After a day-long investigator meeting in Chicago, and uninspired by Pizano’s deep dish za and Giant’s aggressively-flavored dishes, I returned home ready to spend some time with my family. So I was sad having to attend our resident welcome luncheon alone while Melody and Westley took a journey to Elk Grove for her sister’s birthday. Fortunately, our in-laws made it up by babysitting last weekend to let us watch Crazy Rich Asians in the theater. Hailed as the first Hollywood blockbuster featuring an all-Asian cast since the Joy Luck Club 25 years ago, the movie rode on a wave of lofty expectations, yet still managed to beat the hype as one of the more thoughtful rom-coms I’ve seen in recent years. Meanwhile, we are continuing to explore new restaurants in Sac, including solid dim sum at Ming’s Dynasty, fancy sushi at Kru, cheap poke at Delilah’s Market, and AYCE Korean BBQ at Blue House. The pork belly and brisket were tasty, but the beef belly and intestines were too oily for our palates. Westley continues to keep us on our toes with another fall, this time resulting in bruised gum but no tooth injury according to his dentist. He seemed okay as we took advantage of the final summer weeks of the Davis Farmer’s Market, Dance Daze classes, and Manor Pool. Last weekend, we used an Entertainment coupon to check out the Powerhouse Science Center . Here, we spied a walking stick army, molded topography with play-doh, rubbed plasma balls, blew giant bubbles, and pretended to be astronauts in outer space. Along the same theme, we got a Groupon to visit the California Academy of Sciences on Labor Day Weekend. From rainforest butterflies and leafcutter ants to touch pool starfish and an albino alligator, the visit left Westley plenty excited. He conked out on the drive back after our seaside lunch at the Waterbar, and woke up in time for some luggage shopping in Vacaville. Back home, we finally completed Mario’s Odyssey and another season of MasterChef Junior, as we moved on to new seasons of SYTYCD, Westworld, and Handmaid’s Tale. With our trip to Ireland just a week away, we’ll need to start some serious vacation planning!

Three years after the break-in at our house, I finally replaced our antiquated security system with a new one from Ring. With 24/7 monitoring, remote control, and cellular backup, the smart alarm system also links to our video door bell and new spotlight cam for the backyard, just in time for planning our landscaping and patio renovation project. Beside installing the system last weekend, we took Westley to the California State Fair. We arrived at Cal Expo prepared with sunscreen and diaper bag, but no stroller. So we gave our biceps a workout carrying him as we lunched on fried calamari, veggies, and fries; sipped strawberry lemonade, perused prized goats and fancy pigeons, dodged a runaway horse, watched live clogging, and sampled cheese and yogurt from local dairies. The outing was probably still not adventurous enough for Westley, who decided to take a head dive off the piano bench onto, ironically, a toy piano from grandma. The resulting lid lac led to frantic texts to my oculoplastics colleague and an evening drive to clinic for some dermabond action. He was clearly dejected seeing himself in the mirror next morning, but perked up for our father-son trip to the mall while mom was volunteering at Paul Hom. We went to Arden Fair to return some shorts, dresses, and shoes; but Westley was more interested in escalators, massage chairs, and Lego sets. After nap time, we took another trip to Manor Pool, where Westley remains fearful of the water. With his recent “owie”, no wonder everything around him feels a little “cary.”

