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.

 

 

This is the dress while it was drying in our basement. Like the totally mod heat hose in the ceiling?

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.

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 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!

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!

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. :)

Don't Go To School For Court Reporting: Reasons from a Hypocrit:

Okay. I know the title seems negative. You may be thinking, is she going to launch into a diatribe about how court reporting is a dying profession? Or how it's a waste of money to go to school because digital software is taking over reporters' jobs? The answer to both is no.

I'm writing this to save anyone who is like me from accruing debt by paying a sub-par school to teach them what they could easily teach themselves. I know there will be many people who will argue that there are perfectly good reporting schools and they are happy having gone or going to those schools. I say, good for them.

This will be a hypocritical post because I am going to a court reporting school, right now. I will still be attending this school for another quarter after this current one is completed. Why? Why, when I am writing others not to? Well, because I have to register for classes today and I don't have all my ducks in a row to drop out and continue learning on my own as of today. However, I'm most likely going to drop out after this quarter, so I will be self-studying after October.

In other posts I have stressed the point that research, research, research is your best friend when it comes to educating yourself, especially in the realm of stenography.

The lack of following my own learned advice when I began this journey is exactly what got me where I am today, feeling very disappointed with my school's ability to teach what is needed to become a competitive professional stenographer, and loaded with debt.

First, you must understand where I was at when I decided to become a stenographer. If you've read the first posts on here, you have an idea. For those who don't want to go back and read old stuff, I'll sum it up here: I was pregnant with my 2nd daughter, my first being 18 months old. My husband was not working too much because of a fall-through on a few jobs and I was working my glamourous job at the mall. We needed real, grown-up jobs. We had a lot of fun since our meeting at 19, falling in love, hanging with friends, him building guitars and me writing here and there. However, the ideal artist life was ill-suited to having kids. Reality set in. I was the one most likely to thrive in a "real" job. I'm the one who has an outstanding work ethic, motivation, and drive to take on a grown-up job. Not that my husband is really lacking in those areas, he just prefers to build guitars and work for himself. He is ill-suited to a structured, corporate, game-playing environment. He is anti-authority in some senses, never having let go of our punk rock roots.

For those of you who are married, successfully, you'll understand that often it is best to realize the areas where you are weak and strong, where your spouse is weak and strong, and then see how you can make those things complement one another in order to make the most of what you've got. Decision: I would go to school. I always wanted to go back anyway. I had to give up the pursuit of a literary career, in the sense of being a writer or English professor, as it wouldn't really make the money required. I did some internet research, having been interested in court reporting when I was younger, and found the salary potential to be very promising.

It was sort of off-the-cuff that I decided to go to court reporting school. And I wish that I had done a lot more research before signing up for the debt I did.

At that point in my life, I really needed something I committed to and was obligated to show up for in order to motivate me. So, in a way, signing up for school was probably one of the best things that happened to me. Why, then would I discourage others from doing so? Well, with experience comes knowledge.

I went into theory class with that new student awe. I was excited and passionate about what I was doing. And, bonus, I was good at it. Theory, for those of you who don't know, is where you learn the language of steno. Your Theory is the steno language you write in that is programmed into your software to translate into English, or any other language you've got set up. It is also a bit like learning an instrument, some have compared it to piano. Anyway, learning languages and instruments have always been my forte, so I was perhaps over-confident in my abilities in theory class. It is also nice to have software and a new machine, all deferred on a student loan when you're first in school. I met people, cool people that I liked and we had community. We had captioners, reporters, CART providers all come and speak about how great their careers are. It was a very motivational environment.

Then came speed class. Let me just say, if you are thinking of embarking on or are already embarking on your own journey to become a stenographer: Get a good practice routine in from the very beginning. I had to learn that the hard way in my 80wpm class after theory.

