The Art of Avoiding Carpal Tunnel

Spending eight hours a day sitting at a desk with your eyes glued to a computer screen and your fingers hovering over a keyboard can, without a doubt, put definitive strain on your eyes, back, shoulders, hands and wrists. Because of this, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is an obvious occupational hazard that has found itself right at home in corporate America. Now, if you are a court reporting student like me, you are lucky enough to follow these eight hours of strain and discomfort with an evening full of practice, hovering over yet another set of keys. Yes, it is no surprise that court reporters are just as susceptible to CTS as the next office professional. Fortunately for me, I get a double dose of risk thanks to my full time work coupled with my full time school schedule. It should come as no surprise that avoiding this pesky little problem is and should be a priority. So what to do about it?

For starters, take care of your body, especially if you hope to have any kind of longevity in the court reporting profession. It is best to wise up quickly and start practicing good habits now that can help to ward off this nasty little pest. I, myself, have finally starting heeding the wisdom of other court reporters and practice regular exercise, massages, and finger stretches and exercises. Given that court reporting is actually quite physical, you won't regret it. I happen to be a devoted fan of walking and yoga. Both are obviously great for the body, but also the mind. (FYI: Relaxing and clearing the mind is by no means overrated. We don’t want to be a bunch of crazies now, do we?!) There are also some fantastic yoga poses that can really help specifically in the area of CTS. I recommend using the power of Google if you are not familiar with them. I have also FINALLY started to do regular massages focusing primarily on my arms, hands, neck and shoulders. I must admit, it’s rather nice being able to condone this as a “professional necessity”. I back this up with the story of an ex-court reporter I met a couple of years back who is actually no longer able to work as a CR due to this very problem. Ironically, his wife is also a CR and she has been working as one for the past 30 years. Then again, he reminded me that she has also been getting monthly massages for the past 30 years. (Just saying!)

I also try not to neglect my hand and finger stretches. My latest and greatest new favorite finger exercise actually comes by way of my masseuse:

Simply place a rubber band around the tips of your fingers and then open and close your fingers.
This super easy exercise helps to stretch out the backside of your hand. With any kind of typing or writing you are really only working the muscles on the inside of the hand. So it makes good sense to work out and stretch out the backside occasionally.






While the verdict is out on whether or not all these habits will ultimately help one avoid Carpal Tunnel or not, they certainly can't hurt. My own conclusion, however, is that the real art comes in being proactive about taking care of yourself and developing good habits now.

“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.”
Charles C. Noble

Ten Random Things I’ve Learned During Court Reporting School:

1. The admissions department flat out lies when it comes to telling students how long it will take to get through school.

2. They strategically overlook the 95% failure rate too. (But in their defense, I probably would have never enrolled had I known that little tidbit of info.)

3. I will never again have long nails.

4. A caffeine addiction is essential to a healthy work – school balance. It is widely rumored that Starbucks is now listed as my emergency contact at work.

5. Taking care of my body with regular massages and exercise is time and money well spent. Never underestimate the value of good hand and finger exercises either.

6. Never head to a depo without an extension cord, cough drops, energy bar, and some extra cash (for that rare occasion when a law firm doesn’t validate). You never know when you might need one of these valuable items. Trust me…mooching money off a court reporter you are interning with so you can get out of the parking garage is the last thing you want to have to do (hypothetically speaking, of course).

7. You can meet a fellow court reporter or student and be instant friends in 2.5 seconds flat.

8. Anytime someone finds out you’re a court reporter the response will ALWAYS be the same…”Oh, so you are the person that types on that funny little machine.” This is usually followed up with “so you must type really fast.” If only I had a dollar for every time I heard that.

9. Two things: You can’t trust spell check! Attitude is everything!

10. Court reporting school is probably the single most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life, but it is also the one thing that has shown me just how strong, disciplined, determined, and successful I can really be.

Rest in Peace

Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one day further from the last time you saw each other, it's one day closer to the next time you will.
-- Author Unknown

R.I.P. Grandpa
xoxo

Ciao, baby

Thanks to my new pals at JM Steno, I sold my old Stentura 200SRT student writer yesterday. I decided there was no point in keeping it around to merely collect dust, and the idea of making some cold, hard cash wasn’t totally unappealing either. Since I recently upgraded to my very first professional writer, the super smooth Diamante, I decided it was time to purge. Of course, I must admit that although my sassy little student writer had definitely seen better days, I still had a fond attachment to her and was slightly sad to see her go. After all, I have worked that little puppy to death these last couple of years, and I feel a little bad leaving her behind just as I’m on the verge of ending my journey through school, the same journey that we embarked upon together. Plus, she was my first “extra-limb.” You only have one first, you know.
I often joke, you see, that my machine is my “extra limb” because I sometimes feel that wherever I go, my machine is sure to follow. That little writer has simultaneously become my best friend, yet my worst enemy. It is my ticket to a future, yet it is that total pain in my butt that always gets in the way of a really carefree social life and it torments me daily when it comes to my battle to beat 225. Then, of course, there is the classic student – guilt complex. If I’m not using my machine, I am most certainly feeling guilty about not doing so. It consumes a huge part of my life. It is waiting for me when I come home from work. It is with me when I watch TV. I swear I even catch it glaring at me as I drift off to sleep all the while saying, “PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!” Yep, it is still there when I wake up. It is nearby when I sip my morning cup of Joe. Heck, that little thing has even accrued frequent flyer miles as it has travelled with me to places like California, Arizona, and Michigan. It’s as if it is ALWAYS present, quietly reciting the mantra, “PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!” Hence, the feeling that she is indeed an extra limb, and another crucial part to my existence.
Sadly, though, she has run her course. I bid ado to my little ol’ trusty student writer and say a fond farewell. Please know it’s not you, it’s me.


