So Maundy Thursday (or the Thursday before Easter...) I get a call from the scheduling coordinator. You're assigned for THE WEEK in Randolph County. I call hubby immediately and say, "Refresh my memory. Where is Randolph County?" To which he replied, "Asheboro." And I about croaked. Let's just say it's not an easy place to get to from Wake Forest!
But I'm always game for an adventure! So this morning, 6:50 a.m., I hit the road. Raleigh is NOTORIOUS for its bad traffic - now, not so bad as DC or LA, but for the lack of infrastructure, it's pretty horrendous. Anyway... the map I got from online told me to go to Greensboro, then south; I thought, nah, that's not right. I ended up taking the new "Northern Wake Expressway" to its western terminus, drove down NC 55, and then west on US 64. Took me an hour and 45 minutes to reach my destination. It was raining. However, I was about an hour and 45 minutes early! (Hey, first day of court I like to be at least an hour early, so it wasn't horrible).
Court was great. I met Judge Hardin (former prosecutor in Durham County - Michael Peterson case???!!) and the resident reporter (Mona) and all the other GREAT people in state service. From lawyers, to clerks, to bailiffs, everyone greeted me warmly and treated me kindly.
I think that's what I like best about the job so far - the people are SO friendly! Compared to my freelance life, where you rarely got a thank you, court is just a big happy family. :)
PLUS I got my very first "official" transcript ordered today!! Woo-hoo!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
I love weekends
I have had some great weekends!
The 'traveling court reporter' was able to travel to Washington, DC - well, really Vienna & Reston, VA - last weekend, the 7-9, to volunteer at NCRA headquarters. Every year I make the trek up I-95 to see my friends and call countless reporters from across the country to remind them to re-up with our national association. It's a long and grueling couple of days, but so rewarding. It's nice to see folks realize what exactly our association does behind the scenes for court reporters.
This weekend was my favorite liturgical holiday - Palm Sunday. Such wonderful music - and the memories from my youth of palm fronds and my sweet kitty, Dusty, playing with the frond after church. All glory, laud, and honor to Thee, Redeemer King.
We had our wine party this weekend too. Spanish reds shared with neighbors. Great food and conversation.
And, of course, the ACC tournament. What a weekend!
The 'traveling court reporter' was able to travel to Washington, DC - well, really Vienna & Reston, VA - last weekend, the 7-9, to volunteer at NCRA headquarters. Every year I make the trek up I-95 to see my friends and call countless reporters from across the country to remind them to re-up with our national association. It's a long and grueling couple of days, but so rewarding. It's nice to see folks realize what exactly our association does behind the scenes for court reporters.
This weekend was my favorite liturgical holiday - Palm Sunday. Such wonderful music - and the memories from my youth of palm fronds and my sweet kitty, Dusty, playing with the frond after church. All glory, laud, and honor to Thee, Redeemer King.
We had our wine party this weekend too. Spanish reds shared with neighbors. Great food and conversation.
And, of course, the ACC tournament. What a weekend!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Employee from Self-Employed
Going from being self-employed to being an employee is a change! Time sheets, mileage logs, state emails, protocols, training. Wow!
I turned in my first time sheet in 15 years on Monday. Got a paycheck too. A real, official check where some RETIREMENT savings was taken out automatically. That felt pretty awesome.
What I'm finding hard in this transition is really paying attention to my time and where it goes. Freelance, as long as you get your transcripts out, it doesn't matter when you do it; here, for the State, you're pretty much on-call for them from 8:30 to 5:30, so while I can run errands, I'm not really free. My weekends are now full of all the stuff that I used to do during the week - and I find I'm grumbling a little bit. It seems I'm now like everybody else. LOL.
The days when I'm on the Board are challenging. I try to spend at least a few hours upstairs in my office - filing, editing the hearings I've taken, getting paperwork done - but I'm still procrastinating on stuff that needs to be done: Taxes. I got my extension filed and even though I'm not in court today (or possibly tomorrow), I'm looking warily over at my table, knowing that I have to sort through all my reports and receipts and make sure the numbers tally with my QuickBooks.
Maybe I'll get called for court tomorrow.
I turned in my first time sheet in 15 years on Monday. Got a paycheck too. A real, official check where some RETIREMENT savings was taken out automatically. That felt pretty awesome.
What I'm finding hard in this transition is really paying attention to my time and where it goes. Freelance, as long as you get your transcripts out, it doesn't matter when you do it; here, for the State, you're pretty much on-call for them from 8:30 to 5:30, so while I can run errands, I'm not really free. My weekends are now full of all the stuff that I used to do during the week - and I find I'm grumbling a little bit. It seems I'm now like everybody else. LOL.
The days when I'm on the Board are challenging. I try to spend at least a few hours upstairs in my office - filing, editing the hearings I've taken, getting paperwork done - but I'm still procrastinating on stuff that needs to be done: Taxes. I got my extension filed and even though I'm not in court today (or possibly tomorrow), I'm looking warily over at my table, knowing that I have to sort through all my reports and receipts and make sure the numbers tally with my QuickBooks.
Maybe I'll get called for court tomorrow.
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