Chugging along...

It's funny how deep a swamp one can walk into without really thinking about it. Last night, as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep and get a good night's rest for this morning's trip to Durango to see the doctor, I thought about the next item on my plate, due on the 19th (yes, Saturday).

Did the young lady who sent me the file actually say it was 19,000 source words in length?

That's... let's see... I figure Tuesday (today) is shot, between the doctor and paying bills and taxes and catching my breath... that leaves three days plus half of Saturday.

YIKES! Assuming 20% "expansion" as we go into English (it takes more words to say the same thing in English than in Russian), and figuring Saturday is mostly spent reviewing... that's over 7,600 words per day!!

As I lay there, I could feel my blood pressure rising and sensed that sleep was going to elude me for a little while. I went downstairs and turned on the computer. My recollection was wrong: there are only 15,000 words in the document.

That's still 6,000 words per day. Better, but still a haul.

Somehow, I made it back upstairs and fell asleep.

* * *I called the client and asked what the big deal was with Saturday, and by the end of the conversation, we'd agreed to add another day to the deadline, with my sending in whatever was done on Saturday at the agreed time (for the editor to review), with the rest to be sent the following day.

That's good, on the one hand, but there is another job fast on the heels of this one, so it's not as if I have all the time in the world. I'm going to try to get 3,000 words done today, and then do 4,000 per day for the next three days, leaving 3,000 for Saturday.

If there is any repetitiveness in the file, that'll only work to my advantage. I might even wedge in some other work along the way.

* * *I've imported the file into Déjà Vu, which reports a total of 3,291 "segments," which are generally sentences, but also things like section headings (e.g., "1.1."). I figure DV is more suitable for this job than TRADOS because there are a lot of tables in the text, and on a slow machine like my desktop (300 MHz?), it takes forever to work your way through tables in TRADOS. Any repeated segments will also go faster with DV.

* * *The doc was impressed with my asymptomatic state, but not with my blood pressure. He adjusted my meds again and wants to see me in a week.

Galina called to say that one of the cash registers at the store has given up the ghost. I will do a couple of hours of translation before going down to see what can be salvaged (at least of today's "Z" tape).

Cheers...

Slug complete...

Well, if there's a way to count words in the middle of using DV, I don't have the time to find it. I simply broke up the overall number of segments to agree with the 3-4-4-4-3 formula described in my previous rock, and ended up with goals of 560 segments for the days on which I planned to do 3,000 words (like today and Saturday), and 790 segments for the three days in the middle.

Including a break for dinner and about an hour for other things, I just finished today's installment. (Actually, given some repetition in the text, I've finished more than that, but it's hard to tell how much.)

The text is, thank goodness, not filled with new and interesting terminology. It's basically a document that outlines a training program for various staff members at a facility, so it's got a lot of references along the lines of: "Monitor the proper operation of hardware."

Duh!

* * *I did all of today's work on the VAIO, since my desktop's connection to the network died inexplicably, and I was too lazy to chase down the reason why.

Unfortunately, when the time came to print out a much-needed document via the network from another computer, I had to roll up my sleeves and figure out where the problem was, since the Brother is connected to my desktop.

It turns out that when I set up the VAIO on my desk, I connected its network card to the router slot that is intended to be used as a normal connection, or as the "uplink" to another switch or hub. I'm not sure why, but with the other hub connected and the cable plugged into the VAIO's network card, the network operated with no complaint.

Today, on the way back from the doctor, I stopped at the Office Depot and ended up buying a cheap wireless PCMCIA card for the VAIO, specifically so I wouldn't have to have two ungainly wires sticking out of the thing. Upon having successfully installed the wireless card, I let the VAIO's end of the network cable drop to the ground.

This apparently was enough to kill the connection to the hub. I suspect it may be that while the VAIO was connected, some critical circuit was complete (even if the VAIO wasn't powered). Unplugging the cable opened the circuit, which made the hub inoperative.

No, I'm not going to test that hypothesis out right now... I'm still enjoying the silly grin on my face from having translated 560 segments of the current project.

Tomorrow will be a somewhat harder day, so I better get a good night's sleep.

Cheers...

Stolen!

...from LJ friend bandicoot(though I caught sight of it earlier :^):

In November 1998, Stephen Ambrose wrote American Heritage's cover story, "I Learn a Lot from the Veterans." He quoted an unnamed World War II veteran:

Imagine this. In the spring of 1945, around the world, the sight of a twelve-man squad of teenage boys, armed and in uniform, brought terror to people's hearts.

Whether it was a Red Army squad in Berlin, Leipzig, or Warsaw, or a German squad in Holland, or a Japanese squad in Manila or Seoul or China, that squad meant rape, pillage, looting, wanton destruction, senseless killing.

But there was an exception: a squad of GIs, a sight that brought the biggest smile you ever saw to people's lips, and joy to their hearts.

Around the world this was true, even in Germany, even - after September 1945 - in Japan. This was because GIs meant candy, cigarettes, C-rations, and freedom. America had sent the best of her young men around the world, not to conquer but to liberate, not to terrorize but to help. This was a great moment in our history.

And it's still true.

Cheers...