The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 25-29, 2019

What up, my people?!

Wow, that was awfully enthusiastic for me. I should check... Nope, no fever. It's just Friday.

Pretty sure.

It's been one of those weeks. The kind of week where you're not really sure what day it really is. There were a lot of Tuesdays and Thursdays. But aside from that, it's been a decent haul.

So, let's break it down.

First, we need to talk about the OMS 5K in June. It's a fun thing we do every year to raise money for Bridge to Reading, which is our literacy program. I'm a firm believer that people should be able to read whatever they want. So, if you can run/walk with us (I walk. Slowly.), you should totally come to Greenwood on June 29 at 8 am. If you find that too early or too far away, you can support my slow walking and help people learn how to read by clicking anywhere in this sentence. And then giving money. Because just clicking the link doesn't do anything but take you to the fundraising page.

Right.

It's the end of March. That means the first quarter is over. If you recall, we set ourselves some goals for Q1. And we've actually done okay on finishing those, despite being down a production person and having a new production lead (me). So, we now have new goals for Q2.

Which might beg the question, how exactly do we set goals for a translation project?

A lot actually has to do with what stage the project is in. Or if there is a training event coming up in that language. Or the velocity of the translator. So, in the first example, we had a project that was in the final proofing stage. It's not a language that is in popular demand, but we have a translator that does steady work. Because it's so close to being done, we set it as a goal to finish it this next quarter. Next example, we have training events coming up in Korea and Japan. For Korean, we already have the first three groups done (what we call our MVP or minimum viable product - what we absolutely have to have for the program to function). But we still need two more groups in Japanese. So that's another goal. Finally, our Romanian translator is like lightning. And we kinda want to see if we can finish this project completely in less than a year. So it also goes on the goal list. (Also, T-money, if you're reading this, that's your first project for training purposes. No pressure.)

There are other things on the goal list. But it serves as a little goalpost for us to make sure we're doing the stuff that needs to get done in a timely manner.

In that vein, I actually did some catch up work this week. We had a couple of projects that needed to be reviewed so they could go out for proofing. I prefer putting as much as possible in the translators' hands. So I did a group of Haitian Creole and a group of Indonesian. Which are two really weird languages to do back to back. But I did learn that in Haitian Creole, there is a book of the Bible called Women. I kept seeing Scripture references like Women 8:28 and Women 11. There is no book of Men. (Any guesses on the English analog to the book of Women? Leave it in the comments.)

Now, I'm working on republishing Hindi. Yes, I said republishing. It's a long story. But we've actually changed a few things since the last time, and I've been able to fix a few mistakes we've found. (Shocking, I know.) That will probably be done next week.

And that's about it, I think. No photos this week. I'll try to do better next time. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 18-22, 2019

I am amazing.

Increíble.

Also, my humility knows no bounds.

I don't care.

Spanish is done.

Once more for the people in the back.

SPANISH IS DONE!!!!!!!

I never have to touch another Spanish booklet. (Until we start Castilian. But I'm just going to bask in this little victory, so don't bother me with trifles.)

And yes, it took me most of the week to do. There are 81 files that had to be produced. Five times. It takes a while.

But it's done!

Part of the delay was training this week. Though I only had to go part of Wednesday and Thursday. And Monday, actually. It was a smaller group this week, but I think that's okay. It gives a more hands on learning environment. Though we are already pretty interactive. Fortunately, I just had to provide assistance with the app learning and then I got to help Sarah in the kitchen. My knife skills are legendary.

So what do I do with these odd hours on a Friday afternoon when my big project is done and I don't want to start something new and equally big?

File maintenance.

I know. Scintillating stuff.

Seriously, though, I may have a 1TB hard drive at work, but it fills up fast, especially with InDesign files. So I try to make a little time to compress the files we're no longer actively working in. We might still need them in the future, so we can't just delete them. But we want them to take as little space as possible. Plus, it makes my computer run faster if there are fewer files. I probably got rid of more than 1,000 files in just two languages.

I just wish there was an easier way to do it.

Oh well. I get the job done.

But that should give you a good idea of just how many files we create during this process. It's probably more than we actually need, but they do come in handy on occasion.

