diff --git a/bash_it.sh b/bash_it.sh
index e225fd7c..87db1d0b 100755
--- a/bash_it.sh
+++ b/bash_it.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ if [ -z "$BASH_IT" ];
 then
     # Setting $BASH to maintain backwards compatibility
     # TODO: warn users that they should upgrade their .bash_profile
-    export BASH_IT=$BASH
+    export BASH_IT=~/.bash_it/
+    #$BASH
     export BASH=`bash -c 'echo $BASH'`
 fi
 
diff --git a/lib/helpers.bash b/lib/helpers.bash
index 4c39704d..868e45f4 100644
--- a/lib/helpers.bash
+++ b/lib/helpers.bash
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ _is_function ()
     _about 'sets $? to true if parameter is the name of a function'
     _param '1: name of alleged function'
     _group 'lib'
-    [ -n "$(type -a $1 2>/dev/null | grep 'is a function')" ]
+    [ "x$(type -t $1 2>/dev/null)" = 'xfunction' ]
 }
 
 _bash-it-aliases ()
diff --git a/plugins/available/todo.plugin.bash b/plugins/available/todo.plugin.bash
index 28559def..2d4f7721 100755
--- a/plugins/available/todo.plugin.bash
+++ b/plugins/available/todo.plugin.bash
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ if [ -z "$TODO_SRC_DIR" ]; then
     export TODO_SRC_DIR=$BASH_IT/plugins/available/todo
 fi
 
+if [ -z "$TODO" ]; then
+    export TODO='t'
+fi
 # respect ENV var set in .bash_profile, default is 't'
 alias $TODO='$TODO_SRC_DIR/todo.sh -d $TODO_SRC_DIR/todo.cfg'