Vancouver is just a 2-hour flight from Sacramento, so this year’s ASRS meeting gave me an excuse to take my wife and son for our first family trip abroad. Our Airbnb was centrally-located downtown, so we made good use of local transit upon arrival. Inspired by a recent NY Times article, we headed to Richmond for a self-guided food tour that began with a fluffy pineapple bun and silky tofu-fa, and ended with excellent spicy wontons and lamb noodles from Xi’an Cuisine, although we disappointingly missed out on the sold-out cold noodles. Next morning, we changed our plans from the UBC campus to Queen Elizabeth Park. Though we just missed the transient bloom of the corpse flower at Bloedel Conservatory, we enjoyed Westley’s interactions with the tropical birds. Lunch at Long’s Noodle House was an amazing find for soup dumplings and both sweet & salty soy milk, but the Hainanese chicken and laksa at Hawker’s Delight was unimpressive. The afternoon concluded with Frommer’s walking-tour through Gastown and Chinatown, with a brief stop at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden en route to Kissa Tanto, where we enjoyed some amazing Italian-Japanese fusion. On Friday, with newly-purchased jackets and creamy coffee buns from Lonsdale Quay, we rode train, ferry, and bus to Capilano Suspension Bridge. The shaky, narrow bridge was no obstacle for our toddler, who navigated the treetops with aplomb. Further north at Grouse Mountain, the Skyride ascent provided a panoramic view of Vancouver city. The death-defying daredevil at the Lumberjack Show was unnerving to watch, as were the swooping owls and falcons that led to Westley whipping his snooze-shade closed, but the grizzly bears enjoyed his attention before we departed. After a late nap, we headed to the Richmond Night Market. A $25 splurge for a 6-pack entry helped us skip the 45-min line before we immersed ourselves in meat skewers, senbei crackers, roti mac-n-cheese, rainbow mixed dumplings, Korean-style pork belly, dragon beard candy, stuffed crab claws, matcha mochis, stinky tofu, grilled squid, egglet with ice-cream, and golden milk tea. I spent Saturday at the conference while Melody and Westley wandered around Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. We met for lunch at Marutama Ramen, then parted again for my ad board and case presentation until dinner at the Royal Dinette. On Sunday, we returned to Richmond to visit the International Buddhist Temple, followed by another go at Xi’an Cuisine for their spicy wontons and cold noodles, Peanuts taro coconut boba tea, Top Shanghai’s soy milk and XLB, HK BBQ Master’s roast/BBQ pork, and Dynasty’s steamy dim sum. After awaking from our ensuing food coma, I presented at a Zeiss symposium while my family chilled at a nearby playground. We spent our last full day on Granville Island. After landing early via aquabus and browing stores and galleries, we embarked on a Foodie Tour where the highlights were duck prosciutto and a fresh honey-dipped donut. We supplemented with bison poutin and free masala chai, then ate more at dinner with my cousin Steven at Kirin, including fresh spot prawns, Peking duck, and scallop fried rice. Despite the occasional struggles with our tempestuous 2-year-old, we look forward to returning again to sample Vancouver’s amazing Asian cuisine in the near future.

Our plan for a lab retreat to South Lake Tahoe was almost foiled when our Airbnb hosts told us that they had accidentally double-booked our cabin. Fortunately, they found another property to put us up in and offered to refund the costs, making the lodging essential free. Some lab folks had already made a Costco run a few days prior, and dropped off loads of beef, sausages, eggs, OJ, milk, bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, and other fixings to store at our house. This made for some creative arranging in the car trunk along with Westley’s luggage as we headed out Saturday morning. After stopping by McDonald’s for a potty stop and breakfast, we headed to the Eagle Falls Trail, parked on the side of the road, then made the short hike to the top of the falls. Westley was no fan of being strapped in the baby carrier, wailing “too tight!” as I ascended the steep, rocky steps, but managed to stand briefly in the water. We shared some hot dog biscuits with a local chipmunk for lunch before checking into the rental. Westley fell asleep quickly for his daytime nap, which gave us the opportunity to unpack and shift furniture around to make room for his pack-n-play. After he woke up, we joined my labmates at Pope Beach for badminton and volleyball. Westley helped with sand castle-building but did not brave the water. Thunder and lightning drove us back to the cabin, and we rigged a patio umbrella over the propane grill for burgers, skewers, and corn. The evening concluded with a group picture followed by an intense game of Pandemic over refreshing watermelon. After a restless night of Westley tossing and turning in bed, we awoke to eggs, sausage, and pancakes for breakfast while watching France defeat Croatia in the World Cup finals. We efficiently cleaned up for check out, then headed back to Pope Beach for more relaxation before driving back. The busy traffic and lack of a rest stop led Westley to wake up to a meltdown in the last part of the trip. To recover, we feasted at Tasty Kitchen followed by durian pancakes and mango with black sticky rice at the new Sweet Honey Dessert in Davis. With just two days before our trip to Vancouver, we’ll have to plan quickly!

