The Steussy Ranch

In Costco on Sunday, I go to the eyeglasses section to order new contacts. I’d worn my trial pair for three weeks, liked them well enough to order a full set.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Steussy, but on Sundays the optometrist’s office is closed. Unless you have the written prescription in your pocket, we can’t order the contacts for you.”

Light bulb goes off. “Why, I do have my prescription in my pocket! Just a moment.” I take out my iPhone and two minutes later have an image of my contact lens prescription.

OK – there are two questions that need to be answered: How did I do that? And why did I do that?

Two years ago, I set out to run a paperless life. Every receipt or document is scanned or photographed, then filed electronically in my computers along with all my other images. My electronic environment (all computers, server, etc.) is religiously backed up, including off-site copies, so these images are virtually impossible to lose. For legal and tax purposes, the images are completely acceptable.

Why did I have that image with me? All images from every camera/scanner go to iPhoto. In iPhoto, there is a pre-set folder marked “Last 12 months”. Going to iTunes, I set my iPhone to copy that folder whenever I plug into my computer. Voila, I have a year’s worth of all images, including receipts.

Usually this comes in handy when showing a six month old photo of someone’s son or daughter to a visiting aunt. This is the first time a scanned document has proven useful.