I continued on ground (on campus) for quite a while. Life happened and I found myself without child care for our daughters. I then had to make the switch to online. I had been taking my academics online and going to campus for speed building. There are many frustrations that came up from online classes. The worst was feeling like no one gave a rat's arse about me anymore. Those "cool" people I met, well, just some of them, and the school itself.

This is where I began to become enlightened about what a sham reporting school can be. If your experience is different, that's great for you. I am only speaking from my own experience.

I have been practicing to stale dictation at the minimum of 6 hours per week for many quarters in a row. This 6 hours is done on PeV (Perfomance Evaluator) in a pattern form. So you begin a 1.5 minute take at -10 wpm under your goal speed, write it, evaluate it, drill any mistakes and then you move through a pattern where the speed increases 5 wpm on each block. You end up writing all the way up to +10 wpm from your goal speed and then back down to goal speed for another evaluation. While this is a good system for knowing where you are at, it gets really old, really fast. The majority of my practice required is on PeV each week.

Combine PeV with hard copy practice, extra dictation practice, deposition or mock trial practice, drilling problem words, working on briefs, reviewing your theory, and testing, that's a lot of practice. Now, you have to complete work for any academics you might be taking and take time to learn your software as well.

You only have so much time in a day. Especially, if you are like me and have kids, husband, house, another job or two other jobs. You're busy. You want to make your life better and become a stenographer. You want to do something rewarding, something you can be really good at, something that you can be passionate about. BUT, you only have so much time and  school wants all your work in by Sunday night.

You have the stress of completing work for an academic, getting your speed tests taken and hopefully passed, replying to the discussion board where no one gives a shite to really put an effort into responding to the topic because it's just for attendance and they're all just as busy as you. You blow through the medical and legal classes not really retaining anything because your school is pushing you to get out of the speed you're in our you'll run out of money, run out of time and not get that Associates Degree, run, run, run. It's a huge race and the students are atrophying in areas that are important and being pushed to the limit in speed while the other, essential parts of their development are being left by the wayside.

My school pushes the students to get out of speed without care about their accuracy. Accuracy will come with speed as you get more proficient in that speed. This is true to some degree. However, when you can write a 5 minute take at 180 wpm and it looks like complete slop, I mean steno everywhere, but you can read it enough to figure out what you mean and can transcribe the test to a 98% accuracy level, you pass! This is good enough for school, but not good enough for the working environment. How does this teach you to write for 4 hours at varying speeds from 160 to 300 wpm?

Real time needs to be the focus. If you want the jobs that are really profitable, rewarding, and challenging, you need excellent real time. This system of sort of faking it until you make it doesn't work in stenography. Not for me. Why should I be passed to the next speed just because I can read my own crappy steno? Yes, it is good to learn your miss-strokes and improve on that and to be able to edit your mistakes, but is it really making us better writers? I don't feel like it is.

I am constantly feeling as though in order for me to gain a complete education about stenography and how to be an excellent stenographer, I have to supplement my education at my school with hours and hours of my own research, practice, and knowledge seeking.

Why then should I pay for and be obligated to the additional, feeble work that is required from the school? Why not take advantage of the vast amount of information that is available on the internet for free or only fractions of the cost? Sure, it might take longer without the motivation of that Sunday night deadline, but I feel like it would be a better, more thorough education.

The internet is a vast and beautiful thing, if you know how to use it to your advantage. If you take what applies to you or can be of use to you and disregard all the rest, you're golden on your quest for information, whatever shape that may take. There are so many resources on the internet that can help you on your journey to become a stenographer. And with those internet connections made online, you can even make real connections with real people who are willing to help, guide, or encourage you in a process they themselves are familiar with.

YouTube is a great source for dictation material. You can even find depositions, trials, random literary, Q&A, etc. There are plenty of news, sports, entertainment, everything you can write to. Facebook is also a good resource to find out where to begin. Just put in court reporting in the search bar and you will be flooded with a plethora of groups and pages on the subject. There are other students and professionals that can help you answer questions about what you'll really need to know in order to do the job. BUT, remember, to use that little search magnifying glass in groups and pages before posting your questions. Often times, whatever you're going to ask has already been covered and you can save a lot of time by just reading through those threads. There is also a mass of other blogs, forums, and chat boards related to steno so you can really pick and choose what suits you and your ambitions the best.  All the information you require is mostly free and just a Google page away.

