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May 2009 Blog Posts (40)

A CRUSHING GOODBYE

At 9:30 last night I had to make one of the most painful and difficult decisions ever. And today, I'm feeling so lost, quite empty and crushed by the weight of that decision.

My dog Bam-Bam is gone. Forever. And it was totally unexpected.

I've never loved an animal like I love him. He loved me unconditionally, was a great friend and the best keeper of secrets. Smart too. I miss him so much it hurts.

I've had cats throughout my life, but Bam was my first dog. Sought… Continue

Added by April McMillan, CRR, RPR, CSR on May 20, 2009 at 11:13 — 26 Comments

Frustration sets in because I can't get paid

In January, when my main agency was slow, I took a few jobs for another agency. It was either not work at all or take a chance. I had worked for them many years ago and they were very slow in paying and it took a while but I finally got paid from them. I had also heard rumors that now they didn't pay at all and to be careful. Why, oh, why didn't I listen to those rumors? I decided it would only be a few jobs and I would not extend much credit. I even told the scheduler that I had heard these… Continue

Added by Lisa Breiter on May 18, 2009 at 11:07 — 12 Comments

WHAT'S GOING ON?!?!?!?!

What is going on in court reporting?!?! Is everyone as slow as I am? Please tell me it's just a cyclical thing and that it's going to turn around SOON! Anybody have any thoughts on this??

Added by Karen on May 18, 2009 at 10:51 — 5 Comments

double-wide asterisk?

I want to switch to using wide keys. I notice that Mark only uses the single-wide asterisk key. Is there a reason I shouldn't order the double-wide? It seems that I can get better use out of using my left index finger as well as my right. Also, is it better to extend the TS or the DZ key? Thanks for your help.

Added by Kim Begg on May 15, 2009 at 8:16 — 8 Comments

Panic Has Set In

Ok. My computer crashed last week. The tech had to erase my entire hard-drive. He was SUPPOSED to do my personal dictionary but I have searched everywhere and it is not here! Even simple things like THE COURT: are not in there! I cannot possibly test like this!!! Is there a way that someone can copy theirs and send it to someone? Please help me, I will try ANYTHING!!!!

Added by Angela McPherson on May 14, 2009 at 18:19 — 23 Comments

Eclipse scopist, anyone?

I've tried searching for Eclipse scopists on this site and I keep getting "no members match my search criteria" but I know darn well this web site is loaded with scopers. So here I am putting out a blog hoping to get some hits. I need a reliable Eclipse scopist to work with. I a working reporter, micro agency owner, who is just too busy to scope my stuff anymore. Waayyy to overwhelmed. I have one scopist that I currently work with but she has other reporters who keep her pretty well busy so… Continue

Added by Deborah Morin on May 14, 2009 at 13:59 — 12 Comments

INTERNET RATES

How would you consider invoicing a Livenote internet streaming depo which has five people viewing remotely? If the agency is getting a fee, shouldn't the reporter be getting a percentage of that?

Added by anita t. shemin on May 13, 2009 at 9:04 — 6 Comments

Attorney Funnies

I love the attorneys' sayings down here in the South. The other day, we had this exchange (names have been changed) and I thought it was so cute. The (male) witness didn't even blink an eye when the (female) questioning attorney said it to him, either. In another state, I'm not sure it would fly:

Q. I appreciate the clarification, Mr. Jones.
A. You bet.
Q. I don't need the sass. How about that?
A. I'm just making sure we're clear.

Cute, right?

Added by Sue Baker on May 11, 2009 at 9:34 — 2 Comments

David Alan Grier

So we went to the Improv last night to see David Alan Grier. The man has gotten older, but he is still very funny.

At one point, I was laughing so hard my stomach was hurting. I thought I was going to die if I didn't start laughing so hard. So funny!!!

Added by Kyung on May 10, 2009 at 20:59 — 1 Comment

Common Brand Names - To Cap or Not to Cap

So, I don't know whether this is a concern for other reporters, or if I'm just being way too nit-picky.

But brand names that have become too commonplace as to refer to other off-brands as well, should we cap those or not?

Examples:

UGGs or just uggs

Kleenex or kleenex

Band-aid or band-aid

I'm inclined to only cap when referring to the actual company, but would appreciate others opinions.

