I missed my department’s Napa Eye conference for the first time this year to attend the Duke AVS course as guest faculty. My first visit back to the Duke Eye Center in nearly a decade had me spending more time reconnecting with friends and co-workers than facilitating the hands-on vitrectomy workshop that I was assigned to on the first day. Arriving on a red-eye flight and filling up on pasta from Cucciolo Osteria made it difficult for me to stay up late to practice my talk before another full day of vitreoretinal education. Friday dinner at the Wallace Wade Stadium featured a Squid Game-themed fellow skit broadcasted on the Jumbotron while I munched on fried mac-n-cheese balls, chicken-n-waffle bites, and lobster rolls. My mentor Cindy replayed snippets of our own AVS skit, and Duke residents reminded me that my OKAP review slides are still in demand. I was fortunate to take some naps between sessions on Saturday, catch up on Black Mirror episodes, and burn off calories at the Wa-Duke swimming pool. Our last dinner at Geer Street Garden took us to downtown Durham, where I appreciated the revitalized neighborhood while sipping sweet tea to good company. The party atmosphere at the Velvet Hippo reminded me of my age and early flight home next morning. So I bid goodnight to my hosts and returned home with fond memories of the program and institution that launched my academic career.

The ARVO experience for me is always a mix of excitement and exhaustion. Meeting colleagues can spark new ideas, but also reveal new challenges and competition. Like always, this year’s meeting was packed with meetings, new collaborations, and lots of walking. I arrived Monday in Salt Lake City with just a backpack to catch my grad student’s talk, meet with our new department chair, and join an advisory board dinner at a steakhouse without steak. On Tuesday, I enjoyed crispy chicken sandwiches at Pretty Bird with my former postdoc Sook, then met with an incoming postdoc and prospective postdoc candidate before catching up with MD-PhD friends for dinner at Takashi, followed by a second dinner with my lab at the Copper Onion. Breakfast with a company CEO next morning included advice on engaging industry, followed by another CRO meeting that will hopefully produce a paper. In need of a break, I left the conference for delicious brown butter miso ramen and whipped tofu at Koyote, then explored fossils at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Among the most impressive of the collection were the mammoth, dire wolf, sabertooth cat, and giant sloth skeletons. Back at Temple Square, I perused the edifices of the Mormon headquarters, although the Salt Lake Temple itself was completely covered with scaffolding. I returned to my hotel to practice my talk before joining DFC lab’s decadent Indian buffet at Saffron Valley. I snapped photos of my trainees at their posters and gave my talk to a largely empty audience on the last morning, then detoured for Freshie’s 5oz warm butter lobster roll and clam chowda en route to the airport to join other faculty for our flight home. I finished the week welcoming my friend Phoebe as our invited speaker at Lemongrass before finally rejoining my family to spend a quiet Mother’s Day weekend over nearby pho, boba, and beef chow fun.