The Kvetch Thread

I get a compliment (didn't even notice the achievement) and I end up having to look stuff up. Glad you're chuffed. As I used to say to my parents when they started talking Yiddish in my presence, "Talk American." They laughed. They didn't stop doing that. I asked my grandparents for lessons. They obliged, but they did the same thing. You can talk privately with other people in your midst. It wasn't easy being a kid, and I wasn't an easy kid.

That's funny.

When I was a kid, my parents, whose mother tongue was English, spoke Yiddish when they did not want me to know what they were saying.

Obviously they hadn't taken a course in early childhood development, as they did not know that I understood every word.Today, I can't speak Yiddish except for many common expressions.

[#008000]Well, we re getting ready for our road trip. I REALLY tried to keep my packing reasonable, but no way, I am not going to change.

In addition to everything else, I find that I have added another suitcase, which holds electronics, camera, cell phone charger etc. of all things. Last week I talked Mr. P. into getting a iPad, and I am really not terribly adept at it. What is supposed to make your life easier, is becoming a pain in the butt!

I really became upset when I thought that I would have to be without a computer for a month. What did I do all those years without one?
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Well, we re getting ready for our road trip. I REALLY tried to keep my packing reasonable, but no way, I am not going to change.

In addition to everything else, I find that I have added another suitcase, which holds electronics, camera, cell phone charger etc. of all things. Last week I talked Mr. P. into getting a iPad, and I am really not terribly adept at it. What is supposed to make your life easier, is becoming a pain in the butt!

I really became upset when I thought that I would have to be without a computer for a month. What did I do all those years without one?

You didn't know what you were missing, kid.

Have a good, safe trip.

I live above a supermarket. It's one of the reasons I don't want to leave this apartment. For someone who doesn't get around well, it's ideal. Even if I'm having a bad day, I can usually manage to get to the supermarket.

I drink Pepsi. For decades, it's been Pepsi. I like the sixteen ounce bottles. The right size and a little too much, which I can have the next day. Cans are not a good alternative. You can't save the contents of an open can easily. (I've tried.) The two liter bottle is too much.

Lately my supermarket has not had the sixteen ounce bottles. I bought cans twice. Not happy. I went back today. No bottles. Some cans.

I bought Coke. I'm at the mercy of the damned supermarket. Get back the Pepsi bottles you sonamabitch.

Why does everything have to be so damned complicated?

It's the bubbles..

"No coke, Pepsi!"

Ragman, Even though the sound on my computer doesn't work at the moment, seeing the picture reminded of me of the "No, Coke, Pepsi" from SNL. Thanks for the memory.

Technology sucks. I edit on a template. I kept getting an error message when I tried to use it. (I got a new hard drive a while back.)

I called the publisher. Four people. I finally got the tech guy who said he'd get back to me. He did. I can use the template. Hours lost.

My sound in the computer isn't working. I looked at the instructions that came with the computer. I had the sound plug plugged into the wrong hole. I moved the console to plug the plug into the right hole. The mouse plug fell out and wouldn't go back in.

Two calls to techs. I disconnected the adapter and plugged the mouse plug into a rectangular plug. It works. The sound still doesn't.

I'm fed up. I got up early to get work done. Two hours lost with tech stuff. I'm operational but soundless. I'll figure out the sound problem when I don't have so much work.

Sign me snarling in Manahattan.

A high-level kvetch day. Not a happy camper.

I just finished editing a 26-page glossary. The worst I've seen.

I'm accustomed to glossaries where not everything is in the right alphabetic order. I make faces, but I can live with it.

The author didn't bother to put the terms being defined in boldface type. 26 pages of tedium. I can live with that too.

I can also live with what followed each term. A colon, period, comma, semicolon, space(s), or nuttin'.

Lots of terms were duplicates--with slightly different definitions. Also, no big deal.

Over thirty terms didn't have definitions. Can't live with that. Thud.

Cheetah down!!!!


medics!!!!!!

Can you ask to be listed as second author when you do half the writing?

FWIW, as a former Tech writer, the writing and editing process was so different. When writing and publishing of tech manuals, the publishing or text-editing software generated it's own Glossary and Index based on the input (coding) from the writer. At a certain point the editor oversaw and corrected the drafts once the writer was at that stage. Granted writer's coding errors and poor coding/programming practices and organization created some crappy indicies and/or glossaries.)

How come the glossary isn't getting created by the publishing or text editing software? I guess the literary industry you're in is different?

This required the writer to KNOW the software he/she used and to have SOME talent as an indexer. Sometimes the publishing group (with certain high profile projects) would hire a contract indexer..but that got to be pretty rare from 1988 onward due to the economics.

Thanks, deb. I've regained consciousness.

JPB, This was not a rewrite. Just a simple copyedit. I've done rewrites. No royalties. Reminds me of a time a rewrote a whole book. The author's comment: "I didn't know I knew so much." And there was no writing in this project at all from me. What did I do about the definitions? If I couldn't come up with one, I asked the author.

Ragman, I don't work on literary books. Never have. I work on textbooks and professional business books mostly these days.

I don't have anything to do with indexes, so I don't know how they're handled. As for glossary-generating software, I don't know how it would have applied to this magnum opus. The text was not the place to find fully formed definitions. In fact, I think one of the problems was that the author took some of the so-called definitions from the text.

Glossary generation software (no matter what the size of the book) requires the author to tend to it..as a regular part of their daily process. If they don't do it, then it obviously becomes a mess for the editor.

You're assuming that the author knows what a definition is and can come up with one with the help of the software. I don't think it would have mattered in this case. In fact, for all I know, he may have used the software--except for the alphabetical order problem.

My laptop died. I'm posting from the local Public Library. Only good for one hour's time. But vould I kvetch?

Betcha ass.

Now that is tough, Andy. Hope it heals promptly or gets a fixit.