DEPOMAN.COM

I've been meaning to do a plug about Depoman... and here it finally is! If you haven't joined this steno forum yet, you just gotta! Depoman has been around long before my other very, very favorite steno website, CSR Nation. Depoman is essentially a forum for the court reporting profession, whereas I consider CSR Nation more of a social network like Facebook or MySpace. Depoman is straight-up forums... clean, easy, and full of great information on all things steno! Here's a sampling of what's in Depoman's index page:

• Student Boot Camp
• Forum Theory
• Officially Officials
• CART & Captioning

So join... ASAP! Thankfully, it's free, and you'll instantly have the benefit of mining tons and tons of golden nuggets of all steno information and all steno inspiration! Now, that's a deal you can't afford to pass by! ;) Lastly, here's a warm, friendly note I got from "klt" (used with her permission) a few months ago when I first started to post at Depoman (my user name at Depoman is also "Steno Nerd." Find me!). This is a GREAT example of how super friendly the court reporting community is. I really appreciate all the working reporters out there who lend their listening ears, who dole out their tried and true tips, and who are always ready to encourage us court reporting students. THANK YOU! We court reporting students are VERY GRATEFUL for our mentors... whether they even know they're mentoring us or not! Hehehe. ;)

Stenonerd, Just went to your blog -- with that kind of energy, you will be finished in less than two years, no doubt -- do you ever sleep? That is some kind of positive reinforcement you have placed around you, and I commend you for it. Just keep after it -- where do you find all that great stuff? And your personal goal statements are great!! Keep us all informed. Look regularly on the student thread here and the forum theory. Always great advice and great briefs!! klt

TYPHOON FLOODS PHILIPPINES! PLEASE HELP!

Dear Friends: On Saturday, September 26, 2009, my native home country, the Philippines, was slammed with a catastrophe -- Tropical Storm Ketsana (AKA Ondoy) dumped a month's worth of rain in just 12 short hours! It was the worst flooding the Philippines had seen in decades. The hardest hit place was Manila, which is the capital and has a population of about 19 million people. The death toll is at about 240 people. Let's hope and pray it doesn't continue to rise, or that water-borne diseases spread. I e-mailed my family in the Philippines. Thankfully, only two of my many relatives were really affected (they live east of Manila). One said their whole first floor is flooded. On top of trying to recover from Typhoon Ketsana (which is comparable to Hurricane Katrina), there are 1-2 storms set to hit the Philippines AGAIN by the end of this week. Relief workers are asking for donations to help the Filipinos prepare for the storm, clean up after the storm, care for the injured because of the storm, and then help the displaced people rebuild their lives. Would you please consider donating a small/large monetary gift to help the Philippines? I know that if I were in their shoes, I would desperately need the help that others could readily provide. Won't you be that person that helps another... all across the world, from America to the Philippines? We can provide the comfort, the help, and the resources they need to make it through this. Please give. Thank you for your consideration! Also, please continue to keep all that were affected by Ketsana, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, in your prayers! THANK YOU! ~ Christine (Steno Nerd) Here are four different organizations through whom you can donate...

• CLICK HERE TO DONATE THROUGH WORLD VISION.
• CLICK HERE TO DONATE THROUGH SAVE THE CHILDREN.
• CLICK HERE TO DONATE THROUGH AMERICAN RED CROSS.
• CLICK HERE TO DONATE THROUGH UNICEF.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

There is no failure except in no longer trying. - Elbert Hubbard

I'M OFFICIALLY AT 180 WPM!

It's confirmed! I passed my last 160 wpm test, a Q&A (Testimony)! I marked 4 wrong out of a total max of 17. I'm officially at 180 wpm!!! ;D WOO HOO!!! THANK GOD!!! And THANK YOU ALL for your well wishes, prayers, hopes, and encouragements that I finish this challenging AND rewarding court reporting program ASAP! I'm inching my way up to 225 wpm! Hopefully, I'll be a working reporter sometime next year! That's the goal! Again... WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Hehehe! ;D

PROCRASTINATION, RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS & ONE THOUSAND

In this post I'm going to talk about three unrelated(?) things:

• PROCRASTINATION
• RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
• ONE THOUSAND

