Gilbert L 梁敬暉

10 Ways to Relieve Dry Eyes

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:23:17 -0400

As I was saying in my last post, I’ve been suffering from dry eyes since my LASIK surgery. They weren’t all that bad right after the surgery, but once I got back to work, it became clear that my eyes weren’t ready for 16 hours in front of the monitor.

At first, I decided I would just fight through it with a few more eye drops. Unfortunately, things worsened: my eyes hurt so much one day that I literally ran away from my monitor. For days, I felt aggravatingly languid and under the weather. That was probably due to dry eyes as well.

Since then, I’ve talked to an optometrist and done much research on the topic. Dry eyes is a very common problem for people with contacts and or work in front of the computer a lot. Here is a list of 10 things anyone can do to relieve dry eyes:

1. Eye Drops

LASIK MD has treated me fairly well before and after the procedure, but I’m now very disappointed by how little information they gave me about eye drops.

In general, eye drops come in three categories 1. Mild 2. Moderate 3. Gel. Eye drops for mild dry eyes are more watery, so your eyes refocus quickly upon usage. Moderate and/or gel level eyedrops are longer lasting and for more severe dry eyes, but your eyes take longer to adjust to them. I’ve tried just about every level. I think comfort is key here: if you find yourself using Mild ones constantly, you might as well just use the more intense ones.

Read this paragraph though before you bulk purchase eye drops: most eye drops have preservatives that, when excessively exposed to the eyes, can cause irritation or worse. Eye drops without preservatives are highly recommended for those who have to use artificial eye drops more than four times a day.

However, because they come in little vials like the ones shown above, perservative-free eye drops are inconvenient. Thankfully, GenTeal has some magical eye drops whose preservatives dissolve after they enter the eyes. For this reason alone, I have stuck with GenTeal for the past week.

Estimated Cost: $10 / bottle of eye drop

2. Punctal Plugs

These don’t seem to be very popular (I don’t know why), but they do keep tears in your eyes. The idea is to plug up your tears drainage channels so tears don’t go away so readily. I have a pair inserted into my lower eyelids; they don’t irritate me at all, so I’m satisfied.

Estimated Cost: $150

3. Omega-3 Pills

A significant amount of research shows that omega-3 supplements help with dry eyes. Unfortunately, the results aren’t suppose to take effect for weeks (8+). For the relatively little amount one has to pay for these pills, it’s well worth a try.

Estimated Cost: $15 / month

4. Hot Compress

Hot compress is a well known technique for immediate eye relief. In addition (according to my optometrist), the heat opens up glands in your eyes, helping your eyes recover more quickly. There are numerous articles online detailing how to effectively apply this technique. I just kept it simple and bought a Thermalon Dry Eye Compress.

Estimated Cost: $0-10

5. Sun Glasses

A lot of dust and crap can irritate our eyes when we go outside. I’ve made a rule for myself to either close my eyes or wear sunglasses whenever a subway trains flies by. It helps.

Estimated Cost: $5-300

6. Humidifier

In addition to relieving dry eyes, moist air helps with a variety of other conditions as well. I got this one from Amazon and it has worked great so far.

Estimated Cost: $50

7. Chrysanthemum Tea

Now I’m starting to get into some voodoo stuff. Chrysanthemum is a type of flower that - according to the people in the Chinese Medicine world - is suppose to help with eye ailments. I don’t know how many scientists poked their heads into this one, but the treatment costs no more than $10 and has hundred years of history - worth trying IMHO (instructions).

Estimated Cost: $10 for weeks worth of Chrysanthemum in Chinatown

8. Acupuncture

Putting needles around your eyes does not sound like such a fun idea, but pilot study suggests it may help. This is the only item on the list that I haven’t tried. I will do it if my eyes don’t recover soon enough.

Estimated Cost: $50 per treatment x 10 treatments = $500

9. Rest and Sleep

Once I set my sight (hah!) on doing whatever I can to help my eyes, I began listening to my body and slept whenever it told me to. For an entire week, I’ve been sleeping before 11 - something I haven’t done since high school. My eyes apparently needed the rest.

Estimated Cost: $0

10. Relax

Stress can cause dry eyes, and dry eyes can cause more stress. It’s a death spiral, so don’t let it happen. Find out what’s stressing you out and fix it.

