Quick Takes

• I loved El Presidente's address to Congress. He breathed some life, and truth, into that chamber.
  
• Nancy Pelosi does look a bit like the cat who got the canary, though.
  
• Man, I love Michelle Obama.
• Wow, given his reputation for being such a hardass, I would have thought that Rahm Emanuel would have a more commanding voice.
  
• My niece is going to be traveling to Africa late next week to spend most of March working with an organization that helps orphans whose parents died of HIV/AIDS. That's pretty damn awesome.
  
• After nearly two months, there's finally a new trainer at the gym. I met him yesterday and I think his goal is really to be a gym teacher, so I'm not too sure how well he's going to work out (no pun intended), but I'm going to make sure that I get all of my appointments in with him. I'm conflicted about the gym at the moment and have a lot of thinking to do.
• I've decided that my long-term goal for the year is to finish the basement. It'll mean organizing the unfinished side better so that I can facilitate the massive undertaking that will be clearing out the finished side. Then, we need to settle on a heat source, strip the wallpaper, paint, and get new carpeting in there. It'll be a huge, huge job but I really would like to have it done by the time it gets cold again. Finishing the space up the way I want it would give me space for a quilting corner, more play room for the kids, a dedicated area to workout at home and it would just be awesome to utilize a third floor of living space.
• I went out to very nice dinner last Friday night with some ladies that I knew from middle school. I'm loving facebook - it's totally giving me a life! I've really enjoyed reconnecting with people, but am most enjoying getting back in touch with the middle school crowd.
• We had to have our DVR replaced. J had noticed that the reception was choppy, especially if we paused something and then tried to watch it later. Over the past couple of weeks, the signal just became awful and I couldn't take it anymore. I could almost live with the choppiness, but the sound would go out too and I was about to lose my mind. I called comcast last Thursday night (actually, it was 12:30 in the morning and would you believe I was on hold for over 20 minutes?!) to complain and they were going to send someone out yesterday, but ended up having a tech in the area on Friday. J was hesitant and thought maybe I was being too picky (he tends to expect the negative and doesn't ever rock the boat). Within 3 minutes of his arrival, the tech declared that the box was indeed defective and he replaced it. I was bummed to lose all of the stuff we'd recorded (mostly, I was bummed to lose the Imagination Movers episodes...as were the kids), but I'm thrilled to have clear service now. We're re-recording the Movers as quickly as we can :)
• I'm simulataneously craving peanut butter and chocolate dipped strawberries. Instead, I'll be good and head to bed.