This digital camera is larger and more bulky than I might like, particularly with the big 28 - 70mm f/2.8 lens, but it's manageable for all that. I wonder about carrying it around. Who's the guy with the camera? Where does he live? Could we bop him on the head and convert whatever it is into money? One reason I often carry the F3 when I'm just hacking around. Small, not too obvious, maybe it's worth something, maybe it's not, but it takes good pictures. Not like the F5, not like the D2h, but good, very good pictures. It doesn't shout "find out where the old geezer lives and rip him off". Or shouldn't I be saying that?

I take it you got your camera insurance bill?

Well, yeah, but it wasn't all that terrible. The annual renewal is going to be interesting. I do like the digital pictures, although I'm not sure about the color. I like it, but it's not like the color I get with Ektachrome. I make mistakes that I can immediately see and the mistakes are often more interesting than the "good ones". The April 6th picture was a mistake, for example, the f-stop was too high so the shutter speed was too low. It isn't out of focus, but the camera and the subject are moving. I like it. Not sure I'd have gotten it with film or, if I had, whether or not I would have paid attention to it on a contact sheet. You see it real time and you're tempted to try others. It's good to be tempted to try others. The whole idea is to be tempted to try others.

Iraq seems to be falling apart in all the predicable ways. I wish to hell they'd planned and executed their foreign policy as well as they've conducted and executed their political campaigns. They've had an almost magical run of political luck. Luck runs out, though. Eventually. Too bad our asses are tied to their stupidity.