Of Volgograders and amniotic fluid...

So, there I was, ready to pack it in for the night, when my eye fell upon these articles I have due on Friday. They relate the impressions of a Volgograd resident regarding his visit to the U.S. I decided to try type out a few lines, just to get a feel for how difficult the text was.

Aside from a few slang expressions, it wasn't all that bad. Before I knew it, it was past midnight, and I'd done about 40% of the job. However, at that point, I put up my keyboard and went to sleep.

The morning brought no new news from the other client, the one who needs 8200 words done by 0900 Eastern Time on Friday.

Then Drew came in, all excited, and I gathered in the ensuing conversation that Shannon's water had broken. They are, as I write this, on their way to Durango.

I am about to become a grandfather. (First one calls me "Gramps" or "Grandpa" gets a knuckle sandwich, y'hear?)

I am probably more excited now about the prospect of a baby than I was about the birth of my own kids. Maybe it's knowing what lies ahead. Maybe it's the propsect of being a grandparent and having a small person around the house again who asks all sorts of questions and will look with wonder at things like hummingbirds when they visit the feeders we put out for them.

My eyes are watering. Don't ask me why.

Some may wonder why I've never mentioned anything about this in a previous post. Well, a long time ago (soon after Galina and I were married), she called me from Russia to tell me she was pregnant. I was elated. I told all my friends. We were all very happy.

Then Galina lost the baby. We had to go out and tell all my friends about that, too. It was bad enough to have to do, but everyone insisted on expressing sympathy, which for some strange reason made us feel worse.

Anyone we missed telling would come back at us in the ensuing months to ask about the pregnancy, and we'd have to go through the whole process again.

The experience kind of scarred me. In the end, I've become a lot more taciturn about certain aspects of my life. That kind of bent may make for a good secret agent, but a lousy conversationalist, at least as far as my personal life is concerned. (Actually, seeing as I post regularly to LJ, it would appear that I simply find different things to talk about.)

Customers coming... gotta go.

Cheers...

Waiting...

Andrew called a few minutes ago, while I was down the street a ways trying to relax over a cup of coffee. He "bought" a calling card number from the store and hung up. Presumably, he'll use the number to call with more info later, and pay me for the card when he returns (or I'll take it out of his pay <grin>).

A brief browse of the Internet indicates that rupture of the amniotic sac without the prior onset of contractions may signal a protracted labor (6-24 hours, if I read the article correctly... which is far from a slam dunk certainty right now). (Here I am, running off at the mouth with all sorts of idle speculation designed to raise my own blood pressure... sometimes, I think I should have gone in for broadcast journalism as a career.)

I've posted a sign on the door of the shop announcing that the shop will be closing early, at 5 pm, today and tomorrow. I figure that'll give me an extra two hours to work on my translations... as it is, I'll probably be doing the wee-hours thing for the next two nights... every extra minute of daylight will help.

As can be seen by my ability to post right now, it's turning out to be a pretty slow morning. Thus, I will take my relaxation where I can find it.

Just under six hours left until closing...

Cheers...

Status...nominal

Drew called a few minutes ago (probably more like 40 minutes ago, but who has time to keep track of time?). The telemetry says the baby's heartbeat is fine, and Shannon is experiencing contractions, so it's not like this morning's events were a false alarm or anything.

I am definitely not myself right now... I seem to have lost the ability to make change, for example. Ah, well... just over 4 hours to closing.

Cheers...

LD is out...

Every month or so, the long distance circuits go out around here. We've been LD-less for a couple of hours, which has ticked off a couple of fax customers. The same thing happened one day while I was in Houston in May. Most people who've come into the store and found out about the problem just shrug their shoulders and say, "It's Pagosa!"

The idea of using something like eFax as a backup sending capability starts to look good right now (after all, I am getting out to the world via my ISP, aren't I?). Communications via a bidirectional satellite dish looks even better; conceivably, I could use some of that good bandwidth to put together a voice circuit in a pinch.

No more news from Drew, though that may be a function of the phone quirk.

Just a little over half an hour left in the "shop" day... and then to work!

Cheers...