odd dream

Something prestigious/important had featured my Weblog, with commentary about it being/having been good and meaty, but that I'd run out of things to say (I was associating this with Mike Gunderloy, but not sure if he was the commentator, or just that he ended his first weblog for that reason). And the write-up referred to me as "Redbird" and then as "he", and I was writing a note saying, basically, "Thanks for the kind words, but you got the pronoun wrong".

Out here in waking life, I don't think I'm done Weblogging (though I haven't posted much in the past fortnight, that runs in cycles, depending on what I find), and my real name is on the Weblog, along with links to both this and my main page. And I doubt anyone given both my photo here and the name "Vicki" would default to "he".

odd dream

Something prestigious/important had featured my Weblog, with commentary about it being/having been good and meaty, but that I'd run out of things to say (I was associating this with Mike Gunderloy, but not sure if he was the commentator, or just that he ended his first weblog for that reason). And the write-up referred to me as "Redbird" and then as "he", and I was writing a note saying, basically, "Thanks for the kind words, but you got the pronoun wrong".

Out here in waking life, I don't think I'm done Weblogging (though I haven't posted much in the past fortnight, that runs in cycles, depending on what I find), and my real name is on the Weblog, along with links to both this and my main page. And I doubt anyone given both my photo here and the name "Vicki" would default to "he".

I don't understand it, but it works

The nice people in Japan wanted to fax me a background document. I don't have a fax machine. So I went googling and I now have my very own fax number, in area code 206, that automatically emails me faxes (also voicemail, which I don't need). It's free. I have no idea how they expect to make any money on this--there were no ads with the first fax I've had sent, and it's a bit late for anyone to be trying the "lose money on every sale and make it up on volume" approach to Internet business.

For all I know it will turn to fairy gold at midnight, but in the meantime I have 17 pages of poorly-copied material, largely in Japanese, that is apparently relevant to the project I'm supposed to be working on tomorrow and Wednesday. (For maximum confusion, it arrived with no date stamp, meaning it was filed as "oldest" in an inbox that sorts from oldest to newest.)

They're also giving me an extra half a cent a word on the previous project, which doesn't sound like much, but at 21,683 words, it's significant. So I'll be getting a total of close to a thousand dollars for the last project, assuming nothing weird happens to the exchange rate before the Japanese client pays. (My rate is actually 5.6 yen/word, at whatever the exchange rate is when they cut a check, which apparently will take a month or so.)

I may have another project coming after this, from the same people; between that and the higher rate, I think they like my work.

Unrelated to this, last week's roast chicken is currently turning into soup on the stove, making me feel much more productive for the day as a whole. (I blew off the gym because I wasn't feeling well after lunch. 20 bicep curls with one arm hardly counts as a work-out.)

I don't understand it, but it works

The nice people in Japan wanted to fax me a background document. I don't have a fax machine. So I went googling and I now have my very own fax number, in area code 206, that automatically emails me faxes (also voicemail, which I don't need). It's free. I have no idea how they expect to make any money on this--there were no ads with the first fax I've had sent, and it's a bit late for anyone to be trying the "lose money on every sale and make it up on volume" approach to Internet business.

For all I know it will turn to fairy gold at midnight, but in the meantime I have 17 pages of poorly-copied material, largely in Japanese, that is apparently relevant to the project I'm supposed to be working on tomorrow and Wednesday. (For maximum confusion, it arrived with no date stamp, meaning it was filed as "oldest" in an inbox that sorts from oldest to newest.)

They're also giving me an extra half a cent a word on the previous project, which doesn't sound like much, but at 21,683 words, it's significant. So I'll be getting a total of close to a thousand dollars for the last project, assuming nothing weird happens to the exchange rate before the Japanese client pays. (My rate is actually 5.6 yen/word, at whatever the exchange rate is when they cut a check, which apparently will take a month or so.)

I may have another project coming after this, from the same people; between that and the higher rate, I think they like my work.

Unrelated to this, last week's roast chicken is currently turning into soup on the stove, making me feel much more productive for the day as a whole. (I blew off the gym because I wasn't feeling well after lunch. 20 bicep curls with one arm hardly counts as a work-out.)