Dubya sees his shadow - 6 more weeks of ratings in the low 40s forecast

If you had to find a place to celebrate a ceremonial sighting of a rodent, I'd certainly suggest a place named Gobbler's Knob. Yes, that's where Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. Somehow that translates to six more weeks of winter. And in the obligatory recap of the festivities there, I saw my Statistic of the Day. Phil almost always sees his shadow. Only 14 times out of 119 years has he not seen his shadow. The last time was 1999. This year, the whole thing was a Steelers rally. Good for them. But the Seahags are still gonna win.

Dubya's taking some hits for his SOTU buffet menu of programs. The GOP hates his energy programs, he's opened some wounds for foreign policy fights to come, and his domestic mish-mash is getting hammered. Whatever happened to the post-Speech Bounce, Dubya? Your darn bright folks were supposed to razzle-dazzle all us reality-based community folks. I revise my rating from yesterday. Definitely a D.

Maya's settled in pretty well with Megan, the Nanny. Megan's still having problems getting Maya to eat consistently. Overall, Maya's appetite is growing and she goes for more new foods. Mainly just tofu, eggs, and bready products. Pretzels are her friends. Her balance is spot-on. No walking, though. She still forgets to hold onto something when she's standing often enough to convince me that she's ready to go. Maybe we need to get her some bigger space. Like take her to a carpeting store and let her loose. She has gotten up once each of the last three nights and needed a bottle to settle her down. Growth spurt is our hopeful bet. We need to work with her more to encourage her to make her thoughts into words. Otherwise, she seems happy. Funny, loud happy. Hope your own spirits are up. Rock on.