Thanks to a few quiet weekend calls, my oral board studying is finally under way. Progress has been slow, but that did not stop me from continuing my NC culinary tour with fried chicken from Geer St. Garden with my co-fellows last week. Yet the crispy fowl was no match for the foodie delights that awaited in the Windy City. We had the fortune of being invited by our fellowship director to be course faculty for the 4th annual Chicagoland Retina Midwest Update this weekend. It gave us the opportunity not only to visit Chicago with flight, hotel, and car service all included, but also a chance to rub elbows with an international cast of movers and shakers from the retina community. More importantly, I got to sample Chicago-style Italian beef (kind of like French dip but with Italian bread) along with the hot dogs, cheese fries, and a chocolate cake shake from Portillo’s. After the meeting, we were pleasantly surprised by talk of an honorarium, and celebrated over impressive dinner at NoMi atop the Part Hyatt Chicago hotel, where the we experienced chic dining under Chihuly sculptures, before concluding with drinks with some Kresge folks at Lux Bar. By the time I got back, Melody had texted me that our second offer on a house had been accepted. With my upcoming Memorial Day trip to Sac-town next week, the timing is near perfect.