Inventory...

Made it okay yesterday. If you don't count my incredible luck at being singled out (surprise!) for the in-depth security check in Durango, the only glitch in the process occurred in Houston, where it took nearly as long to get my bag back from the airline as it did to fly from Durango to Phoenix (or seemed so, it took actually 40 minutes). The wait was made tolerable by having run into Andra H. on the plane from Phoenix, and we caught up somewhat while waiting for the bags to arrive.

I stopped by the Fry's store for a few minutes on the drive down to Pearland, but amazingly, could find nothing that struck my fancy (which is fine, as I don't have all that much spare cash, and they don't take American Express). What I found interesting was the lack of any "depth" in their magazine department (only one Linux magazine, and that one was hidden in the top row of a bottom tier, so you had to hunker down to see it). At any rate, I left without buying anything and continued down I-45 toward "home."

Around where the highway snakes around Houston's downtown, I called Natalie from the car, and arranged to meet her at the Outback restaurant at the intersection of I-45 and the beltway. She suggested we take in Matrix Reloaded afterward, and I agreed.

When I got to the restaurant, Natalie wasn't there, so I called her number and she answered. She said she'd be at the restaurant in 20 minutes and got there in the time it took me to nurse a martini. Dinner was good, but by the time we were finished, I knew I wouldn't be able to last through a movie, so we went back to the house.

Just for the heck of it, I wondered what all I do take with me on these trips. Herewith, an inventory, in an order dictated by the way stuff is lying around:

• VAIO with power supply and network card dongle
  
• screen wiping cloth
  
• TRADOS and DejaVu dongles
  
• NASA badge
  
• MCC headset
  
• PalmPilot
  
• Cell phone, charger, and spare battery
  
• 3 fountain pens
  
• digital voice recorder
  
• Compact Flash reader
  
• 64-MB Compact Flash card
  
• network cable (way too short)
  
• printout of translation to be edited (most of which was edited on the plane)
  
• reporter's notebooks (for interpretation notes)
  
• "FilmCard" Compact Flash PCMCIA adapter, with 64-MB card
  
• toilet kit, meds kit, alarm clock, contact lens container
  
• Franklin Planner
  
• digital camera with transfer cable, spare batteries and 128-MB Flash Card
  
• Sharp Zaurus with charger
  
• clothes (which we will not inventory)

As noted in the list, I managed to edit 58 of the 72 pages translated on Thursday and Friday while on the plane from Phoenix to Durango. I need to finish that edit today and send off the file.

Natalie wants to take me to where a friend of hers will be singing in a performance of Mozart's Requiem, and we're supposed to be there at 3 pm. Therefore, I really need to get cracking on the new translation, even though it's due on Tuesday (I'd love to have the draft done by the time we leave for the church).

First, however, I think I'll run over to the McD's for a quick bite... there's nothing in the fridge here except bottles of soda, it seems.

Cheers...

Progress...

Something - I don't know what - conspired to keep the TRADOS installed on my VAIO from working properly. I could have sworn I fixed the problem back when I fixed it on my desktop at home, but apparently, I didn't. I thus found myself faced with the prospect of translating a source file in situ, that is, typing the translation "on top of" the source, making the appropriate edits along the way.

The only problem with this is that having deleted the Russian source, I often want to look at what I've translated one last time before going on to new material. Fortunately, I brought my DejaVu dongle with me, too.

I finally got started on the translation around 10 or so, and by noon had only done 100 or so segments out of just over 300. Fortunately, I was able to improve that rate, so that now, after 3.5 hours of work, I have fewer than 50 segments left to translate (and that makes me very comfortable, considering the Tuesday deadline).

I can hear the sound of dished being washed in the kitchen behind my back, and Natalie and I need to be out of here by 2 pm in order to make it over to the Westheimer area in time for the concert. (I'm actually looking forward to this, BTW!)

There will be plenty of time, I think, to finish the edit of the item due tomorrow morning after we get home (based on the edit done on the plane, there are very few nits to correct).

Off to clean up and dress up!

Cheers...

What a concert!

We made it to the Bethel Independent Presbyterian Church with only a few minutes to spare, found a seat, and settled in for what I thought was an excellent performance of Mozart's Requiem. The music (and words) brought tears to my eyes at several points in the performance.

You may say what you like about the evils of living in or near a big city, but the fact remains that you simply cannot cumshaw something like this together in a community such as Pagosa Springs. Heck, there simply aren't enough people to constitute both a choir and an audience!

I think Natalie was moved by the music as well. She was blinking back something during the performance.

Upon returning home, I finished the assignment due Tuesday (it's in the "to be reviewed" stage) and finished the review of the item due tomorrow (and it's been sent).

I've signed up for a 30-day free, 300-minute trial of T-Mobile. I don't expect the world to shake, but it might be interesting to log in and check my e-mail while sipping a decaf latte at Starbucks. After the trial, I'm set up with a "pay as you go" account, which charges 10 cents a minute, with an hour minimum charge per login. (Yeow!) I don't expect to use it all that much, but it's nice to know it's there if I need it.

Time to relax, for a while, and then hit the rack. I must get up at around 5:45 am tomorrow in order to get to JSC in time to get a car pass and then make my sim in the MCC.

Cheers...