I could get used to this

A special Cleveland edition of the blog tonight coming to you live from the Holiday Inn Express in Downtown Cleveland, just about a block away from Public Square. I left Oxford around 1:30 and arrived here at 5:30, but didn't check-in until 6 as I searched in vain for the hotel's parking garage. I found a garage, not the correct one, but it's all right, I made it. I'm up on the 8th floor in a HUGE, corner room with a king-size bed and all the amenities. Yes, there is the ever crucial Gideon bible.

I find myself looking out the window at the skyscrapers around me, down Euclid Avenue with its many stoplights and street lights, pinching myself that I'm in the big city. Tonight was all about pinching myself, then getting over it and establishing a feeling of belonging in this environment. I haven't been to downtown Cleveland in a long time, so I took some time to walk around. The building I'll be interviewing in is one of the tallest in the city, if not the tallest. I had dinner in the Tower City Centre, then browsed through a couple of the shops before coming back.

So the "ooh and awe" period is over. It's one thing to be grateful to have the opportunity to be in this situation, which I am. But it's another thing to take full advantage of it, which I aim to do all morning long. 7:15 wakeup call, continental breakfast, then it's gametime.

In the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong and Team Discovery put all the doubters to rest by dominating today's stage that took the riders from Grenoble to Courchevel. The only thing that got in the way of Lance and the boys was the farmers' protest that delayed the start of the stage. After finishing the descent of the first climb, Discovery pushed the pace, each rider doing his equal share of the work, which continued as the ascent of Courchevel began. As each Discovery rider pushed the pace a little more once it became his turn, the other riders popped and cracked. The last Discovery rider to help Lance was the young Yaroslav Popovych, who got hit by a car on the previous descent. You wouldn't have known it seeing Popovych put the hammer down and sprint up the mountain, forcing guys like Alexander Vinokourov, Jan Ullrich, Floyd Landis, and Levi Leipheimer to fall off the pace.

Eventually, it came down to Armstrong, Michael Rasmussen, Alejandro Valverde, and Francisco Mancebo. When Mancebo rides, he looks as if he has a strained neck and is always in pain. But that's his style, and he used it to help Valverde, a future Tour star, to stay with Armstrong. Armstrong went for the sprint win, but Valverde had a little bit more at the end and took the stage, Lance getting 2nd. But Armstrong got what he wanted, the yellow jersey and big gains over most of his rivals. He now leads Rasmussen by 38 seconds, Ivan Basso is now 2:40 behind, Levi Leipheimer 3:58, Jan Ullrich 4:02, and Vinokourov now more than 6 minutes behind. Tomorrow is another dramatic stage in the Alps, with climbs over the monstrous Col de la Madeline, Col de la Telegraphe, and the highest point of the Tour, the Col du Galibier, which takes the riders up to an altitude of 2645 meters, before plunging into Briancon for the finish.

I had a meeting with my thesis advisor this morning (the thesis is done!!!!), so just in case I missed the final climb, I was recording. I got back to see most of it live, but when I saw what was happening, I kept the tape running. I will watch this stage a lot over the next days because it was textbook Lance Armstrong. Again, when people began to doubt him and his team, he translated that anger and frustration into another amazing performance. I can't believe he's retiring in a week and a half.

What else can I blabber about:

• Michelle Wie shot a 72 in the 2nd round of stroke play in the US Men's Public Links, good enough to finish in the top 64, qualifying for match play. Out of the 64, she finished tied for 49th after opening with 76 yesterday.
• I did watch last night's Home Run Derby, and was amazed by the number of home runs hit. Comerica Park is not a hitter's park, yet it looked very small last night. Tonight's All-Star Game (yawwwwwwn).
• Unfortunately, while I was looking for something to watch on TV, I stumbled upon the Real World. This particular moment, I caught the part when one of the roommates said, "he thought it would be harder to serve in jail than serve in Iraq." He later told the roommate, who was an Army nurse during the Iraq war, that "she didn't really serve" or something like that. Just another example of someone that doesn't appreciate the sacrifices the men and women of our military make for us everyday. They are the true heroes, who show on a daily basis what courage really means.

Song of the night: "I Can Feel It, Coming In the Air Tonight", Phil Collins.