Estimated Cost: unkown

That concludes what I have to say about reliving dry eyes. I hope this helps those of you who are suffering from dry eyes as well!

LASIK Experience

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:46:22 -0400

I recently had a LASIK operation and would like to share my thoughts on the procedure in a FAQ format.

How much was it?

About $2500 CAD for both eyes at LASIK MD. I did custom wavefront, which is more advance than normal LASIK. I think I could’ve done normal LASIK for about $2200.

Why?

Playing sports with glasses sucks. Also, I had two weeks to kill in Vancouver.

Isn’t it dangerous?

I personally didn’t think so. Basically, you have a much higher chance of crashing and dying, winning the lottery, getting struck by lightning, etc. then becoming blind from a LASIK procedure.

But what if?

But what if you went outside today and almost get struck by lightning? Would you blame yourself for being an idiot for choosing to walk outside?

Most people find LASIK scary because they can clearly associate the action resulting in a disaster. Logically speaking though, you can associate to any action you take in life to an improbable debacle. Does that mean you shouldn’t do anything in life, ever?

Don’t let your own irrational fear fool you.

What about the complications?

Their pamphlets convinced me that most complications are fixable.

Dry eyes is a problem and everyone should evaluate carefully, though. In general, it’s expected that ones’ eyes become dryer than usual post surgery. I paid $150 to get my tear ducts plugged, but that has yet to solve the problem. It has been three weeks since the procedure and I am putting drops into my eyes every hour or so. Part of the issue is that I work my eyes really hard on a daily basis. I am not kidding when I say I stare at a computer monitor 16+ hours a day and that’s likely the true culprit of the problem.

The issue is suppose to go away in a few months, but in the mean time, I will have to bear the consequences. If you stare at the monitor a lot, or you already have dry eyes to begin with, think twice before doing LASIK.

Does it hurt?

I spent four hours at the clinic and sixty seconds on the operating table. I felt pressure on my eyes for no more than ten seconds, but I wouldn’t say the rest of the procedure was extremely comfortable.

As long as you’re not one to have panic attacks, the operation should be fine. LASIK MD gives people a bit of tranquilizer before the surgery, anyways, so it should be alright.

In my opinion, the more you trust your surgeon and the procedure, the less likely you’ll freak out. LASIK MD was professional throughout the process and I urge anyone to pay more for more trustworthy service. Also, if you can’t convince yourself that the procedure isn’t dangerous, don’t do it. You’ll just spend months afterwards second guessing yourself.

Anything else?

Do the procedure in Canada. I did a quick price check for San Francisco and it came to at least double the price of that up north.

Also, make sure to schedule plenty of rest after the procedure. First night’s vision will be blurry. Second day’s vision will be perfect, but irritating. I’d suggest a long weekend at the minimum.

Feel free to ask me anything.

A Student's Chronicles (Part 6): People

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:17:49 -0400

This is a multi-part series summarizing my college life. Before this, there were Prelude, Mountaintop, Nadir, Formation, and Doldrums.

These posts are naturally becoming shorter and shorter. I say naturally because experiences always seem longer the first time around. By the n-th work term though, everything feels like a breeze.

That’s not to say that I didn’t learn anything. Every work term taught me something about the strengths, weaknesses, and culture of a company. More importantly, I learned a little more about myself: what I enjoy and what I don’t.

Microsoft hires half a thousand summer interns every year and I was one of them in 2010.

Before the term started however, I spent a few days working on a little search engine called Kurrently. The silly project brought me moments of fame. It was a glimpse of what I wanted, but I ditched the project anyways. There were a number of competitors, and all of them were going to spend more time and money developing their products. I wanted to focus on work, school, and other ideas.

Having suffered through other big corporations, my expectations for Microsoft were low. Once again, time at work became hours to forget. Unresponsiveness, bureaucratic security policies, and stubbornness turned what should have been a three week project into a fourteen week ordeal. To add insult to injury, a few online lectures on Machine Learning near the end of the term made me realize that many ML techniques would’ve helped my project tremendously. Unfortunately, nobody recognized my project as one related to Machine Learning. Either that, or they didn’t think an intern would have the time and know-how to solve the problem using said techniques.

I tried more than usual to meet the other Microsoft interns but bumped into circumstances I did not foresee. On multiple occasions, certain seemingly sociable individuals fell dead silent when I talked to them. And when another Asian and I were isolated at a bar table after a California kickball game, I grimaced at the idea that being Asian can still set you apart from being American.

