Mark, If you always go to your page first, on the left side are the groups you belong to. Just click on the picture. That's what I do. I'm getting lots of good info here!

Can you bookmark it? I haven't tried that yet, but seems like it would work.

Thank you, BRENDA, for calling me "dainty."

The truth is, though, I think I have amazon hands. I did learn with a wide -DZ right in theory, so maybe Tim has a point about the -TS being easier for a veteran. I know I've never had a problem with the wide -DZ and can't imagine life without it.

I also only had the wide asterisk to the right, and I can't imagine that any other way either. I think, like Mark, having to worry about what hand hits the asterisk would throw a wrench into my writing.

Great idea about the bookmark, JILL.

MARK, I know the one problem I had with the right-side "saw" is I write "identifies" IFZ. There were two others I noticed the day I was trying it out, but of course I can't remember them for the life of me.

LEANNE,

I'm still trying to figure out why you hit the 6 with your left hand. I'm thinking your sipping coffee or something with your right hand when the 6 comes up?? :)

Oh, and, MIKE, here's my slow-hand story for the week.

I have to read back to a jury. Another Official was nice enough to cover my courtroom for the day. So I have to go into my courtroom to receive another request for readback, and I get to witness this reporter write.

She's a really great reporter, provided RT to my judge, but I was so amazed how physical her job was. If I had her job, I would no longer be able to work.

Oh, I guess I do have her job, but mine is so easy compared to hers. She looked completely frantic to me, her hands were FLYING on the keyboard, and I was totally in awe. If she learned to write short, I'm pretty sure she could bust out a 300 blindfolded. :)

The only way I'm still plugging away every day is because I'm writing so short. No doubt it has given me a couple extra years -- maybe another decade -- and I am so extremely grateful for that.

Thank you, MARK!

TAMI - identifies - OIFS (or Z). I learned the identify family with OI. That would solve that if you can make the switch.

OIF - identify
OIFZ - identifies
OIFD - identified
OIFBGS - identification
OIT - identity

Tami, I have no clue why I started typing 6 with both hands. Might have had something to do with having to type out city budget reports a zillion years ago. I got pretty darn fast with numbers on the typewriter.

After reading your writing short story, I have to go practice my speed tapes now. Gives me incentive to keep at it.

Mark, did you know if you click on "follow" at the end of this discussion (if you haven't already) that you will get e-mail alerts when someone posts to this group? When you get an e-mail, the link will take you right to this discussion. You have to "follow" each discussion topic you're interested in. Be warned though, some days your inbox can get pretty full.

Tami, I write identity AOEUFT, identify AOEUF, identifies AOEUFZ, identified AOEUFD, identifying AOEUFD

for the sake of "saw" you might want to change your identify? Or just remember to write "I saw" differently

Thank you, LeAnne and Jenny, for the quick tips for getting here!

Tami, thanks for the slow-hands story!! Very welcome!! It's sad how so many reporters have to STRUGGLE every day on their jobs :(

Had to make a brief for "aggravate" today. You guys probably already have one: A*FT aggravate, then just add all the endings. A*FGS aggravation

I write it GRAG just in case anyone is interested in my weird brain.

GRAGDZ for aggravating
GRAGD

Inside out.
besides - SB-DZ

B-DZ - beside
B-FDZ - besides

Ah, Brenda, sorry! I deleted my last post because I decided it was more brief clubby than Magnum Steno-y....

But I guess I would like to ask Mark if MS incorporates any "inside out" briefs or theories?

My earlier post was that I write birth THRIB and birthday THRIBD....

Curious!

B-FDZ board of directors :)

Well, today I started my THIRD time to start trying to retrain myself to write a period P-P (instead of -FPLT) and comma W-B (instead of -RBGS). This is because I'm tired of the stacking issues I still encounter.

So, during my job today, I took -FPLT and -RBGS out of my dictionary, so every time I wrote them was an untranslate.

Each break I had a ton of untranslates that I had to fix. I made myself manually fix each one.

I wanted to report that I made progress - by the end of the day, I was probably writing 2/3 to 3/4 of the periods and commas correctly, with the incorrectlies showing up when it got fast.

I also want to report how my brain because very stressed out, "brain fried" as I like to call it, while trying to relearn to write those. Exhausting.

Very interesting how, apparently, my steno brain has to rewire and get very stressed in so doing. Later in the job, after improving quite a bit, I RE-entered -FPLT and -RBGS into my dictionary, to take away the additional stress of having to fix all those mistakes before I fix others.

So, let's see how tomorrow goes.

I know quite a few reporters (as well as most in-house captioners at VITAC) have retrained themselves to write P-P (and W-B in some cases). I tell myself, if they can do it, so can I. But it's hard! Very hard. Commas and periods are probably more common than the word "and"!

