While many of us will have glowing memories of January 20th, I think that poet Elizabeth Alexander will remember it as the biggest missed opportunity of her life. Whether it was a dull poem or just bad delivery it sure didn't help her literary career. (The Reverend Lowry however is now an 87 year old rock star.)

If any of you are curious as to how Bookslut got started or is run, Jessa has lately been giving a few interviews, here, here and here.

Alexandra Fuller, who impressed the heck out of me with The Legend of Colton Bryant, has an article on wild horses in the current issue of National Geographic. This is another exploration of just how America wants to be - how the west needs to be if it will remain the west. Wonderful writing but it will break your heart. One interesting bit is that the wild horses as a herd must be considered native to the region to be allowed to remain wild. If they are not predominantly native to the place - and rather date back through DNA to the Conquistadore horses for example - then they do not have a right to living wild. The problem is that there is no pure bloodline left. (Go figure - it's been over 400 years.) So an evolutionary argument is now in the mix as to how these modern day animals will live. Who would have thought wildlife management would take this odd of a turn?

Fans of Jenny Davidson's The Explosionist might want to check out her latest post on light reading - it includes some hints to the sequel, The Snow Queen.

Andi Watson's online comic "Great Uncle George's Will" is very cool - and available for free on Tor.com. Oh, and speaking of online comics, if you are a fan of Sara Ryan and Empress of the World then you must read Me and Edith Head which fits nicely into that story and makes me very happy.

I am realizing that this sprained ankle thing is going to take a long long time. It has been more than three weeks and my foot is still purple and yellow and now the skin seems to hurt as much as the internal damage. (Almost like the bruise has finally made its way to the top or something.) I had two stops yesterday - martial arts class for my son and then the post office - and when I got home it was hurting. I can't imagine running for at least another month. The bigger problem is that shoes cut right across the bruise - so the longer I wear a shoe (even a slipper) the more it hurts.

It's just a nagging injury, nothing major but quite tedious and consuming. I'm so angry at myself for being stupid and doing this and for letting it derail me. There are things that need to be done and I need to get better at carefully getting them done. I mean heck - if the Obamas could make it through the longest Inauguration Day in the history of the world then I can clean up my office. (I'm sure they had no intention of providing this sort of inspiration but I'll take what I can get.)