The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 21-25, 2019

I started the week in Tagalog. Then I had to interrupt that to work on Hakha Chin. Then I had to interrupt that to add some art in Romanian. Then back to Hakha Chin. Then I finally got around to publishing three groups of Tagalog.

So here's what I'm learning about being team leader - it's doable, but there's quite a bit more admin work than I like. Just the sheer amount of documentation and tracking is insanity. One of my goals is to cut down on that as much as possible while still maintaining an adequate amount of information. But I'm also learning that there isn't a lot of time to give to innovation. I've been wanting to find new avenues to share T&M, new products to offer, and better production tools. But I'm at capacity. We're in desperate need of more production staff, but even that is going to be difficult, because I'd have to find time to train them. I'm sorry now for some of the things I said about Veronica before (not all, mind).

But we're getting there. Yesterday was just a Bad Day all around, but I think I was able to recover better than before. I'm encouraged.

The Board is in town this week. We got the usual email about having a clean work space and wearing our name tags. I don't think I managed either. But then, I don't think anyone from the Board saw my office space, so who cares? Besides, what are they going to think if I have a messy space? That I spend more time doing my job than making sure my space is tidy? Because it's true.

We had two chapels this week, which is unusual with the new schedule, but again, Board in town. On Wednesday, we had a recognition chapel for Pat, who has been with OMS for 10 years. She's in ECC, so we also went out to lunch. That was nice. Then on Thursday, one of the Board members preached. He was trying to be controversial but not really, which drives me nuts, but I do it all the time, so I can't really say anything about it. Except I will and did. If you're going to be controversial, tell me something new. Challenge the paradigms. Don't go for shock value and then say we're supposed to love one another as Christians. Really? It's only the second greatest commandment. It's literally our job as missionaries.

But whatever. I'm fine. It's all fine.

I was going to explain the art thing, but I think I'm doing more of that next week with Korean, so I'll save it for then. Gives you something to look forward to...

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 14-18, 2019

I've never understood the phrase 'thrown in at the deep end.' Not the meaning - I am fully aware of the meaning and the feeling behind it. But who in their right mind would teach someone how to swim by throwing them into the deep end of the pool/lake/ocean? It seems counterproductive. I didn't learn how to swim until I was 9 or 10. I was terrified of water (nearly drowned when I was quite young). If you'd thrown me into the deep end of the pool (the one I refused to dive into at the Y and thus did not graduate out of guppies with the rest of my class), I'd have probably panicked and hacked up a lung when you hopefully pulled me out. And then there would have been blood. (I heard a rumor that Russian women would throw their children into water right after birth so that the children's bodies would remember the swimming motion from the womb and they wouldn't have to be taught it later - not sure if there is truth to it, but for some reason, I believe it.)

Anyway, I'm finding a new dislike of that phrase this week, because I feel like I've been thrown into the deep end of managing T&M production, and there is just a flimsy rope attached to a sinking rowboat to keep me afloat.

Okay, maybe it's not quite that bad. But I have a new appreciation for how much work goes into this, and I feel like I already knew a lot about that. So what have I learned this week?

My documentation skills are severely lacking.

But they are getting better. They have to. We have too many projects going on right now for them not to. I think I'm starting to figure out where we are and where we're going. But it's rough, guys. So please be patient with me.

I think I touched at least four languages this week. I'm right in the middle of publishing Tagalog, so that will hopefully be done next week. I also need to do Hakha Chin. (And yes, I'm using this blog as one of my documentation techniques. You're just going to have to deal with that. If I put any more sticky notes on my desk, people are going to think I got pranked.)

Thank you to everyone who sent birthday greetings. It was a good day, and a good week. Stay safe this weekend. Be excellent to one another. As I told my mechanic, yes, the world is full of bad people. But if we don't do anything to try to change that, we become part of the problem.

Felicitations on this, the thirty-third day of my birth.

I was probably 11 or 12 when I first heard Mark Lowry tell this joke.



And I don't particularly know why, but it has stuck with me all these years. Maybe because it's funny, which it is. Maybe because it seemed like a logical dividing line. Before and After.

