We may want to cross ourselves a few times and say a few Hail Stenos before we even begin on what I'm about to say here. Ready?
I haven't touched my machine in 2 weeks for more than an hour here and there. I'm still stuck at 180 wpm. And you know why? Because I decided to stay with a school that, as I've stated before, has absolutely nothing to teach me that I couldn't learn on my own. Why? Especially, when I advise everyone to do self-study? Why? When I want to do self-study? Money. I thought I could persevere through the inadequacies of my school and finish up this summer while further delaying the day that I would have to start paying back my student loans.
And now, I'm even more dispassionate about that machine that has sat, unloved, in the corner of my living room. Don't get me wrong, I still want to be a steno. I still love being on the machine. I just wish that I felt like there was more of a purpose to what I'm doing on it day after day.
Added to that, my school is closing all of its campuses. Some of you know that my local on-ground campus has already closed. Well, now all of them are closing and that will include the pitiful online program I'm still enrolled in. They're offering a teach-out option, but I won't be staying.
I'm finally saying goodbye, for good, to trying to deal with sub-par instruction for ridiculous amounts of money.
Now, that puts me in an awkward position. I have to figure something out to start paying those loans back and that will still allow me to get ahead in my self-study of the art of stenography.
I'm really upset with how this whole process has gone down for me. Unfortunately, I'm just in a place where I've been bogged down with negativity concerning my stenographic pursuits. I still want to be able to start working by the fall, but it is difficult to pull myself out of this hole of drudgery. I can't even bring myself to participate in any of the forums online, other than to throw out an ocassional "like" to all of the others who are making great progress.
I sort of took the quarter off from editing this quarter as well. I want to get back into the game of being a responsible and successful adult, but it feels like such a chore right now.
I wish I had more of a local supportive presence to rely on. Not that anyone can do what needs to be done to progress for me, but it would be great to have the ability to sit in with someone on a regular basis, perhaps learn to scope or proofread, both of which I am confident that I could do given the chance.
So I'm keeping an eye out for that opportunity. And I'm officially quitting school in pursuit of self-study, finally. And if anyone wants me to clean their house so I can pay these loans, let me know ;) I'm great at cleaning!
So, I'll say my Hail Stenos and pay my penance and get back to doing whatever it takes to be a working, successful stenographer by.... let's say.... October?
Fingers crossed!
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
The AWESOME DU Mock Depositions
Yes, that's right. It's time for a re-cap of the day I spent a whole week stressing out about and telling myself what an embarrassment I was going to be to the profession that is stenography!
As with most situations I tend to stress out about, it wasn't that bad at all. In fact, I believe the term I used was, awesome, as in, I awesomed all over the place. Sure, it's a verb. Especially, when you're doing it so well!
When I say I awesomed all over the place, I'm referring to the fact that I did not vomit in the ladies upon arrival, I did not hyperventilate mid-depo and run from the room crying. In fact, I had a really good time. That, my friends, is awesoming like a pro!
Actually, it was a lot easier for a few reasons. One: They didn't want a bunch of parentheticals, just the questions and answers. Two: They don't want any cert pages, index pages, or appearances pages. They basically want the students to be able to see how they were speaking and that's it. Three: I had another student in the room and we were mostly able to swap off writing. Each depo was about 30 minutes, so it was nice to get breaks. Four: I had prepared like a squirrel prepares for winter. I had researched the case, gotten a glossary of terms together, created a job dictionary, and made briefs for what I thought would come up a lot. (Also, I had the amazing Jade King's help with said glossary.) Five: I had a recording device. (GASP!)
I know, I don't want to rely on audio, but give me a little break here. I have to have transcripts and while I feel I did a good job for my first time being out in a live setting, I was not fast enough nor familiar enough to produce a clean transcript and miles away from anything close to realtime. This was a learning experience. And I learned quite a bit.
Lessons learned:
A) Get a comfortable carrying case for all of your equipment, preferably with wheels.
I do have a rolling bag that came with my Wave, but it doesn't fit anything but my Wave and maybe a couple notebooks.
B) Always have a super professional-looking cable bag with you!
C) If you haven't memorized the sworn statement yet, bring one with you that you can stick in an easy to see place.
D) If you don't have one, have your husband run out the morning of the event and get you a recording device. Then, while you're putting your makeup on, have him read the instructions and give you a 3 minute rundown on how to use your newly acquired device.
E) Save your finalized glossary in order to help you identify just what the hell you were trying to write, later, when you're transcribing.
F) Inject yourself with coffee and a smile!
