As I'm writing this week's blog, I'm hovering somewhere over Kansas or Oklahoma. That's right - I'm venturing out of New Hampshire. I told you that I was going to use that economic stimulus check wisely and I didn't let the government down. Ten days on the west coast. Outside of the northeast. No more rain. No more cold.

I got my $900 stimulus check in the mail back in May and I bought a $350 dollar plane ticket that same afternoon. I've been dreaming about this for months.

And as much as I've been looking forward to the trip, I can't help but wondering (or worrying) what my credit card statement is going to look like at the end of all this. Food. Hotels. Gas in California (yikes!). It's not going to be pretty.

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We’ve watched the debates. We’ve voted in the primaries and caucuses. Dozens of candidates have been weeded out and we’ve narrowed the race down to two.

The countdown to 11.4.08 is well under way.

As of this week, we have 17 weeks to go. Between now and then, Obama and McCain will undoubtedly pull out all stops to make sure it’s their team that crosses the finish line ahead of the pack. It will be long, bloody marathon from here.

But between all the town hall meetings, the televised debates and the YouTube sound bites, we all have a good idea where Obama and McCain stand on the key issues. Healthcare reform. Saving the environment. The War on Terror. We’re hearing the same sound bites rehashed in new ways.

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In New Hampshire, if it’s not already winter, then it’s always just a few months away.

But right now, thankfully, it’s not cold outside. In fact, this week in the Granite State, temperatures are expected peak in the 90s. It’s certainly a change from this past winter when we saw a record 118 inches of snow in the Concord area. Believe it or not, it will get so hot and humid this week that I’m thankful I had a weak moment a few weeks ago and bought a window-unit air conditioner.

But, living in New England, I know it will be a short season before the thermostat starts to dip again. Meanwhile, while I’m paying pennies for my natural gas bill this summer, I’m having nightmares about what I’ll owe in December…or January…or, even worse, February.

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I paid a visit to the New Hampshire Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen, N.H. the other week for a couple reasons: 1) to make a video for the Street Team '08 about veterans' issues in New Hampshire and 2) to check out the 12-acre, 11-year-old memorial that I've been hearing a lot about. I was shocked at the tone and the ambience of the area. It felt more like I was at Arlington than in Boscawen.

To check out the video for yourself, follow this link: http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF00989E970017009904DB/

Let me just say for the record a big thank you to all the veterans out there this July 4th. There were men and women buried in Boscawen younger than myself. It's hard to imagine. Thank you for your sacrifices that allow the rest of us to enjoy the holiday.

As I was reading the front section of Sunday’s “New York Times,” it was impossible to miss the full-page memoriam to one of NBC New’s beloved reporters.

Even two days after the shock of Tim Russert’s untimely death had sunk in, it was still hard to believe he wouldn’t be hosting “Meet the Press” in a few hours. Like many people in Washington, D.C., I felt like a friend had died.

All across New Hampshire, emotions ran akin to my own. Before I had even heard the news on Friday afternoon, I received several text messages from friends who were as shocked as the rest of the nation. 

It turns out, in the world of media power players, Russert was considered one of the good guys.

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