I do, Jill. The -FPLT, too.

I actually think Brenda might have gotten those from me a loooong time ago. Brenda?

So, MARK, I tell ya it takes me a fat year and you double your progress in a day. I take back everything I said about you making us feel normal. HA!


ALEXIS,

As far as Mr. Rogers, one of my four sons -- I can't tell you who for fear he'd never speak to me again -- LOVED Mr. Rogers. We still kid him about it. :)

I got WERBGS from you, Tami, after I got stuck on what to do with "well." (I was still stuck on the idea of using all the letters of an outline.) Others I'd come up with since, really, they're sitting RIGHT THERE, being ignored for so long. I define them with commas on either side, and the software takes care of removing them when necessary.

I love technology!

Well, since I don't have smart software, I use a whole lot of those. :)

If I can't fit the entire -FPLT and -RBGS, I use what's left.

However, HO*UFRBGS
Moreover, MO*EFRBGS
Your Honor, URNGS
, Your Honor, SKWRURNGS

I use the S- and -S (or -Z), too, for surrounding commas often:

, for example, SFEGZ
For example, FEGZ


I still use -FPLT for acronyms a whole lot:

FBI FBI-FPLT
DNA DNA-FPLT

I use the Z too.
UPBZ for , you know,
EUPL for , I mean,
HOUFRZ for however
etc.

I use * for acronyms - and mixed-up letters when necessary:
F*EUB - FBI
DA*N - DNA

But I also learned finger spelling with asterisk not FPLT, so this just fell into place.

I have FRAFRPL defined with commas because I really can't think of a time when there aren't commas around "for example."

Jill, I use -RBGS for OERBGS, and S-FPLT for ;

I tend to use * or *D to put commas around both sides of something:

W*L , well
TPRA*ELD , frankly,
TAO*ULD , actually,
SKWRO*PBD , John,
SEU*RD , sir,

Tami,

The improvement and goal toward 100% I think will be awhile:

yesterday 73% and 71% on period and comma;

today 75% and 74% on period and comma.

So WE'LL SEE if/when/whether I improve to near 100%.

Okay. I guess you're back to being a little normal. :)

Oh, and I started using a combo of P-P and W-B for my colon. I really like that.

Also, when I want to colon/paragraph, I hit that stroke and drop my fingers down on the vowel keys. I learned it instantly. One of those things that just made sense, as the vowels are on the next "line" down??

You really think creatively, Tami! That's great!

How do you guys like the log-in box near the top of the home page now???

Clay, Tami, (and anyone else) I need a right-hand "when". -FB is "what" in the right hand for me and I don't what to change that. Any ideas?

what about FPB maybe? Kind of feels like "when"

Mark, I use -RPBLG for "there" on the right (I hadn't found your book yet). Would that work?

Mark, Super fast today, what a challenge :). I like the redone home page with the box closer to the top like that. Makes it even faster to log in.
No ideas here for final "when" -- I'm still trying to wrap my brain and fingers around SKP for and~; it's not coming naturally for me.

-FPB is my "knew"

Brenda,

~there is on page 338 of my book as *RT. (that's final -RT with asterisk)
But what you suggest should work for you fine.

Progress on P-P!!!

Day 2 31% 30% (P-P, W-B)
Day 3 73% 71%
Day 4 75% 74%
Day 5 85% 80%!!

Michelle, you COULD try taking the "and = APBD" entry out of your dictiionary all day, and change it manually, and try to write SKP-. I did that the first day and it helped.

Why, you could do what I'm doing, and at the end of each day, search your steno and COUNT the APBD and count the SKP- and give the percentage of time that you succeeded in writing the correct one and share it with us! You and I could suffer TOGETHER! (I'm suffering less each day, only mild suffering with the period and comma now, though the first two days were HARD.)

I do the initial skp for and. It only took me a couple of weeks to incorporate. But I didn't take the other one out. So now if I need something translate as and/or, I use the old and or and it strokes out perfectly with the slash. Whoo-hoo.

I kept APBD in my dix, too, and have rarely used it. I recall using it for Andover when it came up. Probably I have reached for it when used as part of proper nouns that I didn't have in my dix because I would hear it differently than "and" the stand-alone word.

SKPOR is a nice one-stroker for and/or.

I did have to add final P to my SKP when not phrased to balance the stroke.

Comment by Mark Kislingbury 5 hours ago
Brenda,

~there is on page 338 of my book as *RT. (that's final -RT with asterisk)
But what you suggest should work for you fine.

Mark, I'm sorry. I wasn't at all clear. I use -RPBLG for there on the final side just fine, seamlessly, in fact. Maybe you already have that one defined for something, but I was trying to suggest it for final "when."

Kyung, SKPOR = and/or

I was able to change to SKP only after my fingers got used to writing short and phrasing and they were becoming VERY resentful of the fact the APBD didn't lend itself to any sort of phrasing at all. I didn't change until my fingers insisted, which was a couple of months after jumping on the write-short band wagon.

Oops, Jill! I didn't see that you suggested the same outline to Kyung. :)

Barb, I literally LOL'd!

Virginia,

The speed is, "As fast as Mark can read, or almost!"

Speeds range from:

Q&A: 260-320
Literary: 210-250

Those are my estimates.

The idea is to have the speed be too fast and the Club Member struggle to get it.

I'm kind of developing an aphorism....

"If you're getting it, it isn't practicing!"

Barb, that's funny!

Currently, PHAEUFD is "may find" in my dict., and PHAEUF is Mafia. (The latter stroke is what I call a "merge" stroke - i.e., every letter in the word is represented in the steno: M-a-f-i-a are all there.)

NOTE: It's OKAY to have my dictionary checked, but it needs to be in the position of your real dictionary, and your real dictionary needs to be in the position of the last job dictionary. In other words, YOUR dictionary needs to overrule MINE.

(The latter stroke is what I call a "merge" stroke - i.e., every letter in the word is represented in the steno: M-a-f-i-a are all there.)

I love that concept.

Barb, I have his loaded behind mine but I didn't check Use in Translation. My understanding is that AB should draw from those dictionaries that you have loaded, whether or not you're using them in translation. I had to stop using Mark's in tran, frankly, because I don't hit the A symbol clearly enough with my extensions, and I was coming up with too many of his phrases.

My local server has been acting up, so I'm quickly checking in, saying hi, and welcoming the new members.

We're up to 73 members!! WOO-HOO!!!

I don't have a right-side "when," Mark. Clay said he doesn't either and questioned the need for one. I'm sure there is if you're trying to figure out a stroke for it.

Is it that common??

I've been trying to think of the phrasing opportunities and keep coming up with zilch,

Oh, and thanks for the "creative" comment. I should have said I dropped my thumbs down on the vowels, not my fingers, but I know you got my drift.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Memorial Day!

I was trying to think of a "when" opportunity too, but could only come up with "so when" or "and when." But the "when" would probably be followed by something to phrase it with anyway, right?

Virginia, that's what I meant by there being a phrasing opportunity with when on the nish side. SO/WH-LGTS, for instance. I wouldn't try squeezing in three words there.

Actually I was thinking about "so that" yesterday and wondering if Mark has similar briefs for "so when," "so where," etc.

I was thinking yesterday most of those would be good outlines for me.

So when did you see

SWHOE*UZ

Guess you got to be careful with that and "so who."

Off to court . . .

Tami, you could use SWH for "so when" and avoid the who problem.

Perfect!

Jill, if you want my dictionary to be used in translation, it needs to be in the spot where the personal dictionary would be, and then your dictionary loaded as the LAST job dictionary is. Or you could do what Brenda said she's doing, about checking the "use in translation" box. :)

Tami and Clay,

"When" in the right hand is not THAT common, as demonstrated by the fact that I don't phrase it!! lol

But, there are a FEW common phrases that I'd like to do:

and when
but when
that's when

P-P/W-B UPDATE!

