I go through lots of eyeglasses. I sit on them and break the frames. I drop them and crack or break the lenses. I buy stupid add-ons like "lens coating" that deteriorates in a few months making them unusable. I buy "designer" frames that turn out to be made of cheap pot metal painted with varnish that wears off and makes you break out in a rash.

So this last time around, I decided to go all out and look for the very best I could find. After checking out all the usual suspects, I went back to basics and visited Clancy Optical, one of the area's oldest and most established local optometry/eye wear companies.

I went out to the Peters Rd. store, and was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a second (I'm guessing) generation Clancy (sorry, don't remember his first name) who happened to be minding the store that day. He asked a lot of questions about my needs and preferences, and steered me toward a line of frames by Lindberg.

I've had them for a while, and I really like them. They are tough, lightweight, titanium wire frames with unique hinges that don't have any screws to come loose or get lost. Bonus, you can get custom matching sunglass clip-ons that fit better and are far superior to those drug-store brands.

They've already been through a lot of abuse, and they've even been sat on a couple of times, and no problems so far. Today, I found out just how tough they really are.

I was swapping out my camera tripod head. I had on one of these gimbal type heads, which is a large, metal, sort of partial "U" shaped configuration with a big metal knob on one side, and I needed to take it off. It was sort of stuck and I was having trouble unscrewing it, so I was hammering away with my fist trying to free it. It suddenly broke loose, spun around, and the big metal knob hit me right in the eye. It was like taking the full force of my own punch from a big metal knob.

It knocked my glassed off and stunned me for a second. After making sure I wasn't bleeding and hadn't suffered a concussion or something (although I'll probably have a shiner tomorrow), I inspected my glasses. I was sure they would be bent if not broken. Not a scratch.

So anyway, I can highly recommend these Lindberg frames and Clancy Optical. They gave me a discount on a second pair (after I asked), and graciously made me a replacement set of lenses for my computer/reading pair at no charge after some confusion about the prescription. I've been so happy and bragging so much about Clancy and these Lindberg frames that the Mrs. got some, too.

Which is sort of ironic, because she's been telling me for years to quit screwing around and just go to Clancy's when I need glasses.