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!

With the weather getting warmer (but not too hot), we’ve been taking Westley out to enjoy the neighborhood – the local farmer’s market, public library, dance classes, and even the city pool. After gearing up with Target swim diapers and Costco swim wear. we spent our first visits to Manor pool helping Westley adjust to the water. Despite his constant look of fear and clinging to us for dear life, he seemed to enjoy the outings. We also explored several Davis restaurants including Blaze Pizza and Solomon’s Deli. For a Jewish deli that advertises “No-Bagels-No-Life”, I was pretty disappointed by the dense “NY-style” bagel, although the pastrami, corn beef, and matza ball soup were not bad. With the end of another academic year, we also said goodbye to lab friends at Ala’s house and graduating residents/fellows at the usual venue. Between getting called in for surgery on Father’s Day and trekking out to Lincoln to talk to potential donors, I felt obligated to “treat yo self” a la Pho Saigon and checking out E3 game trailers, including exciting new announcements for Fallout 76, Cyberpunk 2077, and Elder Scrolls 6. With Westley getting older, I wonder if we’ll ever get around to playing video games like we used to

When we decided to visit Melody’s best friend and her family in D.C., we didn’t realize that perhaps Memorial Day weekend wouldn’t be the best time to visit the nation’s capital. However, Westley handled his third flight like a champ, with the help of fried rice and Mario in flight, followed by burgers, hot dogs and new 2- and 7-year-old friends to take baths with. We headed to the National Zoo on Saturday, where the animals were surprisingly active with highlights that included itchy elephants, a baby gorilla, and a high-swinging orangutan. With the sweltering heat, we snacked on boiled eggs and orzo salad, drenched ourselves in misters, then hydrated with over-sweet icees on the way home for nap time. The kids were occupied by a softball game on TV at Manna BBQ for dinner, but perked up with snack samples and shopping at H-Mart next door. With the kids in bed, we enjoyed some John Mulaney standup on Netflix before turning in. We spent Sunday morning at the Mosaic District’s Farmers Market and dim sum at Vinh Kee, but vegged out for the afternoon with Black Panther when it started to rain. Memorial Day was similarly lazy, with puddle-jumping at the local playground followed by Melody and Lisa running off for pedicures and shopping, which included groceries for Melody’s broccoli-beef stir fry and steamed egg custard for dinner. We spent our last morning at the National Museum of Natural History. Westley was tentative at the butterfly exhibit, but otherwise enjoyed the dinosaur bones, insects, and savanna taxidermy until his meltdown at lunch. After a short nap, we returned our rental car and picked up some Potbelly sandwiches for our flight home. We’ll see how Westley handles the jetlag back.

We celebrated our 11th anniversary last week like any other Saturday. While Melody was at her massage, I took Westley to the library and dance class, where he has become more engaged. Despite being the smallest in class, he follows directions well, though I wished that skill translated better to home and daycare where he continues to exert his independent (and occasionally bitey) nature. After lunch and nap time, we took Westley to apply for his passport in preparation for our upcoming trip to Vancouver. On Mother’s Day, we drove to Stockton for grandparent bonding and dim sum before returning to a busy work week with Melody gone for an investigator meeting. With all the recent and upcoming travels, I decided to commute rather than stay at our department’s Napa symposium. For my pre-meeting lunch, I found myself the only patron at Ca’Momi and managed to strike up interesting conversation with the bartender over crispy sweetbreads and grilled octopus. The evening concluded with dinner with the invited speaker from UW, with whom I shared memories of yonder days from SHP and high school research. I returned to find my wife prostrate in bed with strep throat and a temp of 104, so I bailed the meeting to spend Saturday with leftovers and Mario. With antibiotics on board, Melody brought Westley to Napa to watch my talk on Sunday, and hung out at a nearby playground before another visit to Ca’Momi on the way home. As she battled out her affliction and I recover from sleep deprivation, we agreed to keep our Memorial Day trip more relaxed.