On PROCRASTINATION... Last Sunday, my boyfriend, good friend, and I were studying at our local Borders Bookstore. Love this place! (BTW, they're offering free Wi-Fi now at all their locations! You don't have to sign up or anything! WOO HOO! More incentive to come to Borders for their wide array of book selections and Seattle's Best iced coffee!) Taking a break from my steno machine, I browsed the store and came across this inspiring book called "Dream It. List It. Do It! How to Live a Bigger & Bolder Life from the Life List Experts at 43Things.com." I wanted the book so much! It has such great ideas on how to improve your life, or as the title says, to live a "bigger and bolder life." If you didn't know about 43Things.com, it's basically a website where you can register for free and create your top 43 things you want to accomplish in your lifetime. I found this website years and years ago when my roommate shared the link with me. Click here to go to their website to start listing your 43 things you gotta do! :) Click here to preview this book using Google. You get a lot of inspiration from other members on this site, and it's such great "pep" or encouragement all around. I browsed through the Google preview book version of this yesterday and came across this small section about procrastination... because for me, it's very hard to get started. I think it's because I think of the big picture over all, I overplan, and then I just don't get started since I've paralyzed myself into thinking the project is too big to finish, why even start, right? Pretty bad thinking. Leads to a lot of nothing. :P So this copy and paste snippet from this wonderful book (p. 413) is for me and all my fellow procrastinators our there! May we learn!

STOP PROCRASTINATING

Procrastination keeps you from getting the job done and makes you feel anxious and guilty. So why are we all so good at it? Unlearn your procrastination skills with these tips:

- Focus on the starting line instead of the finish line. Define the first step. Projects are often composed of a series of smaller tasks, so identify the first and next steps and get satisfaction from checking them off.

- Allow for do-overs and view larger projects as a series of beginnings. If you get distracted while working on a task, don't scold yourself. Just start again.

- Meticulous overplanning can become a form of procrastination -- it feels like you're working but really you haven't begun.

- Schedule in leisure time. Promise yourself that you will take a break after 15 minutes. Or plan a day at the beach on Sunday after a full day's work on Saturday.

On RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS... On Friday morning, I came to my car early in the morning ready to go to work... and my wallet was set on top of my car's hood! I was, like, "What is this doing here???" I had no idea I had lost or dropped my wallet! I thought my wallet was safely inside my purse the whole time. But I guess the night before, in my haste, I dropped my wallet right next to my car... and a kind somebody saw it, didn't take anything (I didn't have any money anyway, so that helps, right? Hehehe), and placed my wallet on top of my car's hood where I'd be sure to find it! WOW! Random acts of kindness still do exists! That's comforting! GOD bless whoever did this kind deed for me. Maybe I'll never know... but I hope I'll find out to say THANK YOU. But more than words, I am more prompted than ever to do random acts of kindness for others since I was so showered recently with this blessing. But even if I weren't shown this kind act, I should still want to do kind deeds for others because it IS the right thing to do. On ONE THOUSAND... Steno Nerd has reached over 1, 000 subscribers!!! THANK YOU for subscribing and sharing this blog with your friends! I'm humbled by the great response this site has received, and I really count it a blessing to be able to connect with so many people, using the medium of the Internet, talking about one of our favorite subjects -- STENO NERD STUFF!!! Hehehe. Seriously, thank you for reading. You make my day everyday! :D

NEW DAY

It's a new day, thank GOD! New hopes, new opportunities to become better, new things to learn. May we all do our best in not only school, but in all parts of our lives today. May we be humble and continue to strive for excellence! Never give up! Do all in love! Smile because you woke up to a new day! :)

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” - Thomas A. Edison

WORD/PHRASE - STENO (1)

These are the words and phrases I'm learning in steno right now. I'm trying to practice these every day, so I can write them without hesitation on my machine. I've heard that we court reporting students should keep a briefs notebook and constantly update it, revise it, and learn from it! I've been keeping my homemade briefs notebook all year, and I'd like to share them with you here on this blog. Look out for them! I'll call the posts "WORD/PHRASE - STENO" and then put the number we're in. Today is the first installment, if you will, so today's post has a (1) next to the title. :) Please let me know if you write any of these below words differently in steno. Maybe my steno strokes suck and yours would be much better to adopt! Hehehe. So, please, do share! :) Thanks, Everyone! OK, gotta go to night classes now...

