I'm Off!

No, not off like that!
I mean off from work.
Really!
For one whole week!
What to do?
Well if the weather holds up, I have an epic trek planned for sometime next week.
Okay, not really epic, but sort of far, so stay tuned.
Other than that, I need to rack up some miles and catch up on some reading:



I finished Jared Diamond's Collapse and am working on Guns, Germs, and Steel. Collapse was interesting if not a bit depressing.
I mean if you think about all that is happening out there, well, it would seem that the collapse of our society is inevitable.
If we keep doing what we're doing.
Guns, Germs, and Steel is more about why and how present societies developed the way they are. In other words, why some societies rose to power over others.
This should be good.
I also got a couple of new/old Ross MacDonald books. I say new/old because I've read them all before but these are fairly new editions printed by Black Lizard. Thing is, I read them all in high school, so some of the stories read like new.
I'm digging it.
When I get tired of reading, I got a new DVD set to watch:



Of course Philip Marlowe is Raymond Chandler's main character in all his novels. He used a couple of other different characters in his short stories, but most of them were character studies for what would become his main man.
Now they've made movies using Chandler's stories before. I guess the most famous would be The Big Sleep starring Bogart and Bacall. Robert Michum also played Marlowe in a remake of The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovelywith Charlotte Rampling!). Elliot Gould also played Marlowe in The Long Goodbye.
In this series produced by HBO, Powers Boothe takes on the role and manages to do well. I haven't seen the Mitchum movies and I plan to soon, but so far, Boothe has the Marlowe character down. His running narrative also helps to recreate the tone of Chandler's stories.
I say stories for the series is based on his short stories and not his novels. I've read most of his shorts too, so this is like a present from heaven.
If you are a Chandler fan, check it out.
I finally found some time to work on loading up the ole MP3 player.
Yes, it's been a while; I've been busy!
I'm up to the Ps now:



Boy, it's been some time since I last listened to Beth Gibbons and Portishead. That music is like a soundtrack from another life.
Well actually it is.
From another life, I mean.
Loading up Portishead means that I only have two more rows of CDs to work through. I wonder if I'll finish before my vacation ends?
And for those of you following along at home, here's my first impressions of Dumonde Tech chain lube:
I'm not liking it.
It's a wet lube so it seems to me to be a dust magnet. The chain is quiet though and not too dirty so maybe I'll give it some time. The instructions say to lube when required; seems you just keep adding the stuff and wiping it off.
Maybe I put on too much and wiped too little for there seems to be a lot of residue.
It seems just like Prolink except thinner.
I'll leave it on for the weekend and if it doesn't work out, I'll try the Rock N Roll on Monday.
I'm off for the week don't you know.
Anyways, Law & Order is on so off I go.