For Melody, there is only one reason to visit Monterey. That reason is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. So when we received an invitation for a wedding in Monterey from her high school friend, we figured it would be a nice addition to our aquarium visit. We departed for the 3 hour drive at the break of dawn on Saturday morning, which gave us time to drop off our car at the hotel and enter the aquarium right when it opened. The “jellies” and “tentacles” exhibits immediately captured our attention, filling up half of my camera’s memory card within the first hour. Outside, we spotted an otter sunning itself on the bay amidst kayakers, then returned indoors to watch the big tank feeding. At noon, we broke away to feed ourselves with steamed clams and fried seafood at Sea Harvest. With bellies full, we returned to the aquarium to gaze at the mesmerizing swirls of schooling sardines, and per our tradition, left with a souvenir mug. We returned to the hotel with just enough time to change before the seaside wedding at The Clement. While the ceremony was short and sweet, the lengthy cocktail hour kept us hungry until dinner, where my wife reminisced with her high school classmates at our table. We burned our calories away to West coast rap on the dance floor, only to gain it back when the groom announced the 10pm taco delivery. Begrudgingly, we awoke early again on Sunday to make the drive back for me to volunteer at the Paul Hom clinic. We had expected a TV crew to cover the event, but were disappointed at the last minute. Despite having our trip cut short, our day in Monterey gave us a much needed break from work.

January has been a month of malfunctions. Just after our oven door came loose, which took three different visits from the repairman to fix, our garage door hinges snapped open also. Not having learned my lesson, I then ordered a Surface Pro 3 as a new laptop replacement, only to have it break down after just one day. It would have been less frustrating if I had not spent that entire day meticulously installing all the programs programs and customizing the settings. And for that extra twist of the knife, the keyboard Type Cover decided to poop out a week later as well. I was relieved that my office furniture arrived safely at least, but not before my DisplayPort cable snapped and my SLR telephoto lens fell to its demise. At work, I’m still trying to get experiments started while interviewing potential candidates for a junior technician position. With my NIH grant about to be submitted, I’m looking forward to some reprieve in the days ahead.

Christmas eve brought us dual emergent late cases in the OR, so having the day off on Christmas Day was a relief. We spent the day cooking sides of sauteed kale and brussel sprouts, mashed parsnips, extra crispy roasted potatoes, green beans, and corn chowder to go with the prime rib roast that Melody’s sister was making. Our niece provided after-dinner entertainment with Mancala before we headed home. On the day after Christmas, we joined the mayhem at the mall to score some deals on shirts and sweaters. We enjoyed our post-shopping dinner at Taylor’s Kitchen, where we watched the show from the kitchen counter as we dined on sweetbreads, clams, a burger, and agnolotti. We spent the rest of the holidays lounging at home, working on my first NIH grant interspersed with bouts of dragon-slaying. The expansive game kept us busy through New Year’s Eve, when we took a brief break to watch the Times Square ball-drop from the West Coast for the first time. This week, we received our first delivery from Blue Apron as a gift from Melody’s sister, and whipped up a Southern Beef and Collard Green stew over cheddar grits and Shrimp Paella for our New Year’s Day meals. The packaging of individually-wrapped fresh ingredients (one medium carrot; an ounce of fresh cream) was quite the novelty, but the low leftovers-to-dishes-used ratio makes us unlikely to use this service often.