There are many perks to becoming a second-year retina fellow. Having slaved away as first years to cover our seniors during interviews and meetings, we are now finally reaping the benefits of seniority. This weekend’s AVTT meeting in Chicago was an all-expense-paid educational experience for fellows. Beyond learning just new surgical technologies and techniques, there were also talks about contract negotiations, practice design, reimbursement changes, and the future of healthcare reform. The eye-opening discussion was not all doom and gloom, as it gave us a chance to network with the experts and mingle with old friends. The central location of our hotel also gave us opportunities to sample dining and nightlife in downtown Chicago. Despite our late arrival on Thursday, Eric and I scored 10pm reservations at Girl and the Goat, where Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard’s creative menu wowed us with plates like pig face and a goat belly confit. Unfortunately, the Friday night wait for Rick Bayless’ flagship restaurant was more than 2 hours, so we went next door to his more casual counterpart for some mediocre tortas and churros. The wait at Giordano’s on Saturday night was no better, and even Chicago’s famous deep-dish pizza did not impress me enough to consider a return visit. After dinner, I met up with some friends for drinks at Crimson Lounge, then bribed our way into the Roof lounge – considered one of the top 3 rooftop lounges in the world by Travel & Leisure – for house music and people watching. By the time I got home, there was little need to unpack, since I will be heading out again for ASRS in just a few short days.

I returned to Sacramento this past weekend, not only to visit Melody, but also for my first job interview at Retinal Consultants. Although it took time away from my wife, my plane tickets were covered, and the prospect of landing a position in Sacramento was well worth the sacrifice. I spent Friday observing the practice in both their clinic and OR, concluding with a lavish dinner with the partners at Ella. The harrowing day-long experience showed me how efficiently private practices are run, and how some doctors manage to see more than a hundred clinic patients or do more than 10 VR surgeries in a day. The group continued their welcome on Saturday over dim sum for lunch, followed by a barbeque with spouses and children at the managing partner’s house in Arden Park. Overall, I was impressed by the partners’ collegiality and the extent to which they enjoyed family life, not to mention the potential for big bucks. On Sunday, after filling on banh cuon, we spent the lazy afternoon hanging with the rats, munching on macarons, watching Game of Thrones, and feeding spiders to the praying mantis in the backyard. In the evening, we celebrated my sister-in-law’s birthday over HK seafood, followed by late night sweets at Rick’s Dessert Diner. Once again, the weekend trip felt way too short. But with two more weekend trips ahead, I won’t have to worry about feeling lonely.

Even as we welcomed the new fellows over dinner and a night out, I could feel the hustle and bustle of my first year of fellowship wearing away at me – literally, when I noticed the heel of my shoe crumbling away in clinic last week. Fortunately, my parents had decided to spend two weeks in town to provide me home-cooked sustenance to save me from my bachelor-like lifestyle. Together, we made many of my childhood favorites: pan-seared kingfish, beef stew, fried butterfish, winter melon soup, sesame paste, and lo mai chi. In return, I treated them to local Southern fare like fried chicken and NC-style barbeque. I also bought them a copy of the Entertainment book for discounts at the bowling alley and science museum. Last weekend, after trying our hands at the local driving range, we spent a day at Southpoint mall and Ross to score some bargain new shoes, shirts, and ties, just in time for interview season. We also shared our recent photos, with them showing off their new Android tablets, which inspired me to update my Nook with a new Cyanogen Mod build with Jellybean and the v6 Supercharger script. Our last weekend was spent mostly relaxing, with a brief tour of Raleigh after satisfying Korean food. Before taking off, they left behind enough leftovers for the entire week, not to mention groceries for another two. Nothing soothes the soul like proper home cooking, and my parents’ two week visit helped prepare me for the busy fall ahead.

My weekend trip to NYC this past weekend was my first visit back home in a long time, but also sadly an inauspicious one. I had just come home from a Friday mixer with the new residents and fellow when I got a phone call from my parents about my aunt’s passing. After seeing post-ops Saturday morning, I caught a last-minute flight that landed in time for lunch with my parents in Flushing before spending a quiet evening at home. On Sunday morning, the family congregated over take-out dim sum at my auntie’s place, which gave me a chance to catch up with the many cousins I’ve lost contact with. We took a photo of us, although our black suits made us look more like the Triad. The funeral itself brought back memories of Buddhist chants and joss paper, which to my surprise, I still remembered to fold. We celebrated my mom’s birthday over Chinese seafood, and before I knew it, was back in Durham by late evening. I was disappointed by the airline’s refusal to ease the cost of the overpriced flight despite a death in the family. With my upcoming expenses for conferences and interviews, I’ll need to starting saving up.

Taking call for the first 10 days of July was probably not the wisest choice I’ve made. Sure enough, by the end of the July 4th weekend, I’ve already gotten 2 open globes and a slew of other inpatient and ED consults to staff. It didn’t help that the residents who joined me in the OR were fresh out of first year, while the ones manning the floor were starting their first day of residency. In moments when I’m feeling a little down, one thing always bring a smile back to my face – noodles! Here’re the results of round 3 of my instant noodle competition.