As far as equipment, you can find a used machine for very reasonable most places that you would buy anything used. eBay, Craigslist, internet reporting groups that are specifically for selling things, even the thrift store if you're really lucky. I purchased an old working paper writer for 25 dollars at the Good Will, no joke. If I didn't already have my Wave from school, I wouldn't hesitate to use it to practice. All of the books, audio CDs, everything you could want can be found via the internet and at a fraction of the price of what a school costs.

Don't go to school. Don't get into unnecessary debt. Don't waste time learning something that may not be applicable or beneficial to what you are trying to achieve. Don't be pushed into buying a certain machine or software because the company that makes them owns your school. Don't fly through important parts of your education just to meet a deadline. Don't give up good real time just to pass a 5 minute take. Don't answer for the 50th time on a discussion board the question: What are your goals for this quarter and how will you achieve them?

If you want to be a court reporter, CART provider, captioner, ect. Do the following:
- Research, research, research
- Find out exactly what you will need to do the job well
- Consult with other working professionals and students
- Find the materials and information you need at the lowest price, or free, via the interwebs
- Practice, practice, practice
- Make your dictionary work for you, this is your life, your career, your name out there one day
- Learn your software inside and out.
- Practice, practice, practice
- Make sure your practice is varied. You need to be able to write almost anything and have it come out real time perfect as much as possible. This will be an ongoing process even when you're working, but get started now.
- Be passionate
- Do what works for you and what is best for your life situation, don't just take anyone's experience as fact for yourself.

Especially, mine. If school works for you, fine. It's not really working for me. It's stagnated my passion, pushed me in areas that are not beneficial to my career and failed me in areas where I really needed a well-rounded education. I'm now left to educate myself on a vast amount of what I will need to be a stenographer.

Why, then, should I continue to pay for school?

Bonus: Here are some links I have found thus far that might help anyone interested in finding out how to go about educating themselves on stenography:
On The Cheap and Sleazy Side
CSR Nation
Depoman
StenoLife
Plover

I'll probably be posting a lot more on self-study as I begin my search for myself as well as anyone who might be interested. And please, leave in the comments any suggestions you might have for me to help me be successful at self-study.

-L.A.

New Quarter, New Life, New To Learn List:

I have begun a new quarter at Prince Institute - Rocky Mountains, online. I would be completely lying if I were to say I am excited to be, yet again, in the 160 speed class. There is a large part of me that wants to quit, begin self-study, and start working on what I need to on my own. However, an even larger part of me, which is ruled by my natural inclination to be an outstanding procrastinator, stays enrolled in the Institute.

I plainly lack the discipline to practice as much as I know I need to without some form of hard deadline looming over me each week. That deadline takes the form of a practice log that is due each Sunday night, by 11:59 p.m. MST. This log is then used to determine whether or not I qualify to have my speed tests count and, after all, I need those to count should I pass them within the current millennium. I'm only half-joking. I'm really close to passing the last two 160 tests I need, so close I can almost taste it... What does it taste like, you inquire? Well, stale, re-heated coffee, summer air that is filled with warmth and humidity, bits of white cat hair that have come floating upwards as my feline friend swipes against my legs and tripod, and a bit of dark chocolate for in between those takes where I have to drill like mad on words I should already have down. (Insert furious rant aimed at right ring finger for adding Ls into everything...)

Those are my evenings. My late, late evenings after my girls are tucked away in their little toddler beds. After I've perused the news and cleaned the kitchen, after a round of Duolingo or Angry Birds. It really should be my late evenings and early mornings with a bit of afternoon tucked in for good measure. However, it is not.

