Thursday evening: Got stuck at work until 5 when everyone else got to go home at 3 because I arranged for my parents to meet me there and they have no cell phone. But showing them around Lamont was pretty cool. Abandoned first attempt to head home because there was a wreck on the TappanZee. Went to the Palisades Mall and ate at Cheesecake Factory instead. Also Cool. On the way home, lost my parents, but didn't worry because they had written directions. Parents misinterpreted directions and got off two exits late; as they try to find me, their van dies. Finally manage to call me, but give location as Lincoln and First. I think this is in Mount Vernon. They are in Pelham. Realize this when parents are not at Lincoln and First in Mount Vernon. In attempt to turn around, get lost. (There are two sets of numbered streets in Mount Vernon and I turned on the wrong 4th.) Freak out because I am in VERY dicey section of town. Manage to freak out my parents when they call again. Find a McDonald's and two angels who point me in the right direction (the idea that New Yorkers aren't friendly is a total myth). Find my parents and drive them home (it is now 11:00 pm.) By far the worst day of the whole weekend, and the best dinner.

Friday (the 4th): Spend most of the morning waiting for the AAA guy to come and tow my parents' van from the gas station where it was left to a gas station half a mile away that miraculously has a mechanic working. Take my mom to get bagels at my wonderful bagel shop. After bagels and a nap (my dad having joined us by this time), we tour campus, pick up the van (new belt, alternator, and battery -- $400) and get late lunch. Then we head into Manhattan to catch the fireworks at the South Street Seaport. Get there REALLY early but it's worth it. Everyone should see fireworks standing on the edge of the East River with the Brooklyn Bridge in the foreground. Crowds aren't as bad as I expected, and the police are well-prepared and organized (as opposed to my protest experience in January). Very, very cool.

Saturday: Get up early and drive to Cooperstown. Four hours (my father is apparently a glutton for punishment) but through some very pretty countryside. Laugh at my parents for succumbing to Midwest Parking Fallacy (if it's important, it must have a big parking lot next to it). But we get lucky and stumble into a parking space anyway. The Hall of Fame is super cool. Dad and I have a lot of fun looking at how the terminology changes on the plaques (i.e. being a good "batsman" in the 1930s.). My parents get introduced to NY pizza at lunch time and love it even more than NY bagels. I find two really cool things in an antique shop (an old felt Cardinals pennant and a newspaper clipping showing Dizzy Dean, a Cardinal Hall of Famer, preparing for a comeback with my good old hometown Tulsa Drillers, a revelation) but can not afford them ($35 and $80, respectively.) End up with .33 postcard. Drive back. Propose sleeping in and get unanimous agreement.

Sunday: Actually get up before my parents. Decide to just spend the day hanging around Westchester. We are all very tired, but we do walk around my neighborhood (some very cool old houses) and such. Eat a really good dinner at my neigborhood diner, the Athena. Play a game of Trivial Pursuit which I lose hideously.

They left on Monday (early of course). It was really nice to have them here, it kind of made my apartment seem more like my real home and not just a dorm room or something unpermanent.

I have other news from this week to relate (like my blowout on the way home from work on Tuesday) but I am really tired. As proof, there are three words in this entry that I considered writing another word for but couldn't spell it correctly and gave up. Brainteaser: Can you guess which ones? Never mind, I'm too tired to remember.