my californian aunt and uncle are here in town this weekend. i went to market basket around noontime to pick up some barbecue ingredients (i'm going to be making my blue cheese burgers for sunday). when my roommate and his girlfriend finally left for boston around 1:30, my father and my uncle came over to my place a short time later, followed by my mother, my aunt, and my sister (the ladies were out shopping). neither my aunt or uncle have ever seen my house before. the last time i saw my aunt was 2 years ago when i went to san francisco and made a stop in fremont driving a rented prius. as for my uncle, the last time i saw him was sometime in the 90's i think, so more than a decade. he looked older than i remembered, which only made me realize how much older i must be getting.

they invited my family out for dinner, and we reconvened back at my parents' place, with me hitching a ride with my sister. we got there first so my sister could finish cleaning up the bathroom and later to feed the dog. when my father came home, we were out in the backyard attaching some cedar wood posts to one of the long planks. finally my aunt and uncle and mother arrived. my aunt confessed she was afraid of dogs, but we assured her hailey was quite different, a very obedient dog. so of course hailey barks at my aunt as soon as she enters the house, doing nothing to help her dog fears. chinatown was our original destination, but we decided to go to victoria seafood restaurant in allston-brighton instead, for their signature twin lobster dish.

after dinner, my aunt and uncle returned to their holiday inn hotel in somerville while i went to belmont with my family. i was going to mix the burger meat for tomorrow, until i discovered i got the wrong kind of cheese (feta instead of blue). i'll need to pick up the right cheese tomorrow morning.

back in cambridge, i found my roommate and his girlfriend having dinner at the dining table. they were having spanish omelettes and offered me some; i was curious but i couldn't eat another bite after my chinese dinner. gise made the omelettes; i get the feeling she's the cook in the relationship. i feel a little bit safer now that she's here, anything to prevent victor from oiling up my kitchen.

my new used replacement laptop optical drive arrived from shenzhen china. switching out the busted old drive with this new one should've been a simple procedure until i stripped one of the screws holding the old drive to the macbook pro. now i can't remove the drive so will have to ask my father for a solution tomorrow. maybe i can find a nice set of needle-nose pliers, or a dremel tool with a small enough attachment to cut a new notch so i can use a flat-head screwdriver to remove the stripped screw. i'm in no rush, but i feel pretty stupid for stripping the screw, total rookie mistake.

i had a lengthy chat with victor and gise, after they were drawn to the living room to see my partially disassembled laptop on the coffee table. victor had warned me his girlfriend's english is not as good as his; this is true, but i think it has more to do with her thick accent. i get the feeling she hasn't met too many asian people because she seems awfully curious about where i was born and if i can speak chinese. i of course am always happy to be a cultural ambassador but i told her i've lived in boston for so long (before they were born!) that i'm more american than anything else. in return, i asked the both of them how they became astrophysicists, and what sort of courses they took in college. gise also asked me some english grammar questions, like what's the difference between "keep on walking" and "go on walking." she had me stumped.