The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 23-27, 2023

For future reference, if you see an 8 in Bengali, it's actually a 4. 

That is probably the sum total of what I have learned this week. I doubt it will ever be useful again. 

But hey, knowledge is power and all that jazz, and it's not like I learned something bad, so I'm counting it as a win. 

This week has been a bit topsy-turvy. I'm cat sitting this week, which means I'm 20 minutes further away from the office than normal. So when we had five inches of snow and some ice on Wednesday morning, I made the executive decision to stay with the cat. I'm sure she didn't appreciate it as much as I did, but we made do. Also because of the storm, OMS cancelled the in-person Board meetings this week and held them on Zoom instead. I'm sure that decreased the anxiety levels of most people around here. I, of course, have little to do with the Board, so it was no skin off my nose.

Sarah has been in Thailand for the last two weeks, so it has been quiet around here. She's good for getting me out of my seat to walk around a little. 

In addition to the Bengali volume, I did a mock-up of the front cover. It needed to be identifiable as T&M but also not, since it will be used in a country that is less than friendly toward certain activities. Ahem. So I've been playing around with some of the less obvious graphics we use. 

And, I don't know if I ever told you this, but I've also been working on the T&M Facebook page. I neglected our social media for a long time, and I felt it was a good idea to get back into things and get our name recognition up a bit. I think it is working, but do you know how hard it is to come up with appropriate social media posts? I'm terrible at it. But needs must. 

I think that might be it for the week. This time of year is never terribly exciting. I'l see what I can do in the future. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 16-20, 2023

Hello, people!

I trust you are all well. I am, thus far, enjoying the start of my 38th year on this planet (I turned 37 on Monday). It doesn't feel all that different, but it is very windy out, so I guess we could consider those the winds of change or something like that. 

My birthday was pretty low key. I took Sarah to the airport Monday morning. She's going to Thailand without me. What a birthday present, right?! But seriously, I'm very happy for her even if she is going for work. I haven't quite been able to convince myself to go anywhere by plane yet. I did some work on the Portuguese volume, then my parents came and we went to Target and dinner. We talked about lots of things, notably my strategy for getting my insurance to actually pay for the surgery in December. Why is healthcare so gnarly? Anyway, it was a lovely day, and I'm very happy my parents came to see me.

I had a team meeting on Tuesday, which was lovely, since I haven't actually gotten to connect with my peeps except by text for a month and a half. We try to keep up with what is going on in life and also how work projects are progressing. Pray for them. 

I did finish the volume for the VCP teams and started working on Haitian Creole. We are so close to putting that project to bed! We've been working on it for years, and, despite all of the conflict in the country, switching translators, and unavoidable loss of contact, we are now nearly finished.

I had to break from HC, though, because we're putting together a separate volume for Bengali. That's an interesting language, one which I actually haven't worked in before. It's one we finished a few years ago, and it's fascinating now to see how the small changes we've made to the booklets over the years have added up. The Bengali books are still great, but I can see how we have made incremental improvements for users, translators, and production.

The OMS Board will be around next week, so that will be interesting. I generally try to avoid all of that craziness. 

That's all I have for you this week. I hope you have a wind-free weekend.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 9-13, 2023

It is Friday the 13th. 

Which, really, doesn't mean a thing other than 13 is my favorite number. And that Monday is my birthday. But that's about it. 

I'm just about settled back in at work. There's always the odd person here and there that you haven't seen for a while because you've been out, then they were out - ships passing in the night. So I imagine there are a few 'how was your holiday' conversations left to have. But for the most part, they have migrated on to 'so what are you working on' conversations, and those at least provide some variety.

For my part, I have been working on African Portuguese. I just published another group, and my project next week will be to turn that group into a volume. Maybe I'll do a video post about it. Otherwise, I've had a lot of meetings of the 'what are we going to work on this year' variety. Some of it might happen. Some of it won't. We just have to trust God that we focus on the right things. 

I am still healing. I had my 6 week doctor's appointment, and aside from some incision grossness, everything is going well. (I may never wear jeans again. At least, not for a while. Ouchy. Ouchie? owchee? Bad rabbit.)

I hope you all have a warm and lovely weekend.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 3-6, 2023

Hello, friends! Yes, it's true, I am back in Greenwood and back in the office. Is it too soon? Probably a bit. But I was going stir crazy.

So, yes, my surgery did take place on December 2. It ended up taking about 80 minutes - not that I was aware of anything after the anesthetist told me she was going to start the oxygen. I had some trouble waking up, but my mom was there to keep prodding me. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but she has been an absolute rock during my recovery. 

I spent most of December sleeping or laying down or writing or watching sports. Very low impact activities. I think I'm healing quite well, though I will find out for sure next week. My only issue is the inability to wear anything other than leggings so I don't rub against the incisions too much. 

As for work, I'm still getting back into the swing of things. I sat at my desk for about 20 minutes on Tuesday just trying to remember exactly what I do. Fortunately, most of this week was spent in meetings or working on correspondence. I'm sure next week will be more intense. 

Thank you all for your prayers over the last month. I appreciate all of the messages, cards, and emails. I'm hopeful that this surgery will solve many issues and allow me to work toward better health.

Bye!