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Why the Silence?

Why have I been quiet for a few days? Mainly because I've been busy with other things, mulling over ideas that I'm not yet ready to write about, and because I'm not a fan of "I have nothing to say" posts. I've written them before, and invariably, they're the entries I enjoy least when I go back and review sections of my personal history. So I've opted to focus on work (which could use some focusing on) and reading rather than writing.

Speaking of reading, I spent most of the weekend devouring Seabiscuit: An American Legend. Too many extraneous details for my taste, and unlike most reviewers, I didn't find the histories of the owners, trainers, and jockeys who had come in contact with Seabiscuit as interesting as the horse himself, but the stories about Seabiscuit's training and the play-by-play accounts of his races were incredibly absorbing. The snapshot of racing in general was also interesting, but (perhaps because I was a racing fan as a kid and was already familiar with the sport) more in a "hm, I didn't know that" kind of way rather than in a "WOW, I didn't know that!" way. Whatever flaws I found in the the human story, however, are made up for by Seabiscuit's charisma (and Marcela's—she's the one human I wanted to know more about) and the thrilling accounts of his physical feats. (I was reminded more than once of the Black Stallion series I'd read and loved as a pre-teen.) The Seabiscuit story is one that's worth knowing about. If you don't have the patience or time for the book, American Experience is airing a special on Seabiscuit on April 21.