Inspirational Quotes (part 1)

Imgur has got to be the best and worst thing I've come across in the past year.
It's both a blackhole for passive (sometimes stupid) entertainment, but also a treasure-trove of inspirations.
As embarrassed as I am to admit it, it's even how I sometimes keep up with the news!

My typical routine starts off at the WTF section for my daily gross-out fix, before drifting into the main page.
There are more /___ sections than you can shake a stick at, and I'm sure that I'll add them to my repertoire eventually. But for now, WTF does the trick.

Some of my favorite posts, however, are the inspirational quotes.
I've decided to share a few with you, starting with this one:

The most dangerous risk of all - the risk of spending

your life not doing what you want on the bet that you

can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.

This one is really hitting home with me lately.
Namely, because it's what I've come against with deciding to pursue court reporting.

I'll get more into this in a few weeks...

For now, what kinds of things have you put on hold, insisting that you'll have the time/energy/freedom to do it later?

Current Lesson -- Lesson 14

Funny Lines

So, for anyone who has gone through StenEd theory, you'll know that there are quite a few times when funny practice lines or phrases come up.
There are only so many words we know at this point (up through Lesson 12-13), so they have to get a bit creative!
So far, here are just a few that made me chuckle out loud:

All of them have the look of doom.
Jill felt the yapping dog nip her leg.

And here are some short words/phrases that always get my mind in the gutter:

hot stuff
shaft
jerk

What other hilarious little gems have you found in your theory books?

Funny Lines a la Me (or What Practice Looks Like)

So, I was futzing around while watching the Lesson 12 online video, and wound up with a few pages full of some pretty goofy stuff.
WARNING: Some cuss words ahead.

head built tough heart guard dead learn tough touch tush SHEURly she is odd
 and U and I.  Awe awe awe awe taut walk talk cock suck my cock.  Caulk the chalk.  I was taught call me.
  I saw it.  The bird said KAU!  I H-F you.

  I saw it coming all the time.  OU OU I am going downtown.
  AaOEU OEU.  The boy is dead.  Boy toy toys are gone.  He is so loud!  The moon is large.  Zoo zoom, zoom!  Spoon lick the spoon.  Fuck the moon.  I am going to zoom to the moon.  Quit zooming in the room.  So...  Much blood.  I ear mite might tune tune tune tune eat eat eat eat all bout boy cool all bout boy cool

 chalk cloud choice door gloom AOE eat glean gleam bus as I was squatting, the cat licked me.  Cause I joined the cause.  Have the clause in the thing is dead?  Loose the noose.  TPHOZ.  Town void sound soil fraud.  Crowd.  School.  Booze.  Ploy.  Loose.  Mood.  Cause.  Loud.  Coil.  Coiling door.  Dooring took.  Doubt.  Pawn.  Chow.  Sauce.  Hot sauce.  Scouted.  Voice.  Ouch join.  Down loot the pan.  Spoiled kid.  Room.  Brow.  Claw.  Off.  Noise.  Cook.  Cook in the pan.

  Sun her son is smart.  The sun is shining.  My son will be glad.  That the is not a knot.  The KAU is in bred.  I eat bread.  I breed many dogs.  I love you, not!  The bread is in the fridge.  Eat it!  ED is bed I TPRAOER.  TPAOR far fare fare fear fear fear fear fear the reap -R.

  Sent cent scent scent SKR-PBT scent scent scent scent SKREBT scent scent scent scent scent
 the dogs picked up the scent.  The boy kicked the ball and then started bawling.  I kids are singing.  And the bells are ringing.  All the bells are ringing in my head.  Scent.  Her scent has some odd stuff in it.  The sum of the parts is hard to have.  Not me.  I am not a knot.  Knot the tie.  I went to the mall and was mauled by the mad dogs.  I will be dead in a day.  Mate with the dog!