The day went by so fast! Seriously, it was that much fun! I arrived at DU and parked in the underground garage and found the parking pass marked, Court Reporters, which made me a little happy in my... NO! Not there, you dirty readers, you. In my heart because one day I'll be a real court reporter! I headed up to the third floor and set up my equipment. I was the first one there. I moved the chairs around the conference table and set myself up where a plug was nearby, where I thought I would be close enough to everyone to hear well, and where my stuff wouldn't take up too much room. I wish that I would have gotten pics of the place, but I was too worried about doing everything right.
The law students were really personable, for the most part. It was easy to tell which students really had a passion for their studies. They knew the ins and outs of the case and put their own spin on playing attorney or witness.
There were two moments where we were all trying very hard not to crack up hysterically. The case was about a snowboarder who pretty much did too much partying while having high blood pressure and taking a medication that wasn't really for his particular condition, as well as blood doping.
One of the students took the stereotypical snowboarder attitude as he played the witness and talked about how awesome he was and how awesome his snowboarding was and how awesome his sponsorship was. The whole time I was singing, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! In my head! It was... wait for it... AWESOME!
About 2:30 p.m. I think I began to understand what Jade was talking about when she said she has a little doze... That's great if you're fast enough, but not when you're dropping here and there like I was.
All in all, it was a great experience. And I am so completely re-energized about being a stenographer. I am so grateful that I got this opportunity and can't wait for more! I still have a ton to learn and definitely need to work on that speed, but I'm really looking forward to what this summer will bring!
Sorry, still loads of exclamation marks!!!!!!
P.S. I get extra bonus points for being able to dress professionally and turn around and go straight to work where I had to dress like Madonna in the 80s, complete with teased hair!
As with most situations I tend to stress out about, it wasn't that bad at all. In fact, I believe the term I used was, awesome, as in, I awesomed all over the place. Sure, it's a verb. Especially, when you're doing it so well!
When I say I awesomed all over the place, I'm referring to the fact that I did not vomit in the ladies upon arrival, I did not hyperventilate mid-depo and run from the room crying. In fact, I had a really good time. That, my friends, is awesoming like a pro!
Actually, it was a lot easier for a few reasons. One: They didn't want a bunch of parentheticals, just the questions and answers. Two: They don't want any cert pages, index pages, or appearances pages. They basically want the students to be able to see how they were speaking and that's it. Three: I had another student in the room and we were mostly able to swap off writing. Each depo was about 30 minutes, so it was nice to get breaks. Four: I had prepared like a squirrel prepares for winter. I had researched the case, gotten a glossary of terms together, created a job dictionary, and made briefs for what I thought would come up a lot. (Also, I had the amazing Jade King's help with said glossary.) Five: I had a recording device. (GASP!)
I know, I don't want to rely on audio, but give me a little break here. I have to have transcripts and while I feel I did a good job for my first time being out in a live setting, I was not fast enough nor familiar enough to produce a clean transcript and miles away from anything close to realtime. This was a learning experience. And I learned quite a bit.
Lessons learned:
A) Get a comfortable carrying case for all of your equipment, preferably with wheels.
 | |
| I had to carry two bags. My totally awesome TokiDoki bag and my laptop bag with all of my equipment. HEAVY! |
B) Always have a super professional-looking cable bag with you!
D) If you don't have one, have your husband run out the morning of the event and get you a recording device. Then, while you're putting your makeup on, have him read the instructions and give you a 3 minute rundown on how to use your newly acquired device.
The day went by so fast! Seriously, it was that much fun! I arrived at DU and parked in the underground garage and found the parking pass marked, Court Reporters, which made me a little happy in my... NO! Not there, you dirty readers, you. In my heart because one day I'll be a real court reporter! I headed up to the third floor and set up my equipment. I was the first one there. I moved the chairs around the conference table and set myself up where a plug was nearby, where I thought I would be close enough to everyone to hear well, and where my stuff wouldn't take up too much room. I wish that I would have gotten pics of the place, but I was too worried about doing everything right.
The law students were really personable, for the most part. It was easy to tell which students really had a passion for their studies. They knew the ins and outs of the case and put their own spin on playing attorney or witness.
There were two moments where we were all trying very hard not to crack up hysterically. The case was about a snowboarder who pretty much did too much partying while having high blood pressure and taking a medication that wasn't really for his particular condition, as well as blood doping.
One of the students took the stereotypical snowboarder attitude as he played the witness and talked about how awesome he was and how awesome his snowboarding was and how awesome his sponsorship was. The whole time I was singing, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! In my head! It was... wait for it... AWESOME!
All in all, it was a great experience. And I am so completely re-energized about being a stenographer. I am so grateful that I got this opportunity and can't wait for more! I still have a ton to learn and definitely need to work on that speed, but I'm really looking forward to what this summer will bring!
Sorry, still loads of exclamation marks!!!!!!
P.S. I get extra bonus points for being able to dress professionally and turn around and go straight to work where I had to dress like Madonna in the 80s, complete with teased hair!
