Our productivity took a nosedive when Dragon Age: Inquisition was released. We picked up zero-day copy at Walmart and proceeded to become sleep deprived and dehydrated as we explored Haven, the Hinterlands and the Storm Coast. Although not nearly as funny or sarcastic as our hero in Dragon Age 2, our new hero has nearly endless possibilities to explore and collect in the new open world gameplay. We took a break for Melody to prepare the Thanksgiving hybrid dinner for her side of the family, which we transported to her sister’s house since we lacked a dining table. On Saturday, we drove to the Bay area for brunch with a few friends, then stocked up at Container Store and Crate & Barrel. We discovered Pacific East Mall in Richmond on the way back, and got our Asian grocery and Canto seafood fix before coming home. The rest of the weekend was spent closing Fade Rifts and seeking out a new artificial Christmas tree at various Home Depots, Walmart, and Michael’s, but ended up with a lot of decorations instead. Hopefully we’ll have a tree before the actual holiday arrives.

We were pleased to transition from weekly Home Depot & Lowes visits to weekly Ikea visits, but we knew that we would soon need to tackle the big stuff and aim for more adult furniture. We resumed our home improvements this month with Mark from Live Wire installing a roof-top antenna and wireless access point and re-programming our security system. We also had our gardener clear out the gutters and repair our limp backyard fence. Meanwhile, we considered official interior decorator help, but ultimately decided to go at it ourselves, armed with ideas from Houzz. Our first trek was to Arden and Carmichael, which included underwhelming visits to Beck’s, American Furniture Galleries, McCreery’s, and La-Z-Boy. The second was further east to Fair Oaks and Rancho Cordova, following a brief flirtation with a Steinway model M in Roseville and a sushi bite. We checked out Scandinavian Designs, Naturwood, and six other places, but ultimately came away with just a chaise and coffee tables from Beck’s, a secondhand Aeron chair from Jamesville Furniture, and leftover soondubu from YD House. The following week, we headed west to Vacaville for our third hunt, and had our interests piqued by a German leather sofa and Danish office desks, but were dismayed by the 6 month wait. We returned to Fair Oaks to the first Scandinavian Design store, which had a more reasonable timeline for the desks; and at the same time spied Italian sofas from Furnitalia which made us reconsider our sofa choice. We remain couchless at this time, but at least we found a Russian buffet at Firebird, which featured a terrific spread of borscht, goulash, stuffed cabbage, and stews that is sure to bring us back for our next furniture hunt.

Amid the usual new house endeavors, Melody and I got a chance to relax and get involved with the community. Melody was excited to take me to the Sacramento Ballet’s offering of The Great Gatsby, which featured beautiful choreography and live music well deserving of our donations. The short production ended before our Teleme More grilled cheese and Summer Truffle Mac from the Rind could put us in a food coma. We didn’t get a chance to try their extensive cheese collection, but we’ll be back to feed Melody’s fascination with noisome washed rind cheeses. Melody and I also took turns volunteering for the Paul Hom Asian Clinic, and met up with friends to taste some of Sac town’s BBQ. Halloween 2014 featured our first time ever distributing candy to Elsa and Ninja Turtle tots and teenagers with pillow cases. We thought we’d be popular with our premium candy, but apparently our one-piece-apiece policy earned several pouts. Still, we may keep the porch light on next year instead of reverting to our previous tradition of cowering in the dark.