WORD/PHRASE	STENO
absolute	SLU
absolutely	SLUL
damage	DAJ
dangerous	DRUS
destination	SNAIGS
efficient	FIRBT
efficiently	FIRBTL
effort	EFRT
entity	SPW-T
helicopter	KOPT
indicate	KAIT
indicating	KAIGT
indication	KAIGS
interrupt	TRUP
interruption	TRUPGS
Kate	KAIT*
manufacture	M-FR
merchandise	M-DZ
misdemeanor	MOIDS
missed	MIDZ
no, your Honor	NURN
objection, your Honor	ORN
ordinarily	OERNL
ordinary	OERN
president	P-T
presidential	PLT
priority	PRORT
slew	SLAOU
thank you, your Honor	THAURN
urn	URN*
venue	SRAOUN
yes, your Honor	YEN
your Honor	URN

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

- Thomas Alva Edison

BACK TO SCHOOL

I've finished my first week of coming back to school! WOO HOO! :) It's good to be back, but I admit, it was a very rough first week. It felt really weird to be back in "school mode." I felt that I was still on "vacation mode," especially on the very first day of school, which was this past Tuesday, September 8, 2009. The six weeks of Summer Break really broke my rhythm of school+study+work+etcetera. I think I'll be in tip top shape, however, by next week. I'm counting on it, anyway! I am very happy to report, however, that by the second day of school, during my night class, I was able to write a 160 wpm Q&A test, and it felt FANTASTIC! I didn't feel like I dropped ANYTHING! Now the hard part is translating my steno notes onto a test transcript! OH BOY! This is where I've been messing up in passing that last 160 test to get into the 180 speed group. But I'm sure, it'll come... oh, it'll come! :) I only have one academic class left, which is Transcript Prep. It's a one-year-long class, and there will be multiple projects to complete by the time I'm done. I also hope to learn, by the time I'm done, all the ins and outs of Case CATalayst (Student Version). That's the goal! I'm truly fortunate to have worked at a court reporting agency where I was able to actually prepare the physical transcripts (photocopying, binding the booklets, and mailing them out) and then at law offices where I was/am constantly surrounded by deposition transcripts. It's a benefit, for sure, that I know what a deposition transcript looks like! (Thanks to Cody from CSR Nation for reminding me of that!) Allow me to share my schedule with you:

Monday/Wednesday 8:00-12:30 p.m. - SCHOOL 12:30-1:30 p.m. - LUNCH 1:30-2:30 p.m. - GYM (30 MINS. CARDIO; 30 MINS. WEIGHTS) 2:30-3:00 p.m. - SHOWER AT GYM 3:00-6:00 p.m. - STUDY NEAR SCHOOL 6:00-9:00 p.m. - SCHOOL Tuesday/Thursday 8:00-12:30 p.m. - SCHOOL 3:00-8:00 p.m. - WORK Friday 8:00-5:00 p.m. - WORK Saturday 8:00-5:00 p.m. - WORK Sunday *REST*

...and STUDY whenever I have any "free time." :) What's very awesome is that whenever my boyfriend and I hang out, we usually study together, grab something to eat, and if there's enough time (and if we're really burnt out, and we feel we deserve a little R&R), we watch a movie. We like going to our local Borders Bookstore and then catching a flick at the nearest AMC movie theater. I'm glad that he wants to study with me! (He's studying computer programming.) Two studying heads are better than one! One final thought: I found out that two of my classmates, who also were at 160 wpm, are actually at the 180 speed group now! One of them found out she passed on the last day of Summer Session (back in July 2009), and the other found out he passed on the first day back to school (just this past Tuesday). I'm truly happy for them!!! :D I hope to be right at their heels sooner rather than later! Here's my admission: I AM happy for them... BUT, of course, as a student who wants to finish school ASAP, I couldn't help but feel a pang of envy from my selfish heart! :( There, I admit it! I'm a corruptible human being! :P BUT BUT BUT!!! I'm thankful to say that I didn't remain in that envy state of mind for too long. WHEW! Thankfully, I was reminded by something I heard at church (I go to Christian Assembly in Eagle Rock in Los Angeles, California; I love this community!):

"It is rare to find someone genuinely happy for another."

