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.