the city lights shine for her / above them I cry for her / everything's small on the ground below / down below

Over the past few years I’ve developed a minor obsession with Lance Armstrong. I can’t explain it, but I find him fascinating. This morning I’ve been watching Stage 4 of the Tour de France (team time trial) live online while working on my neural net. The official website appears to be breaking down under the load of people trying to watch, so I turned to trusty old ESPN. The USPS team won, so hooray! I love the internet.

All of Debbie’s excitement about the new season got to me last night, and I ended up watching the premiere of The Amazing Race 5. Reality TV is so addicting. The show was an hour and a half, and I was captivated the entire time. You’d think people would have figured out by now that the flight that appears to be the best isn’t always the best (i.e. check the arrival times you wackos). Or that sometimes it pays to help each other, but sometimes it’s not a good idea to give your taxi to someone else. Or that there’s always a clue box.

Also, the girl on one team has previously been on another CBS reality show. Are they really hurting for people so badly that they had to choose someone who’d already been on their station? Weird.

I came home from Atlanta in the mood to buy a condo. There are problems with that mood, of course. I don’t really have the money at the moment to buy anything. Most of the condos in this area are undesirable to my eyes due to being run-down, in a bad location, or just plain ugly. And then there is the biggest problem of all — I still can’t say with certainty that I’ll be here for the next 3+ years. I’ve been here for two years now and will be for at least one more, and if I’d known that at the time I might have bought something.

But unless it’s school (or the 5-year reunion trip to Australia!), I just haven’t been able to commit to being in any place more than about a year in advance. Funny, isn’t it? I’m a commitment-phobe in a non-traditional sense; I can’t commit to a location. Sometimes I think life would be easier if someone else made the decision for me, and simply told me what to do for the next couple years. I am never very good at making those decisions on my own, and will likely convince myself that what I have is good enough. And just stay.

Of course, what I have is pretty good. I know this.

I’m about to turn in my lease for another year anyway, so the condo conversation is moot.