Hi, Jaimie. I had to take a double take when I logged on and saw your name.....because that's my name and I spell it exactly like that!!! I have never seen anyone spell it that way before!!! Silly, I know, but just felt compelled to write!!!

See.....now we both know someone else with our spelling!!! You have a great weekend, too! Me.....working all weekend. Ah....the life of a court reporter!!!

I've been reporting for about 25 years!! Gosh, when I say it I can't believe it's that long!!! No, I do not work in court. I'm a freelance reporter. When I first started reporting I did work in court; criminal, civil. I also worked in bankruptcy court for five years. It took me two years to get out of school. Went right from high school into reporting school. I also got my AA degree, too, while going to school. Happy V-Day to you, too!!!

Just came natural. Hardly practiced. You'll get there. I know that's easier said than done!! Do you have a lot of people in your class?

Nope, not a "brief" person. I was always so petrified when I was in school that I wanted to be able to read back. So....I wanted to write everything out. Now.....I started doing more briefs! As a matter of fact, I was on Briefpedia before trying to work out some conflicts that I had and trying to find some better ways to write certain words. Now, don't get me wrong, I do your basics, but I can do a little better on some words that I have!!

I had several working reporters highly suggest that I check out Mark Kislingbury's seminar being held in Sacramento on March 7 at the Sheraton Hotel.

When I saw that registration was $299.00 I fell over, but I called to see if they would give us a group rate if I could round up more students.

Here's what they would do:
For students and teachers -- $99 each
5 or more students -- $75.00 or 2 teachers and 4 students -- $75.00

We need to call and register no later than Wednesday, March 4. Call (713)837-6595 ask for Samuel. Give him my name so that he can give you the lower rate, provided we have 5 or more.

~A

GREAT!!! Did you give Samuel my name? I got the cost down to $50. Did anyone else at Humphreys mention if they were interested?

I need to let them know it's cheaper now.

BTW, my fingers are all over the board with identifiers. 200 4V is killing me right now, but I felt that way when I was at the 1804V level and I finally passed...took me 2 1/2 months, but I did it!

I'm hoping to bring back some good techniques from the seminar. I know it will be good, 'cuz you'll be there!!! This will be fun. There are about 7 so far registering from Argonaut.

Can't wait to see you.

Oh, sorry. One more thing. I'm going to try to get there by 7:15 - 7:30 only because I don't know about parking and I want time to set up machine and laptop.

Hi, Jaimie!

I have briefs going back to 1995. I use NAO*EU*F
1996 N*EUBGS
1997 NEVN
1998 NAEUT
1999 SKU9

(My U doubles a number 11 is 1U)

2000 TWOU
2001 TWUN
2002 TWAO
(etc)
2007 TWEFN
2011 TWE*FN

2009 TWAO*EUN

Depoman.com has some great threads on years. Hopefully they aren't all on the old site that got wiped out.

Do you use your number bar??

Do you use a reverse and double stroke??

I use E for reverse because it has Es in it and U for double because it has a U in it.

32 is 23E
66 is U6

I'm not sure that's the best method. I just created them as the years went by.

Mark Kislingbury has the years in one stroke based on the binary system. I'm saving that for my 40th year of reporting. :)

That"I'm not sure that's the best method" should be up by the years. I added stuff, which is pretty normal for me. Sorry I'm all over the place.

You're welcome!

Hey Jaime! Actually, I still need to finish my depo internship (6 hours) before I can sit in qualifiers. It's lame how I have the speed, it's just a technical difficulty that's keeping me back. It also doesn't help matters when depositions don't have work at this time and keep canceling!!! It's sooo frustrating. :-/ Oh well, I'm just happy to not have to worry about takes anymore... hahah

Hope you're doing well, and good luck w/ those 180-200 tests!! I'm sure you're gonna be flying w/ those tips Mark Kislingbury gave us!

Just stopping by to say, "Hey!" We're on our spring break this week. I'm practicing my briefs and phrases. I just need one more to qualifiers. Trevor ordered his Fusion and Pro CaseCat. Should be here tomorrow. Have a terrific Easter (are you guys on break?) and HAPPY WRITING SHORT!!!

Jaimie,

I don't know how to help you out, and I don't have a current support agreement with them as I'm currently in the process of switching to Eclipse.

I think your best bet is go into scopists under Procat and get somebody there to help. I'm sure they know how.

Good luck!

Aaaaargh! I just need one more to qualifiers and I've had personal stuff to deal with lately and can't focus. The start of each test is always good, but then my mind wanders and i'm writing crap. I'll just blame it on the wind. My spring break wasn't a break for me. I had to take care of family/personal business and no time to breath. I do have to say, listening to Journey brings back great memories of my high school years! Okay. Now, it's AC/DC...whoa. Blast from the past. I LOVE it. You have great taste in music.

