When I came out of court today, I heard about this airplane crash in the Hudson River. Living in New York, I'm not a stranger to airplanes crashing. Of course, I couldn't help to think back to 9/11. My spirits rose to hear that everyone survived and bravo to the pilot and crew of that airplane, they did a great job! Also, bravo to the passengers who didn't panic and trample each other.



Although, it's a shame a perfectly good airplane is lost, it's not a shame that we have skilled… Continue

The year starts off like a pair of new shoes. They feel stiff, you don't know what to expect from them, and that's it you're stuck with them. 2008 for me startee off with new goals and aspirations, along the way there were rough spots and some things just stayed with me the whole year refusing to go away; an unresolved issue without any answer. To say the least I've spent the past year in a funk although seemingly I've been upbeat and optimistic. I guess I'm good at keeping up appearances. I… Continue

Hey gang, I think by now we've figured out that we're all a bunch of gung-ho reporters who enjoy what we do in the profession. But what do we enjoy doing outside of reporting? For instance, do you have a favorite wine or a particular type of food? Are you an artist or a musician?



I'll start things off. I play drums in a pipe and drum band. I also play golf, and enjoy bike riding. My favorite sports teams are the New York Yankees for baseball; The New York Jets and Giants for… Continue

After weeks of planning, the second semiannual student seminar that I was in charge of organizing was held today. The event was held at the Federal Courthouse where I work and It was called the Basics of Writing Multivoice Dictation. I came up with the topic as a result of students writing to me saying that the schools weren't doing enough to give them multivoice dictation. Again, no fee was charged to any of the 63 students that attended. 93 students registered for the event in… Continue

Well, I'm back from a busy eight days in Anaheim. My family and I saw everything we possibly could see, from Disneyland to Sea World to Hollywood and everything in between.



The convention was great for the two days I spent there, but spending my time with my family was the focus.



So, it took me almost a week to recover from the combination of jet lag and just general fatigue from a very busy week out west.



Well, I've dropped my speed to the RPR level and have… Continue

June 30, 2008: I began practicing for the 2009 Speed and Realtime Contests. I took out my tapes, got my computer ready. I'm also using Realtime Coach to build my accuracy and my dictionary. The Realtime Contest can have some killer material.



My practice began with 240 QA speed building practice. I actually did better than I thought I was going to do. During the practice, I felt the need to shorten my writing more than I usually do. I also tucked my endings, like WAEUGT… Continue

which is a saying that I've heard since I was a child. Recently, I had an experience where I learned a valuable lesson. What started this was work was extremely slow and if I'm not challenged, I get bored and restless. When there's no work, there's only so many games of solitaire you can play and five-page transcripts just don't cut it for me. My office was cleaned up, e-mails were returned, and paperwork filed. I kept asking myself, "What else is there?"



Well, along came a phone… Continue

What does it mean to be dedicated? Dedication means getting up early on a Saturday morning and traveling into Downtown Manhattan to proctor a test on your birthday. Dedication means waiting for the last person to finish their test and hoping that everyone passed and never once thinking, "Would you hurry up!" Dedication is getting up after celebrating your birthday, and a little too much libation, to get up and proctor the same test all over again.



Why do I do it? I do it for the love… Continue

4:32 p.m. I can't wait to go home. My office is hot, I'm bored. The transcript I've been working on for the last three days -- aviation antitrust litigation -- has finally bored me to not wanting to look at it. Good thing it's a seven-day turnaround. I'll work on it some more tomorrow morning.



I just want to go to the gym and work out. If there's one thing I need right now, I really want to get out of here, get in my car, blast some music as I drive down the hightway. Maybe I'll put… Continue

The rain is gone, the sun is shining. It's a beautiful day here in Brooklyn. Walking up Henry Street from the parking lot, I stop at Cranberry's to get my coffee (Decaf, soy milk) and a muffin (apple walnut). As I'm getting my change from Annette (the owner) a quarter falls on the floor. As I reach for it, I look at my shoes. Whoa! They're a mess! My chocolate brown Johnston & Murphys are gross, I can't go to work like this.



So, I leave the store and walk over to my guy, the best… Continue

Hmmm....blogging. Well, here it goes.



I enjoy writing. It started in freshman year of high school and my English teacher had us keep a journal every day. She told us to wrte about anything. That's when it started. I enjoyed expressing myself in words and I felt good about it. Good and bad, all my thoughts and feelings went in to my journal.



Then in sophmore year, my classmate, Kevin Ryan, asked me if I wanted to co-write a column in the school newspaper, The Tower. It was… Continue