Consumer Reports: Buy American

Saw this in the recent issue of Consumer Reports and thought I'd share.  It shows that other folks in the US are thinking the way I am about supporting products made in America.  Yes, in other words, I have the validation, now, that I so desperately crave.

New Glasses and Blog Update

My frames sans the tinted lenses

Hello blog!  Long time no see!  I've been absent for a few weeks, mainly because I started a new job that takes me on fabulous adventures in librarianship during the graveyard shift at UF's main library.  As you can probably guess, I both love my new job and am always busy so no blogging for me (I still manage to fit in some FB time to record my nightly observations).  So, no, haven't abandoned the blog - just taking a break while I keep my head above water with masters program #2, family, and getting enough sleep.

I need new glasses.  Before I started going to grad school at UF it became painfully apparent that I had gotten to that age where things like eyesight start to fail.  So, I ended up getting a pair of retro frames on Etsy and had Gainesville Opticians fill the prescription.  They did it with the understanding that they weren't responsible if the frames broke because they were dang old frames.  The frames lasted me about three years before they started falling apart - this is the only argument I've found so far for not buying used with everything.  Eyeglass frames are just one of those exceptions, I guess - that and iron lungs, I think!

Anyway, I was having no luck on ebay trying to get a new pair of old frames and had just about given up when I remembered something the eye tech at Gainesville Opticians told me, that the people who manufactured my glasses are still in business.  So I looked them up and lo and behold not only do they still make frames (since 1865) but they make the exact frame that I have! 

The name of the manufacturer is Shuron, and they advertise on their website that you can "see SHURON FRAMES in almost every Major Motion Picture or TV Series where "RETRO" frames are worn."  I emailed briefly with one of the sales associates who emailed me back on a weekend within an hour of my original email.  He was very helpful and finding my exact frames has been a freakin miracle.  Shuron frames are made in South Carolina and, get this, the company also makes steering wheel covers!  Really?  Yes!

I'll be ordering my frames this week and have Gainesville Opticians fill them, even though Shuron also fills prescriptions.  I'm kind of mad at Gainesville Opticians for not special ordering me the frames, but they are just so darn nice in their refusal that I can't help continuing to like them.