I finished the translation yesterday night and sent it...it turned out shorter than I thought, and it will be $144 (tax included)...I'm pretty good at guessing how many words a translation will have when translating from Spanish to English...but, I was off by about 600 words on the English to Spanish....hmmmm, must start paying more attention, so I'll get a "feel" for the right ratio....

woo-hoo! just got sent my first official translation of the year!!...the original is in English... 3,164 words...considering that Spanish tends to use more words, I guess it will be about 3,800 words when done - or $152, whichever you prefer!...let's consider it ~$150!!!

...I just got told that our quotation for that $1600 translation got accepted...so, they already delivered the materials to my home...that means I have to start TONIGHT! as I only have 15 days to do it...that means we must deliver it no later than Jan 2nd, 4:00pm...
wish me luck!

my friend called (he still owes me $179; we hadn't been paid!...he's got the cheque!...) this will be the last translation $$$ I will receive in 2007....the translations I've made in Dec will be paid in January!...(these $179 go to my department store card!) ...

woo-hoo!

ok, so I still have 12 pages of translation to go...
we are done with all the toy wrapping (yay!) and today all we have to do is load the cars to be ready for tomorrow (take the toys to the place where the party will be held, tag and bag there)

Then on Sunday night we load cousin's car for the last delivery on Monday (toys are already wrapped)...

almost done....almost, but not quite!

with the translations I'm doing this week, I already have $800 due for January...that is so wonderful...I don't think there will be much more after this week, but, we'll see...one of my goals for next year is going to be to match my salary through translations...(so, I should be making an average of $1014 per month, after taxes- in translations)...wouldn't that be nice??

Ok, part 1 of the translation is done...that was 20,001 words!(or $800.04, whichever you prefer!) ...now there's another law I need to translate!!!...

At least, I got niece to help with wrapping gifts for a while today (called her at 10am, but she needs to pick up Ale at 3:00 and then leave for work)...still, it's help!...

The customer with the additional 187 toys just called...he missed ANOTHER 24 toys!...ugh! and to think I still haven't wrapped MY gifts for family!...will get to it next week!...I hope!

::breath in, breath out::

I'm leaving for lunch now! (it's 1:14!)...brought some spaghetti from home!

....we already have our hands full as it is, and, yesterday, one of our suppliers told us that the 30% off promotion had expired...we actually had a large order on toys from them...so, cousin ran downtown to find another supplier (she found one, yay, cousin!), but, it took her all morning...AND, the office get-together was yesterday night...(no way I could get out of going...we are only 9 people!-counting the spouses and 2 consultants!)...and, today, one of the people coming to help pack presents is sick!... AND, I still haven't finished my translation!!! (the good thing is, I was given an extension, because the end customer is NOT going to arbitration just yet-they might not go at all, but they want to have the documents just in case anyway!)

::breath in, breath out::

So, the last translations from company 1 were paid...after taxes, $1,025...I used $425 today for the toy business (I should get all my money back, plus profit, by Dec 15th, as we have an agreement with all companies that we get paid when we deliver the toys!)...

Now I only have to survive this week! (I have an awful cold...Ale, too!)...

I'm not going to try to do the whole translation!...in anticipation of this, and in agreement with the person who contracted me, I had asked them to tell me what parts of the Laws were MOST URGENT...so, I'm skipping on doing the whole thing and going for the Most Urgent part first...IF, once I'm done, I still have enough time, I'll do the rest!!

this is a Law they want translated...fortunately, this is one law I'm quite acquainted with (acquisitions by govmnt entities)...but, it may be quite extensive...most probably, I'll agree to do only a PART of it, as it is quite urgent and I wouldn't want to overcommit!

I'm wondering whether I should keep the translations as my $20 challenge next year or, if I should start considering that "recurrent income" and looking for something else to become the $20 challenge....

Truth is, with translations I've already covered most of my free time...and I honestly don't want to use the hours that I have actually left "blocked" as that is my "Time with Ale" ....