I'll keep you updated as to whether I finally conquer this, or give up. LOL (NEVER QUIT!!) I only had TWO stacks today of the period/comma kind! Due to changing.

Some of you may know that I put P-P and W-B in my StenoMaster Theory book, once I realized it was superior.

Clay of course has written them that way since the beginning. Right, Clay?

Jill,

Magnum Steno has TONS of backwards briefs. Here's just a smattering:

of it T-F
about it TPW-
~need to be PW-FRBT (-FRB is ~need)
so that we STWHAOE
milk PHREUBG
silk SHR*EUBG
bulk PWHRUBG
Peterson PAOERPBTS (PAOET + -R + -S + -N)
wagon WAOPBG (WAG + OPB)
~would be *BLD
~would have *FLD
~would have been *FBLD
~they have *FTD (-TD is "they" in phrases)
~they can -BGTD

Your "birth" and "birthday" are highly clever! I commend you!!

(in my theory, *T = ~th, so birth is simply PW*EURT, and brief for birthday is PW-RD.)

Mark,
How good to know you share some of the same struggles. I have been successfully switched over to P-P for about five years or so, but the comma never really clicked with me. Reading what you have written is encouraging me to conquer it.

It was funny after I first switched to P-P and I had it down pretty well, I went to a courtroom in Conroe where the reporter realtimes to judge and attorneys, and I was writing along a few pages, no stress at all, until I looked at my screen. It said stuff like, "I had to go preponderance my mom was waiting for me preponderance I didn't want her to be mad preponderance."

I was so embarrassed. I was using an older dix that was stored on the county's system. D'oh!

Mark, another thing I have to conquer is using my wide asterisk key. That is why I look for things to work around having to use the final side F and/or R with the asterisk. I haven't completely written me off yet! :P

Ooh, love the "Peterson" one!

Well, Mark, Clay had this "moron" mom that taught him your theory, and she -- it was on a rare occasion, so don't tar and feather me yet -- couldn't figure out why in the world anyone would use a P-P for period and a W-B for comma. I taught him the -FPLT and -RBGS.

After shipping him off to the brick-and-mortar school after "mom theory," I realized I had made a big mistake with the -FPLT and -RBGS and called and told him to switch it to the P-P and W-B ASAP.

I don't think he had any difficulty doing it, BUT once I realized how many stacks I had with -FPLT and -PLT -- actually those were pretty much my only stacks back then -- I switched, too.

It was the most difficult major overhaul I have ever taken on in my writing, but after months AND months AND months, it finally stuck.

No more -FPLT stacks for me. :)

Tami.... LOL!!! Funny! About the P-P. Was it hard for you to switch?

Very interesting, Jill! Maybe in 25 years the majority of court reporters will write it P-P and W-B.

So, Mark, what are you going to teach at your school when it opens? P-P or FPLT?

LeAnne, P-P and W-B. They are superior, avoiding stacking.

Cheryl, the way to work on briefs is to work on them specifically for 5 minutes every day before you job. Also 5 minutes speed building. The Magnum Steno Club is the place to do it, at www.magnumsteno.com. Tons of videos for speed building and briefs. :)

Mark, what are your suggestions for avoiding stacking final -G for the instances where you can't tuck it or use -DZ?

I really don't have much of a problem with stacking (at most, one every few jobs) so I'm not going to try to change something so difficult as the period and comma strokes, but if I were to do that, one thing I'd miss is the way I incorporate my comma into strokes:
DRRBGS - Doctor,
ORBGS - oh,
BAEURBGS - by the way,
NOURBGS - now,
WERBGS - well,
etc.

Brenda, me too. I was thinking I could just add one letter to the left side to go with it...maybe it would get me to pick up my hand when I need to!

Jill, write with a rhythm. We tend to speed up the "easy" stuff, and break our rhythm, hence the stacking problems with -FPLT, -RBGS, -D, -G, -S, -Z. If we keep a good rhythm, we won't stack those. Sometimes you can CATCH yourself speeding up the stroke to go fast.

Okay. I will take note of my rhythm or lack thereof!

Well, today I wrote 31% of my periods correctly (P-P) and 30% of my commas correctly (W-B). LOL Thought i was doing better than that till I counted at the end of the day!

Yes, Mark, it was extremely difficult to switch to P-P and W-B.

Here's a confession: I think it took a fat year.

Okay. I said it!! :)

The only thing more difficult for me was switching to the number bar. I did that back in 1997 after 17 years of writing all numbers out. Now if it should look like a number, I write a number, and if it should look like a word, I write a word. I know it's old school, but I don't use any number conversion software.

Back to -FPLT/-RBGS . . .

P-P was my "preponderance," so I had to remember to asterisk that, but that wasn't really the issue.