Saturday, February 22, 2014
The Annual CCRA Luncheon:
Yes, my lovely readers, today was the much anticipated CCRA (Colorado Court Reporter's Association) annual luncheon. I look forward to this event, not merely for the networking potential, but because the food is usually impeccable at The Denver Chop House.
This year was particularly beneficial as I got to meet up with my local mentor and get to know some other reporters as well. Being in the 180/200 speeds this time, you tend to get more out of functions like this because you're ALMOST THERE!
We were in the Caboose room this time. It was freaking beautiful! I can't say I didn't wish that the gorgeous bar wasn't an open bar... Also, the music was all from the 1940s to 1950s and made me want to Lindy Hop my way to and fro from the bathroom.
These events are usually full of announcements that don't necessarily apply to students at the time. However, some exciting news for those employed in our lovely state was shared. We're trying, and looks like we'll probably be getting, the ability to administer the FCC type test here so that reporters will no longer have to make a sort of exodus in order to achieve that certification! Yay!
And... More exciting news. Page rate increases are on the horizon! Apparently, we've not had a page rate increase since 1998. Yikes! So that is definitely something that is exciting.
There was an entire segment on "What Would You Do?" where reporters answered that question to varying situations that can arise on the job. Most of the scenarios had to do with sharing transcripts between attorneys (no, no) and attorneys or witnesses bringing their own recording devices to depositions, or the lovely scenario where an attorney announces himself as a fast-talker and that he's not to be interrupted. One of the scenarios presented gave me a thought... It was that an attorney at a deposition is looking at your realtime feed on your laptop, which is not being provided to either counsel, you, the reporter, hide your screen by making it go blank (here's where I learned a handy stroke for that: B*N/B*N) and the attorney is persistent and wants to look at your screen. It was suggested to use the a fore mentioned stroke to hide your screen, but I couldn't help thinking, can't you just say something to the effect of, "Hey, Mr. Attorney, if you want realtime, you have to pay extra." Or, "Hey, Mr. Attorney, if you want realtime, you have to ask for it beforehand!" Maybe not in those charming words, but something more professional.
This was not offered as a solution at all. I am not sure of the ethics involved in such a situation, or whether or not suggesting that the attorney can request a realtime feed is possible, it's just what popped into my head at the time.
While we're on the subject of realtime, I was surprised how many working and seasoned reporters at the luncheon were not regularly providing realtime at all of their jobs. I'm not judging, obviously, but seeing as how that is where the industry is moving, particularly in the international fields, why not? Quite a few of them said they had been writing realtime for themselves, but fewer still stated that they had been providing realtime regularly on jobs.
WHAT?
This seems so antiquated to me because I'm involved in many groups and pages and admire so many reporters that are providing realtime all day, every day. That being said, I'm now wondering how realistic it is to expect to be realtime proficient out of the gate. I mean -- at 225, and realtime ready? Or is that a pretty unrealistic expectation? Inquiring minds want to know, so leave a comment below. Ha. I'm a poet. No, really, I am, you can check out my poetry blog if you need proof...
NightGlassPress
Shameless self-promotion.
Anyway....
I have to be properly at 200 wpm in order to begin shadowing my local mentor. So I have a goal to work towards. I am also going to be taking part in mock trials at DU (Denver University) on March 28th. This will be a good way to see where I'm lacking and what I'll need to work on.
I was hoping to get the ball rolling on sitting in and possibly learning to scope or proofread properly. That hasn't happened yet. I always tell everyone that I want to have the skills to do anything steno related that life could possibly throw at me. I think I get the "smile" the, "she's quite naive" smile a lot as a result. Maybe it is naive, and maybe I'll prove everyone wrong one day.
I want to scope, proofread, CART, international freelance, depositions, captioning, and even French to English subtitles or captioning. I want it all and why not? I got into this career path because there are so many options and because I know myself. I'll get bored if I have to be an official in the same court house day in and day out. No thanks. Oh, and after learning about tennis captioning, HELL YES, PLEASE!
All in all, the food was good. It would have been better if I didn't have to attempt to eat and then decide to not eat marble rye bread. YUCK. That's just preference, though. As I've said, the food at The Denver Chop House is always amazing, the staff is lovely to a T, and the space is elegantly vintage.
I really love how supportive the community of reporters is here and abroad as well. I couldn't help but talk about a certain amazing reporter in HK who's my inspiration and motivation.
Proudest Moment: Avoiding a theory war confab with a student who was encouraged to switch from Phoenix Theory to StenEd because Phoenix is an inferior theory... (Mouth successfully shut.)
Least Proudest Moments: Hitching down my skirt and slip so many times that I couldn't help but think about this video: You Don't Know How To Behave in a Dress
Love & Peace & STENO!
-L.A.
