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August 2009 Blog Posts (36)

TECH QUESTION: "If a popcorn kernel trapped between the cpu fan and the processor pops....

what damage could it have caused? I don't know how it got there."

This thought-provoking question was sent to my online computer expert, Leo Notenboom at Ask Leo, and he passed it on in his weekly e-mail letter. I couldn't resist passing it along here.

TECH ANSWER: (from Leo) "What's funny is that this could happen, and the kernel could absolutely pop at some point -… Continue

Added by from Debra Maples on August 31, 2009 at 19:04 — 4 Comments

Court Reporters Wanted - South Carolina

Need a switch? Come to work for a firm that treats its reporters like its clients! Positions available at all levels - from beginners to high volume realtime writers. Office locations in Greenville, Columbia, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head. Call Bill at A. William Roberts, Jr. & Associates, 800-743-3376, fax resume to 843-722-4926, or email broberts@scheduledepo.com

Added by Bill Roberts on August 31, 2009 at 14:11 — No Comments

I'm DONE!

It went fast, and I'm SO happy about it! I passed my first 225 Q&A on August 23rd, the second on August 27th, and my final one last night!! I will have my graduation ceremony on Thursday. My last day of work at my current job will be September 11th -- we will take a quick trip down to SC for the weekend -- and then I can start working on September 15th! I will sit for the RPR in November and hopefully get some initials behind my name! WOOHOO!!!

Added by Jackie on August 31, 2009 at 10:50 — 3 Comments

Hello Out There!!

Just wanted to say I'm still around, things are moving at half the speed and with twice the frustration, but I'm still here. Hope you all have a great day!

Added by Kathleen Russell on August 30, 2009 at 9:50 — 1 Comment

Case Catalyst/new laptop??? Any suggestions??

The day has come, unfortunately. Screen on laptop was shaking at depo yesterday. This morning it is BLACK. Ugh. I'm frantic, of course.

This morning, I backed Catalyst files on external hard drive before screen went completely black. Now I tried to put my CC version (old....Version 4!!!) on an HP I had here as a backup (yeah, right) that has Windows Vista, I guess. Well, it's giving me some junk that it can't install because of a driver, etc, and to contact the "manufacturer." So now I've… Continue

Added by Karen Peterson Diaz on August 29, 2009 at 14:29 — 4 Comments

Another Day in the Life - Blackouts

So we're going merrily along and all of a sudden the lights go out. Darn it!! Long story short, there was a black out.

I have recently had my writer shimmed and made paperless. Also, I have a Stentura 8000. The battery is shot. I always run on electricity. I got it refurbished about a year ago, but then it ran down again and will no longer hold a charge.

So basically, I had about 2.5 hours on my laptop. I think there were batteries in my digital recorder, but I could not… Continue

Added by Kyung on August 28, 2009 at 9:30 — 4 Comments

Keeping busy and loving CSRnation!

The past few weeks have been pretty slow for me. I am so thankful for the last minute jobs that get handed to me through the agency I work for.

Transcript orders are a-plenty. I've gotten five orders in the last few days. Yay! So even though I should be working, I need to take a couple minutes for myself and my favorite website.

I'm thinking about working in criminal/juvenile/ dependency court again. It's just such a pain in my rear to work all day in court and then have… Continue

Added by Naomi on August 27, 2009 at 13:56 — 2 Comments

Student Inquiry--Dictionary Size?

Hi,

I'm new to the group, but wanted to ask all the working court reporters and captioners, how big is your dictionary? I'm building mine, but just wanted to get an idea.

Thanks,
Chris

Added by Chris H on August 27, 2009 at 13:29 — No Comments

My First 225!

I passed!! I passed my first 225! 96.08%. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. Just two tests left and then I'll be out there as a working court reporter!!!

There is no better encouragement than passing a test. I have class tonight and hope that I do well, but if I don't pass tonight...I will be practicing SO hard this weekend! Woo!

Added by Jackie on August 27, 2009 at 9:30 — 6 Comments

Working on transcript from hell

I know this transcript is horrible bec even my scopists are remarking that the people in this deposition are CRAZY.

Constant interruptions, constant rudeness from all parties involved. Witness to Q attorney, Opposing Attorney to Q Attorney. Actually, I guess the Q attorney was not too bad in terms of rudeness, but constant interruptions and talking over each other despite my statement saying that they need to talk one at a time. Court reporter being ignored when trying to interrupt… Continue

Added by Kyung on August 27, 2009 at 6:30 — 5 Comments

Transcribing improper grammar

This is a tricky one to post, but here goes...

