Better than I expected...

I've gotten all the way through the assignment due tomorrow, which is good news, except that the client expected me to submit partial deliveries. Then again, as I could only start on the work today, that variant did not seem very workable.

As it stands, I am pretty tired, and will probably stop soon and resume work tomorrow. The hardest part of the assignment was figuring out the wording to the table headings, all of which are very similar. I lucked out when the client sent an e-mail with a "standard" template for that heading. Otherwise, the assignment should not give the editor much trouble.

Note to self: when clients decide to fax 70+ pages of reference material to your eFax account, remind them to break the transmission into smaller pieces. I have not received the pages, although eFax acknowledges having received them. I suspect the size of the resulting e-mail (probably more than 2 MB) was rejected by my ISP.

* * *To do items for the short term:

• get new tires for the van and check the spare;
  
• change the oil in the van;
  
• finish my presentation for the conference
  
• pay bills;
  
• pack.

My e-mail contained some surprises today, including some commentary about Sergei Kovalev. There was also no news to speak of with regard to Kazakhstan.

* * *In the not-keeping-current-with-friends department, we learned today of the death, last December, of the husband of one of Galina's old friends from Russia. The couple lived in Vienna, and Galina and I visited them several times in the early 90s.

I like Vienna, and enjoyed the company of Galina's friend and her mate. I remember them taking the time to show us around the city, and taking us to some nice spots. One restaurant, I remember, was located in a monastery and was reputed to have been operating in the same location for at least the past 800 years. That fact sort of blew my mind at the time (and impresses me still). I mean, it's not every day one gets to quaff a beer in a tavern that was 300 years old or so when the Spanish started building St. Augustine.

I also remember meeting one of my first cyber-acquaintances in Vienna. I forget the person's name, but he was a subscriber to the Byte Information Exchange (aka BIX), and he took me to an outdoor restaurant that served various delicacies and beer. I have a lurking feeling he was trying to gross out the Amerikaner with his choice of tidbits to go with the beer, but in my usual fashion, I kept my opinions to myself (actually, I had no opinions about the stuff we were eating, as I'd never eaten it before). The only other thing I remember about him was that his politics were right-of-center, European style; despite this, we were able to have a civil conversation on a number of topics.

* * *As more information develops in the aftermath of the assault on the Moscow theater by Russian spetsnaz, it would appear that virtually all of the hostage deaths in the incident can be attributed to the gas used in the operation. There is no indication of what the gas was, but reports indicate that does of antidote were not available, there was poor coordination with hospital and emergency services, and that something like 200 hostages are still in critical condition in area hospitals. There is also a report that one of two Americans among the hostages was among the dead.

I think I will call it a night after this post. I can feel myself spiraling down. I will glide the rest of the way by going upstairs, spending some time with Galina, and then going to sleep with an early wake-up planned. It should not take me long tomorrow to whip the translation into final shape and send it off.

Cheers...