[ Into August

So now we are in August, and there are only 5 months left in 2024.

For my internal network the next thing I wanted to do, was to duplicate this
photography website I had in the past. I asked AI to copy the theme of the site
but unfortunately it wasn't able to. The results I got were not what I was
looking for, so it's back to the drawing board.

For a while I watched all the AI hoopla from the sidelines, never intending to
use it myself, especially when I heard what its energy requirements are. One
day though I stumbled across an instance of it by accident when I was going to
some website, and I got to trying it out. Since then I've used AI here and
there a number of times, and with pretty good results:
1.) I asked it to write some small programs for me, it did, and they worked.
2.) I asked it to write some scripts, it did, and they worked.
3.) AI is nice and patient.

I tried programming for a while and I got myself to a certain level, but I
dropped it after realizing that I wasn't going to get much further. It was a
good run for a while, and I did learn things along the way. I still use a few
programs I wrote myself. I have to say thought, it's really convenient to say
"Can you write me a program that does xyz?" and to then see the code flow out
right in front of your eyes.

AI being nice and patient is appreciated because one major source of burnout at
work for me is dealing with other people. It took me while to put my finger on
it, but I realized there's a lot of harassment in my workplace. Eye-rolling and
people talking down to each other; I remember a meeting once where a few people
openly bickered with each other while everyone else had to sit and wait it out.
Sadly though, a toxic workplace is systemic, is it not? I know this isn't the
first one I've had to endure, and I've worked in the US, Europe and Japan.

So it's refreshing when AI says "Certainly!", "You're welcome!" and "Have fun!"
even if it's just programmed that way. What happened to civility? That is why I
am looking forward to retirement so much.

Now if only I can make it through these Japanese summers ...