More work than I can eat...

Closing time came by faster than I expected yesterday; this, after a day of moving back and forth between the shop and home. Maybe 'twas to be expected.

The third document I'm working on evokes memories...not all of them pleasant. I'm 45 pages through the thing (from a total of 79, according to MS Word) and have to finish it tonight and send it off. It's slow going, and I cannot help but feel that it's actually no going (the fact that the document consists of a series of near-identical tables describing, in brain-numbing detail, how to deal with various threats to safety on board the ISS, does not contribute to any feeling of progress).

It's now been 6 business days (or maybe 7?) since we sent in the SS-4 to the IRS to get a tax ID number. I called yesterday but missed the return call, which surprisingly was not helpful (I say "surprisingly" because, say whatever else you want about the IRS, but they are generally a responsive bunch of people).

So...I'm hanging on here for another few minutes until their phones light up at 7 am to see what the delay is. I've already - perhaps foolishly - sent out invoices in the name of our LLC, and it'd be nice to get some checks in return (but the check writer needs the tax ID number, so you see...).

Hmmm. Let me go get the SS-4 so it's here in front of me when I call...assuming I get through (we are at Tax Day minus about two weeks...which is starting to be a hectic time for the IRS, or so I've heard).

Cheers...

Slow day...

It's been a slow kind of day all the way around. Nothing much jumping at the shop, and I'm feeling pretty lethargic after five straight nights of trying to beat this trio of translations into shape. Tomorrow is the deadline for document #3, and I played hooky from the store for a couple of hours this afternoon to go home and work on it.

I returned to the store for what I have begun to call "The Grand Finale," which is that hour leading up to the UPS pickup, when the store is visited by customers who want to catch that pickup, including numerous chronic procrastinators who have been driven to the wall, and who can put things off no longer. (They, of course, all arrive in the last 5 minutes before the UPS folks.)

At any rate, I have about 15 pages left to do tonight after I get home from closing the store.

There have been three requests this week so far by out-of-area walk-ins who were interested in an Internet connection, so as to check their e-mail. I believe this is the direction in which the store ought to go, but if we do this, we'll be doing so with a bidirectional satellite link instead of a tie to the local ISP. Anything that relies upon telephones around here is just asking for trouble.

One of our mail customers ordered a system from Starband, which is the system I've had my eye on. A couple of days ago, though, he brought the dish back, and I asked him why. He said the system was okay for most uses, but he runs a time-critical client-server application, and the 800 msec of latency introduced by the satellite dish was just too much. After some more conversation, I'm convinced we could probably run three or four machines on a local network in the store and have them share the satellite link. More research is needed, however, before committing nonexistent cash to this project.

Talking about cash, the IRS came through with a return call around 2 pm, and they relayed the tax information I needed to open an account with a check I got from a West coast translation client that's been burning a hole in the top of my desk for almost a week. I then called another client to tell them the information, which clears the way for them to send me a check they owe me (they wouldn't sent the check until they had the number). So, for the time being, it looks like the old "cash flow" situation has been un-logjammed...at least until next week. <grin>

Cheers...