This year was particularly beneficial as I got to meet up with my local mentor and get to know some other reporters as well. Being in the 180/200 speeds this time, you tend to get more out of functions like this because you're ALMOST THERE!
 | |
| In-car selfie before the event... :P |
We were in the Caboose room this time. It was freaking beautiful! I can't say I didn't wish that the gorgeous bar wasn't an open bar... Also, the music was all from the 1940s to 1950s and made me want to Lindy Hop my way to and fro from the bathroom.
These events are usually full of announcements that don't necessarily apply to students at the time. However, some exciting news for those employed in our lovely state was shared. We're trying, and looks like we'll probably be getting, the ability to administer the FCC type test here so that reporters will no longer have to make a sort of exodus in order to achieve that certification! Yay!
And... More exciting news. Page rate increases are on the horizon! Apparently, we've not had a page rate increase since 1998. Yikes! So that is definitely something that is exciting.
There was an entire segment on "What Would You Do?" where reporters answered that question to varying situations that can arise on the job. Most of the scenarios had to do with sharing transcripts between attorneys (no, no) and attorneys or witnesses bringing their own recording devices to depositions, or the lovely scenario where an attorney announces himself as a fast-talker and that he's not to be interrupted. One of the scenarios presented gave me a thought... It was that an attorney at a deposition is looking at your realtime feed on your laptop, which is not being provided to either counsel, you, the reporter, hide your screen by making it go blank (here's where I learned a handy stroke for that: B*N/B*N) and the attorney is persistent and wants to look at your screen. It was suggested to use the a fore mentioned stroke to hide your screen, but I couldn't help thinking, can't you just say something to the effect of, "Hey, Mr. Attorney, if you want realtime, you have to pay extra." Or, "Hey, Mr. Attorney, if you want realtime, you have to ask for it beforehand!" Maybe not in those charming words, but something more professional.
This was not offered as a solution at all. I am not sure of the ethics involved in such a situation, or whether or not suggesting that the attorney can request a realtime feed is possible, it's just what popped into my head at the time.
While we're on the subject of realtime, I was surprised how many working and seasoned reporters at the luncheon were not regularly providing realtime at all of their jobs. I'm not judging, obviously, but seeing as how that is where the industry is moving, particularly in the international fields, why not? Quite a few of them said they had been writing realtime for themselves, but fewer still stated that they had been providing realtime regularly on jobs.
WHAT?
This seems so antiquated to me because I'm involved in many groups and pages and admire so many reporters that are providing realtime all day, every day. That being said, I'm now wondering how realistic it is to expect to be realtime proficient out of the gate. I mean -- at 225, and realtime ready? Or is that a pretty unrealistic expectation? Inquiring minds want to know, so leave a comment below. Ha. I'm a poet. No, really, I am, you can check out my poetry blog if you need proof...
NightGlassPress
Shameless self-promotion.
Anyway....
I have to be properly at 200 wpm in order to begin shadowing my local mentor. So I have a goal to work towards. I am also going to be taking part in mock trials at DU (Denver University) on March 28th. This will be a good way to see where I'm lacking and what I'll need to work on.
I was hoping to get the ball rolling on sitting in and possibly learning to scope or proofread properly. That hasn't happened yet. I always tell everyone that I want to have the skills to do anything steno related that life could possibly throw at me. I think I get the "smile" the, "she's quite naive" smile a lot as a result. Maybe it is naive, and maybe I'll prove everyone wrong one day.
I want to scope, proofread, CART, international freelance, depositions, captioning, and even French to English subtitles or captioning. I want it all and why not? I got into this career path because there are so many options and because I know myself. I'll get bored if I have to be an official in the same court house day in and day out. No thanks. Oh, and after learning about tennis captioning, HELL YES, PLEASE!
All in all, the food was good. It would have been better if I didn't have to attempt to eat and then decide to not eat marble rye bread. YUCK. That's just preference, though. As I've said, the food at The Denver Chop House is always amazing, the staff is lovely to a T, and the space is elegantly vintage.
I really love how supportive the community of reporters is here and abroad as well. I couldn't help but talk about a certain amazing reporter in HK who's my inspiration and motivation.
Proudest Moment: Avoiding a theory war confab with a student who was encouraged to switch from Phoenix Theory to StenEd because Phoenix is an inferior theory... (Mouth successfully shut.)
Least Proudest Moments: Hitching down my skirt and slip so many times that I couldn't help but think about this video: You Don't Know How To Behave in a Dress
Love & Peace & STENO!
-L.A.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Not an Update, Update:
Hello there steno peeps! I thought I would take a moment out of my busy day of de-cluttering my house and update you on where I'm headed over the next 6 months.
