Friday, December 20, 2019

The Sequel

It's not set in stone yet, but NCRA is looking at doing another Guinness attempt at the 2020 convention in Orlando.  They reached out to us previous attemptors to see if we're interested, giving us first dibs, and some of us accepted.
See the documentary at www.courtreportingmovie.com.
Pic thanks to Marc Greenberg.

Note that it is NOT confirmed just yet, but it's still in the preliminary stages.  But just in case, I'm starting to train for this again.

I'm going to blog through this again, like I did last time.  I need a better label title than "The Impossible Goal" this time, because I don't want that "impossible" word in there.  But I need something to go in the word cloud on the sidebar.  Supernatural- and Lucifer- (the Netflix show, not the Judeo-Christian trickster) -themed catchphrase suggestions welcome.

So here's what I've found in all of two days jumping back in:
  • My ears still hear the speeds.  Last time I started practicing at 370-ish, and it took me a while to even HEAR the individual words.  This time I started practicing at 420 (heh) and while my notes were garbage, I could still HEAR at that speed.  So we're ahead of the game already!
  • My hands are ACHING.  These speeds are tiring.  And I'm supposed to go into the gym when I'm done here and do back day.  Well, much like your first few days working out leave you feeling like a worn-out shell, I'm sure I'm in that stage of practicing now.
  • I have just as much no motivation to practice as I did last time.  I should do another "motivation doesn't exist - Boots 2 Asses" blog post.  I'll put one in the queue to work on.
  • Hey, this'll give me something to blog about so the bots don't take over my blog.
  • Photobucket is all weird now -- so many of my picture links are broken on past blog entries.  So if you want pretty pictures, imagine a funny yet apt photo illustrating the entry.
Mark Kislingbury is vlogging through his journey as well, so head over to http://www.magnumsteno.com and join and follow along. Like he says, if we don't get it, that's fine.  But we're going to TRY.  Writing high speeds isn't about talent, or being some kind of X-men mutant -- it's all about effort and work and grinding.  If I can get my speed up, so can you.  Steno is naturally HARD for me, but practice makes it EASIER.

Last time when I did this, my jobs were so incredibly EASY it was amazing.  This is definitely a case where the journey is more beneficial than the payoff.

I don't know that I'll do a set blogging schedule this time, like post on Sundays or whatever, but I'll post 'em when the spirit moves.  I will however post my practice regimen soon.




Saturday, September 14, 2019

Been a long time since I came around....

... been a long time, but I'm back in town.

I'm back to blogging.  These past few years I've had the honor of serving as the Illinois Court Reporters Association president-elect, and then president, and with that honor comes the responsibility for writing a president's column for the Ad Infinitum, our quarterly newsletter, so that took up my writing priorities.

This is me and Georgia doing the two step then cowboy boogie.....
But now that torch has passed to Georgia Long, my amazing, intelligent, sharp, beautiful*, challenging, and insightful friend, and she will do wonderfully in this role. She's a legacy president -- her mother, Beth Pruitt, served as ILCRA president. She's got a solid background, experience, and insight to take the wheel.

(I already said "insightful." Oh well, it's my blog and I do what I want.)

So anyway, now I should be blogging a bit more often.  A lot has happened over the past two years, and I'll detail exactly what went down with regards to Senate Bill 2128 in the upcoming Ad Infinitum.  Teaser trailer:  It was NOT just about voice writing. 

Side note:  Voice writing is not the enemy.  They're our best allies in the fight against digital "reporting," plus voice writing enables reporters who experience hand/arm disability to continue to work in their chosen, trained field.  (That'll be me in a few years.)  Voice writers read back, interrupt when necessary, and can provide realtime and captioning.  And they're a witness to every single word of the procedure and create an immediate realtime draft -- just like stenography.  Their certification tests are almost directly equivalent to NCRA's certification tests, including realtime and speed.

Head to http://ilcra.org/data/cms/uploadedfiles/ILCRA%20Digital%20file.pdf for a fabulous infographic on the difference between CSRs and digital "reporting," developed by ILCRA's own vice president, Mary Ann Casale.

*Yes, I know, physical beauty is not something we humans should hold quite so dear, but she's seriously beautiful inside and out.  I mean, come on.  Sheesh.