Today I went through an incredible gradient of happiness, starting out feeling like warmed over crap (continued from last night, exacerbated by a sleepless night) and gradually improving throughout the day, helped by telling everyone within earshot that I felt lousy, until an extreme bowling session with our sales team rescued me.  Oh, and it was all capped by a wonderful dinner with friends at Vigilucci's in Carlsbad (highly recommended) including a few bottles of Tignanello...

I've noticed this myself: Restaurants eager to please in recession.  In many areas, customer service is back.  One sliver lining from all the clouds.

Check this out: a cool view of the Space Shuttle's cockpit.  I love the way it has been Flickr-annotated with all the detail...

From CNN: Eddie van Halen reinvents the guitar.  And who better to do it?  "During the last show, I actually tried to break a Wolfgang, and it wouldn't break. I picked it up and I couldn't break the damn thing. I threw it up in the air, and later put it out in the rain. I picked it up half an hour later, and it was still in tune. It pissed me off."  Humans being...

Bill Gates releases a jar of mosquitoes during a session at TED.  "There's no reason only poor people should get malaria."  Sounds more interesting than any of the computer-oriented presentations he's ever given!

John Siracusa on e-books: on reading in the digital age.  I, too, have tried a number of these devices, and it wasn't until the Kindle that it tipped over for me.  Now I'm fully sold.  [ via Daring Fireball ]

Another Kindle *now* anecdote: during dinner last night a friend recommended High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby.  Got back to my hotel, click click, and poof I was reading it.  I love that!

BTW, not all retailers are suffering during this recession; BusinessWeek comments on Amazon's Amazing Fourth Quarter:  "The online retailer crushed the Street's expectations by snaring customers and snapping up market share as traditional merchants foundered."

Jeff Atwood: Communicating with code.  The importance of building something as a way to explain how it could work, aka dogfooding.  Nothing like really doing it, and really having users.  I totally agree with this.

Crap, who ordered that: Windows 7 to come in six different versions.  Just when you thought Microsoft was paying attention, too.

ZooBorn of the day: a little Sitatunga.  Awww...