First, February 22nd is the annual CCRA (Colorado Court Reporter's Association) luncheon. Which, I will be attending for two reasons: the food and meeting up with my local mentor. I am really excited to meet my mentor there and, hopefully, get the ball rolling on making dates to sit in with her on depositions. Plus, the food at the Denver Chop House is outstanding.
Right now, I have been focusing on building my speed and accuracy like crazy. I have also been studying for the RPR WKT test. I am scared to death, almost, to sit in and actually write at a depo. I really need to work on nailing my speaker identifications and parentheticals as well as keeping up with the speed and accuracy of the multiple speakers. I plan on working on these skills until my fingers feel as though they may fall off as I will have mock depositions coming up on March 28th at DU's law school.
April will bring with it the opportunity to take the RPR WKT test, which I hope to pass on the first go. Hence, the studying.
July should be an extremely eventful month as I am hoping to make it to the NCRA convention in San Francisco for many good reasons, the best being meeting my mentor, Jade King, as well as any of you lovely people who take a few minutes to read this once in a while. Also, in July, I will be making my first attempt at the RPR Skills test. I would love if this would be my first and only attempt, but realistically, most people don't pass it all in one go.
I would like to be working by the fall. However, if I am able to be interning like crazy, I'll take that too!
Okay, so that is the update here. Thanks for reading. Keep your fingers crossed that opportunities and luck will come my way and I'll do the same for you.
Peace.
First, February 22nd is the annual CCRA (Colorado Court Reporter's Association) luncheon. Which, I will be attending for two reasons: the food and meeting up with my local mentor. I am really excited to meet my mentor there and, hopefully, get the ball rolling on making dates to sit in with her on depositions. Plus, the food at the Denver Chop House is outstanding.
Right now, I have been focusing on building my speed and accuracy like crazy. I have also been studying for the RPR WKT test. I am scared to death, almost, to sit in and actually write at a depo. I really need to work on nailing my speaker identifications and parentheticals as well as keeping up with the speed and accuracy of the multiple speakers. I plan on working on these skills until my fingers feel as though they may fall off as I will have mock depositions coming up on March 28th at DU's law school.
April will bring with it the opportunity to take the RPR WKT test, which I hope to pass on the first go. Hence, the studying.
July should be an extremely eventful month as I am hoping to make it to the NCRA convention in San Francisco for many good reasons, the best being meeting my mentor, Jade King, as well as any of you lovely people who take a few minutes to read this once in a while. Also, in July, I will be making my first attempt at the RPR Skills test. I would love if this would be my first and only attempt, but realistically, most people don't pass it all in one go.
I would like to be working by the fall. However, if I am able to be interning like crazy, I'll take that too!
Okay, so that is the update here. Thanks for reading. Keep your fingers crossed that opportunities and luck will come my way and I'll do the same for you.
Peace.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Dress Dying and a Much Needed Break from Steno:
Okay. I sort of took a break from everything, actually, this past week. Sometimes you need that. I really felt like shite because of it, though. Now, I've done what I always do, which is create a lot more for myself to get done in a much shorter time span.
Some of you may know that I'm working on getting fit. I started 3 weeks ago in an attempt to test my discipline before purchasing the T25 and Shakeology program from an acquaintance. It's $200 up front plus another $120 a month for the shakes. If you're interested, I'm following Amanda MySonAndI on YouTube. She has videos from the start of her T25/Shakeology and through the following, I believe, 6 weeks. She's super honest and detailed. I'm waiting to hear, in her next video, a complete review of Shakeology.
3 weeks ago I was doing great. I continued to do great. I tracked my food on the LoseIt app, exercised daily (this included 40 minutes of boot camp and 40 minutes of yoga a day), was studying my CaseCat software editing quick cuts, and spent some time speed building as well. That lasted about 2 weeks.
Last week, I hit a major wall. I just didn't want to do anything but spend time having fun. It started when I had the weekend off from work. I'd gotten it off to attend the CCRA (Colorado Court Reporter's Association) convention in Breckenridge. Well, I wasn't able to because our finances just wouldn't allow it. And since I had already gotten the weekend off, I figured I may as well spend some quality time with the family. We didn't do anything of value all weekend. Well, I say we, I mean the girls and I. Kyle spent the weekend working on 3 different guitars that needed finishing. Honestly, I spent the weekend pouting about not doing anything.
Maybe I was disappointed about not getting to go to Breck, maybe I was depressed because of the sudden spike in dopamine for the previous 2 weeks, which was followed by a sudden drop by not exercising. Maybe I was gluten-crashing because I ate like complete shite all weekend. In any case, I was not motivated to do anything.
Then, I started to pull myself out by the only way I know to be 100% effective: Crafting!
I needed a dress for a masquerade ball wedding of a friend of ours. I started scoping eBay, Etsy, and then remembered I have no money. So I started checking out various blogs on modding clothes. I do love to do my own clothes modding. And found this gem!
