Get serious about what's important

Remember the old line, "Do something you love and the money will follow?" It is very important.

In this profession, and right now I'm speaking to my Official friends, we need to remember that the transcript income is gravy. Truly. If you cannot survive on your reporting salary, then you need not be in this job. Transcript income is NOT guaranteed. And if you treat it like it's your own personal slush fund, then you're going to be in trouble. If you're in this "job" for the money, you're in it for the wrong reason.

For instance... let's just say that in our state, in criminal cases we get 65 days to produce transcripts in criminal matters. This is the truth. Now, obviously longer trials will of necessity warrant an extension, perhaps. But here is the thing: If you are getting extensions, the parties in interest are having to wait to proceed in their due process. That is not fair. Especially if you could hire someone - a scopist, a typist, a proofreader - to assist you in meeting deadlines.

Granted, our state rates aren't the best in the country, but they are for work "outside" the confines of the court. "Extra" pay, if you will. Surely, even if you only take in HALF of what you'll be billing, and can meet the deadline, that is a GOOD thing.

The thing we do not want to have happen is have our transcript income taken away from us. If court reporters continue to miss deadlines and push beyond what is expected of them, we could all face the possibility of someone else producing our transcripts. That would be even worse for our pocketbooks than hiring our own help, wouldn't it?

Let's get serious.

Care... Please!

So I was assigned to another county. At lunch, I joined the "home" reporters up in their lunchroom. We had a nice chat, but I was left a little curious. Here's why:

I mentioned that I had been to convention in August (well, TWO conventions - both NCRA in DC and NVRA in Nashville) and how I had had such a good time. I learned a lot and got psyched up again. They - none of them, and there were three reporters in the room - do NOT go to convention, unless they need points. And if we as officials were not required to keep our certifications current, I'd bet you dollars to donuts that these folks wouldn't go EVER.

I don't get it. I mean, this is a hard job. Nobody gets it, really, except OTHER reporters. Surely we have a chance to learn what's going on in other parts of the country if we attend. Maybe we need a few days off? Maybe we need to get a new computer (oh, wait, that's right, these reporters are not current in their support contracts and don't keep up to date with technology).

My question is: how do we light a fire under reporters who are like these folks? Will it REALLY take someone threatening their job before they care? We have to figure out a way to make meetings and education and all the other benefits of membership RELEVANT.

For you new reporters, do NOT fall into the trap - stay EXCITED and ACTIVE. And, if the time ever comes when your job is on the line, YOU will be the ones staying because you know how to counteract the threat, you've kept current on your education and technology, and you know how to work with our judicial colleages.

Any ideas on how to get people INTERESTED???

It figures...

You know, the fun thing about this profession is it's always a challenge, something "new and different" and sometimes just plain ironic.

All last week, my spouse was out of town. I was in town. Next week, my spouse is home. I, however, am assigned out of town for the entire week. Now, Greensboro isn't too far, but 90 minutes each way makes for a long day. But I want to come home. (did I mention having transcripts in volume? who knew?) And now I have to come home because of all the work I have to get done.

Then there's the thought that I was going to work on my voice model. I finally got my new laptop computer to use with Dragon Naturally Speaking, I have my new "whisper mic" mask, and I wanted to start practicing my voicing. You think a week of court might be jumping straight into the fire? Maybe so. DRAT! I so want to get started, but I think five days of six-plus hours might be too much.

I guess we'll just play it by ear. Who knows, I might end up with a civil trial and I will have the time to work on it. If I end up in criminal court, perhaps not. I'm going to have to have all my toys in the car, just in case.

What I'm saying is, I'll have to be prepared for anything. Which, in this career, is a good thing. We're always called upon at the last moment, and we have to be ready to put our best foot forward and be the stellar professionals we are. :)

Being busy... lazy... busy... procrastinating.

Well, so it's been over two months.
A lot's happened since end of June. July was a busy reporting month, with lots of travel.
August was convention month! Two conventions, NCRA in DC and NVRA in Nashville. Lots of excitement in both places.

