Our bathroom remodel continued to drag on, as the whole project began to feel as if it were cursed. With our bathtub cracked on delivery, a medicine cabinet that could not be installed, vanity handles with the wrong length, scratches on our marble counter, crooked bathroom mirror, and many, many delays from the contractors, it felt like everything was going wrong. Half of our home remained covered with plastic sheets and we had not had our house cleaned in almost 3 months, which further aggravated the dirt and chaos generated by our 19-month old. Last week, after helping to organize a site visit from the NEI director, my wife and I took a short trip to San Jose to attend my fellow Parisa’s wedding. We would’ve liked to see more of our first Persian wedding, but the sun was shining directly into our eyes. Dinner was an interesting introduction to Persian cuisine and music, but we left early to relieve my in-laws back home. This weekend, we took Westley out to the Farm to Fork Festival, where we checked out the various booths and food trucks, and snacked on grilled oysters, blueberry gelato, and an “OG” burger with pork belly, fried egg, and kale chips. Westley enjoyed all the samples, especially the goat milk, but was more tentative with the goat petting. Back home, we watched the premiere of the new Star Trek Discovery, a prequel to the original series featuring a new cast, new ships, new races, and a whole new look that got us plenty excited.

My university offered me an invitation to submit a foundation grant just days before Labor Day. While it was an honor, it effectively wiped out my 3-day weekend. Combined with my upcoming promotion, Melody applying for another position, and the ongoing heat wave, we decided to spend most of our holiday weekend working indoors. Between power naps and sitting at the computer, we took turns hanging out with Westley, who’s starting to show off a wider vocabulary with words like “car”, “house”, “outside”, “shoes”, “star”, and “fish.” On Saturday, we took him out to watch us eat Ginger Elizabeth’s sundae, but did not make it through brunch at The Porch as we tried to shift him from a two-nap to one-nap schedule. My work load spilled into the following week, with several manuscripts under revision and a textbook to edit, allowing me little time to spend with my new lab post-doc Sook beside a brief lunch in Davis. With us eating mostly at home, we finally finished the Nikita series, and began watching the acclaimed Handmaid’s Tale, which depicts a haunting future reminiscent of changes that are currently happening in our country, especially in light of recent events in Charlottesville. To lighten things up, we also began Parks & Recreation, which hilariously depicts the nuances of working for public office, akin to working at a public institution. Westley can’t seem to get enough of the new season of So You Think You Can Dance. Between hearing news of devastating hurricanes and nuclear threat, I was able to find some reprieve watching him bounce along to the music.