A change of scene

Since returning to California, I've been cycling to work again, which is lovely. I greatly appreciate that I do not have to get into a car on most days. This commitment to commuting by bicycle has, however, been challenged by the rain. I think the only up side to the yearlong drought that has (had?) afflicted this part of the country was that I did not have to get out my rain gear for nearly a year. The down side to that was that I forgot how important appropriate preparations were to cycling in the rain. This has led to some important bike lessons...

 On a particularly blustery day, during which I was required to be at multiple campuses, I discovered that an impermeable boot cover from the OR makes a perfect seat cover! It even works if the seat is already soaking wet from being rained on during your entire robotic surgery...

 And today I invested in some fancy shoe covers of my own. I didn't think it would work to just put the blue ones from the OR on under my rain pants, though I guess that is my back-up option...

Everyone will be happy that they have lights!

Goodbye, Hawaii!

I've been home for a week now, and am hopeful that I'll be able to keep up with a little bit of photo-sharing. I can only hope that the trials and tribulations of one ridiculous little dog can compete with the sweeping ocean vistas I've been sharing... Here are the last Hawaii photos to share!

 Can you find the critically endangered monk seals in this photo taken at windy Ka'ena Point? We watched them sleep and flop around for at least an hour. Perhaps they were post-call, also?

 The highlight of snorkeling here was a giant (>5 ft) eel we saw swim below us. We have some very avant guard video footage of us swimming, but did not successfully capture much in terms of the beautiful fish we saw. It was much more enjoyable once we stopped trying. 

Can you believe this is the same ocean? It's the SF side - I'm back to biking in the bay!