mom + dad's visit

henry found a new favorite spot. he's been sneakily sleeping on the guest bed's pillows for the last few days.

my parents departed this morning after a long weekend in town. i enjoyed lots of good dad stories and mom gossip. we've eaten tortillarilla sinaloa, pho, attman's sandwiches, homemade nigerian goat stew w. plantains at "uncle" vincent's, nak won korean bbq, chick'n'trout and crab cakes at duda's. we visited the aquarium, cylburn arboretum [it was closed!], lexington market, antiques row, the downtown enoch pratt library and wandered until we wore them out. i don't have any photos of them from the visit.. just my dad's arm, below.

they needed a vacation as there is a lot of stress back home. grandma and grandpa are showing their years. my mom talked about the possibility of packing up and moving out of state if my father looses his job in the forthcoming 15percent job cut in his department GM. he's been working ungodly hours for over a year now and set up an impromptu office in the living where he continued to work each morning. if he survives this round he'll take another 7percent pay cut, on top of the demotion he was forced to take late last year. but, they are being realistic. so are my oldest sister and brother-in-law who are moving to a smaller place after the company he was working for went bust.

sorry to be a downer. i really do hate talking about the economy. i feel like i've had the same conversation repeatedly since last fall when we moved home. people here are more positive about things, but baltimore does not have 22percent unemployment. this article/video about the couple/neighborhood mentioned somewhere is the past couple years on here [i tried buy couldn't find the actual post] is worth reading/watching. hamtramck is also home to many hole in the wall bars and an excellent all-night diner.

peter has been working diligently on a thesis-related paper. why is everyone around me an overachiever?

something to look forward to: