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BBQ night...
May. 26th, 2010 09:41 amThere was a desert wind blowing last night, but it was not one of those hot, dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes, because there are no mountain passes in this neck of Kazakhstan. In this manner, we avoided all sorts of curled hair, jumpy nerves, itchy skin, and all of the other side effects so marvelously described by Raymond Chandler in the opening lines of his story Red Wind.
The evening was billed as a "home style" American barbeque, and although folks seemed to like the food, I'm not at all sure everyone enjoyed the steady diet of loud music, not even all of us who hail from the States. In addition, the Americans, Russians, and French pretty much kept to themselves, or at least more than they usually do. As I mentioned yesterday, the management table even managed (!) to exclude interpreters.
Something like that ought not bother me, but it does. So does an email from my former best client, informing me that effective pretty much immediately, they'll be paying for jobs based on source count instead of target count, which is a roundabout way of saying they're cutting my rate 20% or more.
In a world where a 3% drop in the value of a currency is looked upon as something horrendous, and where a 6% decrease in a market index is cause for extreme concern, I am - needless to say - not particularly pleased that the company has decided to cut my rate so dramatically. (FWIW, I'm thinking this is tantamount to them deciding to no longer avail themselves of my services, and that's a shame, because we've done business to our mutual benefit for over 15 years.) But what particularly burns me is the insulting, indirect manner in which this reduction was announced, as if the issue was no more important than a decision to cut checks on Fridays, as opposed to Wednesdays.
However, life is too short to dwell on stuff like this, so I will drop the subject.
I have been tapped to go along on this Saturday's excursion to a monument erected to Korkut-Ata, an ancient poet whose name is well known locally. The trip is scheduled for one of the days during which the upper stage of the integrated launch vehicle will undergo propellant loading, which is an hazardous operation performed by a military unit, during which nobody among the campaigners is allowed near the integration facility. I was ambivalent about the trip, as I've been told the monument is no big deal and too far away to be worth the trip, but apparently, I'll be interpreting, and since that's what I'm here for, that's what I'll do.
I'm the afternoon interpreter today, so I better take advantage of this morning and relax.
Cheers...
The evening was billed as a "home style" American barbeque, and although folks seemed to like the food, I'm not at all sure everyone enjoyed the steady diet of loud music, not even all of us who hail from the States. In addition, the Americans, Russians, and French pretty much kept to themselves, or at least more than they usually do. As I mentioned yesterday, the management table even managed (!) to exclude interpreters.
Something like that ought not bother me, but it does. So does an email from my former best client, informing me that effective pretty much immediately, they'll be paying for jobs based on source count instead of target count, which is a roundabout way of saying they're cutting my rate 20% or more.
In a world where a 3% drop in the value of a currency is looked upon as something horrendous, and where a 6% decrease in a market index is cause for extreme concern, I am - needless to say - not particularly pleased that the company has decided to cut my rate so dramatically. (FWIW, I'm thinking this is tantamount to them deciding to no longer avail themselves of my services, and that's a shame, because we've done business to our mutual benefit for over 15 years.) But what particularly burns me is the insulting, indirect manner in which this reduction was announced, as if the issue was no more important than a decision to cut checks on Fridays, as opposed to Wednesdays.
However, life is too short to dwell on stuff like this, so I will drop the subject.
I have been tapped to go along on this Saturday's excursion to a monument erected to Korkut-Ata, an ancient poet whose name is well known locally. The trip is scheduled for one of the days during which the upper stage of the integrated launch vehicle will undergo propellant loading, which is an hazardous operation performed by a military unit, during which nobody among the campaigners is allowed near the integration facility. I was ambivalent about the trip, as I've been told the monument is no big deal and too far away to be worth the trip, but apparently, I'll be interpreting, and since that's what I'm here for, that's what I'll do.
I'm the afternoon interpreter today, so I better take advantage of this morning and relax.
Cheers...
