It's Not All Doom And Gloom -- Hope Springs Eternal -- September 11, 2020

From a SeekingAlpha contributor: OXY has (mostly) solved its debt problem. Link here. Summary:

• Occidental Petroleum has recently announced tender offers for another $3 billion in debt - paying off a significant portion of its next several year debt load. 
• The company has an impressive portfolio of assets and continued impressive cash flow generation.
• Over the next 11 years, the company can see its share price double every <4 years. 

If Vicki Hollub pulls this off, she needs to be voted most outstanding CEO of the decade, just above Elon Musk.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

Nice rundown over at SeekingAlpha, last 24 hours. Link here. 

Brexit: UK strikes deal with Japan to secure first post-Brexit trade deal. Link here. It's a bit frustrating the US didn't claim that distinction. Whatever. There's a lot on his plate. 

LEGO: bless their hearts. I got a nice update from LEGO telling me they had not forgotten about me. I ordered an item that was on backorder -- that's fine with me -- they don't charge my credit card until it's shipped -- LEGO sent me a nice "e-card" telling me they had not forgotten about me, that they were talking to the warehouse folks and asking why my order had not shipped. LOL.

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The Literature Page

This is so cool. From The WSJ: the best books to ease your wanderlust. I was mostly curious to see if any of "my" books were on that list, and some were, and some very surprising books made the list. I'm impressed.

"My" books that made the list, WSJ readers' favorite travel books, alphabetically by author:

• James Boswell’s “The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides With Samuel Johnson” -- highly recommended for oldest granddaughter;
  
• William Least Heat-Moon’s “Blue Highways”
• Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road”
• Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• Robert Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” -- my all-time favorite, have read it several times;
  
• John D. Tumpane’s “Scotch and Holy Water” -- unbelievable to see this make the list; I bought several copies years ago, worried it may go out of print;
  
• Rebecca West’s “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon”

Wow, this is quite an impressive list. Several Bill Bryson books made the list but I've never cared all that much for Bill Bryson.

There should have been several books on Yorkshire, and maybe there were. If so, I missed them. 

Best travel movies, just to name a few, see also:

• Midnight in Paris
• Lost in Translation
• Apollo 13
• Lawrence of Arabia
• Amélie
• The Swimming Pool

For Those Afraid To Travel