so Kerry booked us a hotel close to the airport so that we could travel there on the Tuesday. This initially seemed like an excellent idea but as we got to thinking about it we realized we could have just booked a hotel in Tokyo or even at Disneyland and go to the airport from there. The local trains are dependable with lots of travel options to get to the airport. It was too late to change so we boarded our bullet train around noon and headed to the hotel. It's amazing that the bullet train turns a 6 1/2 hour drive into 2 1/2 hours and the reality is you can show up just before your departure time so it really isn't much more than that total. 

We continued to lament our decision to stay at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. Our bullet train left at noon and we then had to take a bus to the airport where we could catch a shuttle bus to our hotel. By the time we got to our room it was almost 5:00p and there wasn't much more we could do for the day. We were lucky enough to get a free upgrade with plenty of space but the hotel had nothing near it and we were left with no easy options to eat. There was a buffet in the lobby but at $75 per person with a low volume of customers, the food seemed a bit sketchy so we ordered from the menu. For the moment it seemed our trip might be over. The next day would prove  otherwise. 

A Trip to Japan - Day Two in Osaka

After a brief family discussion between Callie and Carter on the merits of going to Universal Studios when there were so many Japan things we could do, we proceeded with our original plan of going to the park. My first observation is price. Although the tickets are similar to Disney, everything else is more expensive. The water in the vending machines is $3 instead of $1.50 and the food is pricier as well. There is also a lot more international people here. I still don't think there are many people from the US but I'm hearing a lot more languages here than anywhere else that we've been.

We popped into Schwab's Pharmacy and I don't know if we've ever gone inside one at the other parks because this one was not a pharmacy at all. It was a front for a Nintendo themed bakery of some kind. Callie had a pink drink and Carter had a green cheesecake taco. Kerry made some effort to explain our last name to the lady at the counter by showing her drivers license but we didn't get any special treatment and I don't think she understood what Kerry was saying anyways.

Kerry and Carter had already been in the park for an hour and Callie and I had showed up later. They had gone on a couple rides including a crazy roller coaster that hangs you upside down and does loops and corkscrews. No thank you. They had to go through a secondary metal detector and had to show they had nothing in their pockets. I guess that is for the safety of the people on the ride but also the spectators on the ground as the ride takes you over several areas where people are walking. Our first ride was Jurassic park which is similar to Splash Mountain where you are in boat roller coaster. After that we did Jaws before heading to Nintendo World.

This area is relatively new so it still has a virtual queue. Even with that, we had to line up for about 15 minutes once it was our time. After they scan your ticket they do a fist pump and say some sort of Super Mario phrase that I didn't quite understand. I think they would be faster if they skipped that step. Once we were inside, the area itself was purposely not very big and combined components of many different Super Mario games. We didn't stay long because even though we had a spot in the virtual queue once you were inside there was still a 3 hour line up for the rides, exasperated by the fact that the other Nintendo ride was broken. 

If we were to change one thing about our trip I think it would be to have an extra day in Osaka. That would have allowed a full day at Universal and then another full day to explore. As it was, we had to get to Osaka Castle before it closed at 5:00p. The area surrounding the castle was impressive with parks and a giant moat. The castle itself looked interesting from the outside and was well done in the inside but was more like a museum. They had added 8 floors of stairs and galleries up the middle allowing you to walk up to the top to see the view of Osaka. I would have liked to see more about the actual construction of the building.

After the castle we took a train to the Dotonbori shopping district. This is another outdoor market that has been mostly covered in glass. It included blocks and blocks of both food and shopping and was organized chaos. It also included a canal down one of the main sections that included tour boats. Carter found another one of his Don Quixote Mega stores and wanted to pick up a few final souvenirs that he had missed the first time around. I can't imagine living in one of the apartments above the street. You'd have access to everything you needed but I don't think it's quite very often. Callie took us to two final spots in the market area.