A Skirt A Day
And this one too!
HotsyTotsy
I eventually found a blog where a woman had dyed her wedding dress in order to get more wear out of it. You can read it too, here:
Young House Love
This lead me to believe I could attempt this on a hideous lilac coloured bridesmaid's dress I've had hanging in my closet for 2+ years now. Lilac + ink black hair + olive skin = YUCK. I looked on the Rit Dye website to see colours in the same colour family, and found a beautiful dark plum. You mix one box Navy and one box Wine and you're supposed to come off with this great colour. Unfortunately, for me, it didn't work that way.
So I soaked and stirred the dress in the dye bath, 2 boxes of each colour, in the washing machine. I may not have had it in long enough, or it may not have been quite hot enough.
The dress only came out about one shade darker than its original colour. Disappointing. Here's another picture of it. I apologize, the lighting in our house sucks.
I was happy with the overall saturation of the dye, and it worked beautifully on the "Dry Clean Only" dress, despite the box's warnings.
I'm going to attempt to add Black and Wine, boil water into a large bucket, and try it that way. If this doesn't work, it may still be wearable with the right embellishments. Otherwise, I've another idea that requires a lot more sewing.
So now I've got this project going. I'm back on to watching what I'm eating and getting my exercise in. My house is a bit of a dusty disaster. I've loads of laundry to catch up on. I'm going to steno my arse off in the evenings. I have a legal transcription job to test for and apply for this week. I have another dress I'm modding for our trip to New Mexico this weekend. I have to pack for said trip and clean out the car because we're driving.
Loads to do! Which means...
No Dr. Who!
It's sort of okay. I'm really mourning the loss of David Tennant and even though I've heard nothing but rave reviews about Matt Smith, I don't care for him. I was literally crying, no sobbing, when David Tennant passed on the show. Stupid show.
Oh, I'm totally buying the David Tennant shirt from this amazing artist if it ever gets put back up on TeeFury!
Megan Lara: Art
Stay tuned for more adventures in clothes modding as well as steno!
Some of you may know that I'm working on getting fit. I started 3 weeks ago in an attempt to test my discipline before purchasing the T25 and Shakeology program from an acquaintance. It's $200 up front plus another $120 a month for the shakes. If you're interested, I'm following Amanda MySonAndI on YouTube. She has videos from the start of her T25/Shakeology and through the following, I believe, 6 weeks. She's super honest and detailed. I'm waiting to hear, in her next video, a complete review of Shakeology.
3 weeks ago I was doing great. I continued to do great. I tracked my food on the LoseIt app, exercised daily (this included 40 minutes of boot camp and 40 minutes of yoga a day), was studying my CaseCat software editing quick cuts, and spent some time speed building as well. That lasted about 2 weeks.
Last week, I hit a major wall. I just didn't want to do anything but spend time having fun. It started when I had the weekend off from work. I'd gotten it off to attend the CCRA (Colorado Court Reporter's Association) convention in Breckenridge. Well, I wasn't able to because our finances just wouldn't allow it. And since I had already gotten the weekend off, I figured I may as well spend some quality time with the family. We didn't do anything of value all weekend. Well, I say we, I mean the girls and I. Kyle spent the weekend working on 3 different guitars that needed finishing. Honestly, I spent the weekend pouting about not doing anything.
Maybe I was disappointed about not getting to go to Breck, maybe I was depressed because of the sudden spike in dopamine for the previous 2 weeks, which was followed by a sudden drop by not exercising. Maybe I was gluten-crashing because I ate like complete shite all weekend. In any case, I was not motivated to do anything.
Then, I started to pull myself out by the only way I know to be 100% effective: Crafting!
I needed a dress for a masquerade ball wedding of a friend of ours. I started scoping eBay, Etsy, and then remembered I have no money. So I started checking out various blogs on modding clothes. I do love to do my own clothes modding. And found this gem!
A Skirt A Day
And this one too!
HotsyTotsy
I eventually found a blog where a woman had dyed her wedding dress in order to get more wear out of it. You can read it too, here:
Young House Love
This lead me to believe I could attempt this on a hideous lilac coloured bridesmaid's dress I've had hanging in my closet for 2+ years now. Lilac + ink black hair + olive skin = YUCK. I looked on the Rit Dye website to see colours in the same colour family, and found a beautiful dark plum. You mix one box Navy and one box Wine and you're supposed to come off with this great colour. Unfortunately, for me, it didn't work that way.
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| This is the dress while it was drying in our basement. Like the totally mod heat hose in the ceiling? |
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| You can see the original colour of the dress on the stupid belt I took off before dying. It is darker, but not dark enough. |
The dress only came out about one shade darker than its original colour. Disappointing. Here's another picture of it. I apologize, the lighting in our house sucks.