So sad but so true, right? :P I don't want to be jealous (wanting what another has as my own) or envious (because I can't have what another has, I don't want them to have it either) of my fellow classmates. I want to genuinely, without any malice whatsoever(!), celebrate and rejoice in my fellow classmates' newest successes! Why? Because it is the right thing to do. Because it is the humble, unselfish thing to do. Because wouldn't I want the same in return as well? YES YES YES!!! :) Also, there's no need to be jealous or envious since I believe that I too will pass all my speed levels in due time. I'll get there as well! :) I just have to continue to work hard, believe, and not plant any negative seed down my court reporting path... nor plant any negative seed along any of my fellow classmates' paths either. That wouldn't be right! So I'm hoping the next time I hear of another classmate who passes another test (yes, even when I haven't passed a test in a while!), that I wouldn't be jealous or envious anymore... or if I do (since I'm a fallible human being!), I hope I choose to not dwell there for long and brush that hate away, so I can sincerely smile and be happy for another person's success!!! That would be so ideal!!! ;) So yeah, I don't want to be jealous or envious... not like these (funny!) pics: P.S. Update on the flea situations at home (and thank you to those that asked!): We're gaining ground! Hehehe. I can say that we are about 90% rid of the fleas, but we must always stay on the offensive. These vermin multiply like crazy! At least now we're armed (all the insecticides), and we know exactly what to do! Also, no new bites! All my bites are healing and fading away slowly yet surely. HOORAY! THANK GOD! :D

FRUSTRATED WITH FLEAS

So my last week of Summer Vacation didn't turn out like I thought it would... AT ALL! Our house is infested with fleas!!! So gross!!! So frustrating!!! So gross (again)!!! Our family has always been dog owners (we love chihuahuas and German Shepherds), and we've never had flea problems. If anything, our dogs might have occasional flareups, but we'd treat the problem right away and all would be well again. It was never a problem. Just an inconvenience. Well, the past few weeks we've had the catastrophe of fleas being INSIDE the house... and then BITING us, too!!! Poor dogs! Now I know EXACTLY how they feel when they're infested with fleas. NOT FUN!!! I have so many bites around my ankles, legs, thighs, arms, even stomach and back. :( My family's housemate and I (I live at home with my family) got the worst bites because our rooms are carpeted. My poor boyfriend even has bites! I guess the fleas traveled on my clothes and jumped onto him... and then infested HIS house and ALSO bit his mom and brother! OMG!!! I feel SO BAD!!! :( And FRUSTRATED!!! >:( To date I've spent $150-$200 worth of flea repellents and the like. I also cancelled all my plans during my last week of vacation just so I can stay home and clean, clean, clean... or more aptly kill, kill, kill these pests! We're gaining ground, I'm so glad to say! I haven't found any NEW bites since yesterday, and my OLD bites are healing. But we can't let up... EVER! The flea life cycle is so quick, and we have to constantly be on the offensive. It's all-out war!!! It's so frustrating!!! (I've Googled fleas like crazy the past few days. I've become an unwanted "expert" on the subject.) Thus, there was no practicing on my steno machine for me the last several days. :P It's been hard to do my normal routine because my time was always spent on trying to de-flea our house, the dogs, and our yards. It's been pretty miserable. :( Tomorrow, for my Labor Day Holiday, I'm staying home (again!) to do more deep cleaning. I'm also going to be getting rid of a lot of junk I store and basically declutter as much as I can. And then Tuesday, September 8, 2009, I'll be back to school. Man! I wish I had more time to relax a bit before jumping back into busy bee school mode. Oh well. Enough moaning. Here's the good things! Gotta always look for that silver lining. :) Here's what I'm thankful for, even in this flea infestation disaster: This flea problem forced me to clean like I haven't cleaned in a very long time! I'm always in and out, going here and there. I'm glad that I was productive IN the home instead of always being productive OUT of the home, such as at school or at work. Also, this insect takeover forced me to declutter like never before. I don't want to be a pack rat, and I've always said that I want to live a more simple life. Here's a great chance to prove that! :) I hope your summer vacation was much better than my last week of fleas! Hehehe. I'll definitely be posting more, especially as the school life kicks up again... when hopefully we won't hear of fleas again either! As in ever! That would be splendid! :)