Yesterday, my niece's uncle (married to her aunt on her father's side) was killed...we went to the wake today...so ironic that he was a soldier on one of the "Immediate Reaction Batallions" during the war....survived that and ended a victim of violent crime 20 years later! ...the family thinks they might have tried to steal his car... Please ad the family to your prayers...there's his wife, 2 daughters, ages 21 and 19 and a son, aged 5....
After the wake, we went to see a friend's new baby..."some are born, some die" as the song says!...in the afternoon went downtown with cousin, but was already feeling emotionally drained...then got a call from the translation company that they had some $$$ for me...so I went and met them at the bank (there's one that's open until 9pm!)...then went to the pharmacy to buy some medicines for Ale, since she's had a runny nose again...then came back home to discover that Ale was running a very high fever (39 degrees)...gave her some medicine for that, also, and put her to bed...I've been monitoring her temp every half hour (I feel like I'm channelling my Mom!)...at least the temp is coming down, and her breathing is normal now...time to check on her again...hopefully, her temp will be normal again and I'll be able to go to bed and get some sleep, too!...her next dose should be at 5:30am...Grandma always said you shouldn't wake a kid up to give her medicines (unless on antibiotics)...

I'm not making too much sense anymore, I know....

OUT:
well, groceries were $48....fruit and veggies at the market $18...bought some cloth to make some bedding for Ale $19.75 (still need to get the batting, but that's not expensive and, she'll have 2 new bedcovers/4 new looks for her bed!)....seafood $23...invited the whole family for lunch at our favorite restaurant: $55 (had thought it would be $50... still, not too expensive for 4 people!...and, sis had beer and niece and I had one glass of wine each!)

IN:
2 translations...$42 and $74.48...and a third one which I still haven't done, so I don't know how much I will get for it!

well, I just got sent a file...it does not need to be translated, but it is a Powerpoint doc that got turned into a PDF and now they want to use some slides, so they asked me to re-create them...text slides, mostly....I don't think it'll take more than 1/2 hour...
I'm going home now (it's 5:15pm!) and I'll work on it after Ale goes to sleep... $$$$$ I'm SO glad:
1. that my former boss asked the managers to let me "help" with their presentations (hinder, mostly, would be the right word...at least at the beginning! I swear it took them twice as long to explain to me what they wanted than what it would have taken them to actually DO the slides themselves!)
2. that the managers had the patience to actually teach/correct me
3.that I was actually paying attention
4. That I got to re-type the manual/make the slides/screenshots for the new version (lots of practice!)

Yeah, Dad was right: anything you can learn can be useful some day, even if at the time you cannot imagine that it will!...and, even if you CAN imagine, sometimes things are useful in a DIFFERENT way than you imagined! (never saw this as a "side business" skill!)

just finished another translation!....hopefully, this will cover the $$ I spent on Ale's medicines (MY share of it, after I get my reimbursement!) and the new battery for the car!

Remember I said that there was one translation job that I was separating to put towards the Disney fund? Well, I got paid yesterday!!...so, I updated my ticker....

I'm still waiting on $1,000 from one translation job, and about $300 more for other, smaller ones...I'm also pending the proceeds from the toy sales....this will all be put towards debt.

another short translation arrived just before lunch! woo-hoo!...$15.16 after tax!...slow but steady!!!

have a new translation, which I'll work on during my lunch hour...I estimate about $20 from it...pre-tax...hey, it helps!!

I'm learning about energy generation now! LOL!...

...could you believe my "average" additional income for this year (from translations only) is $500?...what's amazing to me is that the first semester is about $600...the rest is all August-Nov...but, I'm willing to go with the $500 average...if I can keep it up, I could even be debt-free by next December!!...("happy numbers")...that would be soooooo sweet!

well, $33 once you take out the taxes!!...woo-hoo! this was a ppt presentation....these are becoming my "specialty"!