I'm going to attempt to add Black and Wine, boil water into a large bucket, and try it that way. If this doesn't work, it may still be wearable with the right embellishments. Otherwise, I've another idea that requires a lot more sewing.
So now I've got this project going. I'm back on to watching what I'm eating and getting my exercise in. My house is a bit of a dusty disaster. I've loads of laundry to catch up on. I'm going to steno my arse off in the evenings. I have a legal transcription job to test for and apply for this week. I have another dress I'm modding for our trip to New Mexico this weekend. I have to pack for said trip and clean out the car because we're driving.
Loads to do! Which means...
No Dr. Who!
It's sort of okay. I'm really mourning the loss of David Tennant and even though I've heard nothing but rave reviews about Matt Smith, I don't care for him. I was literally crying, no sobbing, when David Tennant passed on the show. Stupid show.
Oh, I'm totally buying the David Tennant shirt from this amazing artist if it ever gets put back up on TeeFury!
Megan Lara: Art
Stay tuned for more adventures in clothes modding as well as steno!
Friday, September 13, 2013
It's The End of The Quarter As We Know It
It's Friday the 13th and the bad moon is rising on the closing of a day that has gone poorly in the realm of my steno life.Today, I woke up extremely early, well, if you can call 7 a.m. early. I hustled my partially malnourished children, they only had bowls of dry Cheerios for breakfast, out the door to pick up food at Dive. Dive is a pretty cool thing my church does where they pick up food twice a week from Whole Foods, which would otherwise be tossed, but is perfectly edible, and donate it to families who need it and to the local food bank. I don't go to church, really, but I do go to Dive, most weeks.
Anyway. As many of you know, unless you live in a cave, in which case you're probably not reading this. Denver is in the middle of quite the monsoon. Flooding has affected many areas in Colorado and people are losing property and lives. Mostly property. We are lucky to be in a high spot and have just experienced a lot, a plethora, of rain.
So the girls and I found ourselves quite soaked as we returned from Dive in the morning. It has been the sort of waterlogged days where you would expect your fingers to be pruney and your hair, if you have my hair, very frizzy and poofy.
I was incredibly proud of myself having avoided driving into a Starbucks for a high-calorie, high-cost, yummy coffee drink to contribute to my ability to feel energized rather than sleepy and lazy and waterlogged.
When we arrived home I made a proper breakfast for my girls. Proper being, I shoved some toaster waffles into the toaster and tried to minimize the amount of syrup that went on top to a reasonable amount for a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old.
I then worked out my usual 40 minutes, 20 minutes of boot camp and 20 minutes of yoga. Ha. I say my usual as though it really were. It's my usual routine for 5 solid days now. Can I really claim it as my "usual"? Meh, you decide.
Afterward, I sat through 2 hours of homeschooling with my 5-year-old daughter. This is fun, don't get me wrong. Sometimes, we are equally bored. Especially when the maths unit is counting up to 5. Seriously? This kid can count to 100! I digress. Well, I am good at digressing.
After all of that, I went to plug in my Wave and get some good practice in so that I can pass this single 160 wpm test before the quarter ends on Sunday night. Much to my chagrin, it did not power on. I did all of the troubleshooting steps required in such a situation. I unplugged and plugged it back in. I hit the reset button, a few times. I removed and replaced the battery. I tested to see if it was the plug, the charger, the battery on the machine. I cursed at it. I wanted to hit it and then remembered I'm still paying for it.
Then, I called them. Stenograph.
I spoke with a tech person who advised me to do everything I had previously done before calling, again. However, he did leave out the cursing bit.
Nothing. No response. The Wave is in a technological coma. I am mourning a bit.
I will have to send it in to Stenograph and see if their magicians can revive it. Meanwhile, what the hell am I going to do about the rest of my required practice? What about my tests? The quarter ends Sunday night! What the f-----
Light bulb! I have a Manual Reporter Shorthand Machine.
The gleam of its avocado shell caught my eye as it sat on top of the table in the living room. Its slightly marred keys almost glistened, wanting to be stroked. I placed it upon my tripod and I could swear it purred in delight, or was that a groan of old age?
This thing is OLD. It has paper. The same stack of paper it originally came with from the Goodwill where my husband found it resting on a lower shelf priced at a whopping $25.
I purchased this dinosaur to steampunk it. I have had fantasies about how amazing this will look in my office one day, the office of an international reporting bombshell! I've had notions of doing a sexy stenographer photo shoot with it. I've let my girls practice their steno skills on it. I've written on it once. Only once since I have owned it. That experience was to BBC News and left my hands exhausted. Never, did I think I would actually need it to practice.
So there I was feeling perturbed, down, and negative. I decided, if I can't take my tests at least I won't lose speed. I spent an hour practicing QA at 180 wpm. That got me out of the funk I was in enough to realize that I can come up with a creative solution to this mess.
