BRACKETLESS

I'm not filling out a bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament this year. I just haven't watched enough college basketball this year to be that informed other than all the top teams. And while I will watch some of the tournament, the next three days will be fairly busy and we will be away next week for a few days. So, I have no predictions...just hope to see a couple good games.

Last night I finished My Revolutions by Hari Kunzru. It's about a man with a past as a violent revloutionary and that past is now catching up to him. He's been living under a different name for many years and has built a life until a visit by somebody else from that past reappears. The novel is mainly told in flashback, though the time periods keep weaving in and out. There's a lot of revolutionary jargon and theory and you can see how people were pushed past their moral codes to be involved in bombings and auto theft and so on. I thought it was a solid book and I got through it in three days, so it was definitely readable.

I had an e-mail this morning letting me know that a book I ordered from B&N has arrived and I need to find a baseball book to read before the season starts (I think it will be one Tim Kurkjian put out last year). Before that, I'm going to read some short fiction and the last remaining trade. I'm still over a week behind on the DVR too.

QUICK

I got up this morning and checked the old e-mail inbox as usual. I had a message from The Raconteurs, explaining that their new album, Consolers Of The Lonely, will be out next week. Next week! They just finished the album the other week and wanted to get it out as soon as possible and so that everyone could hear it at once. It's a cool idea and I am really looking forward to hearing it...and how awesome is it I don't have to wait very long?

Last night I read 70 pages of My Revolutions, a full quarter of the book. I should easily be able to finish by the time it's due at the library on Friday. I'm enjoying it so far too.

I managed to watch Torchwood (from 3/8) yesterday but that was all. Right now, the DVR is 26% full. Yikes. By the way, I gave up keeping track of TV shows last week. It just got to be too much to sustain and I couldn't make myself care that much. I also gave on the DVD tally as well, though I could reconstruct that more easily - I've only watched two more episodes of The Simpsons Season 9.

The good news is that it will be a relatively short day at work today. I only have to go in a teach my classes during the day; I put in a lot of supervisor hours the last two weeks so my boss doesn't want me to come back tonight. I can live with that. It's a dreary day out too, which is conducive to reading and catching up on my TV watching.

21%

That's how full the DVR is right now. Granted, not all of it contains shows I need to watch but most of it is mine. I still have Knight Rider from more than a month ago. I'm more than a week behind on my regular shows too and now that new episodes are starting to come back (new How I Met Your Mother tonight!), chances are I'll only fall further behind. The NCAA basketball tournament will suck up quite a bit of time at the end of the week too.

I have a book out from the library that's due Friday and I've already renewed it once. My Revolutions is only 280 pages long, so do I start it today and race through it? Do I try to renew it again? Do I just drop it off and get to it at some future time? I also ordered The Shadow Year at my local B&N, though that won't be in until later this week at the earliest.

I have three issues each of Asimov's and F&SF sitting around waiting to be read. I have the last of the four trades I bought at the comics sale still unopened. And to top it all off, I plan on using up all of my current eMusic downloads in the next few days - a couple new albums drop tomorrow, the rest has been out, and my numbers add up beautifully.

So, I'll be making quick comments on stuff or I'll just be reading and watching and listening without saying much. Either way, I hope you enjoy your week.