2005-03-02 - 5:12 p.m.
Hi folks!
There’s a couple reasons why I haven’t been writing anything. First, we’re mad busy at work, and I barely have time to scratch. All the special projects and extra things that need doing do tend to pile up.
The special project we’re working on right now is a customer satisfaction survey. A few intrepid workflow coordinators are beta-testing the survey and the data-collection software. The software seems to be working fine, except for a couple of kinks. The problem is with the survey itself. It was written jointly by four of the most long-winded individuals I have ever met, and it shows. There’s all sorts of extra words, clauses, disclaimers, industry jargon, orangutans, fruitbats and breakfast cereals that make the whole thing just completely incomprehensible. I have to translate it into regular English. Of course, none of these good people considered the need for a Spanish version. Never mind that Puerto Rico forms 14% of our client base. So, I came up with a workable translation. Anyway, we now have to gather data. This means calling people at random and rattling off all this garbage at them, because (of course) the script must be followed verbatim.
(Have I ever mentioned how much I hate doing cold calls? It ranks up there with root canals and eating canned peas. Yechh.)
Anyway, this takes up time that could be spent blogging.
Another complication is the little child-induced injury I have. It has a long, Greco-Latin name that perfectly explains the condition if you’re into etymology. Of course, I can’t remember it. Basically, in an attempt to keep the Professor from squirming out of my arms and falling five feet to the ground, I injured a tendon in my left pinky. The tendon sheath is now inflamed, requiring that the pinky be immobilized, the wrist bound up, and me dosed with Aleve. All this slows down my typing, and gets me a lot of attention since I’m all bound up in an Ace bandage. Hopefully this will be enough, and it won’t require cortisone shots.
In an interesting sideline, I’ve been in touch with a professor from the University of Strasbourg about my translation work. Apparently, I am the only person in the world to have bothered translating the “Llibre de Totes Maneres de Confits”. She’s urging me to publish. Once I get my computer back, I just might…
Just think: me, published in an actual, non-SCA scholarly journal!
