Still experiencing the problem. The following still shows ntp starting before the network is up when using n-m.

Mar 16 10:54:46 wilma NetworkManager: <information>^IDHCP daemon state is now 1 (starting) for interface eth0 
Mar 16 10:54:48 wilma rpc.statd[4932]: Version 1.0.10 Starting
Mar 16 10:54:49 wilma ntpd[4951]: ntpd 4.2.2p4@1.1585-o Wed Mar  7 20:43:30 UTC 2007 (1)
Mar 16 10:54:49 wilma ntpd[4952]: precision = 1.000 usec
Mar 16 10:54:49 wilma ntpd[4952]: Listening on interface wildcard, 0.0.0.0#123 Disabled
Mar 16 10:54:49 wilma ntpd[4952]: Listening on interface wildcard, ::#123 Disabled
Mar 16 10:54:49 wilma ntpd[4952]: Listening on interface lo, ::1#123 Enabled
Mar 16 10:54:49 wilma ntpd[4952]: Listening on interface lo, 127.0.0.1#123 Enabled
Mar 16 10:54:49 wilma ntpd[4952]: kernel time sync status 0040
Mar 16 10:54:49 wilma hcid[4969]: Bluetooth HCI daemon
Mar 16 10:54:49 wilma NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1174006489.245454] nm_hal_device_added (): New device add
ed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_bluetooth'). 
Mar 16 10:54:49 wilma hcid[4969]: Starting SDP server
Mar 16 10:54:49 wilma ntpd[4952]: frequency initialized -8.412 PPM from /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma dhclient: DHCPREQUEST on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma dhclient: DHCPACK from 172.16.31.1
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma ntpd[4952]: sendto(172.16.31.201) (fd=16): Network is unreachable
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma avahi-daemon[4657]: Joining mDNS multicast group on interface eth0.IPv4 with address 172
.16.31.3.
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma avahi-daemon[4657]: New relevant interface eth0.IPv4 for mDNS.
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma avahi-daemon[4657]: Registering new address record for 172.16.31.3 on eth0.IPv4.
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma avahi-daemon[4657]: Withdrawing address record for 172.16.31.3 on eth0.
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma avahi-daemon[4657]: Leaving mDNS multicast group on interface eth0.IPv4 with address 172
.16.31.3.
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma avahi-daemon[4657]: Interface eth0.IPv4 no longer relevant for mDNS.
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma avahi-daemon[4657]: Joining mDNS multicast group on interface eth0.IPv4 with address 172
.16.31.3.
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma avahi-daemon[4657]: New relevant interface eth0.IPv4 for mDNS.
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma avahi-daemon[4657]: Registering new address record for 172.16.31.3 on eth0.IPv4.
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma NetworkManager: <information>^IDHCP daemon state is now 4 (reboot) for interface eth0 
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Get) schedul
ed... 
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Get) started
... 
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma NetworkManager: <information>^IRetrieved the following IP4 configuration from the DHCP d
aemon: 
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma NetworkManager: <information>^I  address 172.16.31.3 
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma NetworkManager: <information>^I  netmask 255.255.255.0 
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma NetworkManager: <information>^I  broadcast 172.16.31.255 
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma NetworkManager: <information>^I  gateway 172.16.31.254 
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma NetworkManager: <information>^I  nameserver 172.16.31.1 
Mar 16 10:54:50 wilma NetworkManager: <information>^I  domain name 'bedrock' 

Just found a new tip for the day. When using ssh to connect to a remote machine don't remove n-m. When it goes it takes the network with it.