Any good tour guide nowadays needs to be plugged into TikTok. First up was a number of buildings with screens and advertisements similar to time square. For some reason she was looking for the picture of the man running. I'm not even sure what it was advertising but I guess it shows up in many Instagram photos. Carter helped us find a giant crab and dragons. Next up was some sort of special cheese cake place. There was a fresh and not fresh line up. Not fresh just meant it was baked earlier in the day where fresh was done immediately. It was a mix of fluffy cake and fluffy cheese cake and was very good. I guess TikTok is good for something.

 

A Trip to Japan - Nara and Expo 2025

Our next hotel was in Osaka with plans to stop in Nara to see some deer. The good thing was that we didn't have to book a train but it was at this moment we realized that there is another approach to trains in Japan. We had already taken the long distance bullet train and the short distance city train but this one was in between. We walked through turnstiles like a local train but realized we needed a seat on the train to Nara. Luckily we found the right train and it wasn't leaving for 20 minutes. It was also mostly empty so we were able to easily get seats. The train was fast but not bullet train fast which gave us a chance to check out the rural scenery.

Halfway to Osaka was Nara and Callie had planned on having us stop to see the deer. They were not what I was expecting. I was expecting some sort of game farm where we pay to get in and they had deer that would bow their heads. Turns out the whole city is over run by deer, or at least a major part of the downtown. There were hundreds of deer roaming the streets and true to the internet if you have some rice crackers, and bow your head, they will bow their heads in return. The hardest part was finding the rice cracker kiosk. A few of the deer were a bit aggressive and stepped on Carter's foot while another bit his shirt but otherwise no injuries.

After the deer we got back on the train and made our way to our hotel in Osaka. We're staying right at the station which is where you get off to go to Universal studios. It was nice to only have a 2 minute walk from the train to the hotel. The room isn't as nice as our other two hotels and we laughed when we got inside. It sleeps four with a double and two singles and they were all lined up side by side with no gaps in between. This was also our first hotel that didn't have a shower room. This bathroom is more typical with tub, toilet and sink all in one room.

For the evening we had tickets to the Japan Expo 2025. This wasn't our reason for coming to Japan but it was a happy coincidence. I didn't go to Expo 86 when it was in Vancouver and I've never been to a world expo before so I wasn't sure what we would find. I don't know the full history of this one but I think it was advantageous to Japan because they appear to have built an entire island and train loop to support the event. The outer ring was made entirely of wood and I think you can go on top but it was too windy today. Most of the exhibitions indicate they will be taken down afterwards.

On top of our tickets to enter you could also enter a lottery for one the individual exhibits. Some are country based and others are part of the overall event. We managed to get tickets to Blue Ocean Dome. It's focus was sustainability and it was made of recycled plastics, carbon fiber, and paper. Since it was so light it didn't need much of a foundation. The main dome had a 3D screen that showed the Earth as you entered and then had an 'artistic' movie which was mostly sea creatures that blended together by melting from one to the other. It was best that we got an exhibit that had not talking since we wouldn't have been able to understand anyways.

Many of the countries just had small booths but Canada and others had their own building. We didn't have tickets but you can still line up to get into some of them so we got in line for Canada. We were greeted by some attendants right away and asked where we were from. When we said Canada they told us we got to go to the front of the line which was nice. Most of the people working there were from the lower mainland and are living in Japan for at least this year. The exhibit was virtual. You held tablets and pointed them at ice burgs and it showed you things on the tablet you couldn't see in real life including polar bears, CN Tower etc.

Getting out of the expo at the end of the evening was challenging but orderly. They routed us in a big circle and for a while we had no idea if we were heading to the train or not. Turns out we were and we managed to find our way to the right train. This station is brand new and bigger than any of the stations in Vancouver. I was hoping they would have people pushers to get us on the train but everyone managed to crowd onto the car on our own. Technically our hotel is just across the water from here but we had to take three trains in a U shape to get back. On to Universal Studios tomorrow.
 

A Trip to Japan - Kyoto Day Two

The toilets are everything you could imagine and more. I even like the toilet paper holder. Powder coated steel with a shelf for your phone on top. I think the toilet in our room in Kyoto has most of the major features. The seat is heated, a fan goes on as soon as you sit down and there are multiple spray settings. You can adjust the pressure and the water is heated as soon as it comes out. This one also a speaker where you can play pleasing water sounds with volume control. We were a little confused by the sink in the top but that's where the bowl is refilled so you can wash your hands with the water before it enters. The best part is Kerry giggles every time she uses it. 

