wow did the river have rapids or something? maybe it's a beaver defense system.

I somehow managed not to lose my glasses at the math conference.

Are there any new fancy eyeglass technologies? I'm getting another pair (covered under the student health plan, which expires soon for me), and was wondering if there is anything I should check out.

A few rapids, but they were very small. The water around the upriver side of the dam was moving much faster than its surrounding and we didn't negotiate the turn around it properly. Also, if you're dragging beer behind your canoe to keep it cold, make sure you use a slip knot.

I like the anti-glare coating and the high index (of refraction!) lenses, but these are not new technologies. Noticeably cuts down on computer monitor glare and makes the lenses quite a bit thinner/lighter, respectively.

My new glasses have some rubbery material on the arms that grips my head instead of having the arms go over my ears. They claim that the grip increases when the material gets damp from sweat. So far so good; they don't move at all and they're very comfortable.

watch out for the anti-glare coating -- it scratches *really* easily. my glasses got so bad i had the coating scraped off.

the rubbery stuff sounds like the grip on my sunglasses, and it works really well.

the best lenses you can get at the moment are nikon's. however, just about everyone and their dog licenses the nikon anti-glare coating. so a so-called nikon coated lens is _not the same as a nikon lens, which will tend to be less distorted and lighter. as for the coating, it really shouldn't come off unless you're using your glasses to polish a sidewalk or something. I certainly have abused mine well in the past 3-4 years and the coating is still quite intact - much more so than the reflective crap on any of the sunglasses that I've worn lately.