"not about the bike"

the stanford bookstore is this absolutely gorgeous place run by barnes and noble. there is a huge selection of books, a coffee bar, computer software, and every kind of stanford paraphenalia you could ever want. unfortunately, they don't have reams of engineering filler paper and the kind of clicky eraser i need. how frustrating! it makes me long for the nerdy contents of the tech bookstore's shelves.

anyway. i picked up the daily today only to find an article on the front page about lance armstrong speaking here on campus tonight. so i bought a ticket and headed over to the pavilion to check it out. he was there with eric davis (baseball player) and a tennis player and a moderator, and they talked about "athletes winning the battle against cancer." of course the topic wasn't surprising, since lance armstrong is known for being a kick-ass cyclist who won three tours de france after beating cancer.

i don't know why i find him such an interesting guy. it's not like i've ever had cancer, or even known anyone close to me with cancer. i just think his story is so inspiring. when i was at work over the summer, i would come in and check the news every morning and i would always read the cycling update to see how he was doing on the tour, and i was excited when he won again, even though i know nothing about cycling.

i dunno. i just think he is awesome.

my long week finally comes to an end tomorrow with a controls midterm. after that, i'll only have one more test until finals--structures, next friday. i think i may sleep the whole weekend. emily is going home for the weekend, i just found out tonight. she leaves tomorrow morning. she thought she had told me, and maybe she had, but i didn't remember. i was hoping to go dancing. i have been wanting to go dancing for weeks but it never happens. anyway. nick's always busy with valerie, and emily's gone, so i will have to find someone else to hang out with this weekend i guess.

i think i might be ready to be done with school for now. i'm thinking seriously about taking the nasa job this year. it scares me to think that i might not get a ph.d., because for so long that has been my goal. and i really do think i would enjoy being a professor someday...for which i'd need a ph.d. but i don't know. i just feel like i'm stuck, and maybe leaving school would be the best way to shake me out of the rut.