My husband, amazing and talented as he is, has just landed a great job that allows me more time to be at home. I am now given an abundance of extra time I never thought I had to dedicate completely to the pursuit of steno. With one caveat: two little girls. Yes. I have two little girls to take care of and they aren't the best at understanding that I need an hour to practice. So I am now given the task to become very creative in how I will handle adding more steno time into my day while keeping little mischief makers away from the walls with crayons.

I also have a huge, ever increasing, never ending list of things I need to change, modify, learn, re-learn, etc., about stenography. For example, as a result of a forum question, I now have to train myself to cap words with the cap next stroke instead of the cap previous stroke I've been using since embarking on this training. Not to mention having to increase my accuracy, which is quite honestly not anywhere near real time ready, work on problem words, theory review, finger spelling, briefs, phrases, solving problems like: why am I still writing improvement in 3 strokes? To anyone who is learning this skill or is working as a stenographer, this list is par for the course and just something you do to be a well-rounded writer. I sort of just included it so everyone else might understand that it can be overwhelming and maybe take a little pity on me when I'm a grouch because I just don't have enough time to get it all done!

Or kindly bring me coffee dressed in a top hat and tails... (Hint intended for husband)

So here I am in a new quarter, but the same old class, with a laundry list of to-dos if I ever hope to be half the stenographer that Stan Sakai, Jade King, Lisa Knight, Mirabai Knight-Lascoutx or the other numerous amazing stenographers I've had the opportunity to learn, even the smallest of tips from in my journey thus far. Add on to that a daughter who is 5 and whom I will be homeschooling this year, still a part-time job at the shop, and some editing work for Caption Colorado, and I've still got quite a plate full even with my husband's amazing new job.

You know what? I'm ready for it this time. I've got a ton to do, and a deadline of October to do it in. I work best with deadlines and under pressure. Hell, I turned out outstanding creative fashion articles for magazines the night before the deadline, scored As on any and all essays and reports I wrote the night before they were due, and wrote half a novel in two nights. I can get from 180 to 225 in 3.5 months, no problem.

And when I do...

I'm getting a huge f--ing tattoo! (In a place that is easily concealed for professional environments...) ;)

The Wave is calling me. Leave your notes, suggestions, and if you like, encouragement below. I'll probably need it when I'm feeling like kicking that machine out the window and watching a marathon of Black Books or Firefly...

-L.A.

The Culture of Now:

I want to address a topic that has been bothering me for a while now. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to think of an appropriate platform in which to discuss this topic, i.e. Facebook, Steno Groups, or even face-to-face chats. The reason being this; I don't want to come off as a complete D-bag or judgmental prick. So I will attempt to discuss my opinion on this subject below and do feel free to chime in with yours in the comments. I would love to know if others are on the same thought wave as I am, or if, in fact, I am being a needlessly judgmental.

I have noticed a shift in our culture that has many factors that come into play. This shift is the one that took people's ingenuity, drive for education and information gathering out of their own hands and capability and placed it into a high-speed, instant gratification, internet forum. What I am talking about is the fact that, rarely, do people seem to do their own research or information gathering. Why would one spend a couple of hours Googling, going to the library, or reading books on a topic they want to know more about when they can now simply make a post on Facebook or some other forum and have their question answered by a thousand-plus people who may or may not be truly educated on the topic?

This also feeds into the culture a tendency to believe whatever the majority of people are saying on one topic or another.

Where I have noticed this irritating trend the most has been on Steno-based groups and forums. The reason I say irritating is because my personal news feed from these groups is always full with redundant questions about salary, job market, what's the best theory, should I do this, should I do that, I need someone to hold my hand and validate everything I do and think that pertains to my individual career choice! Most of which can be answered by a simple Google search.

Look, I know that sounded very D-bagish and the solution is easy, take it out of my news feed if it bothers me so much. People learn differently, people need encouragement and guidance, especially in the field of Steno as it can be so independent that one feels lost or alone in the pursuit of this career. I get all of that. I am not saying I haven't needed instant information or encouragement just like the thousands of those people in the Steno groups. I am, afterall, one of those thousands.

