We returned to Chicago for this year’s AAO, where I once again secured a room at the Hyatt adjacent to McCormick Place for maximal convenience. Upon landing, I opted for an Uber over the sketchy walk to Chinatown for late night HK eats at Chi Cafe. Having left my hat on the plane, I picked up a replacement at TJ Maxx on the way to a Genentech ad board next morning. Without a friend to join me for dinner afterwards, I requested a stuffed companion for solo hot pot at Haidilao. On Friday, I bounced between the Retina and Uveitis subspecialty days, and gave my talk on gene therapy-associated inflammation to the more intimate uveitis crowd. Dinner at S.K.Y. was sublime, with an unforgettable foie gras bibimbap that had me savoring the umami bomb the rest of the evening. I presented my second talk and OCT course on Saturday, with a lunch break in between over more hot pot with my ex-fellows. The Arts in the Dark parade that evening kept downtown traffic in gridlock, foiling my hopes of attending all three alumni receptions. I did a few interviews and a consulting gig before returning to O’Hare for dinner and flight home. Melody and I returned from our respective meetings to find our house in chaos, with no internet and no microwave. I hurriedly purchased a replacement cable modem and microwave from Best Buy on Monday, which helped me troubleshoot, identify, and replace the culprits – a failed power adapter for the modem and a burnt thermal fuse in the microwave. We celebrated my DIY repair successes over AYCE wagyu hot pot with my parents, followed by more hot pot, froyo, and father-son time before they returned home. With Chinese school in full swing, we had little time to enjoy Pioneer’s Fall Festival, as we acknowledge our waning free time together against mounting Westley activities.

With my parents back in town to help watch Westley, I was able to flex both my research and clinical arms at back-to-back conferences. I first drove to Pacific Grove for the inaugural Keystone Symposium for dry AMD. The cafeteria and dorm-style rooms at Asilomar gave off summer camp vibes, but at least let me take in the Pacific breeze and partake in some interactive scientific discussions. A brief eclair stop gave me time to charge my car for my drive home. I was off next to Alcon’s Podos Colloquium in Dallas, where I asked the driver to detour to Madea’s for pork neck bone before my talk on gene therapy, followed afterwards by dinner at Hotel Drover in the bustling Stockyards district.  After getting back, we took Westley and his friend Liam to watch their first movie in a theater. With a throwback hand-painted aesthetic and a heartwarming story, the Wild Robot made for good family entertainment, if not for the next few nights of fever and vomiting that kept Melody and Westley feeling miserable through the week. Stuck at home, we at least replayed enough of our Elden Ring base game to embark on Shadow of the Erdtree. Without a guidebook, we fumbled with NPC questlines and struggled with our new greatsword Milady before reverting to our trusty Moonveil. Westley was more interested in wielding his own swords, and took up fencing lessons at DFA. We learned the difference between epee, foil, and sabre, as we watched him engarde with older kids. This weekend, we drove to Martinez to check out the regional tournament to give him a taste of competitive sports. The road trip also gave us a chance to visit and take our niece out to a yummy but pricey dinner. With Halloween approaching, we decided to make our own costume, inspired by the upcmoming Astro Bot game that he’s been eyeing. The crafting project kept us plenty busy ahead of more work travel this month.