When you hear a witness say a word and you know he/she was meaning to say another, what do you do? Example: "ax" for ask, "messican" for mexican, "rockweiller" for rotweiller, "lawd" for lord, "no content" for no contest, etc., etc., and the list goes on and on... In instances like these, the reporter can be the one who looks incompetent if the transcript reads the way the wit says the word. But if we are truly supposed to be writing verbatim… Continue

Added by Kaleisha Straughter on August 27, 2009 at 0:24 — 23 Comments

Do we ever get a raise?

I'm a freelance reporter working at any given time for about 5 to 10 agencies. Some of them pay very well (usually national agencies or out-of-state agencies) and some NY ones, who I do love to work for, because the people are nice, don't pay as well. But that's besides the point.

As we all know, the price of things go up. Rent goes up. Gas goes up. Food goes up. This is called, I think, inflation. Don't page rates ever go up? Don't appearance fees ever go up?

And how does… Continue

Added by Karen Goldstein on August 26, 2009 at 17:39 — 2 Comments

Federal work

I've heard from some colleagues that federal work is great, with consistent work and great pay. However, I'm having a hard time getting my foot in the door, and am curious if anyone else has ever done federal work and how you went about getting it. Any suggestions?

Added by Angela Maddux on August 26, 2009 at 9:21 — 3 Comments

THE U.S. HAS LOST........

one of its greatest senators. Sen. Ted Kennedy passed just before midnight at the age of 77 years of age from glioma brain cancer. I know many will probably disagree with me, but he has done so much for this country in my mind.

Please send prayers to his family. Godspeed, Teddy.

Tricia

Added by Tricia McLaughlin on August 25, 2009 at 22:30 — 4 Comments

BEWARE OF SCOPIST FROM HELL

Hey, everyone, just wanted to tell reporters beware of scopists out there scamming reporters. I couldn't believe. I was in desperate need of a scopist. Had several people respond. I picked out a couple with the "10 years experience in criminal court" and a "CRR. " Every day I sent her a day's worth of trial, everyday she kept on me to send her more, send her more, I'm done, need more. I sent her my work, kept reminding her I could send her extra wav file from my Mira if needed. No, everything… Continue

Added by Karol Hill on August 25, 2009 at 2:28 — 8 Comments

Agency Owners-10 day turnaround...what to do when reporters don't comply

Some time during my 30 year + career, the 10 business day turnaround became the norm for transcript delivery.

Other than leaving one's staff reporters off calender, if possible, are there other remedies that anyone uses for reporters that are missing the deadlines? Do you diminish their pay in any way? Is there any way to motivate reporters to turn their work in timely?

Other than leaving them off calender, which is the most practical, but not always possible. I'd… Continue

Added by Debbie Landi on August 23, 2009 at 19:39 — 8 Comments

It has arrived!

I finally made a decision! I ordered the CRAH program! It arrived Friday just before I left to go out of town, so haven't had time to dig into it. I cannot wait! Thanks again to all of you for your input. I am so excited I can't wait to start learning!

Added by Joanne Wilson on August 23, 2009 at 17:32 — No Comments

Pet Peeves

Okay, for the last freakin' godforsaken time, IT IS NOT A #!*$@%! BACKSLASH!!! It's a SLASH, okay, a S-L-A-S-H, SLASH!!! So every time you unbelievably annoyingly say "backslash," I will write out the WORD backslash and not put in the correct SLASH symbol for you!

THIS is a slash: /

THIS is a backslash: \

Get it straight!!! Aaaaarrrrrgh! I HATE when attorneys/witnesses use the wrong term for the danged… Continue

Added by Quyen on August 23, 2009 at 14:00 — 10 Comments

I won one for the team today!

Hello fellow reporters ~ Well, anyone who has ever insured their equipment and lost a piece of equipment (those pesky little "keys!"), only to be denied by their insurance company after making a claim, will be pleased to know, I won today in Small Claims Court!!

The insurance company has a little exclusion in their policy - check yours - that states that they cover accidental loss . . . well, unless it's a "mysterious or unexplained disappearance." Convenient, huh! They purposely… Continue

Added by Karla Rupp on August 21, 2009 at 19:24 — 4 Comments

Here's a secret.

I really hate expedites. I'm too old to not be sleeping at night. I always feel like I don't have enough time to get out a quality job. I'm always afraid that I will screw up when I fill in the worksheet bec. I'm so tired from staying up all night to get those next-day expedites out.

I don't mind a one-week expedite. Those are great. But it's the next-dayers that kill me.

Of course, I do like the money, but I'm at a point where I think I would rather get my… Continue

Added by Kyung on August 21, 2009 at 12:00 — 2 Comments