Hmmm. Ten days since I have been here. I am having issues with the management of time, which is odd since I could not be described as being 'busy.' Still.

This weekend I went skiing, which was sort of like dealing with a headache by learning the drums. It was so cold it didn't matter, and it was well worth the 72 bills (!) Stratton charges for a ticket just for the privilege of removing my frozen boots at the end of the day. Plastic: not warm. Perhaps this is why winter clothes are not made out of plastic.

Back at the ranch, there is a gang of Irishmen of questionable immigrant status putting a new roof on our garage/shed thing and also making the back stairs safe for people to walk on. Last week, when they started, I left the house with two workmen atop the shed. I returned to find five of them on a new sturdier roof. Keep in mind that the roof is about 10x15, so five people barely fit up there. Also, they were - I kid you not - dancing and singing. Oh, the Irish. So jovial.

On to politics. Thank god that the Pats are in the Superbowl so primary news is kept to a minimum. Bostonians certainly have their priorities straight. What news I have seen is disappointing. Why is it that, once every four years, everyone in New Hampshire, half of whom work in Massachusetts, insist that they are somehow different and more simple and honest and able to detect crap than everybody else? I know some people from New Hampshire. They have the same accent as Massholes, they speak the same language (Frappe, anyone? Water from the bubbluh? A little tawnic?), and they drive as poorly. Not to mention proudly flying flags to show their Patriotism (I'm referring, of course, to suction-cup Patriots flags that go on your car window.) Friends, Iowans might be different, for all I know, but I can tell you that New Hampshirers are pretty much the same as you and me, with fewer taxes and two days less spring and fall. Enough already.

And here's something else: I am sick and tired of being called "ordinary" by these fellas and being expected to take it as a compliment. When did this happen? Does it apply anywhere else?

Phil: How was the movie, Bill?
Bill: Ordinary. Oh, I mean, ordinary!
Phil: Terrific! Wanna see it again?

Phil: Sox look pretty ordinary this year, eh?
Bill: Wicked ordinary! F the Yankees!

Phil: So, what did you think of my fiancee?
Bill: Phil, I have to say she's even more ordinary than the last ordinary girl you were dating.
Phil: Don't I know it! Wanna be my best - oh, I mean, ordinary - man?

I am hereby declaring myself a not-ordinary American. The first candidate to personally acknowledge this will get my vote.

Note: In the interest of participatory democracy, I also have some backup plans for choosing a candidate.