What I would like to talk about is the broader issue of reliance on instant information without doing one's own research. I think this is a dangerous cultural trend whether it be Steno related or having to do with life in general.

In regards to stenography, how did people choose this career? Did you hear a rumor that it paid really well for minimal education requirements and go right to the nearest stenography school and sign up? Would you commit to buying a house without ever seeing it, evaluating it, looking at the neighborhood around it, schools in the district, the size of the yard, etc., based on someone near you saying here's a number you can call to get into this great house, but you have to buy it now. WHAT???

Again, I'm not saying things don't come up along the way that you will need immediate guidance for or a quick answer to a question, but let's evaluate the over saturation of useless information on internet forums and groups. When 12 people within a month have posted something like, "What is the base salary for court reporters?" and then 20-35 people respond to each post with a different number based on location, type of job, etc., you then have an over saturation of pretty much useless information because it depends on where YOU want to work, what type of work YOU want to be doing, how many hours YOU want to put into a steno job. These things cannot be fettered out, specifically, on an internet forum or group. The responses you will receive will be based on OTHER people's experiences and specific career paths. Would it not be better to sit down and make a list of what YOU want out of a career and take those few moments you would otherwise spend posting on a group or looking at funny cat videos and Google yourself some answers from reliable sources on the World Wide Web?

I think it is wonderful to learn from others who have experience doing what you want to be doing. For example, stenography. There are several people I admire very much in the field of Steno. They are all doing very different things with this skill and are amazingly successful. I want to know everything that is in their heads that is steno related. The forums, groups, blogs, and other automatic information generating places on the interwebs are a great way to accomplish this goal. However, do I take everything they say as biblical reference to be followed to a T? No. What works for one person may work for me, but it may not. That's where the research part comes in.

Do I want to write short because some speed champion does and I'll never pass the RPR if I don't write everything short? NO. Because that doesn't work for me. Do I want to write short because 35 working reporters responded to my post asking, "Should I shorten my writing?" NO. Because I will only get 35 different or similar responses that all really end in the same response, which is do what works for YOU!

That is the cultural shift I am talking about. We all want an instant answer to the tiniest questions because we are all striving for some sort of real human connection that validates what we are doing and how we are doing it.

All I am really saying is that maybe all of us should take a moment before posting a question or discussion topic and evaluate a few things: 1) Can I find my answer in a few moment's Google search? 2) Has this topic previously been addressed? 3) Will my question help me as well as others to have a variety of answers from those with experience? 4) Can I take the information offered in response as a place to start thinking about how it will apply to me? Or to give me somewhere to start looking for more information that will be beneficial?

“We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”  ~ Lloyd Alexander

Hopin', Wishin', and Dreamin'...

Today I have begun to contact local court reporting firms, again, to see about any available positions in their production department. I have even offered myself as a volunteer in order to get into a firm and learn the ropes. At this point in my reporting journey, I just really, really want to be immersed in anything to do with reporting.

I also have the opportunity to sit in with an official at Adams County. I am really nervous about that and haven't yet set a date for it. I would prefer to get my CaseCat (that's the software I use for real time translation and transcript production) loaded and ready to go on my new laptop, as the one I am currently using for my school work has to have an incredibly loud fan in order for it to not blow up. So I have put doing that off, mostly because being in a huge court like that is a slightly terrifying prospect. However, I know I'll have to get over it and get in there.

I have also re-applied at the City of Golden for the position of court clerk. I have previously applied for this position and unfortunately failed the QWERTY typing test by 1% accuracy. I typed 50 wpm at 94% accuracy on a test that was about the landmass size and population density of Finland. Seriously, lots of numbers. I kept thinking, why can't I just hook up my steno machine? I am usually around the 60 wpm mark on a QWERTY, having spent my formative typing days playing Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, while other kids were doing normal things like playing real video games. I also left the typing test in a bit of a state, tears, that is. I really, really want this job.

