VOCAB LISTS & MISS SPELL'S CLASS

I found two great sites that will help us court reporting students increase our vocabulary, and thereby dictionary-build, and test our knowledge of misspelled words. The first link is from Bill O'Reilly's website. I went to his site recently and found out that he posts his own Words of the Week. This is an awesome resource for us students to dictionary-build and learn new words in the process. Here's this week's words:

animadversion /an·uh·mud·VUR·zhun/ n. harsh criticism or disapproval

argot /AHR·go/ n. a specialized vocabulary particular to a specific group of people

circumlocution /sir·kum·low·KYOO·shun/ n. using many words to express an idea that could be expressed using a few

confabulist /cun·FAB·yoo·list/ n. a person who likes to chat

contumacious /kon·tuh·MAY·shus/ adj. obstinate; willfully disobedient

discommodious /dis·cum·MODE·eeus/ adj. Causing trouble or inconvenience; troublesome, annoying

excursus /ik·SKUR·sus/ n. a digression, a tangent

flagitious /fluh·JISH·us/ adj. shamefully wicked, criminal or scandalous; corrupt

gallimaufry /gal·uh·MAW·free/ n. a medley, a hodgepodge, a potpourri

hebetude /HEB·uh·tyood/ n. lethargy; mental dullness; lack of alertness

jejune /zhuh·ZHOON/ adj. lacking interest or significance, dull, uninteresting

legerdemain /lej·ur·duh·MAIN/ n. sleight of hand, or skillful deception

louche /LOOSH/ adj. dubious; of questionable intent or morality

maunder /MON·dur/ v. to talk incoherently; to ramble

meretricious /mer·uh·TRISH·us/ adj. falsely attractive

myrmidon /MUR·muh·don/ n. a faithful follower who follows commands without questioning them

obstreperous /ub·STREP·ur·us/ adj. noisily and stubbornly defiant, unruly; noisy, clamorous or boisterous

opprobrium /uh·PRO·bree·um/ n. disgrace, infamy, or reproach; the cause of shame or infamy

panjandrum /pan·JAN·drum/ n. a self-important, overbearing or pompous person

pellucid /puh·LOO·sid/ adj. transparent, clear; easily understandable

pestiferous /pes·TIF·ur·us/ adj. evil or damaging; bothersome, annoying, irritating

ragmatical /rag·MAT·ih·kull/ adj. ill-behaved, wild, raucous, riotous

raillery /RAY·luh·ree/ n. good-humored banter or teasing

recreant /REEK·ree·unt/ adj. cowardly, craven or spineless

rodomontade /rod·uh·mun·TODD/ n. vain, pretentious bluster; pompous self-indulgent ranting

salmagundi /sal·muh·GUN·dee/ n. a mixture, an assortment, a potpourri

tergiversation /tur·jiv·ur·SAY·shun/ n. the act of being deliberately ambiguous or evasive

turbid /TUR·bid/ adj. disturbed, disordered, confused

The other site is from Dictionary.com. Did you know they have a games portion on their website? My favorite game on Dictionary.com is Miss Spell's Class, a game where you have to choose whether the presented word is spelled correctly or not. At the end, you get a score. The first time I tried it, I was hooked for a few hours, trying to always beat my last score. There are some tricky words out there! Miss Spell's Class makes it fun and addicting to learn the correct spelling of words - with the famous "stars" next to each word you get correctly, too! Reminiscent of grade school!Definitely check out these two sites... and enjoy the words, words, words! :)

MY BLOG POST ON COURT REPORTERS SITE: HOW DO YOU STUDY FOR THE RPR WKT?