This year’s ARVO meeting took place in Honolulu. And while there are worse places to spend 5 nights, it was not the same without my wife and son with me. My brother-in-law dropped me off at SMF at 5am last Saturday to make my early flight to SFO, where I shared breakfast with my colleague Jack before connecting to HNL. An old friend picked me up for ramen with his family, then dropped me off for an Allergan ad board meeting that lasted until dinner time. Exhausted, I opted for ramen again over a networking dinner before settling into my hotel. I kept busy on Sunday attending talks and meeting collaborators, but ducked out for lunch at Marukame Udon, where I enjoyed the cafeteria-style noodle shop experience and brought extras back to the hotel to supplement the offerings from our Chair’s reception and Genentech investigator meeting. I had little time to practice my talk and EyeTube filming on Monday morning, but was well-prepared for afternoon outings. For lunch, I took my med students to Maguro Bros, which served solid, unassuming sashimi donburi and poke bowls from a dingy stand inside a Chinese supermarket. Dinner by contrast was a chic kaiseki feast at Nanzan Giro Giro with my Duke friends that featured flamboyant waitors, designer stoneware, and a creative omakase menu of black cod, foie gras, and lots of dashi. I explored nearby Ala Moana Center on the way back with my friend Paula for souvenirs, including goodies for my kid and labmates. The next day was filled with more poster and paper sessions, training from Heidelberg, surgical instrument shopping, Chinese food with CAOS, chats with Google, and flavorful Manichi ramen. I finally took a breather Wednesday morning with an early snorkel tour at Hanauma Bay, where the rocky corals were replete with tropical fish but left me pretty banged up. I returned to the convention center for more meetings in the afternoon, and caught up with friends over acai bowls and oxtail pho. On Thursday, I awoke to toasty malasadas from Leonard’s Bakery and boring saimin from Zippy’s, but nabbed a nice Zip Pack to-go for my flight back. After fending off questions from my resident’s presentation, I raced to the airport in time to get another souvenir for Westley before my flight. I ran into my friend Mike during the SFO layover, and discoursed about family and career over airport udon before finally getting home around midnight. I had little chance to recover with an overbooked clinic on Friday and a COEH Symposium talk on Saturday. This gave me barely enough time to prepare for an “infectious night of fun” at my house, where I invited lab folks to a game of Pandemic followed by wings and burgers from Costco. We didn’t have time for a screening of the movie Outbreak, but I made sure the meats were cooked thoroughly to avoid an actual infectious outbreak, and everyone seemed to enjoy the festivities. With a new tank of propane and warmer weather approaching, I’ll be firing up the grill again soon.

My excitement for being promoted to Associate Professor at UC Davis last week was tempered by my employer’s termination of POP e-mail access, forcing me to reluctantly convert from Gmail to Outlook. Having spent years creating countless time-saving shortcuts, labels, and filters to expedite my workflow, the reversion to Outlook felt like a big step backwards. After migrating my 15GB of email data to the Exchange server last week, I spent Sunday volunteering at Paul Hom, then dined solo at Yang’s followed by an Ikea run for a cabinet and bins to contain Westley’s growing Brio and Duplo collection. Taking a break from his terrible-two tantrums, Melody and I then took Monday off to lunch at Bouchon in Yountville, where we savored escargot, onion soup, foie gras, mussels, and croque madame, followed by treats from their bakery where the usual line was nowhere to be found. Yesterday, while Melody was down in Cupertino judging resident research at Kaiser and gobbling XLB at DTF, I braved Picnic Day traffic to take Westley to his first dance lesson at Dance Daze. Despite his initial apprehension, he joined in the fun when they broke out the parachute and played his jam (“If you’re happy and you know it”). We let him chill out with his auntie Emmeline today, but waited until after his bedtime to crack into our copy of Super Mario Odyssey. Mario’s newest adventure had little new narrative, but included a cephalic accessory called “cappy” that provided some novel gameplay mechanics. Now that we’ve scheduled our solar panel installation next week, we hope to have extra AC available to beat the summer heat.