An earlier start...

I finally gave in and sent the project manager of the OCR Nightmare the following email:

Any chance of getting an extension on the deadline for this assignment? Do what I might, I find I'm working at far from peak efficiency with this OCR file, because the horrid formatting not only makes it difficult to use TRADOS, but it also makes it very difficult to insert the parts that have to be inserted "by hand" because they were skipped by the OCR process.

In the final analysis, if I continue to work 14-hour days through the weekend, I can make the current deadline. However, if you can extend the deadline by a day (or preferably two), it would make life easier.

There's always a danger with sending off notes like this. Some project managers - caught between an inflexible schedule and wanting to help you out - figure the best solution is to reassign some portion of your work, so you really have to be prepared to see that happen if you're going to send off a note like this.

Of course, if you actually want that kind of outcome, then... well... there are better ways of achieving that goal.

I've been working since about 9:45 am, and am only 1000 words into today's work. I've wasted tons of time dealing with formatting. I have about 500 words left in the current section of the assignment (loading the entire file slows my machine down to a crawl, and even after having split up the text, I find it annoying to have to wait for the machine to catch up from time to time).

I shall finish this section, then start on the Thursday morning item. Afterward, before commencing work on the next section, I will remove all formatting from it, and we'll see how that affects both the way Word performs and my sanity. One thing is for sure: if the client does extend the deadline by a day, that'll just give me time to check formatting.

Incoming email says the extension is a go if I'm willing to do partial deliveries on Monday and Tuesday.

How can I refuse?

Cheers...

This is going to get ugly...

Hidden in those 500 words are several full-page scans of intricately formatted tables. Yuk.

I scalped most of the 500 words (occurring after the tables) and prepended them to the next section. I then did a "Select All" of the next section (6000 words!), copied the file's contents, created a new file and attempted to paste the contents of the clipboard as unformatted text.

Word croaked.

Now to go see if I can un... ravel this.

Cheers...

UPDATE: It sure would be nice if Word had enough residual smarts when it decides to recover your files to determine which files don't need recovery (as in: the last thing anyone did with them before Disaster Struck™ was save them, so presumably, there's an okay copy sitting on a disk somewhere).

The second time around, pasting the clipboard as unformatted Unicode text does the trick, but I've lost a tremendous amount of information in the process. Now the key question is this: Is it easier to retype what is lost and not have to deal with erratic formatting, or should I struggle with the original Nightmare file?

I could keep the original Nightmare file open for reference and cut/paste, of course, along with the original PDF and the original OCR file. Maybe I should fire up another machine to use to refer to the sections I've already completed?

Criminy! Daylight is burning and I'm not even at the 1500-word mark!

UPDATE: And what really hurts is that every other sentence is a 100+ word run-on monster! My current (1:40 pm) strategy is to wind up work on the OCR Nightmare, eat lunch until 2 pm, and then switch assignments. Once I'm finished with the Thursday job, it'll be "back to the face!"

It ain't me...

My earlier plan went straight to Hades as soon as I posted it. I continued to work on the OCR Nightmare until after 2 pm, had lunch, and then napped for about an hour, settling down to work on the item for tomorrow morning at around 4 pm.

With no minefield of strange formats to deal with, I managed to complete 1800 words in just under two hours. The remaining details (including a TOC that acts like a giant footer and keying about a dozen figures) took an additional hour and a half. And somewhere in there, I managed to eat dinner, too.

So the immediate pressure is off, and I can return with a lighter heart to the OCR Nightmare, of which I have probably translated 1500 words so far today. I may just limit myself to rescheduling my time between tomorrow and the new deadline, but I doubt that will happen.

Cheers...

Calling it a day...

I just finished some more of the OCR Nightmare, two cadastral map sets on 14 pages of the OCR Nightmare, which is a merry mixture of good and not so good news.

On the plus side, there are 14 fewer pages to translate (i.e., there are 70 left in the job). Plus there's the fact that 1400 words or so can be invoiced.

On the negative side, none of these translated words are derived from any of the original source words, because the corresponding pages never made it through the OCR process, so in a way, it's as if I've made no progress at all against the volume of what's left to translate. Also, it took me about two hours to format and tap out the first map set (around 700 words), which is awfully slow going. Fortunately, it took a lot less time to modify the first set into the second set, so that represented progress.

At the end of the day - right about now, in fact - it's been a pretty good (if cold) one, even if I haven't made much progress, and can't seem to talk about anything other than work. Life goes on.

Cheers...