I want to go on a date with him.  Date day time tie tide.  Boot boot tool tool tune tune hate hate mate name name.  Need need need immediate immediate meet meet feed feed.  Tie AOEU Hal the in the hall all the time give Hal a gift.  Mark mark the board.  Mark is a tool.  The mall is full of tool tools.  Tell your dog not to maul my cat.  Ball bawling kids are so bad.  Bad a thing thin thin I pulled the wire taut, butt then I taught the kids.  I want to teach tee tee tea tea AOE AOE AOE tee tee tee tee tee AOE tee PHAOE meet meet meet mate mate mate mate mate mate mate me.  P-PLDZ P-LZ P-LZ.  PHR-Z PHR-Z PHR-Z I call foul with the fowl.  Our house is in the hour.  The hour is nigh.  The course is quite coarse.  My house is large, you bitch.  The course has a lot of dumb stuff.  The quartz is coarse.  Of course, my dear.  Dear me O my!  Wood, would you?  Eat my hot, large wood.  Yum!

  Blouse.  Couch.  Blood.  Good.  Caught.  Frau.  Choice.  Oil.  Brook.  Choose.  Small.  Talk.  Spoil.  Joint.  Sprawl.  Hound.  Booze.  Ground.  Voice.

As you can see, it's a lot of practice with the dipthong volumes, and some long vowels.
I'm tackling Lesson 13 today, and I want to ace it!

Good Advice for Practice

In an earlier post, I talked about how I enjoyed mixing up the old and new words together, rather than mulling through the same set of random words again and again and again...

Well, you can imagine how surprised and relieved I was to find that I'm not the only one who agrees!

Jenni of Court Reporting Bound and Determined wrote up a wonderful blog post about this very thing.

I've only written up the section that really out to me:

Most of this repetition practice should be on the forms as they occur naturally in connected matter. The repetition of isolate forms for more than five times consecutively is not in accord with modern pedagogy. Scientifically graded connected matter has supplanted the isolated form.

So by golly, if something written in 1916 agrees, it must be a tried-and-true method!

Here's to steady practice.

My Machine, My Baby

On more than one occasion, I've heard court reporters referring to their machines as their babies. Or that it's very important to look at their write LIKE IT IS a baby. Devotion, familiarity, and care are all key to "becoming one" with your machine--and eventually, enabling you to work your CTR magic on it.

Goo-goo, motherf***ers.

When I first realized that I'd have to get my own steno equipment, I immediately jumped onto Craigslist.
Why? Because first and foremost, I'm pretty gosh darn cheap. And second, ex-steno students appear to be quite common. (I heard elsewhere that the drop-out rate for steno students is around 92%!!)
To test this theory, I just popped on Craiglist right now and BEHOLD--I found a handful of posts for students selling their old equipment. Rarely has anyone ever sold only part of a set, they're usually trying to get rid of the entire thing--writer, cables, books, etc...

I actually still have the original post where I found my current machine:
Aaw, memories.

Court reporting Steno Machine - $300 (stockton)

---

Date: 2012-12-05, 7:45PM PST

Reply to: see below

---

I am selling a used Stentura 200 SRT steno machine, Real time court reporting dictionary, and real time court reporting student CAT software. I have never used the CAT software has everything you need to get started for real time. The Stentura 200 SRT was used for a year. I changed my major, there is nothing wrong with this machine.
Asking $300 

Please call XXXXXXXXXXXXXX ask for XXX

• Location: stockton
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID:3458619059

It was thanks to this very generous seller that I was able to procure nearly all my beginning-student materials.

All of the equipment has gone along quite swimmingly, save for the matter of the cables. But I'm sure you already remember my earlier post about that.

So far, things are going well, although I am still trying to figure out how to make the keystrokes shallower. They feel quite deep right now, and I think it would be beneficial to have less pounding, more swift striking.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Equipment: Cables

(con't from "Equipment: Writer")

This section will focus on the cables, which I found to give me the biggest headache.
I am a self-proclaimed neanderthal when it comes to technology, so I shouldn't be surprised.
First, a brief summary:

② cables
You might be thinking, "Cables? What kind of cables? Does it have ESPN?"
Well, by "cables," people typically mean the cables/cords  that will connect your writer to a computer. They allow a computer program to relay the writer keystrokes into a program, and can even translate it into a readable English form!
Because writers are so often dependent on ancient serial ports...

You shall not...CONNECT

...you need some newfangled USB-serial adapters to make the connection.
This really does feel counter-intuitive to have so many writers still rely on this format if serial ports are being phased out. However, I have noticed a very new writer called the LightSpeed, which does not rely on serial ports in order to connect to the computer.
Just check out the link and prepare to be amazed.