I was awarded the Fellow of the Academy of Professional Reporters designation (wow! that was humbling, what an honor) in DC and was also a speaker in support of Melanie Humphrey-Sonntag, who was elected by the membership to be President Elect and who will become NCRA president in 2010 in Chicago (her adopted hometown).

NVRA saw me learning more and more - and becoming excited, more and more - about the Speech Recognition capabilities of Dragon Naturally Speaking and Eclipse VOX product. I've bought a new computer with a fast processor and big HD and a lot of RAM. My goal is to take the RVR certification in the near future (taking a break from the CRR... you can only beat your head on the wall so long before you take the hint and have to really buckle down, you know?)

Anyway. It's fall again, thankfully. Cooler weather, sleeping with the windows open. Getting out and walking in the woods.

And hopefully posting more on the blog.
Sorry for being silent so long!

No-Court Week

Every few months there's something called a "no-court week" wherein the judges and other professionals have their conferences. It's productive downtime. Or supposed to be.

Last week was a no-court week. I took my furlough hours so that I'd be available during actual court weeks, so that was 10 of the 40 hours in the workweek. I got a lot of personal projects done, and I was thankful for the opportunity to do so.

So I had 30 hours left to do good stuff. I did some good stuff. Really. A couple of appellate transcripts were edited. Some admin stuff got done - like hitting staples for some badly needed supplies and mailing off shucks to various counties (my court is centralized, but I have to send my work out to the counties of venue) and also dropping the ones for my home county off at the local courthouse. Where, I learned, that the floor all that stuff is usually kept on has been closed for remodel. I was redirected - and in shock. Oops, you can tell how often I get there!

Then a rush call on a hearing. Seems my email address was mistyped and instead of having all week to transcribe a hearing, I had about 24 hours. And that was the last of it.

Did I get my accounting finished? My filing? Even some of my office cleanup? Um, no. Seems I'm more productive when I have my days full of work assignments.

I'm looking forward to the no-court week in October. Who know what excitement THAT WEEK will bring.

New Adventure... CART in court

CART in the court setting. How interesting! How completely unprepared was I on Tuesday to get the assignment from my boss saying, You'll be doing a District Court trial on Thursday for a hearing impaired defendant - providing the CART.

To say I didn't want to do it would be an understatement. I have a lot of stuff on my plate - hey, I was assigned to work my usual assignment, even - and CART is a very challenging assignment.

Off I went - called the attorney. Got three pieces of information - case caption and the traffic ticket. That's it. Oh, and since we don't know when the trial will be, show up around 10 a.m. and wait. Hoo-kay.

But here's the tricky part: I don't have a computer that I can use to display for CART all ready to go. Now, I have LOTS of notebooks... but in various states of, um, updating. I can't output to Bridge from my netbook, so that brings me to my recent notebook - which means updating all my CAT software and my writer; but then I also need a computer for the client to read from - because they can't look at a netbook either. That's my OLD notebook, from about four years ago.

So far it's taken about six hours to get ready, and nothing works yet. But, I have over 12 hours to go, so I'm hopeful. Right about now, the only thing I'm NOT worried about is writing. It is what it is.

Take a page from the Boy/Girl Scout handbook: BE PREPARED! That way you don't run around scrambling at the last minute. (Or, in parental terms: Don't do as I do, do as I say!!!)

Happy CARTing.

What day is it?

Do you ever wonder what day it is? Seriously. As a roving reporter, I'm not always in court - I'm what's called 'on the board' or what most people consider on call. Which means that today didn't feel like Friday. And weekends don't always feel like weekends. Of course, reporters who are in freelance and in court often do work weekends too. It just feels like sometimes I have to look at the calendar to remember what day it is.

Speaking of calendars... I love having a duplicate resident on my computer. When I get ready to do the month-end paperwork or if someone contacts me for a transcript, I go to my online calendar and can figure out where I was, when, and then move ahead.

I like sharing my calendar, too. I have my practice (*ahem, when I practice*) on there, my exercise (*ditto*), my personal stuff, my husband's work schedule and his athletic calendar all available to me. It's cool for planning purposes. Makes me accountable. And the best part?

It highlights what day it is.