Oh, nothing big, just an interview and my thesis defense coming up....

Well, it's now officially crunchtime here. Tuesday afternoon, I'll head up to Cleveland for my interview with KeyBank, which will be Wednesday morning. I've decided to splurge and stay right in downtown, so I'm looking forward to that. So if you're in the Cleveland area and you're free Tuesday night, I'd love to meet up with you for a little bit. It's back home to relax Wed. night, then here to Oxford Thursday to get ready for the thesis defense on the 21st.

I picked a bad week to not sleep well, which has caused me to become rundown and contract a little cold. It's just a nuisance, I still did my normal workout today, but I sound very nasal. At least I get a couple days to rest up for the interview. I'm confident I'll beat this quickly.

The Tour de France has reached its first rest day, so I don't know what I'm going to do with myself since there will be no live racing. The only good thing about no live racing is I won't get up earlier than normal to watch, helping me sleep in, hopefully. With 9 stages complete, Jens Voigt is the leader of the race after escaping with Christophe Moreau during today's stage. Lance Armstrong was more than happy to give up the yellow jersey to a rider who doesn't have much of a chance of winning the Tour. Lance is now 3rd, 2:18 behind. By giving up the jersey, Lance and his team don't have the pressure to defend it, and Lance now has more freedom to go on the attack. Plus, Voigt rides for CSC, the team of overall contender Ivan Basso. Usually, teammates don't attack one another, so Basso is now in a precarious position for the next couple of days. Michael Rasmussen won the stage, solidifying his lead in the King of the Mountains competition.

During tomorrow's rest day, all of the riders will fly down to Grenoble where Tuesday's stage will start, the first of 3 days in the Alps. Usually, Armstrong likes to make a statement on the first day in the big mountains. The mountain-top finish at Courchevel will give him his chance.

One thing I forgot to mention Friday was the International Olympic Committee's decision to exclude baseball and softball from the Olympic program, beginning with the 2012 Olympics. Baseball hasn't really caught on since it's Olympic introduction in 1988. Major league baseball does not allow players to compete in the Olympics since they take place during the regular season, so the Olympics don't bring the best baseball players in the world together. Softball is a different story. It is now one of the fastest growing sports globally, especially here in the US. The only explanation for softball being eliminated is the US dominance of the sport I think. In the last Olympics, the US women went undefeated, only giving up 1 run in the entire tournament. 1 run?!?!?!?!

Baseball and softball are gone, but yachting, synchronized swimming, and rhythmic gymnastics are still Olympic sports. Go figure.

My heart goes out to the people who live on the Gulf of Mexico coast. Not even a year after Hurricane Ivan hit land, Hurricane Dennis reared its ugly head on the same area. Dennis was a strong Category 3 hurricane when it came ashore, causing flooding up and down the Gulf coast. What's really discomforting is that it's very early in hurricane season. It's a couple of more months usually before a hurricane like this develops. Dennis will most likely continue to drop heavy amounts of rain in its path, which includes Ohio in a couple of days.

This week is the Baseball All-Star game, which begs the question: How long until football starts????

Alright, time to clean the bathroom, one of my favorite things to do.

Song of the day: "Listen to your heart", DHT