Arriving at Faro airport, we quickly secured our rental car to explore the Algarve. Google Maps failed to locate the Ludo Trail head, but we managed to briskly navigate the 7.5 km of salt flats and wild flamingos to make our kayak tour to Benagil Cave. Two hours of paddling was overambitious, and we were starving on arrival at Lagos as we savored Mimar’s octopus salad and grilled octopus followed by our first pastel de nata. We checked into our charming residence and finished the night with incredible fish cataplana and Sunday-only seafood rice at Prato Cheio. Next day, we joined Instagrammers for sunrise at Praia do Camilo and Ponta de Piadade before our decadent breakfast spread. We stopped by Albufeira for another nata, cork purse, and leather bag on the way to Lisbon, where another Google Map fail nearly made us miss Ultimo Porto’s grilled octopus and goldenfish. Rush hour traffic had us relieved to return our car before we checked into the Four Seasons Ritz to enjoy the indoor pool and roof deck views. We awoke early Tuesday to visit earthquake-survivor Church of Sao Domingos, then passed Rossio Square and Santa Justa Lift along Rua Augusta to compare natas. The Atlantic breeze at Cais das Colunas kept us cool while we waited to retrieve our Lisbon Cards from the tourist office on the way to Lisbon Cathedral. After enjoying some Amalia Rodriguez at Museo do Fado, we bused to Time Out Market for a bacchanal of seafood soup, bacalao fritters, octopus salad, and pork rice. We abandoned the tram due to another Google Map fail and Uber’d to Belem Tower, followed by a seaside stroll to the Monument of the Discoveries and Museu de Marinha. We bypassed the wait outside Jeronimos Monastery for Pasteis de Belem’s OG pasteis before returning to see the cloisters and church. Our reservations at Belcanto did not disappoint, with hand-sketched cards describing innovative dishes like “the goose that laid the golden egg” and “3 little pigs” for which we wore white sleeves to wipe our mouths. An early train to Sintra on Wednesday had us shivering outside Pena Park for an hour before opening, but we beat the massive crowds to Pena Palace. We carefully navigated the steep walls of the Moorish Castle and the steep descent to town for Casa Piriquita pastries before enjoying Romaria de Baco’s excellent cilantro broth, fried seafood, and squid ink rice. Tired from walking, we found a helpful cab driver who rearranged our itinerary to Quinta da Regalena, where the mysterious initiation well and caves reminded us of Xcaret, but the staff soured our experience by not letting us exit the front entrance. We concluded our day trip at romantic Monserrate, then returned for Bistro 100 Maneiras’ snapper ceviche, truffled sweetbreads, and warm mushroom-asparagus-egg salad that put us to sleep before I could practice my talk. We took a trolley next morning to the roofless Carmo Archaelogical Museum and baroque Church of Sao Roque, then filled on bifana and prego sandwiches before returning to the meeting for my talk while Melody split off to visit flapping mola mola and obese turbot at the Oceanario de Lisboa. We reconvened at the hotel to have my new pants measured by the in-house seamstress, then went to Mesa De Frades for a dinner and fado show. On Friday, we bought pastries at Oriente Station for our bus to Evora. Here, we lingered in Sao Francisco’s skull- and femur-heavy Bone Church and enjoyed their diverse display of nativity scenes from around the world. The other Evora sights were low-cost and low-yield, including a sparse design museum of old tech and the Ingreja da Misericordia that at least served as a rest stop for my back. The medieval cloisters and roof at Evora Cathedral, however, had us expecting avionette soldiers and abductor virgins around every corner. A quijadas de Evora tided us over to Taberna Tipica Quarta-feira’s chef menu, which included a tongue bifana and delectable almond-sugar paste. We returned to Lisbon to rest and digest before a late tourist-trap dinner with retina friends. I caught a few conference sessions Saturday before joining Melody to browse Azul tiles at the National Tile Museum, souvenir shop at Miradouro das Portas do Sol and de Santa Luiza, and indulge in melon gazpacho and grouper collar at Prado. My friend Leo hooked me up with a tie for the society banquet, but Melody’s sandals snapped before the dancing began. On our flight back, I reflected on our week of fado, nata, and 5-star luxuries like free daily gelato, all of which were only surpassed by the incredible food and music of the region.

