The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 22-25, 2019

Hey, hey, the gang's all here!

Yes, I know, I missed last week. We had Friday off, of course, so I made my way north to celebrate the holiday with my parents. I hope you had as excellent an Easter as I did. 

So last week, I was able to complete two groups of Japanese booklets. Those are out for review, and if we can get those back in, we're well on our way to completing one of our quarterly goals. 

This week, we have new people in the office! Hurray! Hannah is a new administrative assistant for Train & Multiply. She's here to help us keep our files in order and give Brian (my boss and T&M Publisher) a bit of a break. Gloria is the new administrative assistant for Village Church Planting. This method of church multiplication is primarily used in Africa, and they've been undergoing a rewrite. It's connected to T&M because they want to use some of our materials, and they are writing two new books that we'll eventually incorporate into our program. We're all one big happy family here! I'm very happy to have Hannah and Gloria join the team, and if I think of it, I'll work on a team pic soon.

Hey, radio is back! I edited the script this time and recorded our latest venture on Wednesday. I think it won't be mixed until next week, but it was nice to be back in the studio. This one is a bit tricky because of sound effects, but I'm confident it'll turn out well. As always, I'll post the link when I have it.

This week has been primarily taken up with Haitian Creole. I was able to send three groups off for review, so we're moving full steam ahead. 

I think I almost prefer non-Latin languages. I like the ones with squiggles and whirls, because I have zero chance of knowing what it says, which means I can't second-guess everything from the translator. But, I have to admit, it can be interesting to pick out certain words and phrases in the Latin languages. I at least know the word for God in several languages now, so that might come in handy someday. 

Speaking of squiggles, I am now working in Hindi. It's an oldie but goody for me, and we're finally making some progress beyond the first three groups.

Of course, the big news this week was the premier of "Avengers: Endgame." I went to see it Thursday night with Sarah. No spoilers, I promise, but it is AMAZING!!! It's the perfect culmination of 10 years' worth of films. I have much love for these characters and the actors who play them, and though the end can be bittersweet, it's also everything we deserved and more.

Next week is the CMF seminar. I typically don't have to do much for that, but you never know what's gonna come up. In the meantime, have an excellent weekend!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 8-12, 2019

Remember when I was super excited about getting to create new booklets?

I'm not eating my words. But I might be choking a little.

I did actually get one group of Japanese done. But it's been hard fought. The font does not always cooperate, so I get those fun little boxes that look like I'm using Wingdings when it's supposed to be Kozuka Gothic.

It looks a little bit like that.

So I'm kind of skipping around in the groups to finish booklets that don't have a mysterious error, then I can go back and try to figure out why it's doing what it's doing.

Other than that, it's been a pretty straightforward week. The roof of the building is coming off, so I've been hanging out in my friend's office upstairs to watch various people defy death by walking around up there. But not too long, because I don't even like heights when other people are the ones in them.

Staff briefing on Wednesday went quite long, and we discovered that Thursday's work day had been postponed until May. But it was nice outside, so we did take a walk in the afternoon to enjoy the sunshine.

I have a stack of organizer agreements on my desk that need to be filed. And then another stack of paperwork from Canada that needs to be organized and filed. Basically, I have a lot of stuff on my desk that really doesn't need to be there. Feel free to take bets on when it actually goes away.

Closest to never will probably win. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 1-5, 2019

I think - but don't quote me on this - even though it's in writing and you'd be well within your rights to actually link to this very blog post because I am far too casual with my words - but I think I might actually get to create booklets next week instead of working on booklets that have already been created or published or proofed before.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Seriously, though, I feel like I've been playing a lot of catch up. I'm trying to get all of our languages as up to speed as possible. It's hard to see that any progress is made because the files have been through so many hands. But I think we're getting there. I'm becoming more familiar with assigning projects and doing quality control. It's a complex process, though.

We say that a lot around here. It's complex, but it isn't complicated. In other words, there's a lot to do, but it isn't necessarily difficult stuff. Sure, it does require some foreknowledge of programs and grammar and communication skills. But once you learn the processes, you should be able to progress through them fairly easily.

Should be.

Hindi did its best to challenge this maxim this week.

I did okay for the most part. But there's this one part in publishing where you have to jump ahead in order to move forward as normal. And I get that this won't make much sense. But this is by far the most complex part of the process. And it nearly beat me today.

It didn't, of course. I prevailed. But it was a close one.

Next week: Japanese.

If you're in the Huntington area this weekend, my lovely coworker Sarah will be joining me in speaking at New Hope UB Church. We have amazing things planned, so we hope to see you there.

Au revoir!