Friday, July 22, 2011

Day 584

I got another business inquiry from LinkedIn. Things certainly have changed. Business relationships used to be nurtured over a long lunch. Now, you just need to make sure your name is mentioned on the right online lists. I think I liked things the old way a lot better. There's no sense in being nostalgic though, because I have a feeling that more and more strangers are going to be hiring me in the future. Already, a significant chunk of my business originates from people I have never met in person.

Today's inquiry was about translating German technical manuals. I used to do a lot of this sort of stuff in the past, but it's been a while. I never spoke German all that well. Today, I probably couldn't hold a coherent conversation with a four year old in German. That's not going to stop me from bidding on this job though. Even at my best, I was a terrible translator. I do understand technology though. When I got these sort of jobs in the past, I never bothered much about literally translating the German words. I just looked at the pictures to figure out what the subject matter was about, and then rewrote the entire thing from scratch in English. My clients generally thought I was a brilliant translator, because their brochures sounded like they were written by a native speaker. Actually, they were. I've been speaking English since I was a baby.

I'm spending more time on Google+ and less on Facebook these days. To me, Facebook seems a lot like shopping at Walmart. Google+ seems a bit more like shopping at Williams-Sonoma or Whole Foods. I like the concept of circles of interest too. If you find someone saying interesting things, you just drag them into a circle and read what they have to offer whenever you feel like it. The whole concept of "friends" on Facebook always made me a little uneasy. Jeez, in real life I only have a small handful of friends. On Facebook, I have over 500. Something is very wrong with this picture.

How many days can a body stand these 100 degree temperatures? This is one of the hottest Summers I can remember. We get 100 degree days every Summer in Texas, but usually they don't go on for weeks at a time like this. It even seems to be hot up North this Summer. Personally, I'm ready for Winter.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day