Valerie Potter

The big game is on -- and by that, we don't mean football, basketball, baseball or Angry Birds. We're talking about the biggest pastime in the U.S.: Watching (and taking part in) the current Republican primaries and the upcoming presidential elections.

After all, what could be more exciting? There's a president under fire from both sides of the aisle, a group of opposition contenders who are hurling more mud at each other than you'll find in a swamp and a media that's eager to publicize every misstatement and accusation.

Here's a scenario I never expected to experience: For the past month, I've been wearing a brainwave-sensing headband to bed every night.

What does it do? Zeo Sleep Manager - Mobile is the latest product from Zeo Inc., a Newton, Mass.-based company dedicated to helping people get a better night's sleep. The Sleep Manager tracks your sleep stages in detail and transmits that data to your smartphone via Bluetooth.

If you're like me, you're pretty good about exercising and eating right at home, but all your good habits go out the window when you travel. But on a recent 10-day trip, I found three free iPhone apps (two of which are also available for other smartphone platforms) invaluable for keeping me healthy.

One big hurdle to staying fit on the road is finding a place to exercise. Sure, hotels often have workout rooms or pools, but they can feel a bit creepy. Even walking or jogging outdoors can be difficult or unsafe. As an urban dweller, I'm always appalled at the dearth of sidewalks in America's suburbs and smaller cities. And while most larger cities do have sidewalks, it's easy to wander into unsafe areas when you're on unfamiliar ground.

How many e-mails are sitting in your inbox right now -- 30? 100? More than 1,000?

That's how many messages I had accumulated in my inbox last spring. I tend to use my inbox as an unofficial to-do list, keeping e-mails there until I've finished dealing with them. That's OK if you get less than 30 e-mails a day and you can knock them down quickly, but those days are long past for me. I field more like 100 to 150 messages a day, and that's low by many people's standards.