Also, if you have any other examples that would be cool too for building… Continue

Added by Mary Ann Taylor on May 9, 2009 at 11:17 — 15 Comments

Punctuation question/opinion

Does anyone hyphenate Bates stamp in these instances:

1. Bates stamp number (i.e., Q. Please look at the Bates stamp number at the bottom of the page.)
2. Bates stamped document (i.e. Q. We were provided this Bates stamped document from your attorney.)
3. Bates stamping (i.e.: When you were doing the Bates stamping, did you happen to notice...
4. Bates stamped (For the record, I have a document that is not Bates stamped, as the others are.)
Thanks

Added by Naola "Sam" Vaughn on May 8, 2009 at 12:30 — 12 Comments

NO COPY PAPER

I have taken the suggestion of a few CSRnation members and reviewd the suggested sites. The no copy paper suggested on these sites are what most of our officials are aleady using. To no avail, the attorneys continue to copy our work product.

I have googled various sites, some of whom basically provide the same service. I am at my witts-end. There's got to be a paper out there when copied, comes up blank and/or dark.

Help!!!!

Added by maura johnson on May 6, 2009 at 7:57 — 4 Comments

What I knew my first year out - emergencies

One of the most important numbers to get is the after-hours emergency number.

What? What's that?

We've taken those jobs where the attorney says it's only ten more minutes. And yet three hours later you're still going. Or we get a time estimate of three hours. And yet, seven-plus hours later, you're still going. You child is waiting at childcare waiting for someone to pick them up. You're physically wrung out. You're looking at 300-plus pages. Oh, by the way, around hour 5,… Continue

Added by Kyung on May 5, 2009 at 16:12 — No Comments

Court reporting demo at 8:00 a.m. May 6th--need help with info

It's 3:00 p.m. and I've just been asked to step in and do a career day at a local high school at 8:00 tomorrow. I've done this before, so that part doesn't bother me. However, it's been quite some time since I've done one and don't have any demo statistics, like schooling, cost, etc. Since things have changed and now some of it is online, I'm somewhat out of my element on that end. If anyone has any information that I can put into a one-hour presentation, I would appreciate it, either written… Continue

Added by Jane McGill on May 5, 2009 at 13:11 — 2 Comments

Transcript paper that cannot be copied by attorneys

Does anyone know of paper to stop attorneys from copying transcripts?
I have tried the paper with the red down the middle. I saw one attorney copying transcript by lightening his copier. He then distributed a copy to the judge and prosecutor.

Added by maura johnson on May 5, 2009 at 5:38 — 2 Comments

Scopists Trashing Court Reporters

Okay, I'll admit I posted this earlier and yanked it because I didn't want to create any bad blood, but I've been reading/seeing a lot of this going around in different forums/places lately, and it has really bothered me. I would love to hear what both sides have to say about this. (I have this tendency to address "sensitive" issues.) So here again is my original post:

I'm not much of a blogger, so this is just me kind of wondering aloud. I've never used a scopist, simply because I'm… Continue

Added by Quyen on May 4, 2009 at 18:59 — 17 Comments

Reporter clarification on videotaped depo

Hi All,

Recently on a videotaped depo the witness started to answer a question at the same time his atty objected that he'd already answered the question (so they overlapped) and told the questioning atty he could have the record read back for his previous answer. So I read the previous Q & A and the colloquy up to the point where he made the objection and said the witness had already answered... so then I asked the witness if he answered the question (where he and his atty… Continue

Added by lynn darling on May 4, 2009 at 18:32 — 3 Comments

Isolating audio

Hello. Now I do actually have a question:) I wondered if anyone on here knew how to isolate a piece of your audio and save it separately or how to save an audio file with pieces cut out of it. Some of our attorneys ask for the audio files to be included on a disc with the transcript, but I do not pause it every time there is a short discussion off the record because usually they just start talking off the record anyway. Therefore, I just need to know how to cut the off the record discussions,… Continue

Added by Erica Abbott on May 4, 2009 at 12:26 — 5 Comments

Recognition

Hello all:) I haven't added anything for a while, but I certainly get on here and read over many of the things going on every day. I do just want to take a moment to throw out there that I think there are so many wonderful and amazing people on this site. People that I can only hope to be like as my life and career grows. How wonderful is it that we can take time out of our day to answer someone's question or try to give some advice on school or attempt to make someone whom we may only know… Continue

Added by Erica Abbott on May 4, 2009 at 6:53 — 4 Comments

Mountains and mountains of tapes

So I have a pile of cassette tapes. Right now, I'm at the Jenga stage. But some day, I will be reaching the landfill stage.

What do you guys do with all your cassette tapes?

Back in the day, my girlfriend would make tape mixes. Yes, some of the younger reporters are going tape mixes? What are those? Well, we used to make mixes of different songs that we copied off of our music cassettes and listen to them in the car.

Anyway, nobody does that anymore. It's all… Continue

Added by Kyung on May 3, 2009 at 6:30 — 13 Comments