....I got 26 pages of transltion from the office...they scared me, because originally the guy that sent them said it was about 100 pages...I guess he was kidding, but, I HAVE seen translations that big, so I thought he was serious!...he really scared me!...as it is, since my boss said I COULD do it IF I had the time and IF I felt like it (because he said it is this guy's responsibility to have the doc translated if he needs it in English, not ours), I have been doing it in my "dead" time at the office and, have already sent along 15 pages....I expect to be finished by Thursday, at the latest... 1. it helps me get more acquainted with what we are doing and 2. it will help my reputation around the office! :P

One of the larger jobs was not paid yet. I spent: $1.30 for traditional candy at the mall (Ale begged and, since she can't eat the colored ones at the moment, I gave in!), I also went to the toy store and, I found a bike that was a bit more expensive, but had 18 rim tires, so it's bigger than the ones I had seen before and, will last her longer. She tried it and she can use it - it does have training wheels!...we can pay it with 25% downpayment and 3 installments without paying interest, so I paid ~$25 also bought the protective gear...I separated $6 for our vegetables tomorrow (change) and, put the remaining $$$ in a safe place, so I don't have it with me today and tomorrow (so I cannot spend it!)...on MOnday I'll deposit it and start working on the payments!...oh, and it seems my car may need a new battery (it refused to start after I dropped cousin off!...luckily her neighbor is a mechanic and he was just arriving at the same time, so he looked at it and, used the jump cables to start my car!)...that could cost me about $60-$75....I have to look on the bright side: while that means less money towards debt, at least I HAVE IT!...if this had happened last year, for example, I would have been in BIG trouble (and would have had to incurr new debt to get it!)...If this had happened before we went to the toy store, I might have backed down on the bike!, but, I'm already committed now (else I lose part of my $$$)...I also have to buy some more medicines for Ale, to finish her treatment...part of that is reimbursable, though, so...no big loss there...
Oh! and the guys from the translation agency warned me that there's "a TON of work coming really soon" and to check whether any of my friends were willing to do translations, as they might have more work than their current pool of translators can handle!..that is sweet news, indeed!!
it was a good day!!!
*****
minor detail I was forgetting! I owe $322 to my friend who helped me with one of the large translations! duh!...I'll go take that out of my stash RIGHT NOW!

I'm getting paid for A LOT of translations today!...woo-hoo!!!...about $2K!!!- that means I have to deposit this on Monday morning and review my payment plan, to see who gets what!! That ticker to the left is going to JUMP forward!!! muaaaaahhhhhaaaaahhhaaaahahahaha!

...other than the company I used to work for, that is...but, I don't consider them a "direct" customer because they gave me translations BECAUSE I worked with them!...
He's bringing the documents by tomorrow! ...great!

the latest translation will bring in about $700 after taxes...this one will most likely be paid either by the end of November or early December!

...the translation money is starting to trickle in!...$189.90 this time...already spent $35 in paying the electricity for this month, and today I'm going to go to the bank at noon to pay $98 still outstanding from last month...and tomorrow I will go to pay the $160 due this month, which will make me officially current....why go today and not wait until tomorrow?
1. the longer I have the money, the greater the temptation to buy "just a little thing"....
2. One less day of interest!

40, really, as I've already spoken to my friend so we can split them!..

woo-hoo!!!

If you said MORE Translations....you're absolutely right!...3 PowerPoint presentations for the training tomorrow!...woo-hoo!...and it's only 9:30pm and I already sent them!!!...that levaes me 1 and a half hours to work on the 4th presentation (due on Friday)...the comments from today's training sessions will have to wait, but, of course, those are lower priority... I still haven't done my wordcount on those presentations, so I still don't know how much $$$ I'm getting for them! LOL!...

these are the "cheap" package ones, but, still....I already billed $23 for tonight's!! ...the ones last time (which will be paid in Nov) totalled $547 AFTER taxes, so...they're not to be despised!!...and, just think: the course goes from oct 8 through Nov 16...that's 30 working days!!!

I feel like doing the happy $$$ dance!

$360 this time! woo-hoo!...I'm going to the bank tomorrow and paying $78 towards the cc and $220 towards the loan...the remaining $62 will go towards the dept store card! ....woo-hoo! TAKE THAT!!

or thereabouts...English text tends to be shorter...

I'm getting there!