At the same time, the stories I heard about other interns seemed hardly mature… drinking and driving, car racing friends, slipping weed into someone’s food on his last day, yelling at a colleague for speaking Singlish too loudly…. Only by the end of the term did I see that these are the typical things college students do. I shouldn’t expect any better - even if the college students in question are the cream of the crop.

Nevertheless, I ended up meeting a number of friendly, respectable individuals that term - almost all of them were Canadian. For the first time, I was able to grasp the cultural divide between the two countries.

At home, I enjoyed a large house with four wonderful roommates. Interesting drama arose when my landlord was accused of child abuse and my landlady decided I should know about it. I left before I could be further embroiled.

Once back at school, I was determined to expand my social circle. I lined up an internship at San Francisco startup ContextLogic, a summer internship at Facebook, and an exchange to Tsinghua University.

My career was approaching and I was stepping hard on the gas pedal.

US Debt Crisis at a glance

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:13:15 -0400

US Debt Crisis at a glance

A Student's Chronicles (Part 5): Doldrums

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:11:34 -0400

This is a multi-part series summarizing my college life. Before this, there were Prelude, Mountaintop, Nadir, and Formation.

A number of people have asked me what I think of Amazon. My reply is this: I had a time to forget at Amazon, but their AWS teams sound amazing. Amazon, after all, is a large company: different teams have different cultures and I was just unlucky to have joined a dispiriting team.

The first day was an omen of the months to come: my manager was 30 minutes late picking me up and he didn’t even consider taking me out to lunch.

Perhaps lunches weren’t my team’s favourite activity. Two weeks after my term began, we had the most awkward lunch of my life. It began with a series of small talks, in which people asked each others where they live as if they only just met. Awkward silence followed. Before long, everyone gave up: the contractor played Angry Birds on his iPhone, one manager confessed that he’s too tired to chat, most focused on their plates, and the rest turned the lunch into a work meeting.

My jobs weren’t entirely boring, but they weren’t terribly exciting either. My frustration, for the most part, grew from a lack of trust and expectations from my colleagues.

One time, my mentor called out to a coworker for clarification over a language syntax question (e.g Does “i” come before “e” if the “i” comes after “c?”). The coworker wasn’t at his cubicle, so I answered my mentor instead. When the coworker returned minutes later, my mentor asked him the question again. Now, my mentor could’ve “google”-ed the answer or he could’ve instant messaged him the question. Instead, he yelled out over the cubicle as if he wanted me to know that he had no faith in my answer. I guess the intern just can’t be trusted.

Crap like that demotivates me, so I hadn’t bother to contribute during team discussions. In one meeting, my manager - perhaps aware of my apathy - asked explicitly for my opinion. I spent thirty second expressing my thoughts on the issue; everyone nodded, but proceeded without addressing what I said. It reminded me of this advertisement where some Children Rights group mocked and warned parents of not listening to their children. If the parents don’t listen, why would the child speak?

My work hours reflected my indifference. On a typical day, I went to work at around 11, have an hour lunch, and sneaked home at 5. Nobody called me out. They didn’t care; I didn’t care.

Ironically, my effortless display got my coworker laid off. It seemed like he was already in hot waters before I joined. When the managers noticed how I was contributing more in four hours than he was in twelve, they decided to pull the trigger. I felt really sorry for the guy. He seemed like a nice person and he was the only colleague with whom I had friendly small talks. That he was on a working visa meant that he would face deportation in thirty days. I didn’t even care for my job and yet he’s the one who got axed.

In any case, my term was well summed up by my manager’s evaluation report, “Gilbert is very technically skilled…perhaps even more skilled than some of our full time developers. However, he lacks enthusiasm at work…”

Back at school, I joined the dorm incubator that is Velocity. Briefly put, Velocity was (and still is) not as amazing as imagined. Nevertheless, its existence is a boon for students and entrepreneurs alike. There are many possibilities there but there also are many problems. Hopefully, the right personalities emerge and even better things come out of the program.

My grades slipped heavily this term as I began experimenting with liberal arts courses. Public speaking was quite an experience.