The AAO annual meeting is rarely attended by first-year faculty, as junior recruits usually cover call. Thanks to my fellows, however, I was glad to make it to Chicago this year. I flew in Thursday night, and ran into my retina friend Larry on the subway. It turned out we were staying at the same place, so we grabbed late night grub in Chinatown before walking through the shady South Side neighborhood to our hotel. On Friday, after a morning of subspecialty day talks, I joined my cousin Paula for lunch at Blackbird, where the impressive bouillabaisse was deserving of Paul Kahan’s James Beard award and the restaurant’s Michelin star. In the evening, I updated the Michels Foundation members on my progress at work, then joined Special K at the DJ booth at Nikki for the Cornea Society party. On Saturday, Francisco and I waited for a lunch table at the Purple Pig, and was rewarded with yummy pig’s ear with crispy kale & fried egg, tender milk-braised pork shoulder on mashed potatoes, and an incredible octopus with green beans & salsa verde. With my stomach full, I made my way down Michigan Ave to check out architectural sights that were open for the Open House Chicago event. The drizzle did not stop the lines from forming at the Tribune Tower and Jeweler’s Building. I decided to forgo the hour-long wait, and instead checked out the stage view from the Prizker Pavilion and the impressive ceiling at the Chicago Cultural Center. In the evening, I caught up with colleagues at the Duke and MEEI receptions before calling it a night. I woke up next morning to present at an OCT course, then met Lucy for Acadia’s famed burger. I spent the afternoon resuming my architectural tour, checking out a vacant floor in the Inland Steel Building, the council chambers at City Hall, and the Sky Chapel atop the Chicago Temple Building. After a quick nap, I joined my UCD colleagues for our department reception, then headed to the YO party for another night of debauchery. Exhausted, I barely made it to my poster presentation Monday morning, although I had several productive meetings with industry reps. Before catching my flight home, I grabbed a prime rib sandwich and hazelnut gelato from Eataly for the road. I made it back in time to meet up with wife’s friends for Korean BBQ, but it hardly compared with my culinary tour of the Windy City.

It has only been a little over a month since I started, and it’s already fellowship interview season again. It was interesting being on the other side of the process, as I reflect on the qualities that make a good fellow. I found it tough to reconcile candidates who are aggressive “go-getters” and more likely to be leaders, from those who are pleasantly “down-to-earth,” but may be less likely to achieve academically. The venue for the interview lunch was the same restaurant we went to when I interviewed here 3 years ago. Being a creature of habit, I opted for the same uninspiring french dip sandwich. Fortunately, there were other dining opportunities awaiting in Sacramento. Last weekend, we invited visiting professor Anita Agarwal for upscale Vietnamese at Lemon Grass restaurant. The second Alta Society dinner brought me down to touristy Old Sac later that week for steak at the Firehouse. Although I did not meet many people there, my development officer made up for it with an invitation to a retirement community in Fairfield to give an oral presentation about the eye center. Hopefully, the outreach activities will help garner more patients to our practice. Back home, our unpacking process revealed a number of extra items that were duplicated from having two separate households. So if you are in the market for a washer, dryer, camera, or cleaver, check out Ebay and Craigslist for all your shopping needs!

Goodbye, Sweet Friend…

Gus

11/23/2012 – 9/24/2014

My first few weeks at the new job involved acquainting myself with all the administrative departments at UC Davis. First, I needed access – keys, photo IDs, OR lockers. Then, there was training – computer training, laboratory safety, patient privacy, and sexual harassment. There were also faculty development workshops on promotions and goal-setting. Most foreign to me, however, was publicity and outreach. This meant professional photos, a website profile, and faculty announcement flyers. Last week, I attended my first dinner meeting at the Alta California Ophthalmic Society. It was a good chance to become acquainted with the community docs in town, but it also opened my eyes to the political activism at the local chapters. Back home, we finally found LED fixtures with just the right color temperature and brightness to replace our canned lights. We also ventured out to Leslie’s Pool Supplies to kick start our backyard hot tub. The store clerk took pity on us when he saw our crate of chemicals and the big question marks on our faces, and showed us all we needed to know (and buy) to get the hot tub up and running. Considering the drought and rising cost of water, it was painful replacing all those gallons of water for something we may hardly use. It also didn’t help that we had to cut checks for the final completion of the wood flooring and stair carpeting. To take a break from the house, we drove into SF last weekend to meet with an old college/med school friend who was in town for a conference. After satisfying our wok hay and Asian bakery craves, we checked out Japanese minimalistic design at the SF Muji store, then bedazzled ourselves with the ultra-modern, ultra-pricey furniture at Arkitektura next door. For dinner, we shared ribs, mac n’ cheese, pork sliders, and a Tipsy burger at the Tipsy Pig. The meal was solid, but except for the company, probably not worth the 2 hour drive.