The thing is, I don't mind being single at 33 (which I am today). When I was younger, I told my parents that I would probably be single the rest of my life. It was in part a lament, because getting married and having kids was just what you did. But it was also partly a feeling that that path was not one I would walk. And I'm not discounting the possibility (though the older I get, the less likely it is) because far be it from me to refuse something that God has ordained.

But I'm really just Not Interested. I like the single life. I'm responsible for exactly one person. I answer to myself, and I answer to God. (A little to my employer, but that's because as a person, I have decided that a work ethic and respect for my employer is a thing that should happen.) I can't even imagine rearranging my life right now to accommodate another person.

So why are we talking about this? Because now that I've reached the dividing line, I'm not really sure what comes next. What does navigating the rest of my life as a (probably) single adult look like?

I don't know. But I'm excited to find out.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 7-11, 2019

So I'm reviewing Estonian files before I publish them, and something catches my eye. Can you see it?

Yep. Big old note in English from the translator that never got caught by any of the many eyes that have seen this file before (which include mine since this is the second time I've checked this booklet - lest you think I'm tooting my own horn here). That would have been an awkward conversation with anyone who downloaded it. But I think (I hope) the files are ready - they had better be, because I published them on Tuesday. They are in the world, now.

I'm going to brag on our Romanian translators for a minute. See, we're used to releasing transfiles (translator files - where they type out the translation) a few groups at a time. And then we get them back in dribs and drabs. For Romanian, which is our newest project, we told them, "Look, we're going to put all of the transfiles in Google Drive. Don't feel pressure to do all of them right now. Just upload the translations as you're able." So they proceed to send back 64 pristine translation files in under three months. That's close to 250,000 words, which is half of "War and Peace." These guys are dedicated.

But this puts the production team in a bit of a pickle. I have a lot of other projects going, but I want to honor their efforts and encourage their eagerness to use Train & Multiply. That means getting these files put into booklets in a timely manner so that they can be proofread and the translators aren't just twiddling their thumbs. So now I'm going to brag on Marie. Because she's equally fast. In the last two weeks, she has been able to process five groups of Romanian booklets. Are they perfect? No. But they don't have to be, yet. I'm able to do a quick review of the layout and then send them off.

I've done more team lead stuff this week than I've been able to do since we first talked about this transition. We had a meeting yesterday about what we'd like to accomplish in the first quarter and what that means for prioritizing T&M projects. It was quite helpful, but it has also opened my eyes to just how many projects we have and just how many segments there are to manage. Also, we've been somewhat lax in maintaining our records of who has done what and when. So I've been reviewing that file with Brian. But my To Do list looks something like this:

That's six languages, not including Romanian, that need something from me in the next week or so.

It's fine.

Really.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 2-4, 2019

Oh, hey, it's Friday. Totally forgot for a second. Or twelve. Or all day.

I have had no idea what day it is for about two weeks now. It's amazing I made it back into work.

But I did.

I hope you all had an excellent holiday. I had a lovely Christmas and a decent New Year. I've made my resolutions, and so far, I'm actually keeping them. We'll see how that goes.

Work this week is still rather quiet. I imagine we'll see most people coming back Monday. I considered taking the rest of this week off, but I really couldn't see the point. Of course, that might explain why HR wanted to talk to me about the massive amount of vacation days I had left.

We've changed our chapel format. Everything is on Wednesday now, so we had a brief get together. I think this schedule will work nicely. I like consistency.

I'm all about Estonian this week. Fortunately, my notes served me well, so I knew where I had left off. I don't like stopping in the middle of a project. It just makes me nervous. I have to double check everything. But I think I'm close to getting five groups published. I had to take a brief break to get group 12 out the door, but that wasn't too bad. I just want these files to be perfect since we've had to unpublish some books and hunt down files. So I'm probably being a bit more OCD than usual. But that's good, because I caught at least three major things that I hadn't seen before. Which just makes me wonder what else I haven't caught.

But I can't let myself get bogged down in that. If I do, I'll never finish a project. So I'm going to publish on Monday, and then I'm not going to think about it again. (I'm getting flashbacks to sophomore year of college and being Editor of the newspaper. Wow... those were some late nights.)

That's about it for this week. More hijinks to come. Sorry no photo this week. My phone is running out of space.