Musings from an overworked translator

TGIF: How to clean your computer July 10, 2009

I figure if you are overworked like me you tend to ignore your computer. When I am busy I tend to let the files accumulate in my Attach folder and My Documents. Ideally I would zip the files up and archive them away once I’ve invoiced the job, but that is easier said than done. I try to keep up with it, but tonight I found myself archiving files from the middle of June all the way up to now. I then ran Ccleaner (formerly known as Crap Cleaner) to get rid of lots of temp files and speed up my computer. I try to do that once a month. Tonight I cleared out 414 MB of temp files, cached files, cookies, links, etc.

You should also try to thoroughly clean your computer once a month. Since I have a dog who sheds really fine hair, my computers tend to accumulate lots of dust in all the vents and the fan. I thought it would be fun to find a funny video on how to clean your computer. That was easier said than done, so you’ll have to settle on this one. This little video was made by a system admin to tell his father how to clean his computer. It is painful at times when he is trying to be funny, but it is in fact informative. I thought it would be helpful to all of you who are afraid to dive into the computer and give it a good dusting. I know I used to be afraid of touching the inside of a computer. Hopefully this will teach you a lot. Have a great weekend!

TGIF: 4th of July fireworks July 3, 2009

I know most of you aren’t located in the United States, but I have fireworks on the brain. I have been busy the last couple days translating 6,000 words of cooking instructions and ingredient lists. The agency gave my client an extension, but I still wanted to get it done by Thursday night so that I could enjoy the holiday weekend. I didn’t manage to do that, because I was downtown last night listening to the Cleveland Orchestra and watching the fireworks afterward. The file is now delivered, and I’m heading out for the weekend. I hope you all have a great weekend. To those of you in Europe suffering from the 30°C heat – stay cool!

TGIF: Do you suffer from grammar obsessive disorder? July 3, 2009

Here is a cute little video on grammar obsessive disorder, in which the folks at Ragan Communications “look at the symptoms of this scourge of professional communicators and offer help on how you can cope with its virulent manifestations.” You know you have Grammar Obsessive Disorder when…

TGIF: Interjections June 26, 2009

This is the video that started me off on sharing Schoolhouse Rock videos with you. The ALTA blog had posted it, and that sparked a need in me to watch them all again. It’s been a great time, and I hope you all enjoyed it as well – especially those of you who didn’t grow up in the United States in the 1970s.

As the video clip explains, “Interjections show excitement, or emotion. They’re generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point, or by a comma when the feeling’s not as strong.” I hope you all have a great weekend.

TGIF: The Tale of Mr. Morton June 19, 2009

This is the Tale of Mr. Morton… featuring predicates. I bet only a few of you English native speakers can explain what a predicate is. I know I couldn’t until I looked it up. It’s been over twenty years since I truly studied the fine details of English grammar. The predicate is basically the rest of a sentence apart from the subject. As Wikipedia so succinctly explains, “a predicate is one of the two main parts of a sentence (the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies)… The predicate must contain a verb, and the verb requires, permits or precludes other sentence elements to complete the predicate. These elements are: objects (direct, indirect, prepositional), predicatives (aka predicate complements: subject complements and object complements) and adverbials (either obligatory or adjuncts).”

This Schoolhouse Rock clip first aired in December 1993 and features Jack Sheldon, who was a frequent contributor to Schoolhouse Rock. As I’ve said before, he sang most of my favorite Schoolhouse Rock clips, including Conjunction Junction and the wonderful I’m Just A Bill.

Have a great weekend, everyone! I’ll be offline, because I will be walking a total of 30 miles (17 on Saturday, 13 on Sunday) in preparation for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. I am training to walk 60 miles in 3 days from July 31-August 2. We are just ending Week 7 in the training plan. I have raised $2780 so far. And if you want to donate to my walk I certainly won’t say no 🙂

TGIF: Busy Prepositions June 12, 2009

It’s Friday, and you all know what that means – TGIF video time. I want to apologize for my lack of posts in the last few weeks. I have been working on a large project. I just submitted the fourth batch of files today. The job is supposed to end in the next few weeks and will then hopefully start back up in July. That leaves little time for things like housecleaning, spending time with Lily and blogging. I need to get better at managing my time. I’m sick of living in a pig sty :-). I’m planning on spending today cleaning, doing laundry, washing the floors and finishing up odd chores – in addition to a little translating.

We are coming to the end of the Schoolhouse Rock videos on grammar. I don’t know about you, but I have really been enjoying this little trip down memory lane. I have even had the opportunity to share them with my 4 and 6 year old nieces when I babysat them, and they now ask to see them again when they see me. These songs are so catchy that I still can sing along – and it’s probably been 35 years. These last two, Busy Prepositions and The Tale of Mr. Morton, aired in 1993. Even if they are more recent they are still catchy. I will post the one that started it all – Interjections – to end the series.

I hope you all have a great weekend!