In keeping with my current theme of saying little and listening a lot, I will say this: This is what I’m listening to.

Some in my beloved Church of Christ tradition will ask this question: Yeah, but can you understand what they’re saying?

Answer: No, not really (save for a phrase or two now and then). But it doesn’t really matter. You see, there is more to God than print on a page, and there are some things that bypass the left brain and head straight to the soul.

“There’s a world in front of me I can’t predict or envision because I haven’t been there yet. I haven’t lived this yet. I haven’t lived blind,” he says. “All I ask is to stay in the Army and finish out my years … I want to feel productive.”

The only good news for now is when he sleeps, Castro says.

“I’ve had dreams where I know I’m blind and, guess what? I’ve regained my vision,” he says. Reality floods back each morning.

“There’s not a night that I don’t pray and ask God, when I wake up, that I wake up seeing.”

–newly blinded veteran 1st Lt. Ivan Castro

First Lt. Castro is a member of a whole new generation of veterans that is, unfortunately, learning a new meaning of the phrase “night vision.”

Still, as I’ve pointed out before, even in the middle of the night, dawn occasionally breaks.

Although yesterday was officially Veterans Day, every day is Veterans Day for me. By virtue of my choice of practice, I have the privilege of providing eye care to “him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” (and increasingly these days, her as well).

I consider it an honor and a privilege to care for these men and women who are, by and large, among the most decent, salt-of-the-earth folks you’ll ever meet. Indeed, they are cut from a finer grade of cloth than any politician who ever sent them into battle. At this point in my career, if I was suddenly thrust into a situation where I had to care for the well-to-do and whiny LASIK/liposuction crowd, I would probably end up strangling someone in frustration. Better for me (and humanity) to stay where I am.

I really don’t have a favorite group of veterans–there are good ‘uns and bad ‘uns from every era and every war. But I do confess to having a special place in my heart for the Doughboys from World War I. In the early 90s, I had a handful as patients, but they seem to be all gone now. In fact, there are less than twenty left in the United States.

Thankfully, Harding University graduate Will Everett took the time and effort to make sure that these remaining few didn’t slip away without being noticed. You can check out an article on his “WWI Living History Project” here and some actual video and sound clips here. If you’re looking for a way to honor veterans and connect with the day, then take a few minutes and listen to their stories.

I bet the last of the Doughboys got such an eyeful that they must have felt like they had seen it all. It was, after all, The Great War.

Little did they know that they hadn’t seen anything yet.

For those of you who might have stopped by since last Saturday, you probably noticed that the old blog appeared deader than a doorknob. You may have thought: Uh oh, The Eyeguy’s done up and gone off the deep end this time–he’s committed blogicide.

Nah. I would never do that. But my blog has been “migrating.”

Which leads to the following question: When blogs migrate, do they fly in formation?

Well, here’s the short of it. Basically, my hosting company was bought out by an outfit called NaviSite. Now you would think with a cool name like NaviSite that they would actually know what the heck they were doing and have a clue about navigating and migrating and such.

But basically, they decided to physically move a lot of servers, one of which was the home of Ocular Fusion, to their headquarters. So they unhooked them (without telling us what they were going to do, by the way) and put them on the truck and drove them up to Andover, Massachusetts.

So far, so good. But they apparently made one fatal mistake: They hired Curly, Moe and Larry to get the job done. Once The Stooges got the servers off the trucks and into the building, there were so many wires and cables running all over the place, that they just couldn’t remember how to hook everything back up. Needless to say, it all went to you-know-where in a handbasket from there.

Now you’ve got to remember: For me, it’s just a silly little blog. But imagine if you were a business or corporation that depended on your website being up, and that you were actually losing thousands of dollars for every minute your site was down. Yeah, you get the picture. Welcome to insanity, 21st Century-style.

Well, you know what? I may just end up doing a little more migrating. I suspect that there are going to be quite a few blogs leaving the NaviSite nest over the next few days, and I will probably be among them.

It looks like it’s going to be a hot time in T-town tomorrow night.

A few minutes ago, I received this email from the University of Alabama Athletic Department:

Dear Crimson Tide Fan:

As we approach the home stretch of our 2007 home football schedule, I want to thank each of you for your support throughout this season, both at Bryant-Denny and at the away venues. You have helped make a difference for Coach Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide football team, and all of us at the University are appreciative of your contribution each and every Saturday.

Certainly, this weekend’s game presents a challenge not only to our team and coaches but to our game management personnel as well. From all reports there will be a record number of fans from both Alabama and LSU coming to campus without tickets. This obviously creates some complications, particularly in parking and over-crowding in tailgate areas. Speaking on behalf of everyone affiliated with managing the game, I encourage you to carpool, treat other fans courteously, and be as patient as possible.

At a recent game, we had some visitors from Arizona who had never been to the state much less to our campus. They were absolutely amazed with their first experience of Alabama football. I heard similar comments from six gentlemen who were passing through Tuscaloosa, going back home to Colorado. You can make a positive impact for our program Saturday.

We look forward to having you at the University to help energize our Crimson Tide team with your cheering and support.

Roll Tide!

Mal Moore
Director of Athletics

Why the reminder to “play nice” you ask? Well, there’s this.

And, oh my, this too.

Roll Tide, Roll.

UPDATE 1:15PM: Here’s a good piece by Ivan Maisel on the bad blood leading up to this week’s game. Say what you will, but St. Nick is one cool customer.

Just a reminder: Be kind to those who cross your path today.

There’s no telling what bricks they may be carrying around in their pockets.