We had little time to unpack and unwind from our trip before our contractors were back in the house to start laying down our new floors. I was confined to the bathroom during the day, where I had my desktop PC set up to sort and edit our vacation photos. As the days passed, we realized that home ownership can really provide an endless supply of little projects. This also meant visiting Home Depot or Lowe’s at least one to two times a week. After drenching myself from replacing a bunch of broken sprinklers, I learned my lesson and left the landscape wiring to an electrician, who uncovered an underground short in the backyard that nearly ignited when we dug it from the mulching. Meanwhile, the prospect of starting work meant having to get a second car. With all the expenditures, I was glad that the Niello in Elk Grove had a pre-owned 328i with only 3000 miles for 10-grand below the MSRP. With the new ride, we drove out to Sac-town to try ramen at Akebono and rice porridge at Happy Corner Restaurant, which were both good but not mind-blowing. By Labor Day, the floors have been installed, the base boards painted, and our stair carpet selected. On Saturday, we went to Ikea for free crayfish and meatballs, but did not score any big ticket items. The rest of the long weekend was spent vacuuming, scrubbing, and wiping down the house. This allowed us to move our TV back into the family room so that we could start the new PS3 exclusive Beyond: Two Souls. The game explored paranormal activity and the world beyond in a cinematic style reminiscent of its predecessor, with less choice but more star power. Despite being exhausted from the weekend, I had trouble sleeping, as I prepare to start my new job.

As we approached the end of our trip, misfortune found a way to catch up with us, leaving us without our luggage when we arrived at Livingstone. Luckily, we had our most valuable and vital possessions on us, including a 20 lbs wooden hippo. The modern airport terminal and colorful welcome at Zambezi Sun reminded us that we were back in tourist country. Although the hotel was packed with conference attendees, we were pleased with the easy access to nearby Victoria Falls. After enjoying high tea at the fancier sister hotel next door, we took the photographic trail for our first view of the falls, known to locals as Mosi-oa-Tunya or “the smoke that thunders.” We returned later that evening to see the lunar rainbow that is created by the light of a full moon – a phenomenon rarely seen elsewhere on the planet. On Tuesday, we were relieved to find our luggage back in our possession – kudos to Proflight who handled the whole debacle with grace and efficiency. We returned to Victoria Falls the next day to explore the other hiking trails, then blew the remainder of our cash on a variety of souvenirs. We left ourselves just enough kwachas for a cab into town for goat and beef stews and peri peri croc bites at Cafe Zambezi. By the time we returned to the hotel, the evening entertainment was kicking as we sat by the pool with zebras grazing next to us – an interesting last night in Africa. Our return flight included a layover in Jo’burg, where we watched episodes of Nikita over chips and malva pudding. Back in San Francisco, we were relieved that our car did not get towed, and celebrated with dim sum on the way home. For me, our 3 week adventure in Africa was a much-needed break to celebrate graduation from fellowship, passing my boards, and most importantly, being back with my wife again. And while we were sad to say goodbye to Africa, it was a great feeling not having to say goodbye to each other.

One of the attractions of Zambia is the relative absence of other tourists here. Unfortunately, that also translates to a dearth of direct flights, requiring an overnight layover in the capital city of Lusaka. We had little time to explore the city, and were content with staying in for dinner at the hotel. Upon arriving at Jeki, we immediately noticed the change in the terrain, with its tall forests and river channels. We noticed more waterbucks than bushbucks, more irritable elephants, and many more insects. Fortunately, our high-end chalet at the Anabezi camp had plenty of “Doom” and “Peaceful Sleep” bug spray to complement our over-sized mosquito net. The outdoor private dipping pool was too cold for our use, but the temperature didn’t bother the baboons drinking from it. Annoyingly, the camp did not accept credit cards or personal checks. We had to waste valuable animal-watching time to coordinate a bank transfer from home using their shoddy WiFi connection at the gift shop. We did get frequent visits from a pachyderm we dubbed “LT” for Left Tusk, who thought nothing of snacking on the camp’s winterthorn saplings only 10 feet from us. Most unique to the Lower Zambezi experience were the water activities. We began Saturday morning with a river cruise where we could feel the constant stare of hippos mimicking navy SEALs. In the afternoon, we took a canoe trip with our guide Patrick, whom we later learned is the survivor of the sole Zambian hippo attack on his canoe earlier this year. At night, Melody awoke to the sound of a leopard growling, but could only see LT scratching his back on our deck. We sought to locate the leopard the next day, but instead encountered a massive herd of several hundred glowering buffalo. That did not deter us from following three young male lions stalking a pair of elderly buffalo, but they were chased off by the irritable bovines. On the way back, we witnessed two honey badgers battling a civet for a bee hive, demonstrating that even after a week-long safari, the drama never becomes dreary. We returned to the air strip on Monday morning, ready for the last stop of our trip.