We decided to visit the Bay area Japan Center on July 4th for some lunch and shopping. Despite not knowing the traffic conditions and both of us being on call that day, we took a chance and made the last-minute decision to go. Fortunately, the drive was smooth and all the stores were open. After shopping knick knacks at Daiso, we waited in line at Marufuku Ramen for delicious hakata tonkotsu ramen and karaage, although Westley’s favorite was probably the matcha soft serve from Matcha Cafe Maiko. We returned in time to grill some burgers and hot dogs with Emmeline and Eugene, who stuck around for MarioKart after Melody got called in and Westley went to bed. We spent the following weekend focused on Westley’s potty training. Having blocked off the weekend with no other activities planned, we let him go commando and bribed him with chocolate chips and stickers to encourage independence from diapers. We missed his first poop on the floor at the blink of an eye, but he slowly got the hang of it, although not enough to transition to the bigger potty at daycare. Back at work, the new academic year meant new fellows, new students, and new projects. We took advantage of in-law childcare after work on Fridays to check out new restaurants like Ming Dynasty and Allora which were both excellent. At home, we have also been interviewing landscape designers and our neighbors’ front yards in preparation for some upcoming landscape renovations. Finally, with the rising costs of my GoDaddy hosting services, I liberated myself from their contract and moved the website to BlueHost. Citing itself as the recommended provider for WordPress, the migration has not been too painful, although I have noticed slower speeds and latency for refreshing updates. We’ll see how the new Xephalon.Net 3.0 holds up!