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A working weekend...
May. 30th, 2004 11:10 amYesterday was not an all-out day at work for me, as I was only scheduled for a half day, but there was work to be done nonetheless. Once I was off, I went back to the hotel and fooled around for a bit with WordPress, which is a GPLed blogging tool that seems to be taking off now that Moveable Type has changed the rules of the game as far as usage of their latest/greatest software application is concerned. WordPress is powered by PHP and MySQL and installs and runs with no problems. I also noticed, in the course of uploading the files, that there is a script for importing LiveJournals, although that's as far as I got with that.
I then decided to take a nap and originally intended to rest for only a half hour, but that half hour snoozed its way into an hour and a quarter, which turned out well in the end, for yesterday was the birthday of Serge C., the head of the French security contingent. (There is a connection... read on!)
After dinner, I was playing table tennis at the Fili with Olga (and getting beat fairly thoroughly in the process) when someone came by to let us know that we interpreters had been invited to a little get-together being held for Serge at the Kometa hotel. Invitations such as this directed at interpreters generally are laced with an ulterior motive (i.e., we need you here to interpret), and although there was inevitably need for our services at the Kometa, it was a genuinely fine time where among other things, I learned that the proper way to drink Pastis de Marseille (think: anise!) was to mix some water in with it first.
On the way back to the hotel, a few of us detoured to the Proton Club for more table tennis. Olga again beat the tar out of me, which I find doesn't bother me at all (since my skill only improves in the struggle). I did, however, feel something of a barb earlier in the evening at the Fili when a spectator to our game suggested I "stick to chess," even though I'm fairly certain the remark was not meant to give offense.
Anyway, by this time it's 9:30 or 10:00 pm, so I left Olga to play with another member of our team and went back to the Fili, where a number of team members were trying to start a fire in a grill-like structure out in front of the building. The boss, Jim B., was gracious enough to start a tab with Dmitri in the kitchen, and I had a beer and listened to the repartee, contributing my own parrot jokes here and there and chiming in with some limericks when the tide of the chatter turned in that direction. It was after midnight when the group broke up.
Today is a strange "off" day for me. I'm not involved directly in any operations, but I'm the "on call" interpreter. Interestingly enough, I've actually been "called" once today, so I am feeling productive. If I manage to get some laundry done, I'll be really feeling my Wheaties.
The hotel staff wants to clean the room, so I guess I'll grab the laundry basket and head on downstairs.
There is, after all, no time like the present. It's developing into a great day.
Cheers...
I then decided to take a nap and originally intended to rest for only a half hour, but that half hour snoozed its way into an hour and a quarter, which turned out well in the end, for yesterday was the birthday of Serge C., the head of the French security contingent. (There is a connection... read on!)
After dinner, I was playing table tennis at the Fili with Olga (and getting beat fairly thoroughly in the process) when someone came by to let us know that we interpreters had been invited to a little get-together being held for Serge at the Kometa hotel. Invitations such as this directed at interpreters generally are laced with an ulterior motive (i.e., we need you here to interpret), and although there was inevitably need for our services at the Kometa, it was a genuinely fine time where among other things, I learned that the proper way to drink Pastis de Marseille (think: anise!) was to mix some water in with it first.
On the way back to the hotel, a few of us detoured to the Proton Club for more table tennis. Olga again beat the tar out of me, which I find doesn't bother me at all (since my skill only improves in the struggle). I did, however, feel something of a barb earlier in the evening at the Fili when a spectator to our game suggested I "stick to chess," even though I'm fairly certain the remark was not meant to give offense.
Anyway, by this time it's 9:30 or 10:00 pm, so I left Olga to play with another member of our team and went back to the Fili, where a number of team members were trying to start a fire in a grill-like structure out in front of the building. The boss, Jim B., was gracious enough to start a tab with Dmitri in the kitchen, and I had a beer and listened to the repartee, contributing my own parrot jokes here and there and chiming in with some limericks when the tide of the chatter turned in that direction. It was after midnight when the group broke up.
Today is a strange "off" day for me. I'm not involved directly in any operations, but I'm the "on call" interpreter. Interestingly enough, I've actually been "called" once today, so I am feeling productive. If I manage to get some laundry done, I'll be really feeling my Wheaties.
The hotel staff wants to clean the room, so I guess I'll grab the laundry basket and head on downstairs.
There is, after all, no time like the present. It's developing into a great day.
Cheers...