It has been years since we traveled without Westley, but with Retina Society coinciding with the first week of school, we took the opportunity to plan a 2-week couple’s itinerary through southern Spain and Portugal. Our delayed flights to Malaga allowed good use of lounge access at SFO and LIS and an early introduction to Portuguese fare during our layover. Despite the post-midnight car transfer to Granada, we picked up early morning churros and hot chocolate, then browsed the Arab Market on the way to the Madrasa, Granada Cathedral, and Royal Chapel. The hot and uphill climb to the Royal Convent of Santa Isabel awarded us with cookies and macaroons through a revolving wooden door. After visiting Dar al-Horra, we dined al fresco in the Albaicin neighborhood on gazpacho, tomatoes, and grilled squid, then returned for siesta at the hotel before a flamenco show at Jardin de Zoraya, sunset views from Mirador San Nicolas, and dinner at Los Manueles, where we sampled beefy albondigas, more gazpacho, deep-fried eggplant with molasses, and killer codfish and oxtail. On Tuesday, we queued up early to beat out the tour groups at Alhambra to visit the impressive Nasrid Palaces, Alcazaba, and Generalife. Returning downhill, we were less impressed by the Paseo de los Tristes and El Banuelo along the Carrera del Darro. After yummy seafood tapas at Bar Los Diamantes, we relaxed at Hammam Al Andalus with a long soak, scrub, and massage, then returned to a livelier Paseo to dine beside Alhambra with jamon Iberica, gambas of Motril, and black ink paella. A Wednesday morning train delivered us to Cordoba, where we explored the Alacazar de los Reyes Cristianos, strolled past the Roman Bridge, and secured last-minute tickets to the Mezquita, where we appreciated the unique juxtaposition of Catholic and Muslim architecture. We stopped for fresh patatas fritas on the way to Palacio de Viana, where the 12 different patio styles showed us how rich people show off. We sampled empanadas for lunch, then enjoyed our hotel’s rooftop patio for sunset views of the Mosque-Cathedral before dinner. A refreshing breakfast at our hotel courtyard fueled our early shopping and synagogue visit in the Jewish Quarter. With a pastella de Cordoba in hand, we caught the train to Seville to check into our Airbnb at Casa Palacio Gandesa, where the interior felt decadent with library murals and busts of Spanish emperors. The line moved quickly at El Rinconcillo, where we enjoyed pavas de bacalao, ensaladilla, fried fish, and the chalk order directly on the counter. We watched the Supermercado Mas staff unjam their machine for some fresh-squeezed OJ before a siesta of Severance episodes, followed by less-tasty paella for dinner. We started Friday strolling with churros to the Plaza de Espana and Maria Luisa Park, and got lost inside the maze of Real Alcazar’s expansive interior and gardens. The long line to visit the Seville Cathedral took a good chunk out of our planned itinerary, so we skipped climbing La Giralda and headed to lunch at Castizo for excellent cod and rice. Despite an afternoon nap before our evening show at the Museo Baile Flamenco, we fell asleep and missed dinner that night, but were refreshed for our Saturday in Triana. We skipped the soggy-looking churros at Especialista for fresh ones at Mercado de Triana, followed by purchases of jamon, cheeses, and sausage snack cups, and shopping for ceramic bulls and a skinny suit for the meeting banquet. Lunch at Blanco Paloma included crispy croquettes, stuffed aubergines, and sizzling gambas casserole that put us to slumber again before dinner at Al Wadi for kebap and kabseh with lamb that was indistinguishable from chicken. We left Anadalusia in an early-morning Uber with fond memories of the region’s evocative architecture, fresh seafood, and friendly culture.

Every 4 years, the Olympics give us the opportunity for 2 weeks to stay up watching gymnastics, swimming, and other sports that we’d otherwise never see on TV. This year’s summer games in Paris kicked off with a rainy opening ceremony of athletes sailing down the Seine River. Besides the usual sporting events, we checked out soccer, basketball, volleyball, fencing, air rifle, surfing, and even breakdancing, for the first time. The games inspired us to stay consistent with swimming, tennis, and barre exercises, and also the grit to return to the Lands Between. A glitch with my PS5 had led me to reset the console without a backup, causing me to lose over 300 hours of Elden Ring progress. To prepare for the upcoming expansion pack, I paid a seller $45 on Ebay to drop me 2 billion runes along with all the base weapons and armor, but still required me to replay through the main mission to restore my spells, sprit ashes, and story progression. The additional game time did not help with tackling our deadlines at work, but gave us a chance to start bonding with our new rats. After months of coordinating with a breeder and preparing their home, we finally adopted Nico and Remy. It has been almost a decade since our last pair, so we expect to take time to earn their trust and learn their new personalities. We enjoyed the final weeks of summer with Westley over Magic the Gathering, backyard camping, another piano recital, and a Korean-themed backyard BBQ with cousin Pam and Eric. After an exhaustive string of consecutive late nights and stuffing ourselves with hotpot, we left Westley with grandpa as we drove to SFO to embark on our trip to Spain & Portugal.