Today (working day 6): P-P 95%, W-B 88% !!

Virginia and Brenda,

you are both right about the vast majority of "when" phrases occur with "when" being the FIRST word of the phrase.

Much of the time, the word following "when" will complete a phrase.

But I think there are also lots of

and when Jeniffer
that's when Joe
but when you're

Seriously, it's not a big deal; it's only that I wouldn't mind having a ~when for the above three cases, and others could be added as well.

Another great idea, Brenda, SWH- for "so when"

Mark,
You truly are a super reporter -- but we already knew that! Your P-P and W-B progress is amazing. You are an inspiration :)

and when SKPWH

I already use that one. :)

It's really to our benefit that Mark is so obsessed - I mean driven ;).

Seriously, you all have such great ideas, thanks for sharing them!

Never even heard "and" go by in my 3 min hrg this morning and my witnesses were no-shows for the day, so I didn't get to try my SKP. We'll see about tomorrow. Instead of removing the dictionary entry for APBD=and I think I'll just global it differently for the job dict. for a while, like have it come out in bold italics or something. Easy to spot (annoy me into correcting it) but won't convert to the ASCII for sending the job in.

Good thing Mark's the only one obsessed around here!! HA!

Oh, like you're not in that camp, chickie!!

This is probably not the right place for this -- maybe brief club would be better -- but I'm putting it here anyway.

I use PH-FP for open quotes (think air quotes with your fingers) and WR-RB for close quotes. I've just added a comma to my close quote stroke: WR-RBGS. where-comma nor comma-where come up nearly as often as comma-close quote.

Just wanted to share. :)

I should add . . .

Try having two "driven" reporters around the dinner table with the whole fam without steno, what did or didn't tran for the day, etc., coming up. It's a true challenge at our house. :)

Guess it's a good thing he's not home very often.

Yep, Christine, I'm admittedly a proud mama hen with lots of chickies!! :)


Keep putting them here, Brenda. I'm not happy with my quotes, so I appreciate your post.

Oooh, Brenda, love your thinking about the "air quotes." I've got briefs for the diff. type of quotes/punct., but yours are much easier. I'm going to try 'em out tomorrow.
Thanks :)

You're so funny! It is interesting how the steno brain works, isn't it? Megan and I are always throwing out briefs, much to the chagrin of our family -- although they are pretty tolerant and will even say, "Do you have a brief for that?"

Yes, all these ideas for short writing are so helpful. But sometimes it's hard to remember all the new stuff. I wanted to post some info for a new program I just downloaded today called iFlash. It's a program for creating your own index cards. I was looking for ways to help my daughter study for high school finals this week and came across iFlash. And so, of course, it parlayed into steno.

Anyway, you can create flash cards, and by using the arrows on your keyboard move to the back side of the flashcard (up arrow) for the answer, arrow right for the next card. There is even a box to check for "known" and it will calculate the percentage "known" at the end. I just made a file for steno briefs and problem strokes. It's a visual program, but you can add audio to your entries as well. You can download this program at iFlash.com. It also can be exported to your iPhone so you can study when stuck in traffic or whenever you have a few extra minutes.

So....happy writing -- and remembering -- writing short. Maybe it's just me and my age with the memorization.

Glad you like them, April. I use the vowel keys with PH-FP for when I want to cap the word after the open quote. I'm just now toying with the idea of incorporating period and question mark in the close quote. I think these are open. They go along with the comma idea:
WR-FPLT for period-close quote
STPH-RB for question mark-close quote

Now, this may not come as easily for me as the others, but trying to get the punctuation in before the quotes is a challenge -- and the they don't always tran correctly. Spacing likes to get off. I think if they can be incorporated, it would take care of that.

I'm open to other suggestions along this line, since this idea is coming to me as I type.