State Bird of Indiana

This bird is not found in Australia - except on napkins, I guess.

Dental - Optometry

Just had my first eye exam in Sydney. In the States I had been going to UC Berkeley School of Optometry. Here, I went to a shopping mall office for a major chain (OPSM). Everyone gets a free annual eye exam courtesy Australia's Medicare. You have to pay for your own contact lens fitting and contacts or eyeglasses. However, a percentage of mine is covered through private insurance that my wife pays for through work. The insurance pays a specific dollar amount for glasses or contacts each year. There seemed to be much less pleading with the customer for fee-generating upgrades to service, however, I haven't actually purchased glasses yet, and I did overhear the guy suggestive-selling someone else anti-glare lens coating.

The equipment in the optometrist's office was a bit more advanced than used at UCB. Instead of manually turning the dials that change lenses, the machine was hooked to a computer, and the optometrist clicked something on the screen to change the lens setting. Then the settings are automatically in the patient record. They also had a different type of machine for contact lens fitting - you stared into a pattern on a screen while it took measurements. The optometrist said they only dilate your pupils if there seems to be a good reason - diabetes; whatever. I suppose they do it routinely in the States since people may not go see a doctor; so it's a way to catch problems?

Per the optometrist's advice, I switched to a single-use contact lens, since I was really only wearing them occasionally. I wear them for the beach, swimming, sailing, whatever outdoor activities. He said there is more of a problem with fungus in Australia with the warmth and humidity of Sydney, so better just to wear them and throw them away instead of dealing with fluids to sterilize.

At the dentist, some things were higher-tech; others surprisingly lower. My dentist in the States had an old-school x-ray machine - you cover your adenoids with a lead apron. The dentist here said the new x-ray machine emits such a small, focussed amount it's not necessary to have the lead covering. Also, while the x-ray film was the same (you bite down on the holder), the film was scanned by the computer and appeared on the computer monitor. There was a crack along the x-ray - the dentist said because of a wrinkle in the x-ray film (buying factory seconds?). The other thing that seemed a bit odd - my stateside dentist had his tools individually sterile-packed (he didn't have an assistant in the office I normally visited). The dentist here (independent, small practice), had all the tools in a drawer, like a silverware drawer. OK... hope they were all clean!

Voting in Australia

Each ballot, lovingly counted by hand. (I'm not eligible to vote, this is a notice someone else received.)