We decided to combine this year’s ASRS meeting in Stockholm with a visit to Copenhagen for a week-long Scandinavian vacation. Melody and I split the work planning the two cities, but between the Copenhagen Card and Stockholm Pass, our itineraries felt very similar. Our flight via Toronto got cancelled after a long delay, necessitating a frantic Uber ride from SMF to SFO for another flight via Frankfurt, arriving in Copenhagen only 4 hours behind schedule. After checking into our artsy and audiophilic Airbnb, we climbed the Round Tower and ducked under bridges on a canal tour before queuing for ramen for dinner. We awoke Monday to visit the genetically-modified Little Mermaid on the way to the more touristy landmark, then passed through the Kastellet and City Hall to learn more about Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales. Lunch at the Tivoli Food Hall included smørrebrød, hot dog, pizza, and a wasp sting (my first!) that fortunately did not distract from the festive Tivoli Gardens. Westley was not yet tall enough for the Demon, but hauled me up Temple Tower, drove a Vintage Car, piloted a Dragon Boat, and went trigger-happy at the Mine. We pigged out over Ma Poule’s duck confit sandwich, Sushi Lover’s sushi, and Il Mattarello’s pasta carbonara at Torvehallerne Market before returning to Tivoli to enjoy the park’s nighttime magic. On Tuesday we explored Rosenborg Castle and Amalienborg Palace to learn about the old and newly-crowned Danish kings, then strolled through their gardens and Nyhaven for street art and street food, including Poulette’s chicken sandwich, Haddock’s fish & chips, and Pasta la Pasta’s pasta. We browsed plaster sculptures at the colorful Thorvaldsen Museum and more opulent chambers at Christiansborg Palace before joining my co-fellow Francisco for a seafood feast at Kødbyens Fiskebar. In the morning we supplemented our daily breakfast pastries from Buka with congee and risotto from Grod before catching our early morning train to Stockholm. We arrived in time for a quick lunch on my way to Stockholmsmässan to give my talk on teleophthalmology. Our evening stroll took us past Norrmalm’s shopping district, Stromgatan’s harbor view, and Kungsträdgården’s giant fountains to Ostermalms Food Hall for Lisa Elmqvist’s toast skagen, mussels, and fish soup. Our hotel offered free breakfast but poor security, leaving Melody bagless for our day at Gamla Stan. We walked through Old Town snapping photos of the narrow Marten Trotzigs Grand and mysterious Stortorget cannonballs, enjoyed hot and cold chocolate drinks at Chokoladkoppen, and swung by Storkyrkan to see the sundog painting on the way to the Nobel Prize Museum. Here, we read the stories behind the artifacts of past laureates, and was surprised by a chance encounter with my med school classmate Jai. After traditional Swedish meatballs and dumplings, we caught the end of the changing of the guards, then explored the Royal Palace before our guided tour of City Hall and its impressive Golden Hall. With canal tours canceled and most restaurants requiring reservations, we settled for nearby Stockholm Fisk before turning in. On Friday, we visited the Vasa Museum to witness the impressive recovery and preservation of the 17th-century ship that sank 25 minutes into its maiden voyage, along with details from other shipwrecks at the Lego Brickwrecks exhibit. We filled on wallenbergare and more meatballs at the Viking Museum, then toured its exhibits and dark ride. The nearby Skansen open-air museum gave us a chance to see arctic foxes, pet reindeer, and practice walking on stilts until our timed entry to ABBA The Museum. After our Dancing Queen sing-alongs, we dined at Tak for rooftop Scandinavian-Japanese fare. We kept Saturday light with a ferry to explore Drottningholm Palace’s expansive gardens and Chinese Pavilion, followed by ramen, gelato, milk tea, and Westley’s first try of black licorice. After a hot pot dinner with my vegetarian collaborator, we picked up Vete-Katten pastries for dessert and airport snacks next morning. Fortunately, our flights were not impacted by the Microsoft outage, giving us time at our Toronto layover to complete Westley’s Global Entry interview and his first taste of poutine. With one trip down and two to go this year, we immediately got back to planning our upcoming trips abroad.

