A waste of gas, but a nice ride...

As no work had landed in my inbox by 7:45 am, I put on my Colorado go-to-meeting clothes (tee shirt, clean jeans, sneakers), grabbed paperwork, loaded Shiloh in the car, and headed down Highway 160 toward Durango after a brief stop to pick up a bunch of mail (just in case there was something from the DMV, or any client checks).

The primary objective of the ride was to stop by in person at the regional DMV office and try to get some closure (or barring that, at least some clarity) regarding Galina's imminent suspension. When I got to the office, the "civilian" side of the joint was deserted. There was no line. I felt disoriented, as if I had been transported into the Twilight Zone, and half expected Rod Serling's voice to come on over the PA system. Instead—

"Can I help you?" asked the woman behind the counter. I approached and laid out my case. The woman said nothing, but tapped on her computer keyboard while looking at her monitor. A moment or two later, she turned to me and said something to the effect of there currently was no action pending regarding Galina's license, which suggested that either Colorado received updated information from New Mexico, or my fax of last week actually got through to someone who corrected the situation.

* * *Today's email did bring the following news:

Dear Colleague:

I am very pleased to inform you that your proposal has been accepted for a presentation at the American Translators Association's 52nd Annual Conference, October 26-29, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts.

So I guess I know where I'm going to be at the end of October. Now, all that's left to do (besides rehearse my presentation) is to put it together. As in years past, I shall savor the thought of perhaps doing the presentation in anything other than PowerPoint—maybe Tony Buzan's iMindmap or Apple's Keynote—and see how it turns out. (If the past is any guide, however, I'll wimp out and revert to PowerPoint, which—in the final analysis—is a usable tool that, alas, too few folk know how to use.)

That reminds me... The upcoming issue of The Slavfile, which is the publication of the ATA's Slavic Languages Division, is supposed to be carrying a review of my presentation at last October's conference in Denver. It's usually out by now... hmmm.

* * *My trip to Durango didn't take as much time as I thought, but it was not the there-and-back trip this post may have suggested. I stopped by the natural foods store and the Office Depot as well, and picked up some items I needed before I fly to New York this weekend.

Cheers...