a day like this makes me think spring can't be far behind (but knowing unpredictable new england weather can be, i may be forced to take back those words). i packed up my gear and headed down to harvard square around noontime to take the bus into belmont. with far less pedestrian traffic than cambridge, some of the sidewalks of suburban belmont were still slippery ice traps. 
this town sure has changed since i lived there! when i finally got to my parents' place i was shocked they didn't completely clear their stretch of sidewalk either. after letting hailey out into the backyard (where everything was still covered in snow), i went out front with a spade and removed all the ice. it wasn't too hard, everything was melting anyway, but it gave me a bit of much-needed exercise.
my mother came back home in the early afternoon, as well as my sister. there was a bit of technical computer work i had to do including setting the correct resolution on the new 22" my parents bought, 
installing a wireless PCI network card, and reinstalling the video driver on my father's PC. i also took the opportunity to water the potted rosemary plant i transplanted to my parents' sun room a few months back. it can get pretty cold in there because the room isn't heated, but rosemary are pretty hardy and it gets a tremendous amount of sun exposure during the day. the rosemary seems to be doing better here than at the cafe, where the one i had last season died after succumbing to powdery mildew disease. even this one has a touch of mildew on the lower leaves, but it hasn't spread and i think once i move it back outside when the weather warms up, the mildew will clear right up.
in the evening when my father came back home we drove out to burlington for some korean barbecue dinner at the new jang su korean BBQ restaurant (the special occasion: my father's birthday). i'd heard about this place a while back and was intrigued by this korean BBQ restaurant located in the middle of nowhere. 
i searched online for reviews and the general consensus was this a pretty decent place, with some folks saying it's the best korean BBQ in the area. it took about a 20+ minute drive to get there. it wasn't a very busy night and there was only a few occupied tables. the barbecue grill used actual pieces of charcoal, giving the food a more authentic smoked barbecue flavor. 
above the grill was a metal chimney for ventilation. the kitchen was actually in the center of the restaurant, and the head chef seemed to be hispanic rather than korean. we ordered the kal bi tang (stewed short ribs in clear broth), bibim bab rice dish, and 3 barbecue dishes: bul go ki (marinated rib eyes), sam gyup sai (sliced pork belly, which is essentially korean bacon), 
and o-sam gui (squid and pork belly combination). the side dishes were kind of bland, and the miso soup that came with the bibim bab arrived cold. while the bul go ki was cooked directly on the grill, the sam gyup sai and o-sam gui were cooked in rectangular trays made from aluminum foil. we quickly discovered why they do it like that when the waitress came running to our table and yelled at us because we were cooking the pork belly outside of the aluminum tray: apparently sam gyup sai contain so much fat that it drips onto the charcoal and could potential start a fire. in fact, at one point, 1 foot flames shot out from the table when some of the pork fat fell through. the marinade was also on the sweet side, something one reviewer had noted. even the soup wasn't quite right, with almost no beef flavor in the broth. we had to ask twice before getting some water and the chives that we asked for never did arrive. all in all, it was a pretty disappointing korean barbecue experience. when we left, all our clothes smelled like we'd just been at a cookout (which for me is actually a good smell) with the faint taste of MSG in our mouths.
back in belmont, i helped my parents lower their bed before getting a ride back to cambridge. i spend some time playing god of war before calling it quits for the evening.