I settled into my new lab office with a new desk and couch, along with a snazzy canvas to show off the suprachoroidal space that my lab is researching.  I also built a new PC for my home office using a Ryzen 7900X3D on a ROG STRIX B650E-F mobo with Trident Z5 RAM, SN850x NVMe, and TUF Gaming TX4070 Ti graphics, all inside an H7 Flow case with Kraken Elite cooling that let me trick out the LCD display with an animated eyeball. I tested my new rig with the copy of MWII that I purchased more than a year ago. The exhilarating stealth missions and sting operations got my adrenaline going, and even gave Westley a go at PC gaming piloting a missile strike. For July 4th weekend, my friend Brenda cancelled on our plans for a Korean-themed BBQ due to the hot weather, so we stayed cool indoors teaching Westley Scrabble then headed out in the evening to the Davis Aquadart Pool Party. Unfortunately, Westley had his first bee sting by the pool, but a popsicle and pool time with friends helped him recover in time to enjoy the fireworks. With Melody out of town this past week, we enjoyed father-son time watching Din Djarrin and Bo Katan retake Mandalore in season 3 of the Mandalorian and trading camels in Jaipur. We also decided to geek out as a family by introducing Westley to Star Trek TNG. After rewatching Q judge humanity at Farpoint station, we hastily packed for our upcoming trip to Scandinavia.

June has been another busy month for conference travel. Earlier this month, I flew to LAX for Pacific Retina Club at UCLA’s Luskin Conference Center. The two-day meeting was jam packed, including my clinical case and presentation on photoreceptor reprogramming, and delightful dinners at Wolfsglen and the Brentwood Country Club. I spent my free Sunday afternoon in K-town, enjoying gukbap from Jinsol, a full-body scrub at Wi Spa, and jampong from Zzamong before flying home. Unfortunately, I caught COVID when I got back, requiring me to cancel clinic and OR, but at least provided some time to work on my R01 resubmission. A course of Paxlovid helped me recover quickly, and I was off again next weekend to Clinical Trials at the Summit in Park City. The even more jam-packed one-day meeting concluded with a lavish dinner at Tupelo, followed by an after-party in a secluded luxe cabin where the Kardashians had recently stayed. I picked up baked treats from Fillings & Emulsions at SLC and caught up on episodes of 3 Body Problem on my flight home. We celebrated Father’s Day with tennis, video games, and swimming, after having missed Manor Pool’s summer reopening for an afternoon of arcade gaming in Vacaville with the Deas. Westley successfully reached level 8 at Swim America, and gave a masterful performance of Fur Elise at Atria Covell Gardens. We also continued our Star Wars marathon watching episodes 1-3, completed the newest seasons of Masterchef Junior and SYTYCD, and checked out the TV adaptation of Fallout. Following the adventures of vault-dweller Lucy and BOS Maximus in a post-apocalyptic LA, the show painstakingly recreated details like stimpacks, radroaches, and Mr. Handy to help us relive fond memories of the video game franchise. At work, we celebrated our residents’ research and graduation at the usual venue. The retina division even took our fellows for Blue House BBQ, which was on par with the Yummy Fusion AYCE Korean BBQ that recently opened in Davis. Between grant writing and planning our three international trips this fall, we may need some actual vacation time beside our upcoming vacations.

