Meat

I am a programmer. I am not a manager. I do not manage things or people. I'm not interested in your "process" or your "system" - just give me my task then back away. I'll tell you when I want to talk to you again. And I don't do meetings. Meetings are where the same three people take turns having trouble getting some point through their skulls and The People Who Like To Explain Things explain the point over and over in different ways and argue with The People Who Like To Argue, about nothing at all.

So today I hear rumors that I have some meetings to attend. I look at my inbox and notice that, yes, I do have some meetings. I have five hours of meetings today. They're gonna discuss this new fancypants documentation and design scheme that they're imposing on us. Hooray, another initiative that someone with too much time on their hands came up with. We'll all freak out and learn the lingo, and for a month it'll dominate conversation. In two months, we'll have forgotten all about it.

I'm gonna save myself the hassle and not bother learning it in the first place.

(yes, i'm a miserable anti-social bastard. you would be too if you hadn't had a good night's sleep in a week.)

Byebye film

Rumors are that Pentax is planning to stop manufacturing 35mm (and other, "compact"), film cameras in favor of all-digital models.

Interesting.

I got my first serious digital camera a few months ago, and haven't shot any film since. Well, that's not quite true - I did shoot some B&W this past weekend - but only a few shots and only because I found a roll sitting in my closet and felt bad about letting it expire unused. I don't know how the shots came out, of course, and likely won't know for at least three weeks after I finish the roll (special processing for B&W). Since I've become addicted to the instant gratification that my digital camera provides, it seems absurd to wait a month to see if I got anything right. So, maybe I'll not even bother finishing that roll, or the three rolls of my old-standby slide film (Fuji Sensia 100) that I found.

If Pentax has abandoned film, can the others be far behind ? Will my trusty Nikon N80 be among the last generation of film cameras ? Soon to be a collector's item ? Should I not trade it in for a new lens for the D100, and instead hold onto it until I can take it on Antiques Roadshow in 2030 ? Such a hard life.

via

Towhee

I was out snooping around the rural parts south of Raleigh yesterday, looking for interesting things to take pictures of. I found a few things, including the acrobatic little barn swallow shown below; I'll be posting pix here in the next few days.

One thing I saw, while walking around in the woods near Jordan Lake was a black, brown and white bird that I'd never seen before. I tried to get a picture of him, but couldn't get my big lens on quick enough before he made himself scarce. But, I remembered what he looked like, so when I got home, I whipped out my handy Peterson Field Guide and tried to find him.

After a bit of flipping through, I saw what might have been it, a "Black-headed Grosbeak" - except they don't make it into my part of of the country, and the picture in the book doesn't show a head crest. However, right above the Black-headed is the "Rose-breasted Grosbeak"; the big patch of red disqualifies this one, too, but the description of its song was funny:

Song, rising and falling in passages; resembles Robin's song, but mellower, given with more feeling (as if a Robin has taken voice lessons).

It's always nice to see someone having fun with their job (it gives me hope).

My bird turned out to be the one right below the Black-headed Grosbeak: the Rufous-sided Towhee - a name even stranger than "Grosbeak", which makes it even more interesting. The picture I linked to here shows the little crest on his head - Peterson's Guide doesn't show the crest, and had me believing I imagined it until I saw the pictures on the web. Always verify.