Funny, it didn't feel like a Saturday...
Things went fairly smoothly this morning. I didn't rush to finish the translation, preferring instead to ramp up my activity and approach the day with a calm demeanor.
It worked, mostly.
I got up to the appointed place in good time, eventually met my contact and a member of the Russian team who has been here for the past week, and we all left for the airport to pick up newly arriving participants.
Interstate 10 eastbound from the Katy area was one long parking lot. Worse, it was a parking lot that overflowed onto neighboring streets running parallel to it. We left the hotel, and spent about an hour making very little progress. Eventually, my contact drove back to the hotel and embarked on a new route. I was reminded of the T.S. Eliot line:
Eventually, we made it to the airport, suffered through a delay, met the first group arriving (there were three) and I was sent to make sure that first gorup was successfully settled in the hotel. Tomorrow, I have been told to wait for a call and meet the group in Kemah, which is just down the road from here, for a day of... I don't really know... sightseeing?
I-10 eastbound still looked like a nightmare when I set off for home, so I went east and turned south onto Highway 6, eventually, turning toward town on Westheimer and then south again on the beltway. Fortunately, I decided to tough out the lights and traffic on the service roads, because just as I got past the intersection with Highway 59, the traffic on the beltway shuddered to a halt because of a lane closure.
The overflow, of course, had an effect on movement along the service road.
In the end, the homeward route was less than a mile longer than the outbound route, and the average distance each was was 40 miles. I am so glad I don't have to drive up there tomorrow morning just to come back down here, and then to return there just to drive back home.
I didn't get too far with the remaining 1450 words (whittled down somewhat from yesterday's 1800+ ending point) because of a rush-rush job for the same client, which is finished (I must check it tomorrow morning and send it off) and which extended my deadline for the Monday job by a little more than 24 hours. (Frankly, I still think I can finish the document by the original deadline, but I don't feel a burning need to prove it.)
* * * Natalie and I watched Hollywoodland while eating a so-so pizza from a mom-and-pop place down the road. Although I was enjoying Diane Lane's performance in the movie, nothing else was holding my attention, not even the idea of having the "truth" revealed about the death of George Reeves. After finishing my portion of the pizza, I abandoned the film and returned to my translation.
And now, I must abandon this computer, and go to sleep.
Cheers...
It worked, mostly.
I got up to the appointed place in good time, eventually met my contact and a member of the Russian team who has been here for the past week, and we all left for the airport to pick up newly arriving participants.
Interstate 10 eastbound from the Katy area was one long parking lot. Worse, it was a parking lot that overflowed onto neighboring streets running parallel to it. We left the hotel, and spent about an hour making very little progress. Eventually, my contact drove back to the hotel and embarked on a new route. I was reminded of the T.S. Eliot line:
We shall not cease from explorationA marvelous sentiment, but not applicable in this case.
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Eventually, we made it to the airport, suffered through a delay, met the first group arriving (there were three) and I was sent to make sure that first gorup was successfully settled in the hotel. Tomorrow, I have been told to wait for a call and meet the group in Kemah, which is just down the road from here, for a day of... I don't really know... sightseeing?
I-10 eastbound still looked like a nightmare when I set off for home, so I went east and turned south onto Highway 6, eventually, turning toward town on Westheimer and then south again on the beltway. Fortunately, I decided to tough out the lights and traffic on the service roads, because just as I got past the intersection with Highway 59, the traffic on the beltway shuddered to a halt because of a lane closure.
The overflow, of course, had an effect on movement along the service road.
In the end, the homeward route was less than a mile longer than the outbound route, and the average distance each was was 40 miles. I am so glad I don't have to drive up there tomorrow morning just to come back down here, and then to return there just to drive back home.
I didn't get too far with the remaining 1450 words (whittled down somewhat from yesterday's 1800+ ending point) because of a rush-rush job for the same client, which is finished (I must check it tomorrow morning and send it off) and which extended my deadline for the Monday job by a little more than 24 hours. (Frankly, I still think I can finish the document by the original deadline, but I don't feel a burning need to prove it.)
And now, I must abandon this computer, and go to sleep.
Cheers...