mdlbear | Done yesterday (20091103)

1103 Tu
  & awake 5ish; snuggle and back to sleep
  * up 6:45; W=195.4; coffee; drugs, nose
  @ http://www.librarything.com/work/7212997/reviews/5411002
    researched and "translated" by Ursula K. LeGuin
  & apt-get -t apt-get -t lenny-backports install pidgin
  * make hotel reservation for LOSCON 11-27-29 LOSLOSA
    Los Angeles Airport Marriott 1-800-228-9290  11/26 Th 3 nights
    conf#s accessible: 81521886  double: 81522310 
  * verify routing number on new checks
  * Fry's: APC 1500 is cheap this week ($110; probably a closeout)
  * walk (to Safeway; back the long way)
  @ http://techdirt.com/articles/20091101/1455126750.shtml
    UK Music Critic: This Is The Golden Age For Music
  @ http://techdirt.com/articles/20091101/2005096753.shtml
    Yet Another (Yes, Another) Study Shows File Sharers Buy More
  @ http://techdirt.com/articles/20091102/0324176757.shtml
    Is Google Going Better Than Free On Navigation? Will That Set Off
    Antitrust Alarms?
    @ http://abovethecrowd.com/2009/10/29/google-redefines-disruption-the-"less-than-free"-business-model/
      Google Redefines Disruption: The "Less Than Free" Business Model
  @ http://abovethecrowd.com/2009/07/15/bill-gurley-on-the-free-business-model/
    Bill Gurley on the "Free" Business Model
       if a disruptive competitor can offer a product or service similar to
       yours for "free," and if they can make enough money to keep the lights
       on, then you likely have a problem. 
  | sleepy, restless, a bit of a headache.  Very mild flu?
    ...or missing Naomi?
  & sleepy-time tea; bed 10:20; snuggle

A productive day at work -- and at home, for that matter: I got my hotel reservations made for Loscon (having discovered over the weekend that they'd slipped through a crack somewhere between ConChord and OVFF). A good walk, and I scored an APC XS1500 at Fry's for about 2/3 the price of my first one, which I love (in large part because you can permanently disable the "on battery" beep).

But I spent much of the evening tired, sleepy, but restless and with a bit of a headache. At a couple of points I was wondering whether I had a mild case of the flu. Other times I wondered whether the restlessness was just missing a friend.

I had some sleep-time tea and went to bed early, at about 10:30. Some nice snuggle when Colleen joined me shortly thereafter.

For link sausage, Techdirt comes through with articles on music (UK Music Critic: This Is The Golden Age For Music and Yet Another (Yes, Another) Study Shows File Sharers Buy More) and the latest development in mapping software: Is Google Going Better Than Free On Navigation? Will That Set Off Antitrust Alarms?.

That one's fascinating. It links to Bill Gurley's article pointing that Google's turn-by-turn navigation software is cheaper than free -- if a manufacturer puts it on a device, they get a cut of the ad revenue. The article shows what happened to Tom-Tom's and Garmin's stock prices when Google's announcement came out. As Gurley points out elsewhere, "if a disruptive competitor can offer a product or service similar to yours for "free," and if they can make enough money to keep the lights on, then you likely have a problem."