Watch the gunwales!
Feb. 7th, 2007 07:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpA torrent of work really let loose today, with one client calling to find out how much of a 150,000-word project I can take over the next few weeks. I gave the appropriate answer and figured that, with a good load of translation to do, it'd be a good time to go visit the old man in New York, so I'm set with JetBlue for a departure next week.
I am gathering new clients. One, from up north (but not that far up) actually got back to me after several days with a fairly sizeable job with a reasonable deadline - I had figured they'd decided against meeting my price - but they then subjected me to the hazing ritual of "registering" with their web site, which turned out to be no big deal, in the end, but reinforced a valuable lesson: never assume your password is "invisible" to others. (I had toyed with the idea of creating a rude password, not out of any personal animosity but simply out of frustration, but decided against it; lo, and behold, a few hours after registering, my contact person sends me a reminder email with my login and password, just in case I forget them!)
I got an email this morning from an outfit in France, too. They wanted me to do a short job, and I'm not sure we ever decided that I'm going to do it, but the deadline is tomorrow, so I went ahead and did the job. These folks have something of a track record on ProZ.com, so I'm not too concerned that I'll be left holding the proverbial sack, though I am concerned that I spent altogether too much time on the assignment to make it worth my while no matter what they pay me (short of some ridiculously large, lottery-like amount).
My telecon this morning ran very nearly the full two scheduled hours. At the end, the speaker for the Russian side remarked that had been pleasant speaking with everyone and that the interpretation had been very good. It didn't occur to me to do anything but interpret what was said, whereupon the folks in the room somehow got the impression that I was pulling their leg with that last part, so they laughed, which caused the fellow at the other end of the line to ask, "Why is everyone laughing? I'm saying that seriously!" I thanked him for his kind words before the connection was broken.
So here it is, just after 6 pm, and I feel as if I've accomplished a lot, and accomplished not much at all. Tomorrow's calendar calls for me to participate in a mission simulation starting at 1 pm. I should also send a note to my PM regarding my trip to New York next week.
Cheers...
I am gathering new clients. One, from up north (but not that far up) actually got back to me after several days with a fairly sizeable job with a reasonable deadline - I had figured they'd decided against meeting my price - but they then subjected me to the hazing ritual of "registering" with their web site, which turned out to be no big deal, in the end, but reinforced a valuable lesson: never assume your password is "invisible" to others. (I had toyed with the idea of creating a rude password, not out of any personal animosity but simply out of frustration, but decided against it; lo, and behold, a few hours after registering, my contact person sends me a reminder email with my login and password, just in case I forget them!)
I got an email this morning from an outfit in France, too. They wanted me to do a short job, and I'm not sure we ever decided that I'm going to do it, but the deadline is tomorrow, so I went ahead and did the job. These folks have something of a track record on ProZ.com, so I'm not too concerned that I'll be left holding the proverbial sack, though I am concerned that I spent altogether too much time on the assignment to make it worth my while no matter what they pay me (short of some ridiculously large, lottery-like amount).
My telecon this morning ran very nearly the full two scheduled hours. At the end, the speaker for the Russian side remarked that had been pleasant speaking with everyone and that the interpretation had been very good. It didn't occur to me to do anything but interpret what was said, whereupon the folks in the room somehow got the impression that I was pulling their leg with that last part, so they laughed, which caused the fellow at the other end of the line to ask, "Why is everyone laughing? I'm saying that seriously!" I thanked him for his kind words before the connection was broken.
So here it is, just after 6 pm, and I feel as if I've accomplished a lot, and accomplished not much at all. Tomorrow's calendar calls for me to participate in a mission simulation starting at 1 pm. I should also send a note to my PM regarding my trip to New York next week.
Cheers...