Ha. I remember this screen so well. I was a racer, a winner, the best typist in my 8th grade class.

The court clerk position would offer my family so much more than we currently have from my shop job in the local mall.

On the school side of things, I have really tried to be more consistent with my practice this week. I am right at the cusp of getting out of my 160s for good. I have 2 literary and 2 QA tests to pass before I am officially in the 180 class.

I will pass these test this week. I will. I will also get this job.

There are my positive vibes being thrust out into the universe. Success is around the corner.

Secrets of the RPR revealed:

Not really. I didn't learn any real secrets. Sorry to disappoint. However, I did get to get a feel for what the RPR is like here in Denver as I volunteered my Saturday to help out with the big test.

The test is usually held at Prince Institute - Rocky Mountains, formerly Denver Academy of Court Reporting. It is a small campus that is very near and dear to my heart as that is where I began my journey of becoming, hopefully, one day, a kick-arse international reporter. However, this small and friendly campus is going to be closing its doors soon. Having a small amount of students on its roster, and a huge company like Stenograph owning the school, it wasn't bound to last long as a brick and mortar. There are some very dedicated and caring teachers that I will be sad to see go as a result of this change.

However, what I really wanted to write about was the experience of volunteering to help with the running of the RPR. If you are a student, I highly recommend that you do this should the opportunity present itself to you. I spent most of the day chatting with working reporters, a freelance firm owner, and CCRA and NCRA members. The sheer amount of knowledge, humorous stories, and advice that I received from spending a day hanging around with people I want to be like someday was incredible. That, alone, is worth any number of Saturdays. Not to mention, had I not been at the RPR today, I would have been stuck in the shop convincing customers to add on a pair of tights to their dress purchase. Doesn't that sound like as much fun as eating nails?

So, what to expect. If you're like me, and want to know what the environment is like because you're hoping to take the test in the fall, then read on, dear reader:

You will arrive at least 30 minutes early for the test. You will bring your ID, your confirmation e-mail from NCRA telling you all the important bits, especially your NCRA ID number (do not get this wrong, it causes all sorts of headaches for all involved), your writer (duh), a printer, and a USB drive. You may want a fan for your laptop, bottles of water, a power cord for your laptop, your own surge protector, and any other accessories that make writing on your machine work. Also, bring your own practice material that is already saved somewhere to your computer.

Don't count on a testing site to have wireless, or for that matter, any kind of internet connection. They don't always have that available depending on how the test is administered.

Also, this is very, very important: come in with a good attitude.

I observed quite the range of attitudes and demeanors in those taking the test today. I guarantee you, those who came in smiling, for the most part, walked out smiling.

You will have time to warm up and practice a bit beforehand. However, don't rely on that to be your only practice. Common sense here, people.

You may end up practicing in a different room than you test in. Be prepared to move your stuff to another room to test in, and yet another to transcribe in. Try to not let this be a bee in your bonnet. I know this test is make-or-break for a lot of people, but really, in real life you may have to switch rooms every once in a while, it's not the end of the world, I promise.

This time, the tests were on a previously prepared CD. I didn't go into the testing room, so I can't tell you what it's like in there. I imagine, since it is at my school, that it is a lot like it was taking a test while in school: You find a place, set up, and write to a dictation. All the while, trying to attempt to keep your hands from shaking, your mind from going blank, you know, all those lovely test anxiety symptoms we've all had. Then you will save to a USB, delete all testing material from every nook and cranny on your computer and machine, and head into a room to print your notes and transcribe whatever legs of the test you would like. 

You will then turn in your notes and transcripts in an envelope, or fill out a special paper stating that you are declining to transcribe. As with all tests, I urge you to transcribe. It's good to do it, even if you didn't get it. Hey, you never know, perhaps you were closer than you thought.