Posted by Christine (Steno Nerd) on April 9, 2010 at 10:31 a.m. Hi, All. I'm going to take the RPR WKT in July. I was wondering... how did you study for the RPR WKT? What exactly did you study? How long on a daily/weekly basis did you study? Right now I'm going through the glossaries of my legal and medical books and brushing up on grammar, punctuation, etc. Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance! :) ------------------------------ Comment by Janiece on April 9, 2010 at 1:50 p.m. Okay, This is going to sound totally corny but one of the things I did was I made flashcards. I bought recipe cards and wrote questions on one side and answers on the other. They are portable. You can throwt hem in your purse. Cramming doesn't work for me. I worked on it a little bit every day. Janiece ------------------------------ Comment by Glen Warner on April 9, 2010 at 2:35 p.m. Piggy-backing on Janiece's idea, go here: http://www.cheapandsleazy.net/digi_flash.html You might also want to watch this video on Morson's. Good luck on the RPR! I'm nowhere near ready for that ....! --gdw "For a Good (steno) Time ...." http://www.cheapandsleazy.net ------------------------------ Comment by Janet McHugh on April 10, 2010 at 5:49 a.m. Hi Christine, They have flash cards on eBay for $4.99. I don't know -- worth a try? http://cgi.ebay.com/2010-Court-Reporter-Exam-Flashcards-500-Cards-on-CD_W0QQitemZ120513080265QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash= ------------------------------ Comment by Christine (Steno Nerd) on April 12, 2010 at 11:45 a.m. Janiece - I think you're right. I'll study a little at a time every day. Flash cards are a great idea! Instead of hard copy though, I want to be able to view them on my iTouch. Glen - Thanks for both links. Unfortunately, this particular video of Lady Steno regarding Morson's has an error. :( All her other videos are working, however, and I've since subscribed to her feed. Katiana is a great resource! :) Also, thanks for reminding me about the option of online flash cards! I checked out Flash Card Machine again but noticed that you have to pay for their software in order to have those same flash cards transferred to your iTouch. Even if I did pay for this software, they currently do not support iTouches (only iPods/Nanos). What I've done instead is created a free account on Freezing Blue where it's absolutely free to create your flash cards. You can then transfer those same flash cards to your iTouches/iPods/Nanos for free as well! No software necessary. There's no better price than free, right? :) Here's my first batch of flash cards (look for ID #13881, Author stenonerd): Legal Terms for Court Reporting 1 (Cerritos). I got these terms from Cecy of Cerritos College who so graciously sent us the Excel file - Legal_Terms.pdf. Thanks, Cecy! :) I'll be adding to my flash card stack on Freezing Blue in the coming days and studying on my iTouch and laptop like crazy! :) Janet - Thanks for the great find on eBay! Sounds like an unbeatable deal! :) But I'll pass this offer for now since I don't want to spend money (yes, I know it's only $4.99!). More importantly, I'm a very tactile person -- I tend to retain more information when I have to type out everything myself... so that's what I'll do! :) THANKS AGAIN, EVERYONE!!! MUCH APPRECIATED!!! :) ------------------------------ Comment by Christine (Steno Nerd) on April 12, 2010 at 11:50 a.m. Just checked out the video on YouTube again -- http://www.youtube.com/user/LadySteno#p/u/3/xXrFQkLMtzg It's working! Thanks, Glen! :)

21 SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESS

1. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery. 2. Work at something you enjoy and that's worthy of your time and talent. 3. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully. 4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know. 5. Be forgiving of yourself and others. 6. Be generous. 7. Have a grateful heart. 8. Persistence, persistence, persistence. 9. Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary. 10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated. 11. Commit yourself to constant improvement. 12. Commit yourself to quality. 13. Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationship with people you love and respect. 14. Be loyal. 15. Be honest. 16. Be a self-starter. 17. Be decisive even it it means you'll sometimes be wrong. 18. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life. 19. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did. 20. Take good care of those you love. 21. Don't do anything that wouldn't make your Mom proud. - H. Jackson Brown Jr.

HOW I PACK MY LAPTOP/STENO MACHINE ROLLER

This blog post is a long time coming. This is for Jill who commented on my blog post "MY LAPTOP/STENO MACHINE ROLLER." Here's what she said: "Would you be willing to post pics of exactly HOW you load your steno "luggage"? I am in the same boat. Interning is a pain with even just a Jet Bag and laptop rolling briefcase. I want it all in one bag!" Well, I've finally got around to taking pics for you, Jill! Sorry for the delay. Here is exactly how I pack my laptop, steno machine, and all my cords and other gadgets in my handy-dandy luggage roller my boyfriend bought for me on SALE at Macy's. Hope this helps! :) Oh! And ALWAYS get warranty! I've used mine once so far! The handle broke! :P Guess I was packing way too much stuff in there (added lots of notebooks and other supplies). So last word: Pack with care. When you pack too much things besides the necessities, the roller tips over! And that's embarrassing! :P

STENO NOTES IN YOUR PURSE

I've started a new habit of carrying a bunch of steno notes in my purse. When I find a spare minute during my day, I'll pull out my notes, which are bound in a clip, and start reading silently to myself (sometimes mouthing them, though; people must think I'm crazy!). This quick reading practice works best when I'm waiting in line for something such as at a bank, at a store, at a restaurant, etc. If I'm able, I'll also circle my errors (something that I've learned from Simply Steno, a great online steno program to help get you prepared to take the RPR Exam), and in that way, try to analyze my notes and consequently fix my trouble spots. This is the first time I've ever packed steno notes in my purse for the occasional 5-10 minutes of read-back... and I like it! It's kind of addicting! After I'm done, I get this wonderful sense of feeling productive, of being "on top of things" regarding my speed-building progress, and it keeps my mind in steno mode. Lastly, I don't get all anxious or cranky when I have to wait in line for something. I actually look forward to the lulls in my days... because that's when I can sneak in some steno read-back. Wouldn't my teachers be so proud! Haha! :)