Hey Jaimie! The qualifiers are going pretty good. It's still a little tricky b/c of the 12 minutes of continuous testing dictation. For Argonaut, we need to pass one qualifier, which is 4V using four people. Well, I hope I answered all your questions!! LOL Anyway, hope you're doing good and writing fast!!

btw.. i like the Journey u got on your page. :-) I'm surprised you don't have "Don't Stop Believin'" or "Anyway You Want It" lol.. I need to figure out how to load music on my page!

Hey, Jaimie!!!! Good to hear from you. How have you been???? I'm hanging in there. I have a terrible cold and cough.....and still working through it!!! How's school going?????? Let me know........

Happy happy birthday... la la la la!

Happy Birthday!!!! Hope you have a splendid day!

Thank you for the birthday wishes!!!

How did I miss your birthday?!? Sorry. Well, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! Hope you had a good day.

Hey, I read your blog on Magnum Steno and I wanted to say, 'YOU ARE NOT A NERD!" I had been in 180-200 for...hmmm...a long time and when I left Humphreys I was one short of getting to 4V. But that was a loooooong journey.

Hang in there. It does seem weird to be in 180-200, yet still be in 150-170 3V. I passed a 170 3V before my 160 3V. And a 160 SM before my 150. Go figure. Craziest thing ever. Actually, it was the type of material and who my teacher was. I do better with certain teachers.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Happy Birthday MySpace Comments">

Thanks Jaimie!! It still feels like a dream passing my qualifier and getting very close to becoming certified!!! I will keep you posted how the October test goes, and hopefully I'll be a CSR next time we talk!! :-)

Stenograph sells it. Or just remind me at school, and I'll loan it to ya!

Hey! Thanks for the b-day comment. Yeh, i'm super stoked to make it through this quickly, however, i'm trying to keep from being nervous for the test in October. All I did was practice about 20 wpm faster than my target speed, and then practice at my target speed, and I found I could write accurately up to speed. You might want to try this technique. ALso, I REALLY recommend memorizing as many briefs and phrases as you can, because I find that the briefs I know have saved me from failing tests. Every less stroke helps keep up to speed! Well, good luck and have fun writing! Hope this helped!

Hi Jaimie.

Mark dictates a Q/A that gives good practice for the Answer extension; ie: A Yes., A Yes, sir., A Yes, ma'am, et cetera. It has saved me, countless times, during the qualifier. I'm really using only the short phrases. It's just enough to get me through the hurdle when it starts to get too popcorny (is that a word?)

Anyway, I've started with the Q extensions and now I'm practicing the Court extentions. the Court has been a challenge. then my problem is when I read my notes, I'm not used to seeing the vowels with the court so I have completely overlooked sustained, overruled, et cetera and type what I see next.

For example, it should read: THE COURT: Overruled. You may answer. I type: "You may answer." I hope that makes sense.

Anyway. It's good practice to readback too!!!

Hope that helps.

Hope all is well with you. Have a super weekend!

Well, at Argonaut school is from 8:30-2:00, so we have about 3 hours of nonstop practice/takes, and then three more hours of brief/phrase study or more practice! Whew, it's exhausting. haha

What I find helpful for me is the online dictation and Welsh's 4V videos, which Argonaut supplies. I just bump up the speed and practice. I think it's beneficial to hear fast interchange, even if you can't write it accurately, so that it will train your brain to think that quickly. Then, after listening and attempting to write at these high speeds, slow it down to your target speed, and it will seem like a breeze! lol. Mark Kislingbury also uses this technique and he's able to write 360 wpm! You might want to try it out! :-)

Hopefully these suggestions help you! Feel free to ask anymore questions you have. I'm glad to help out. Have a great weekend!

LOL... Yes, I go to class Mon-Fri, however, since I passed a qualifier, I usually take Fridays off to intern or just study for the CSR examination.

Well, I kind of exagerrated on the "three-hour" brief practice. What I do is take trouble words from tests and look them up in Brief Encounters, then write them down and commit them to memory. So just spend as much time as it takes to look the brief/phrase up and memorize it! :-)

That's too bad you can't transfer to Argonaut. Besides the obvious financial benefit, everyone who has transferred seems to be progressing very rapidly. I think it's in part to do with being at school 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. More time on the machine = Quicker rate of progress!! And yes, home does have way too many distractions. haha

Try control E

You'll find the tab on there.

Let me know if you figure it out.

Hope school is going great!!

It worked, right??

Control E inside your job.

"Suppress the line numbers."

I have my computer in front of me now, so I could be a little more concise.

I don't know then.

I ordered Eclipse this week. Should get it next. I'm ready to get off of Procat after 22 years. I'm actually pretty excited about it!

Of course! Thanks. I'm somewhat nervous, but happy to be done w/ school. :-) Well, good luck w/ your schooling and feel free to comment me if you have anymore questions!

Hey, Jaimie!!! Good to hear from you. I'm doing well. How about you? How are you doing in school? Let me know!!!! And.....thanks for writing!!!

Practice, practice, practice. That's the only thing that's going to get you used to hearing more than two people talking at a time. And then....it will just be like second nature. You won't even hesitate.....

That's all you can do. It will click....honestly. You have a nice rest of your day, too. Me.....I'm working. The life of a reporter.....:)