When you told me in Texas (NCRA convention) that you hadn't switched yet, even though you had it in your theory book, it really made me feel so much better because at that point I was about nine months into it, and I still was blowing it all over the place. I did the exact same thing you did after a while and made it an untranslate, and that really did help.

Again you gave me kudos last summer in Anaheim for making the P-P/W-B switch and reminded me that you hadn't been able to do that yet, and I have to tell you that's just another thing I love about you.

You are extremely humble and always make your "fans" feel like we can be awesome reporters, too.

Maybe I should say "SUPER REPORTERS!" :)

CHERYL,

Can't tell you how many times I felt I was going backwards before going forwards, BUT when I thought I was writing way too distracted, I really tried to take a few concepts off my plate and focus on the ones that would give me the most bang for the buck at the time. That seemed to be really helpful.

When it started kicking in and I could see my speed go in the right direction, it was payday, Baby! :)

Oh, and I definitely need more rhythm! :)

You all are awesome!!! I love this club. I have been telling everyone and their mother about Magnum Steno, LOL!!
However, I was/am feeling like Cheryl, because I would constantly be thinking of these briefs, and still am, but I am trying to do as Mark says. I have been faithfully doing Magnum Steno for a little over a month. When I got the book, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. At that point, everything really started to make more sense.
I wish everyone here the best of luck. And thank you, Mark for everything!!

Tami, you are absolutely right. Mark is very humble and calm. He's kinda "Mr. Rogers-like." That's what some of the students that attended his Sacramento seminar describe his as.

And, Mark, if you read this, know that we appreciate how patient and understanding you are when addressing all of our concerns. You took your time, giving us your undivided attention. We never felt rushed. Thank you.

And he certainly does make us feel on top of the court reporting world. We WILL be super reporters!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Thank you all for your kind words. But please stop, my hat won't fit anymore if you continue!!

I think I'm doing better today with P-P and W-B. I can't wait to count when my job is over!

It is great that we can all share our struggles and learn from each other.

Jaime, are you enjoying the videos in the Magnum Steno Club?

Mark,
Didn't get a chance to e-mail you, but we LOVE Oakley's dictation on the Magnum Steno Club!! He is darling and a great reader. Can you have him help some more? It is much easier to identify when the speaker changes when he is helping you. Not that your little high-pitched change isn't good, but there's nothing like a different voice to help with that distinction -- especially at these ludicrous speeds :)

Hi,
Christine, I agree. I loved Oakley's dictation!
I forgot to e-mail you too, Mark about that!
Yes, I do love the videos, when my Internet allows. :) Starbucks has become my best friend. LOL
It sucks to live in the country at times.
I am still really frustrated with school, though. I am just having a heck of a time with three-voice. I don't know if it is my nerves or just me being a nerd. LOL
I am in the 180-200 class for straight matter, but still in the lower level with three-voice, 150-170, still working on my 160s. It's so odd.
Well, thanks for the nice venting session. Whew. :) Hope everyone has a great day!

Jamie,
You might want to take a look at speedbuilders.com. to supplement your multi-voice dictation training. They have animated 4-voice dictation that is e-mailed directly to you on a regular basis. The cost is not too high and it does not require the Internet.

Christine, thank you so much. I will definately look into incorporating that into my practice sessions! :)

You're welcome!

The top speed, though, is 200 on the 4-voice. So the Magnum Steno Club is still going to be the place for the HIGH speed dictation. Although I think there is a program you can download that allows you to alter the speed. I need to look into that.

The animated 4-voice has helped my daughter Megan who is in the 200 speeds. The 4-voice can be overwhelming when you're first starting that type of training, so getting some extra practice can be helpful. Also, the dictation is very clear without a lot of dashes and false starts, which you will get in school -- and of course in real life. But it's nice not to have that as a distraction when you're trying to get a handle on the speaker changes.

Oakley is a great reader and is as cute as a button! It definitely would be nice if he could continue to read some more with you. Pleeeeeze...

Thanks Oakley.

I'll sprinkle Oakley in more often!! "Back by popular demand, Oakley!!" I was worried Oakley's contribution slowed us down too much!

To speed up, slow down the Magnum Steno Club videos, you can try for free (and ultimately purchase if you wish) a product called MySpeed at www.enounce.com. I will say we are WORKING on getting speed up/slow down on our site, but I don't know IF or WHEN we will succeed at that.

I am happy to announce, on my third day of trying to switch, that today on my job I wrote P-P 73% of the time for periods, and W-B 71% of the time for commas!

Impressive!

Mark,
You don't have to worry about Oakley slowing things down. It is still plenty fast At least it is for me.
And great job on your P-P W-B transition. Wow!

Mark, that is amazing. Do you still use your RBGS in conjunction with strokes like WERBGS, SORBGS, OERBGS, and so on? Or did you ever?