One of the testers had a good response to this: "I'm paying for this test, so no matter how awful it is, I'm making them (NCRA) grade it, make them earn my money."

Also, if you are a student and in your 200-225 classes. Take this test ASAP. Do it while you're in school. Everyone I spoke to couldn't stress enough the importance of getting this certification out of the way while still in school. The reason being, you are continually practicing and you are in test-mode anyway. You test every week in school, right? I do. I'm sure that this isn't really all that different from the 5 minute literary, jury charge, and testimony tests you are used to taking each week. It just costs more to take, and can lead to your potential job placement. Also, working reporters don't really have time to practice between writing at jobs and producing transcripts. Don't make it harder for yourself if you don't have to.

Now, I may sound very cavalier about this whole thing, and that may change later when I am actually the one taking the test. Who knows. I hope that I stay a bit more on the positive side about it, though. Really, ask yourselves, when it comes down to it, if you fail, what's the harm? Luckily, you don't have to pass all 3 legs at once anymore, you get another chance, you can take 3 times to pass, if needed.

Breathe. Remember to breathe. You're not a failure if you didn't get it this time. Breathe. You can do it. Breathe. Imagine yourself back in your 80 speeds, did you ever think you would be here getting ready to walk into the RPR test? Breathe. How many other people in the world can take a different language, write it on a piano-like machine, and do this verbatim at 225, 180, 200 words per minute? Let alone, 60 words per minute? BREATHE.

Those were my experiences and observations today at the RPR. I hope to see more of you lovely people in the fall when I'll be among the test takers, trying hard to remember to just breathe.

6 a.m. Quarterly Earnings Edit and... Out of coffee!

     I may have said, that I'm finishing up with the training for an editing position with Caption Colorado. If not, now I have. It is the best way I could find to get some portion of any limb; foot, hand, finger, in with the nation's largest captioning company while still in school.
    
     One Craigslist ad response, quick interview and test to gauge my knowledge on the difference between; their, they're, and there, a boiling hot and stuffy 8 hour day of training (unpaid), two lengthy tests on the Thomson-Reuter's style guide, and two practice calls to be edited, and there I was, awake at the most un-Godly hour imaginable with no more coffee.
    
     What lovely bit of experience can bring a girl, who thrives on at least 10 hours of sleep, out to greet the sunrise? How about an hour long earnings call for a furniture company? Not exciting enough for you? I'm shocked. (Insert feigned surprise.)
   
      Luckily for me, I don't really have to listen to the content of the call as it is happening. My only concern is to get, verbatim, all of the words stated while driving the media player with a pedal, whose constant jerks to play or stop the audio remind me of the few times I attempted to drive a manual vehicle. I drive an automatic. Enough said.
    
     A one hour call takes me approximately 3.5 hours to edit. That is with an outstanding captioner paving the way for me. I was so nervous this morning that I almost vurped (see Wreck-It-Ralph if you would like to better understand that reference). I had a bit of trouble figuring out just where to yell into my computer my information to the conference operator that would allow me access to the conference. Three tries later, I was groggily listening to the eloquent hold music that was obviously Beethoven, as the thunderous swell of instruments rose to full force in order to wake my tired arse up. This was just in the nick of time as the call had begun.
    
     After 5 minutes of audio has been recorded the editors, me, get the transcript flowing onto the computer screen. And we're off to edit away. Before the call even begins I have to pull up information about the company who is holding the conference. I know that captioners and reporters have to really research their jobs beforehand, I don't. I just have to make sure the product names, employee and analyst names, and industry specific terms are all correctly written. This really only takes a few minutes of popping back and forth from Google to the company's press release and website.
    
     In order for this job to be worth the amount of time spent to produce a transcript, I have to get to Tier 1, which is tops in editing and turnaround time. In order to do that, I have to have a Q-score (Q for Quality, it's the letter of the week) of 23. My first Q-score from the first practice file was 356! My second, 340. And today, well it was 113. That's f---ing improvement!
    