In a frustrating turns of events, Google rejected me again. Even though I had passed their “technical round,” not one of the project managers showed interest in my resume. Instead, Microsoft decided to hire me as a Software Developer even though I wanted to experiment with a Project Management role. I was unsatisfied, but a friend at Velocity convinced me that a Microsoft summer would be a blast.

Hence, I added another giant corporation to my resume.

P.S I don’t know who reads my posts, but I think I better offer some advices to people who sulk at work like I did at IBM and Amazon. The proper and more appropriate action is to exert yourself: tell your manager that your work is unchallenging and ask for responsibilities. The reason I didn’t voice my frustration was because I always had a side project at home waiting for me. If work sucked, I’d just work less and go home. Don’t do this unless you don’t care about your career and/or you want to be an entrepreneur.

The Management Myth - Magazine - The Atlantic

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:42:43 -0400

The Management Myth - Magazine - The Atlantic

The Asian in me feels a lil more inferior every time a caucasian optometrist says, “Open your...

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:21:06 -0400

The Asian in me feels a lil more inferior every time a caucasian optometrist says, “Open your eyes nice and wide….as /wide/ as you can… just a lil bit wider…”

"Why don’t you have the balls to tell me [that I’m fired] yourself?"

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:06:08 -0400

“Why don’t you have the balls to tell me [that I’m fired] yourself?”

- Bartz Calls Yahoo’s Board A Bunch Of “Doofuses” | TechCrunch

What if solar got the same subsidies as fossil fuels?

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:56:10 -0400

What if solar got the same subsidies as fossil fuels?

Flaherty weighs reducing tariffs in response to U.S. price gap - The Globe and Mail

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:53:16 -0400

Flaherty weighs reducing tariffs in response to U.S. price gap - The Globe and Mail:

I love how our conservative party is so gung ho about cutting back citizen liberties, but would only “consider” reducing tariffs.

Barca chief admits Cesc bargain | Sky Sports

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 13:09:29 -0400

Barca chief admits Cesc bargain | Sky Sports:

1. Spend 2+ years luring a player over. 2. Force Arsenal to sell him for cheap. 3. Brag about how you ripped Arsenal off.

Very very classy, Barca.

"Stupidity is just intelligence misunderstood."

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:15:59 -0400

“Stupidity is just intelligence misunderstood.”

- Me

"Imagine replacing the sequence of algebra, geometry and calculus with a sequence of finance, data..."

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:00:19 -0400

“Imagine replacing the sequence of algebra, geometry and calculus with a sequence of finance, data and basic engineering. In the finance course, students would learn the exponential function, use formulas in spreadsheets and study the budgets of people, companies and governments. In the data course, students would gather their own data sets and learn how, in fields as diverse as sports and medicine, larger samples give better estimates of averages. In the basic engineering course, students would learn the workings of engines, sound waves, TV signals and computers. Science and math were originally discovered together, and they are best learned together now.”

- Teaching math with context and applications

Wacom’s Inkling Captures What You Draw On Paper Digitally (Amazing Video) | TechCrunch

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:56:09 -0400

Wacom’s Inkling Captures What You Draw On Paper Digitally (Amazing Video) | TechCrunch:

Jizz.

My fav line from HP7

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:49:40 -0400

My fav line from HP7

Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? - NYTimes.com

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:20:50 -0400

Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? - NYTimes.com:

2 takeaways: 1) being poor or continuously making frugal decisions saps energy 2) glucose is significant for brain; I will never work for a company that discourages food / drinks at work

"There’s just a feeling… that we should be feeling sorry for Arsenal at the moment…"

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 11:45:51 -0400

“There’s just a feeling… that we should be feeling sorry for Arsenal at the moment…”

- Man Utd 3 - 0 Arsenal at HT

B.C. rejects HST in landmark referendum - The Globe and Mail

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:12:38 -0400

B.C. rejects HST in landmark referendum - The Globe and Mail:

Good job British Columbians; you just poured 1.6 billion dollars right back to the federal government.

Lycos Builds Web Circles | PCWorld

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:17:25 -0400

Lycos Builds Web Circles | PCWorld:

LOLolololol

When you hear a old song on the radio...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:28:11 -0400

mariahairam:

At first you’re like:I remember this!

As the song goes on, you’re like: I forgot how much I loved this song!

Then you start boppin to it like: THIS IS MY SHIT!

Then the song is in your head all day and you cant stop dancing to it, like: