Last Days of 2007

Greetings from the home of the bean and the cod...and the Red Sox, Pats, Celtics, Bruins, and BC Eagles! It's been a nice week visiting the family, reading the local papers, and watching local sports, including BC's whatchamacallit bowl game win last night. Tonight, bring on Eli Manning, we'll have him for dessert.

The weather is like what I left in the Northwest, snow, rain, snow and rain, sleet, a sunny day here and there. Ventured out to the new and improved Natick Mall (now the Natick Collection) with more shopping than the Houston Galleria. They even have a Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. The kids needed to return something there and we needed to go by the Mass Pike Service center at that same exit. I hate malls. New and improved ones are the worst. Too big. And WHY were all those people there the day after Christmas with their little kids? There are no malls within 60 miles of my new home. I like that.

One big difference here in Boston, there are LOTS of presidential primary political ads, in the run up to the New Hampshire primary. Mostly Clinton, Edwards, Obama, McCain and Rudy G ads. Oh, and Mitt. Lots of Mitt. Mitt's most played ad was about a guy (I don't think he was from MA) who worked for Mitt. Seems his daughter was missing in NYC. Mitt put all his company resources into sucessfully finding the girl. We know he's a good friend, employer and family man. But it seems Mitt isn't that popular locally. What? The former MA guv not popular? Didn't he reign over a governance miracle in the Bay State? Reducing taxes, fixing health care, walking on water? He touts himself as a turnaround, mr fixit, kind of guy. I've been talking with folks here on the ground. Apparently Mitt loves to reduce taxes, and put the power back on the towns and cities to control their destinies- without the funds to do it. The end result: every fee imaginable in the State of Massachusettes has been raised, with more to come. The Mass Pike tolls and the tunnel tolls are going up again in the new year, so get those transponders now, folks. My own daughter wanted a toll tag for Christmas. It's funny that people are quick to complain when these fees go up, but don't connect the dots. There's no free lunch. The Big Dig cost overruns didn't help state finances either. I still need to find out how the new health plan is working. So before you head to your polling place or caucus, or mail in your ballot for your primary, you might want to check and see what the people in MA really think about the Mittster and think about whether that's what you want for the country. I'm sure he's happy all the focus has been on his Mormon faith rather than on the mess he left behind. Though we probably don't have to worry too much. Political candidates post JFK haven't been treated kindly. And Mitt's no JFK...where have I heard that before....

I'll be back in the Gorge for New Year's, unless I get stranded in Newark. Then I start my learning curve for how to caucus. Something new and different- I've never lived in a caucus state before. Now if only I could figure out who I want to vote for...I've got it narrowed down to three...I don't think that's good enough. It's tough being a Gemini...