What I do

Yes, this is part of what I do.  

Care to guess what language this is?  Facebookers are excluded because you already know.

This is a CDC publication targeted at immigrant communities to prevent the spread of certain communicable diseases.  I look at the English source and the translated target side by side on paper, and mark up anything that I think needs changing.  Then I pass it to my fellow QC spec for back up - she runs her eye over it, adds things and discusses with me anything she finds noteworthy.  Then I annotate our notes in the PDF document that was produced by the Graphics department - with edits for Graphics, and questions for the Translator.

Graphics implements their changes first if possible, otherwise their further issues are addressed by the project manager, then the PDF goes to the PM who passes it to the Translator to have the questions addressed.  

In the photo, I am re-annotating the PDF for Graphics in a second round, according to the Translator answers which came in a detailed table.  This being an incomprehensible language to me, it took a lot of shape-hunting and at times I was zoomed in at 400%.  Here, the translator has addressed my issue that "sick" and "not sick" are not bolded in the translation.  The Translator says he did bold it originally in the document he sent to Graphics, so I have written a note to Graphics here to ask them to either bold it again or enlarge the font slightly, if bolding is not possible.  

Another issue was that the title on the poster used different characters to the identical title on the leaflet, and the Translator then provided a better phrase.  I also marked a LOT of stray characters here and there which Graphics will remove.

So, that's sort of what I do and hope it makes more sense for those of you who are still mystified as to how I perform my job.  Don't worry, you're not alone - sometimes I wonder too!

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Last weekend we didn't do photogenic things, probably because we met up with some of his friends on Thursday night to watch the opening of Star Trek.  It was an amazing movie and I recommend you go see it.  Afterwards we all went for dinner so he didn't escort me home until way past midnight.  Obviously, we both paid for that wild episode on Friday and felt too lazy for an epic weekend although we accomplished much.

On Saturday:

• Ate lunch at Cici's Pizza - yay for jalapenos!
• We searched high and low at the mall for a Scrabble game, and dropped my boots off at the cobbler's bench
  
• Went to the grocery store for baking supplies
  
• Baked Magic Cookie Bars, which are delicious by the way, and we have both eaten a couple of squares every night this week, and they're still not finished
  
• Ate dinner at a really good Indian restaurant in Bethesda and listened to a young white jazz band (and they were amazing) outside the Haagen-Dazs down the road
• Played Scrabble and ate our baked goods.  He won.  We're both good with words, but he's a better strategist and I'm a better speller.  So he'd say, "Livvy, how do you spell the word for..." and give the definition and I'd supply the spelling.  And then when I gave up he helped me, and we finished all the tiles, but he still won.
• On Thursday, Jeff said, "Livvy, we make a good team in the kitchen."  I agreed.

On Sunday:

• Went for brunch at the Pancake House in Bethesda
• We hung out at the fountain, watching people out on their best behavior with their mothers all dressed up for Mother's Day
• Also watched children and dogs, as usual
• See, told you it was boring but we like it
• And we had ice cream at H-D
• Then he went to the driving range for the first time this year.  He's got some snazzy golf shoes.

Not done yet.  On Monday (!):

• He picked me up after work and we went to the mall to collect my boots and have his shoes shined
• Had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.  If you have one near you, I highly recommend the mango tandoori chicken pizza, my new favorite
• Although I was in one of my nice London outfits, I said he looked so much more presentable than I did in his pinstripe suit and nice tie, and he said, "Livvy, if I look presentable it's because I'm with you."
• Awwwwwwww....!

OK, that's enough for now.  As I get home so late in the evenings, I can only visit you all in bits and bytes.  I do miss being able to spend lots of time on blogs now, and I'm sorry.  I am still trying to tinker with my schedule so I can find the right balance.  I'd like to go to work earlier so I can come home earlier, but this week I could not effect such a change, so I will keep trying...