Taking myself up on a dare...
Apr. 15th, 2014 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpThe remaining stuff on my plate took a little technique, since it was supposed to be one of those "incorporate the changes" jobs, except for the fact that—by inspection—it was clear that the document had undergone two rounds of edits (a first with revisions turned off; and a second with them turned on). Fortunately for my nefarious plans, the first set of revisions was not extensive, else the job would have turned into a full retranslation, which might look good on my invoice, but I there were a number of things I wanted to get done today that didn't involve retranslating 5,000 words of technical language.
In effect, what I ended up doing was two passes through the text, and after sending off the job, Galina and I paused to send off some fairly urgent mail, and then we threw caution to the winds and went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
The last time I had been in such a museum was probably close to a half century ago, in New York City, at the famous American Museum of Natural History. I frankly don't remember much of those visits, except for the dinosaurs, but I recall they were my reward for good behavior during visits to a doctor I had particular reason to be wary of, who lived not far away from the museum. (Said doctor seemed to like to cut and puncture skin more than others of his kind. It turns out that's what surgeons do. Go figure...)
But those dinosaurs! I recall getting up as close as I could to the exhibits, to see if I could catch a trace of the plaster-soaked burlap that had been used to protect them after they had been taken out of the ground. Those marvelous skeletons (or at least some of them) had been collected in the Gobi desert by Roy Chapman Andrews, which was a name I recognized from a book or two on dinosaurs that I had at home (and, as it turns out, from a book I still own, Under a Lucky Star: A Lifetime of Adventure, published in 1944).
There were dinosaurs at the museum today, as well. A "mummified" triceratops and at least three T. rex specimens, with interesting descriptions. Everything was effectively posed and dramatically lit—quite impressive—and there were many other fossilized remains of various creatures. I have photos, but it's late, and in fact, I should probably go to bed soon. I expect work to arrive tomorrow morning.
In effect, what I ended up doing was two passes through the text, and after sending off the job, Galina and I paused to send off some fairly urgent mail, and then we threw caution to the winds and went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
The last time I had been in such a museum was probably close to a half century ago, in New York City, at the famous American Museum of Natural History. I frankly don't remember much of those visits, except for the dinosaurs, but I recall they were my reward for good behavior during visits to a doctor I had particular reason to be wary of, who lived not far away from the museum. (Said doctor seemed to like to cut and puncture skin more than others of his kind. It turns out that's what surgeons do. Go figure...)
But those dinosaurs! I recall getting up as close as I could to the exhibits, to see if I could catch a trace of the plaster-soaked burlap that had been used to protect them after they had been taken out of the ground. Those marvelous skeletons (or at least some of them) had been collected in the Gobi desert by Roy Chapman Andrews, which was a name I recognized from a book or two on dinosaurs that I had at home (and, as it turns out, from a book I still own, Under a Lucky Star: A Lifetime of Adventure, published in 1944).
There were dinosaurs at the museum today, as well. A "mummified" triceratops and at least three T. rex specimens, with interesting descriptions. Everything was effectively posed and dramatically lit—quite impressive—and there were many other fossilized remains of various creatures. I have photos, but it's late, and in fact, I should probably go to bed soon. I expect work to arrive tomorrow morning.