1. Samyang Ramen – Beef Flavor (8, 8) – Not really beefy but still well-fermented broth is combined with springy noodles, like a milder form of neoguri
2. Mi Chay – La Bo-De (3,3) – The ghetto generic packaging predictably delivers bland, spicy soup and cardboard-textured noodles reminiscent of Cup o’Noodles.
3. Myojo Chukazanmai – Oriental Flavor (9,9) – Recommended by Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa and VR surgeon Shizuo Mukai, this line of near-perfect noodles taste just like the real thing.
4. Unif-100 – Artificial Stewed Pork Chop Flavor – (6, 6) Lots of freeze-dried goodies immersed in a salty broth is paired with average noodles, with emphasis on “artificial”.
5. Prima Taste Singapore Curry La Mian (7, 8) – The $3 fancy package comes with a nice, creamy if not a bit heavy broth, and unique dried steam noodles that is just a tad rubbery.
6. Shin Ramyun Black Premium Noodles (9,8) – The flavorful full-bodied broth with not one but two soup bases combines with amazing noodles to make these “premium” noodles near-perfection.
7. Nissin Ramen – Black Garlic Oil Tonkatsu Artificial Pork Flavor (9, 8) – The garlicky tonkatsu broth is addictive, and the noodles are nostalgic – heavenly when paired with a soft-boiled egg.
8. Hao Hao – Mi Tom Chua Cay (6, 4) – The tangy broth is surprisingly fragrant, but still not enough to rescue the dismal rubber noodles that is hardly worthy of the name “hao hao.”
9. Indo Mie – Chicken Curry Flavor (7, 6) – The floral scent to the slightly curried soup is served with average mie. Not bad but forgettable overall.

Our department celebrated the end of the academic year with two intense days of back-to-back research presentations by residents and fellows, fortunately concluding with a celebratory dinner at the Marriott and a blast of an after-party. The resident skit was a polished production that impressed even seasoned video-skit producers like myself, featuring internet memes like Gangnam style and the Harlem Shake, combined with a witty script, sharp editing, green screen masking, and near-professional voice-overs. After the awesome show and the requisite roasts for the graduates, we headed to the Republic where our house DJs Master P and Special K laid down some funky beats as we danced the night away. Meanwhile, Duke’s decision to have the entire hospital system adopt a new EMR in one fell swoop was an Epic fail (pun intended). Despite the $400 million price tag and an army of blue-clad tech support minions, we still ended our first week seeing only half the patients in twice the time. At home, my recent tech upgrades have not fared better, with my new refurbished mouse and keyboard arriving DOA. Fortunately, my new D5100 more than met my expectations, replacing the D40 I had sold last year. Now I just need a vacation so I’ve got something to shoot!

I took Melody to Raleigh this past weekend to take advantage of the NC capital’s monthly First Friday event. From the airport, we drove directly to make our reservations at Second Empire. Located in an old brick house reminiscent of L’espalier’s original Boston location, the 4-diamond restaurant served up a delectable pan-roasted foie gras, spicy PEI mussels and polenta, overcooked black grouper, and a hearty cajun ribeye steak. With bellies full, we checked out synchronous swimming turtles at the Museum of Natural Sciences, then perused the maze of Artspace galleries, where Melody left happy with a flying pig canvas by Keith Norval. On Saturday, after sharing sandwiches from Toast, we returned to 18th-century America to liberate the patriots from the crown in Assassin’s Creed 3. Triumphant, we celebrated at home over homemade napa cabbage pork stew while watching deduction and intrigue unfold in BBC’s modern interpretation of the Sherlock Holmes adventures. The next morning, we awoke to wood-fired clam and crimini mushroom pizzas from Pizzeria Toro, followed by chocolate chess pie and donut muffins from Scratch Bakery. In the evening, we joined my co-fellows and residents for a year-end barbeque while demonstrating my lack of skill in giant chess. Putting my research Monday to good use, we went to Chapel Hill for curry at Raaga, then returned to Durham for dinner at Nana’s, where highlights of the regular and tasting menus include a crispy puffer fish with ginger slaw, a rich pork agnolotti with shimeji mushrooms, textbook risotto with shrimp and calamari, and a tender pan-roasted red grouper with spring veggies. With my hair cut, sheets cleaned, and freezer filled with homemade batches of cookie dough, I am well-prepared for the next two months.