We got up early today to walk to Ninenzaka which is about an hour away. We figured if we were going to do any walking, early morning was better. Our route took us through an area that was at the very least a club and bar district but included maid cafes so perhaps it was a bit of a red light district as well. This was the only place we saw garbage in the streets and it only included a few drink containers and cigarette butts. There was also a nice tourist throwing up in the edge of the sidewalk. Some of the clubs appeared to still be open. Having said all that Kyoto's sketchiest area was still cleaner than most streets I've been to in North America.

I'm not sure how old the Ninenzaka area is but it's located at the base of an area with many ancient temples and includes a mix of traditional homes and shops. The streets are paved with granite stones and although it is hilly it is still easy to walk up with well place steps and curbs. We got there quite early so we could get pictures before things got busy but as the day progressed things got busier as all the shops started to open. There was even a tiny Starbucks that didn't have it's traditional big green sign. We wouldn't even have noticed except that there was an early morning line up that seemed out of place. 

Once we made it to the top of the street we got to an area that had a number of large temples. We've definitely maxed out our culture budget on this trip. Each area we've gone to charges a few dollars per person and there is at least one tourist trap expense inside that you can choose to do. This one had a number of 'lucky' trinkets as well as wooden boards that you could purchase, sign and leave. I'm assuming they sand them down and re use them. We didn't do any of that but we did remove our shoes and tour a shrine. The wood planks on the floor were very old and very well finished either with some sort of oil or just years of use.

I was about done with spending money on culture but the family wanted to check out the giant Buddha statue so I waited in the parking lot while they did a quick tour. I was then tricked into going inside with the promise of a bamboo garden which happened to be for the area next to this one. This Buddha statue was probably the most economical. No second level tourist trap and you got an incense stick plus it was also their tomb of the unknown soldier from the Pacific war. All for only $3.00 per person.

We finished this area with one more entry fee that got us into a park that wasn't quite as well maintained as it was not a temple and was previously owned by someone as a residence. They were in the process of restoring things though which makes the entry fee a bit easier to pay. It included some traditional homes as well as a walk through the bamboo forest we could see from the other area. I did take a picture that included what appears to be a Geisha which you aren't supposed to take pictures of without their permission, however this one was just a tourist. There are several places where you can rent the clothing for the day to get that true Japanese experience. Some people were even wearing the wooden platform shoes which are very loud. After the forest we did a quick walk to the Imperial Palace which was more of a public park and you couldn't actually enter it so we didn't get any good pictures. There was a nice air conditioned rest area which gave us a chance to cool down.

At this point we were about done with walking and caught the city bus to Kinkakuji Golden Pavilion which is covered in gold leaf. It's surrounded by a pond and bonsai styled trees and was one of the busiest areas we have been to. We didn't stay too long but we did go to an indoor area where they gave us a very nice biscuit and some green tea. This tea was a bit different because it was foamy which Carter and Callie seemed to think was because they powder up the green tea leaves and mix it rather than just steeping the tea in the leaves. It was very good and you had to sit on the floor which allowed me to figure out I've got to do some more stretching with my left hip.

After the Golden Pavilion we took a bus back towards our hotel. I was about done for the day but the trip dropped us off at the Nijo Castle which was the one that was closed the day before so we went on one last culture tour to bring our step count up to 30,000 steps. For some reason this was the most expensive location at $8 Canadian which in the grand scheme of things really isn't very bad. We're usually paying twice that per experience in American. It was mostly a walk through around old buildings and did include an elevated area where you could see Kyoto in all directions. 

We had a quick break at our hotel before heading out to dinner. Our plan was to try one of the local restaurants. There are several that seat no more than a couple dozen people right near our hotel. We picked one that had a variety of food and they took us up a winding staircase. The food was excellent and the portions were perfect. I had fish and chips which was technically an appetizer. The food came quickly and the experience was nice because everyone is so quiet. This is a common theme where ever  we go, from buses, trains, temples to the streets. Very different from every North American city I've been to.