We enjoyed the recent spring weather by firing up our grill and inviting neighbors like Jamie and Ying’s families over for wings and burgers on our patio. To avoid getting cooped up at home over Memorial Day weekend, we made a last-minute booking for an overnight stay in San Jose. We headed out early Sunday for breakfast pho and bun rieu at Pho Kim Long, then drove to the Winchester Mystery House to tour the Victorian mansion. The widow of the famed rifle maker was purportedly told to continue building the house to escape evil spirits, leaving many rooms unfinished or oddly laid-out, with doors to nowhere, low-rise staircases, spiderweb windows, and base-13 motifs that lend itself well to ghost stories. For lunch, we went to Udon Mugizo, followed by strawberry sandos from Clover Bakery, and matcha soft-serve and mango mochi from Mochi-Ya Ren. Entrance to the Tech Interactive Museum was delayed by an unsupervised ticket booth newbie, but we at least made it to the Cities of the Future IMAX film before checking out the Space Exploration, Body Motion, Social Robots, and BioDesign exhibits. A trail of costumed individuals led us to crowds taking photos outside FanimeCon on the way to the parking lot. We surprised Westley with our overnight stay aboard a school bus on a farm. Matt the owner gave us a tour of the rescue horses, chickens, ducks, turkey, llamas, dogs, goats, pigs, and cats that call the place home, and even let us feed the chickens before we fed ourselves hearty kalbi jim at Daeho for dinner. We juiced up our car at a charging station over Tong Sui’s coconut pudding before returning to the bus. We awoke Monday to stroll the wildflower fields with the goats and dogs, then enjoyed poolside bun cuon and cream buns. The Computer History Museum gave us the chance to geek out to vintage computers, mainframes, disk drives, and search engines, although Westley was more interested in the Retro Games exhibit. Given the 2-hour wait for dim sum in Milpitas, we opted instead for hand-pulled DH Noodles on the way to relive Melody’s childhood memories at California’s Great America. For only an afternoon, we went without a lightning pass, but was glad that Westley finally made the 48″ cutoff to enjoy Whitewater Falls, Barney Oldfield’s Redwood Rally, Rue le Dodge, Mass Effect: New Earth, both levels of the Double-Decker Carousel Columbia, and even the Demon roller coaster. We concluded our micro-getaway with Ramen Shu and treats from Sheng Kee to join our stash of leftovers for the following week.

We kicked off this month celebrating Star Wars day by watching A New Hope before I flew off to Seattle for ARVO. I mistakenly drove to the airport without my laptop, but Melody came to my rescue and delivered it to me before boarding. The conference was busy as usual, with 18 posters this year that had me scuttling around the convention center to snap photos with trainees, while my department sent our own photographer for my award for our website. I took a half-afternoon off to relax and visit Chihuly’s Garden & Glass and enjoy a dark chocolate mocha at Starbucks Reserve Roastery. My meals were otherwise diverse, excellent, and mostly work-related, with few ventures on my own to compare XLBs from Dough Zone vs. Ding Tai Fung, sushi from Sushi Kashiba vs. Shiro’s Sushi, and noodles from Biang Biang Noodles vs. MKT. I returned home to celebrate our wedding anniversary and Mother’s Day by camping in our backyard, watching the Empire Strikes Back, and visiting Foodieland at Cal Expo where we joined Emmeline to share grilled calamari, curry shrimp wrap, corndog, pho soup dumplings, pork bao buns, filipino shortbreak cookies, grilled oysters, sushi tacos, ube mochi, mango-passionfruit tea, buttered lobster roll, hand rolls, sugarcane juice, mochi skewers, freeze dried candy, and Hawaiian honey cones. With bellies full, we embarked together on Assassin’s Creed Mirage. This newest iteration of the franchise was a return to form, focusing on stealth over RPG elements, although playing on the PS5 took some getting used to. We completed the original Star Wars trilogy this evening watching Return of the Jedi in our backyard. With a new Chromecast 4K, mosquito repellent, and lots of blankets, we kicked back to enjoy our last few weeks of spring weather.