What Is Normal?

Okay kiddies, time to wake up and get back to work. All the Christmas lights have been carefully pulled down from their lofty perches and coiled neatly in their bin for the next year. This is the beginning of the beginning, since the beginning of the end came yesterday during the bowl game frenzy. That was the contemplation of all things "normal" returning.
Sure, I could linger on the last few days of Winter Break, but I know that lethargy has begun to set in, and I will need all the forward momentum I can muster for the return to business as usual. Jay Leno and David Letterman are no doubt hard at work, pounding out the final pieces of their return to television after a long winter's nap. Dave used his time to negotiate a deal for his writers to return with him, while Jay was busy landing Mike Huckabee for a guest shot on the eve of the Iowa caucuses.
Speaking of Iowa, Republicans and Democrats are hard at it in anticipation of the first official vote of the presidential race that has been going on for the past year and a half. John Edwards won't be making an appearance on Leno or Letterman, but he will show up at a John (Cougar) Mellencamp concert tonight in hopes of appearing a little more earthy and Midwestern than his haircut would allow. Now that sounds like work.
President Clinton, campaigned separately from his wife yesterday, joking at one event that he was missing out on a day of football games and being "the quintessential indolent American male on New Year's Day." For me, this comes as some relief. Not knowing what day it is because the mail doesn't come or the trash pickup is delayed makes me a little edgy. I'm happy to get back to our regularly scheduled programming. Happy Wednesday.