sub readoptions {
  my $self = shift;
  # usually I would create a hash %hash = ( foo => \$bar );
  # and reference %hash. unless i'm mistaken this creates
  # an anoymous hash and stores it in $self->{CONFHASH}
  $self->{CONFHASH} = { foo => \$self->{BAR} };
  # first argument to GetOptions woudl usually be \%hash
  GetOptions( $self->{CONFHASH}, 'foo|f' ) or die "option not found";
}