Yes, this is what it does in its spare time.

Super-shallow keys?
USB connection?
This is the future, people! Just gazing it makes me sour a bit over my current machine. But I understand that like all things, baby-steps are vital, so there is good reason for having started with my current writer. (Plus, the $3K+ price tag on the LightSpeed would make any person hesitate.)

Still, this post is about the cables, not writers.
I'd like to explain a little bit about the trials and tribulations I had when it came to getting "hooked up"...

When you are purchasing your writer + cables + program + computer, you must make sure that they are all compatible. (Why, it's a regular rainbow of parts!)
Don't worry, this doesn't mean random trial-and-error. There are plenty of people in the steno community who are very much willing to help you figure it out. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Unfortunately, I hadn't yet discovered the treasure-trove of information online, so I had to find salvation with West Valley's instructors and IT professionals.

All of the aforementioned parts (except for the computer) were obtained through Craigslist by the same seller, so I was certain that it was all a done deal. Of course the writer would work the cables, and of course they would all hook onto my laptop without a hitch, and of course the wonderful free drill program the school provided would work perfectly.

Alas, it was not to be.

The first problem was that the USB-serial port adapter cable did not come with a correct driver for my laptop. And no, I'm not talking about this kind of driver (although I did feel like it for a time):

I mean this innocent-looking thing:

Yeah, I'm looking at you, blue disc of death!

Wipe off that goofy grin!

The above image makes it look like the driver and cable go hand-in-hand, are attached at the hip, like two peas in a pod! More witty idioms!

Well, for whatever reason, that driver CD refused to properly spin to life on my laptop, and the USB-serial port adapter cable ended up useless.

That was a fresh $20 out of pocket to purchase a new adapter cable, complete with handy-dandy driver CD.

But I wasn't out of the woods yet...

Next on my list of things to tackle was getting a theory program installed onto my laptop that my writer could actually connect to. The school was kind enough to hook me up with a retro-rrific theory drill program, but once everything was hooked up...it didn't work.

Thus, out came the wallet. This time, I put down a fat $100 for the Total Eclipse program. There were toll-free numbers to call, key codes to write down, and some more time spent with the steno IT guru, but it did eventually work.

I was just -$120 than when I originally started.

I know this post probably sounds like I was peeved out of my mind, but now that I'm past that point, and onto actually using the writer + cables + program + computer as intended, so I'm very happy with it!

So before you allow yourself to get all hooked up getting...hooked up, take a moment to consult with the myriad of other students and professionals in the field who have gone through the exact same thing.

Hopefully, this information can help save a student a little bit o' headache and a whole lotta cash.

Equipment: Writer

Equipment is always a very popular topic when it comes to steno students (and professionals alike), and there's pretty good reason for it!

There are a LOT of options to consider out there.
In fact, it's pretty damn overwhelming at first.

This isn't a line of work where there are conveniently only one or two options out there--just are there isn't only one kind of theory! ...But that's for another time.
It seems crazy to me now, but I try to think of it as like a scuba diver who may be trying to purchase her equipment. There are several brands for wetsuits, BCs, tanks, flippers... the list goes on and on!
The scuba diver will recognize that all brands have value, so it's all about finding the set of equipment that best fits you! Or in some cases, best fits the class that you are attending.

WARNING: I am still very new to the field, so my knowledge is quite limited. Just imagine me saying "In my limited experience, I've found that..." or "From what I gather..." before pretty much every opinionated statement.

The average steno student will require the following:

① steno writer
This is the machine designed with a special keyboard layout to allow one to learn a stenography theory.
Steno writers can come in two forms--Manual and Electronic.
Manual means that you can only write onto paper, while electronic means that you can hook into a computer, through the use of cables, and write in steno programs.
In the professional world, paperless writers appear to have taken over the landscape--no ifs, ands, or buts.
But for us students, it's still key to be able to read the steno notes "raw"--and that can be more effectively done (?) through the use of paper.

It's like art students looking back at the classics. It's not outdated. It's the past that allowed the present to be.

Here's a nice sample of what your writing will look like on good old ink and paper.

This was my Lesson 7 quiz.

Personally, I have a Stentura 200SRT, which allows for both paper and computer usage.

I'll talk more about my machine later.