One. Week. Left.

Scary, really. One week left at work, one week left in DC. Am I packed? Sorta, kinda, not really. But getting there. Am I ready to bounce? Yes. And no. But more yes than no. I’ll miss my pals tho’.

I don’t think I’ll be working that much this week, so check back often as I plan to actually do some posting. Even if they are lame, “I am really bored at work posts,” like this one. Part of me thinks that forcing myself to compose my thoughts and write on this stupid thing will help me when I go back to being a student. That part of me is also good at rationalizing a lot of my bad or pointless habits, you know, like drugs, alcohol, junk food, and yes, blogging.

This morning I have been reading the live blogcast of the Tour De France by Bicycling Mag contributor Joe Linsdey. I am not that into the Tour, but intrigued enough that I’ll read someone blog live about it and hit my refresh button every 90 seconds. Especially with nothing else to do. And it’s informative to folks like me who don’t know anything about cycling as a sport, especially because of the blog format. People can leave comments for Lindsey, such as “how do teams work together” like someone did earlier, and then get their learn on when Lindsey gets around to addressing their questions.

Sometimes teams will form a pact to work together. This works best if the teams have complementary goals. In the CSC/Astana case, Astana is there for one reason: to win the overall. But CSC's best guy is Carlos Sastre, who could well be a top-five finisher but isn't a likely threat to win - he just doesn't time-trial well enough. And, CSC in the pre-Basso days was all about opportunism: take a win where you can find it. They went for everything - stage wins, intermediate sprints, KoM points, the team competition, whatever. They're omnivores and I'd bet they're back to that approach this year. They have yellow now, so they want to hold on to it. Astana may offer to help them a bit in that if, later in the race, CSC might help Astana chase down a rival for the overall.

Neat, eh?

I have been meaning to blog about my favorite holiday ever, the Fourth Of July (FOJ), but haven’t gotten around to it yet. It was incredible. I highly recommend floating down the Shenandoah River in an inner tube with a floating beer cooler in tow. I also highly recommend viewing the fireworks from a roofdeck, preferably in a relatively high part of the city, such as Mt Pleasant. From there you can see fireworks from neighboring cities and towns in literally every direction, including a wonderful view of the biggest and baddest of them all, over the Mall. Angel M. shares my love of FOJ. I hope you do, too. And to the haters out there who complained that it was on a Wednesday, grow a pair and plan ahead next time: take Thursday off. Hell, take Friday off too. I did. Moroni, if you care to recount your FOJ exploits, send me the manuscript and I’ll post it here for the world to see. But I am pretty sure mine was better.