1. Did you hear that Lance Armstrong is coming out of retirement to try for a record eighth win at the Tour de France next summer? He’s riding for free–he wants to raise cancer awareness–and he’s letting a documentary film crew follow his training, to put to rest any doping rumors. Go Lance!

2. In other news, but of the infuriating and scary kind, did you see the Sarah Palin ABC interview? Choice quotes on the ABC site.

3. My book this week is Annie Proulx’s Wyoming Stories, short stories that remind you that ranch life is not at all like My Friend Flicka, but instead “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

4. Those middle items are depressing. Here’s Toby being sleepy to cheer us up: