View From the Other Side...of work, organization, relaxation, and English

by Nancy Halverson

Work continues to get more comfortable, although I'm always amazed at the time it takes to get really productive. Every time I review work I've done over the past few months, I see how much I really didn't understand when I started. Oh well, it's all getting better, right?

Possible Meeting

As well as the work, I'm trying to get a meeting of technical communicators off the ground. It's not very easy to get people together. I've told you before to count yourselves very lucky to have a group of people who can effortlessly (seemingly) put monthly meetings together.

What I'm trying to do is simply get people in a room to talk about how we might be able to help each other in our professional lives.

The industry here is fairly strong, although it's hard to know. Software producers exist in most cities. There are lots in and around London of course, and Swindon, Oxford and Cambridge (the so called OxBridge area). The reason why I'm trying to put a meeting together in Sheffield, is simply because most people who live outside of the London/Oxbridge areas find it difficult to get into the meetings held in London.

Okay, I know that people are coming from many different areas for the Waterloo meetings (sorry, Southwestern Ontario meetings). I don't think that anyone does a two-and-a-half hour train trip for a lunch meeting.

So, our meeting in Sheffield (April 24^th, drop in if you can!) will hopefully include people from both the STC and the ISTC (Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators), as well as students of the M.A. of Technical Communication. There's a few publications which might help, like newsletters, but it's not that easy to get everything together.

That's the publicity part of it. I'm also doing the program, which means finding speakers. I'm pulling in some contacts I've made here in Sheffield and hoping to get about a three-hour meeting out of it. We're doing a Saturday afternoon affair, which should not only help get people here, as they don't have to leave early from work or rush through traffic (no one rushes anyway!). I'm hoping for a relaxed atmosphere, which will help the networking. It's ambitious, but I'd love to get some action going that will show the communicators here that they can help each other to enrich their professional lives.

I'll let you know how it all goes.

The Weather

As for my life as an expat (chiefly British term meaning expatriate), the daily grind exists wherever you are in the world. It doesn't matter that we're not experiencing the snow and ice and sub-zero weather that you might be. We still haven't had the spring day feeling -- you know, that breath of warm wind that tells you that summer will come sometime. Oh yeah, we've got crocuses and daffodils, and the trees are starting to have tiny green leaves appearing. And yes, the grass is green all year long. But the wind is still raw and constant (never forget that this is a fairly flat rock in the middle of an ocean -- at least, that's what it feels like) and I still can't get my garden started. And don't forget, it rains...a lot.

My Home Life

My home life is getting better -- we've adopted two kittens (Snickers and Coco) who are adding a lot of depth to our home. The kittens are adorable, and watching them play together with our kids really makes a difference in my daily stress levels. Who'd have thought that taking on more responsibility would actually get me more relaxed?!

I'm about to relax even more in a few weeks -- the kids get a two-week break at Easter, and my mother is coming over for a visit, so I'm taking some time off. We've rented a cottage in Cornwall for a week, so we'll be able to see some of the south of the country. Getting away for a week will be great -- I just hope the weather goes to the mid-20's like it did last Easter. Can't wait.

Next month, I'll let you know what happens with the April meeting.

The Language

Language tidbits:

• bespoke means custom made
• a cot here means a baby's crib
• a stroller is called a push-chair
• a sliproad is an on-ramp
• a double room in England will get you one double bed -- there's almost no chance of getting a hotel room with two queen size beds.
• Oh yeah, and a queen-size bed here is actually called a king size, while a king size is called a super-king.

Happy spring everyone!