Change - it's more than just a loonie

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America.

Pretty damn cool.

There were four of us crowded around a computer screen today at work, as the TV set up in the office lobby attracted FAR too many people to be able to hear or see anything. The CNN video stream was a bit choppy but we saw the important stuff. I have to say, watching Obama take the oath of office was kinda awesome. This is the first moment in history that I can remember being part of (albeit incredibly remotely) that actually inspired positive emotions.

Sure, the Berlin Wall came down in my lifetime but I was too young to understand what was going on. But some of the other things that have happened - Rwanda, 9/11, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita - landmark events for sure, but all terrible and horrific and unbelievably sad.

So to see Obama become President, to see the positive change that is happening, is uplifting and encouraging and a long time coming. But it's here.

Obama as President is my moon landing. I wasn't around when Neil Armstrong took that small step for man and giant leap for mankind and I don't know the awe and amazement that people felt watching it, but I can imagine it must have been pretty inspiring to think that we had come so far that we could put a man on the moon. And I'm feeling pretty excited and inspired by President Obama.

And a week from now, Canada will have a government again too...will that also mean more change???

Splurge!

I bought a new TV yesterday.

It was time. My old TV has been making high-pitched whiny noises for awhile now, to the point where even watching an hour of my beloved CSI had become painful. I've known for awhile that the TV needed replacing and I've been scouting various retailers and hemming and hawing over what to buy and if I should and all that.

Then yesterday I made the decision: TV must be purchased. And it was. And it is glorious, all 42" of it.



I don't have HD and I'm not sure if I even want to get it. If I do, that will come after I move. For now, I'm happy to enjoy my kinda big television and all its plasmastic glory.

To let! To let!

Bah apartment hunting.

I get more irritated than I should when landlords post apartment listings but don't include photos. Given, some classified sites don't allow for pictures but many do and everyone and their uncle has some kind of digital camera so post pictures already! I'd rather not waste my time and theirs by looking at a place I have no interest in seeing. And pictures of the outside of the building/house don't help, nor do pictures of the street, the lobby or the laundromat that is always only steps away.

And I don't want to live in a basement. I don't even want to consider living in a basement. If the apartment is a basement, please say so. None of this "lower level" nonsense; although that is better than completely ignoring the fact the apartment is a basement. These are the postings, though, that always seem to have pictures and it's quite easy to spot a basement apartment as they are the ones with one teeny window tucked up in the corner of the bedroom and no natural light anywhere else in the apartment.

I know I just starting seriously looking and I know I will find something and it will be fine and wonderful and great and everything I want. But I'm still going to complain about no pictures and "lower level" listings. So there.

All shiny and new

Egad, it's 2009. I wrote "09" for the first time yesterday and it was strange but I think I should be able to adjust.

I used to make resolutions but stopped when I realized they were the same old cliched things that I promptly broke within two weeks of the new year. And I'm trying to make the standards like eat better, exercise, save money a regular part of my life. But I feel like a new year is a terrible thing to waste in terms of adding and subtracting from my life. I still don't like the idea of making resolutions but I am going to try a couple of things which aren't really new but carry-overs from the last few months of 2008.

I am going to not worry as much (because I'll never stop worrying) and I am going to continue to be positive. Resolutions are kind of like rules and are made to be broken and these are two things I'd rather not break. Of course I won't always maintain them to the fullest but I'm going to try.

The new year has also brought two new things for me. My roommate and I just gave notice on our (stellar) apartment as we're going our separate ways so I will be apartment-hunting and moving on March 1. At work, there were a bunch of lay-offs right before the holidays and the foreboding feeling that more are coming. But I won't worry and I'll stay positive and I'll see where this takes me. Because a lot cam happen in the next 362 days.