     I have another of the same type of call to edit at the same un-Godly hour tomorrow. I am enjoying learning how to produce an outstanding transcript, but I am not sure if I will be able to hang on to this position too much beyond the training period. It is an argument I am weighing heavily in my head.
    
     Reasons to do it:
          - It's Caption Colorado.
          - Great experience in editing financial calls.
          - Some research and prep experience.
          - Can be done around my schedule.
          -  Great dictionary building references.
     Reasons not to do it:
          - It is taking away from time I would otherwise have to speed build.
          - My husband may have a nervous breakdown as a result of not having a break from entertaining two lovely little ladies aged 3 and 5.
          - I think all I do is work, school, work, school, rinse, repeat.

This was last summer, actually, but it is one of my favorite pics.

          - My daughter just said to me, today, "We don't usually get any time together and I like having time with you mommy." 
   
      Rule number one, which I put down myself as I began this journey towards becoming a court reporter: Just as long as it doesn't take away from my being involved in my daughters' lives. That was actually singular possessive at the time the rule was written, as I only had one daughter. It has since been revised to incorporate both little lovelies.
   
      If I only had the editing gig and school, it would be ideal. However, with the added responsibility of my retail job, I just don't know if this will work out for the best for all involved.
    
     So I will finish training and put down my availability for the next week, little as that may be, and go from there. If I can get a call or two a quarter, I am a happy soon-to-be stenographer.
    
     As always, onwards and upwards.

How far I have come and how lazily I have left this blog unattended to:

Here I am embarking on year 3 of my court reporting education and I am only in 160/180 speeds. I say only as if it has been a long, arduous, uphill climb to get here and as though I had expected to be anywhere further along than I am now. Well, you're damn right, I did. I thought I would be well on my way to starting a fruitful career as a court reporter. Perhaps, not the glamorous life of an international reporter quite yet, but definitely doing a few depos or subbing for officials. SOMETHING. Anyway, I am pretty much guaranteed to be fully into the 180 class within the first 2 weeks of this quarter. Which, by the way, are now only a mere 10 weeks long. There have been a lot of changes since I last wrote anything on this blog at all.

Changes at school: My school is no longer called DACR it is PIRM (Prince Institute Rocky Mountains) and is owned by Stenograph. I have a minimum of 10 hours per week of practice to get in in order to pass at midterm. I am still online. I am actually enjoying my speed building teacher as she believes in challenging us with live dictation every week.

Changes in my court reporting aspirations: I found a whole online community of lovely reporters and students of stenography through Facebook and some other sites and have begun to feel less like the creepy lady that hides out behind a computer screen all by herself, speaking and reading some kind of language no one can really understand (bringing back the Stenglish!). I also found an amazing reporter named Jade King (you must read her blog: http://jadeluxe.wordpress.com/) as it is much more entertaining than this one. Also, she is one rocking stenographer and I would give my left leg to have a career similar to hers one day. I want to be an international reporter. I really, really, do. I still really want to do anything that will land me a cottage somewhere in England.

Changes in everyday life: Not many. My daughters are 3 and 5 now and are the smartest, loveliest, and sometimes most exhausting things in the world. My husband is still making increasingly more and more beautiful guitars as time has gone on. I'm still a shop girl, but I also get to be an editor of quarterly financial calls for Caption Colorado. Yes, I wrote that correctly, Caption Colorado! It's like the mailroom or the gofer bit of working for Caption Colorado ( I love throwing that in there). However, it is a foot in the door. Well, hopefully. Right now it really feels like a finger in the door: painful but it is holding a crack of hope open.

So there is an update thus far. Spring is beginning to come forth and here I sit with a blizzard trying to force itself upon us. Sorry to my 2 readers who may have been wondering if I had fallen off of the face of the Earth, you know there are maps and such to prove it's round; no need to worry.

I will attempt, going forward, to keep up with this on a more regular basis. Off to tea, a book, and some much needed rest.