More than a year after our big trip to India, I finally began compiling our photo journal this past Memorial Day weekend. Lucky for me, Blurb no longer requires the dreadfully buggy Booksmart software, but instead offers a plugin for the more powerful Adobe InDesign. I was also pleasantly surprised by the company’s decision to finally offer digital PDF prints of all our travel albums, alleviating my fear of a potential house fire that will engulf my entire scapbook collection. The other program I taught myself to use, thanks to a free Udemy course, is Native Instrument’s Traktor Pro. The software gave even a novice like me the chance to mix music like a DJ, and imagine an alternate life as Funkmaster-G. At least that was what my mind was thinking of during the 8-hour training session for our new EMR system last weekend that nearly killed me with boredom. To recover, I treated myself to a few meals out, thanks to a Restaurant.com gift certificate and a trip to Duke Raleigh Hospital for my ID badge and parking pass. Sadly, the lamb biryani at Dales’ seemed flavored mostly with ketchup (what did I expect from an Indian restaurant named Dales’?). Fortunately, the seafood soondubu at Seoul Garden was full of fantastically fermented flavors, enticing me to future trips down to the state capital for future foodie ventures. My planning for Melody’s upcoming visit has begun!

ARVO’s decision to move its annual meeting away from Florida this year gave me the chance to visit Seattle for the very first time. Eric and I took off after work last Thursday to arrive just before midnight to check in to the W hotel. Our flight and 2 nights of hotel were generously paid for by Thrombogenics, who also sponsored the day-long Retina Summit meeting that featured among a number of engaging talks a lavishly catered lunch of steak frites and steamed mussels. For dinner I went to Tom Douglas’ Dahlia Lounge for delectable dungeoness crab cakes, although I was miffed to miss the free meal that Allergan was sponsoring in the same restaurant that night. On Saturday, I took a morning stroll with some Cleveland Clinic folks to Pike Place Market, where we snacked on Beecher’s mac n’ cheese and Daily Dozen doughnuts while watching tourists lined up at the original Starbuck’s and fish thrown at the Fish Market. Miri joined me in the afternoon at the EMP Museum. There, we perused Nirvana and Jimmy Hendrix exhibits, watched the Thriller music video in the Sky Church, mixed tracks of Sweet Dreams in the Sound Lab, and immersed ourselves in the worlds of Sci Fi, Fantasy, Horror, and Video Games. Too tired afterwards for Chihuly Garden & Glass, we took the monorail back in time for me to drag my luggage to the much cheaper hotel we booked for the unsponsored remainder of the trip. We joined one of our attendings for dinner at Taylor’s Shellfish, then stopped briefly at another Thrombogenics event before meeting my MEEI co-residents over late night drinks. I awoke Sunday to free fresh waffles at our hotel before taking in day one of the conference, stopping briefly to revisit Dahlia Lounge for donuts and eggs benedict with Keith from college, and ending with dinner and drinks at the Harvard reception at the Four Seasons. On Monday, I grabbed a quick lunch with my mentor from BIDMC, then rushed back to present my data for an AREDS2 trial sub-study. A potential collaboration gave me a free pass to the swanky SERI gala at the Hyatt that evening. On the way back to the hotel, I received another text message which led me to the W hotel bar again to mingle with more fellows. By Tuesday, our nightly outings had taken its toll on me. I left the meeting early, passed by Pike Place Market for a piroshky, then returned for a hotel nap to re-energize for a Genentech-sponsored steak dinner. I passed on breakfast the next morning to get my pho-fix en route to the conference center. There, I met my friend Sush for coffee, and got convinced to hike out to Fremont for the famed Caribbean Roast sandwich from Paseo. Fortunate to have found a friend to share a cab there, I returned happy and full, with just enough room to enjoy a second dinner with the DARSI lab at Palace Kitchen. My last day in Seattle was a mad dash from my morning poster session to Bellevue for hearty soup dumplings and noodles at Din Tai Fung with three other retina MD-PhDs, then straight to the airport afterwards to catch my flight home. Arriving at RDU after midnight, I shared a shuttle back to the Eye Center to review charts and pick up my car, which made the following OR day rather painful. But between the beautiful sunshine, the culinary adventures, and multitude of learning experiences, this trip has landed Seattle among my favorite cities in the U.S.

It was no more than a week after the devastating Boston Marathon bombings that misfortune unexpectedly descended upon me as well. I was programming my GPS on my way to pick up my co-fellows to attend a meeting last Saturday when I struck the rear of a Ford Expedition, just minutes away from my apartment. While the other vehicle was unscathed, the front bumper and hood of my poor Accord was completely smashed in. Although everyone was okay, I was taught a good lesson that driving does not mix well with multi-tasking. To avoid the potential half-hour walk while on call, I had to urgently trade away my call week. Cooking with the scant groceries I had in my fridge was challenging also, although our incoming co-fellow’s weekend visit gave me a chance to supplement with some enchiladas. Fortunately, living next door to Eric gave me the ability to bum rides to work while the car was in the shop. Meanwhile, the second monitor I splurged on (before the accident) was finally delivered this week. Learning how to use the extra screen space does take a little getting used to. I also had to adopt new dual screen wallpapers to accommodate the wider aspect ratio. However, I’m sure this dual screen luxury will soon be just another thing I can’t live without.