And that's about it. You're very lucky to get this, actually. I shut down my computer once already before posting. I only did that because I'm on the phone with my dad, and he's very distracting. I think I'm done now.

Adios. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 11-15, 2019

Guys, if I don't get Spanish published next week, I'm going to give you permission to stare at me disapprovingly. Unless I get asked to do more with training than I normally do. Then all I'll allow is one raised eyebrow.

Seriously, though, I'm so close. I've reviewed 10 groups, I've put NVI into the last two groups, and I'm close enough to taste it. (No idea what it tastes like. Slightly chemicalish? Little bit of cardboard?) The last two groups have some of the longest booklets in them, but theoretically, it's totally possible. And then I can finish the rest of the Q1 goals that I've been ignoring.

Yeah.

That's about it. I did promise you the radio link, so have at it. Also, did you know that it's really hard to say Jesus legibly on the radio?

Oh, I did get distracted by a visitor this week. But really, could you blame me?

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 4-8, 2019

Honestly, I feel like the most noteworthy bits of my week happened out of the office. But I'll let you judge for yourselves.

So, unlike last week, when I claimed there was no variety and then proceeded to disprove my hypothesis (well spotted, Lori), this week was actually entirely devoted to Spanish. All 12 groups of RVR have now been published, so I'm feeling the pressure to get NVI out. I'm trying to get it all checked and reviewed so that I can publish in one big batch. It makes sense in my head, but I keep questioning if I should publish as I go. But then I'm switching my brain between two very different tasks, and I don't generally like to do that. Thoughts?

I suppose this week we have talked a little bit about the word we picked for the year. Have I talked about that on here? I don't remember. It was in my newsletter. Anyway, we came up with a 'God word' for ECC for 2019. Apparently, this is a thing people do. I don't have a problem with it, per se. But no one has convinced me that it's a valid interpretation of exegesis.

Whatever.

Point is, we have a word for ECC. The word is 'balance.' So instead of picking something and talking about it for a week and then never mentioning it again (not that we ever do this), we wanted to make it something that carried some weight. So we've been chatting about what we can do to help people find more balance in their lives or even just define what that means. Fortunately, most of my contribution to this has been limited to nodding at ideas and proofing what other people are writing about it. But now I have to come up with a measurable goal for what I want to accomplish this year when it comes to balance.

As for my out of the office adventures, I was dog sitting this week. This is Lexi:

     


Lexi is an elkhound and still a bit of a puppy. She has no sense of personal space and likes to wake me up at odd hours of the night. Subsequently, I was quite tired Wednesday and Thursday. I actually went home early on Thursday and took a nap. My face was banging repeatedly against a wall, and that is not a good look for me.

That's about it, really. Oh! Totally forgot. I recorded a new radio ad this morning! It was a lot of fun, because we initially recorded it with one mindset and imagined setting, and then after we had recorded our lines, we started thinking about another concept using the same lines. So we re-recorded it with that in mind. I think the second concept will be much more fun, so when that is done, I will put a link somewhere on here. I got to be the skeptic AND the truth-bringer, so that was nice.

That's really it for me. I'm gonna go sleep for a while. Adios!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 25 - March 1, 2019

Has this seemed like a long week to anyone else? I don't really know why. It was just interminably lengthy. Perhaps because February itself seemed to drag on. Maybe I just got bogged down in Spanish booklets and missed the lack of variety.

That's probably it.

Yes, lots of the Spanish. And the last group of Hakha Chin. And two groups of French. (My argument above is not holding water.) But mostly Spanish. I'm starting to publish NVI. Can't really say when it will be done. But it needs to be soon. My list of projects is growing a little too quickly. But Romanian training got pushed back! So that's helpful.

Lots of people out sick this week, too. I'm pleased that they stay away while ill, but this building is a ghost town. 'Tis the season, I suppose.

We had a really good chapel on Wednesday. The new(ish) President of CONIM (our Brazil denominational partners) spoke about how we are all nails in support of God's larger structure. I found a lot of meaning in what he said. I may ruminate on it further here.

And that's about it. I'm all alone in my hallway right now, and I have a dog waiting for me to stop working so I can spoil it rotten. (Not my dog, stop freaking out.)

See you next week!