I guess I'm not posting as often as I normally would, but I just can't seem to think of anything to say. It's taken me a week to come up with enough stuff for a post.

Milestones this week:

I got a TV - an early Christmas present from Mom and Dad - a 15" flat-screen. Now I can watch my Jaguar games and Gilmore Girls (and the Extreme Makeover Home Edition Labor Day marathon...) Plus, it came with a free DVD player, so now I can watch my movies on a bigger screen than that of my laptop.

We're back to a six-man Channel team - suddenly, what with all the new people who have joined the email listserv since the year started, interest has been big. So now it's five UNC students and a 43-year-old woman from Scotland. That's got to lend itself to some interesting team names... Suggestions?

Suddenly, I'm able to run five miles nonstop without it being all that difficult. Which is great, since we're four weeks and five days away from my first Olympic-distance triathlon, with a six-mile run at the end.

I get to go visit my aunt in South Carolina in two weeks, because she's going home to Jacksonville for a visit and she's going to bring my bike back with her (plus a couple of books and a few other things I forgot). That's exciting, because I haven't been out of Chapel Hill since I got here, and I think I'm ready for another road trip. :)

Daily dose of randomness: I saw a Discovery Channel show yesterday about a potential transatlantic train, from New York to London. It would go through a tube 80 meters below the surface, its depth controlled by ballast tanks (like in a submarine) with metal cables anchoring it to the ocean floor for extra security. Current train technology can only go at about 500 miles per hour, so they would eliminate air resistance by making the tube a vacuum, and eliminate friction by having the train 'float' on a magnetic field (a system which actually already exists in some places). After a gradual acceleration (to reduce the G-forces on the passengers), it would be able to travel at 5000 miles per hour, and would reach London in 54 minutes! Let me tell you, my jaw was on the floor. I don't know if I'll see that in my lifetime, but think of the possibilities! We could go anywhere - so, so fast!