I e-mailed my teacher to see if it were possible for me to take the test, with my dinosaur, type it out in Word, copy and paste the transcript into TeV (Test Evaluator), it's the brother to PeV (Performance Evaluator). Then, because campus is having an extra day to make up for some day they missed, I could come by and drop off my paper notes if I passed any test, as proof that it was written on my manual machine.
No response.
Well, I figured that if my tests may not count, it's still good to take them and transcribe them just to make sure I can pass. Then, I know I've got it nailed the first week of next quarter. And next quarter will be my last at this school.
I also had the problem that the ink was getting low in the old machine. I Googled like crazy trying to find a way to replace the ink without having to order ink from a reporting supplies site. Shipping on an $8 bottle of ink was like, $11, WHAT? Nothing. The ribbon spool looks like a regular typewriter ribbon. So I posted in the Facebook forums asking what I should do.
I actually ended up doing the opposite of what I was advised. As I don't need this machine to do more than function long enough to practice on until my Wave returns, I didn't feel like I needed to wait and order a special bottle of ink. I went to the office store and bought a bottle of refill ink for self-inking stamps. And you know what? It works beautifully. Now, if only I have enough steno paper to get through the next few days....
It's 10:30 on Friday night. Still no response from my teacher. I'm guessing I'm SOL for my tests. Yet one of the myriad of reasons that I am so excited to be withdrawing from school after this quarter. At least I know I can count on myself to take care of myself, and respond to my own e-mails. Huh? Don't worry about it. Just know, that with a little creativity and ingenuity you can turn any situation right-side up.
Onwards and upwards, by any means necessary, even if that mean taking out a dinosaur of a machine and fatiguing your ink stained fingers all for that ultimate goal: Steno Rock Star!
Friday, August 16, 2013
D-F/STROEBG/-Z
"Different strokes for different folks. Literally" - Shurice Gross.
There is an ongoing debate among those who are stenographers about what theory is the best and whether or not to write short or write everything out. This comes up about once a month in some stenography forums.
If you are just starting your journey in court reporting, captioning, or CART, or any other steno field, I would just encourage you, once again, to research. If you are doing self-study, check into the different theories available to learn and choose one that makes sense in your head. I, personally, write Phoenix theory because that's what I was taught when I began school. I didn't get a choice. However, I do love it because it makes sense in my head.
There is pretty much a stroke for everything! Every word part has a specific way of being written and this works for me because it allows me to feel confident that when I write an unfamiliar word out, it will come out, for the most part, correctly translated in perfect English on my screen or my client's screen.
I also use some briefs and phrases. I use the ones that make sense to me. The ones I can remember. I am really good at remembering briefs and phrases, even after writing them out once. I've usually got it down without hesitation. However, I don't always hear phrases as phrases when I'm writing to a speaker. I just don't. Whether that is laziness on my part, or simply an innate inability to hear things that way, I don't do a whole lot of phrasing.
Common words are always done as one stroke and those that I find that do not have a one stroke option, I make it up. I filter through my dictionary to make sure my outline I'm creating isn't going to create a big conflict with other things, and make up what works for me.
There will be many people who will say, mathematically it makes sense to write as short as possible. Yes. I agree with this, less strokes = less physical effort = faster writing. And if that works for you, great.
I think the title of this blog should be something about DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU, because I'm always saying that over and over and over again.
Someone who writes most everything out can also be just as fast as those who write short. It simply takes more physical effort to gain that speed.
Also, consider where you want to be working when you are thinking about taking on a brief or phrase heavy style of writing. I've been informed, countless times by captioners, that you cannot phrase everything while captioning. This refers to multiple word phrases like those found, well my best example would be in jury charge: GR*ITZ is my phrase for greater number of witnesses. There is a limit to how many characters you can send through on the captioning software, and so using large phrases like that in a stroke could cause things to come out funny on the screen. There have been captioners who have had to really modify their writing in order to caption, having come from court or deops and moved into captioning.
Take some time to consider what will be best for you. What will work for you for where you want to be. And don't let anyone tell you that you're never going to be a kick arse stenographer because you don't do it their way.
I would like to have my own international freelance firm one day, someday, a long way a way... And I can tell you that I wouldn't like to hire anyone who isn't willing to accept the fact that just because someone doesn't do something the way you do, does not make it wrong or inadequate. As long as the job gets done and gets done extremely well, who cares what theory was used to write it or how stroke intensive it was?
Here are some resources to check out and form your own opinion:
Phoenix Theory
StenEd Theory
StarTran Theory
NCRA's info on Stenomaster Theory
Magnum Steno
StenoWatchDog's list of theories and reviews
And remember: Google is your friend. :)
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