R.I.P. my little sassy stentura

10 grammar mistakes that make you look stupid

After reviewing the test results for a 200 Jury Charge mentor test I recently took, I was thrilled to find that I had received an A for my punctuation grade. I would like to randomly point out here that although speed and accuracy are a necessary requirement to be a skilled court reporter, a good chunk of this profession also requires excellent spelling and punctuation skills. Sadly, I have always felt that I lack in this department. Thanks to a healthy dose of eternal optimism, I have chosen to merely view this as a minor glitch in my master scheme to overtake the world of court reporting. (Insert evil laugh here)
I am confident with a little practice I will improve in this area, and I have been making an effort to do just that. So the A for my punctuation grade was a delightful little dose of encouragement. On that note, it is only appropriate that I share an excerpt from an article that I recently read.

10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid
By Jody Gilbert, TechRepublic

#1: Loose for lose

No: I always loose the product key.
Yes: I always lose the product key.

#2: It's for its (or god forbid, its')

No: Download the HTA, along with it's readme file.
Yes: Download the HTA, along with its readme file.
No: The laptop is overheating and its making that funny noise again.
Yes: The laptop is overheating and it's making that funny noise again.

#3: They're for their for there

No: The managers are in they're weekly planning meeting.
Yes: The managers are in their weekly planning meeting.
No: The techs have to check there cell phones at the door, and their not happy about it.
Yes: The techs have to check their cell phones at the door, and they're not happy about it.

#4: i.e. for e.g.

No: Use an anti-spyware program (i.e., Ad-Aware).
Yes: Use an anti-spyware program (e.g., Ad-Aware).
Note: The term i.e. means "that is"; e.g. means "for example". And a comma follows both of them.

#5: Effect for affect

No: The outage shouldn't effect any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn't affect any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn't have any effect on users.
Yes: We will effect several changes during the downtime.
Note: Impact is not a verb. Purists, at least, beg you to use affect instead:
No: The outage shouldn't impact any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn't affect any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage should have no impact on users during work hours.

#6: You're for your

No: Remember to defrag you're machine on a regular basis.
Yes: Remember to defrag your machine on a regular basis.
No: Your right about the changes.
Yes: You're right about the changes.

#7: Different than for different from

No: This setup is different than the one at the main office.
Yes: This setup is different from the one at the main office.
Yes: This setup is better than the one at the main office.

#8: Lay for lie

No: I got dizzy and had to lay down.
Yes: I got dizzy and had to lie down.
Yes: Just lay those books over there.

#9: Then for than

No: The accounting department had more problems then we did.
Yes: The accounting department had more problems than we did.
Note: Here's a sub-peeve. When a sentence construction begins with If, you don't need a then. Then is implicit, so it's superfluous and wordy:
No: If you can't get Windows to boot, then you'll need to call Ted.
Yes: If you can't get Windows to boot, you'll need to call Ted.

#10: Could of, would of for could have, would have

No: I could of installed that app by mistake.
Yes: I could have installed that app by mistake.
No: I would of sent you a meeting notice, but you were out of town.
Yes: I would have sent you a meeting notice, but you were out of town.

Now stop making me sic and use some good grammar already! :)

Words

I recently stumbled across an article (click here to see it) about a captioner who covered the horrors of 9-11. As I read it, I was reminded of just how necessary and vital a captioner’s role is in providing assistance to those with a hearing impairment. Can you imagine turning on the t.v. and watching those horrific events being played out, yet having no words to accompany it? Although to some it may only seem like little words running across the screen, to others it is those very words that help to keep them connected to the world that moves silently around them. Hellen Keller put it best… “I am just as deaf as I am blind. The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex, if not more important than those of blindness. Deafness is a much worse misfortune. For it means the loss of the most vital stimulus-- the sound of the voice that brings language, sets thoughts astir, and keeps us in the intellectual company of man. Blindness separates us from things, but deafness separates us from people.”
I say kudos to captioners everywhere. For with every little word you write you are helping bridge the gap that rests between the world of silence and that of sound, one that so many of us take for granted.

Double take

I made an impromptu trip to the store this afternoon after realizing I needed a few packaging supplies so I could mail a box to a friend. As I was checking out I did what all stores genuinely love to see their customers do, I made a last minute impulse purchase. Now I warn you, it was nothing terribly exciting or super extraordinary, just a pack of gum to toss into the bottom recesses of my handbag. However, when I went to grab my usual pack of Extra (the green kind), I did a quick double take and then paused for a brief moment, complete with gum in hand. Sitting directly beside the stack of Extra was a stack of Doublemint gum, each neatly packaged in their signature green cartons with little sprigs of mint printed on the front of the packages. As if to prove that advertising really does work, my mind instantly went back 20 years and began playing back the circa 1985 Doublemint gum commercial of my childhood. As the jingle was playing in my mind, I suddenly longed to smell the cool, minty scent that reminds me instantly of my grandparents. Suddenly, I was no longer standing in the checkout line at the store, but rather I was little girl in my grandparent’s kitchen in front of a tiny drawer chalked full of little packs of gum.
Ever since I can remember, my grandparents always had an endless supply of gum, always 5-stick packs and always Doublemint. Throughout my childhood, whenever I was at my grandparent's I would always raid their stash of gum from the drawer that somehow never seemed to go empty. It’s as if there was a magical, bottomless drawer full of Doublemint that could only be found at grandma and grandpa’s. I suddenly snapped out of my walk down memory lane, and immediately placed the pack of Extra back on the shelf. I decide, instead, to purchase a little piece of nostalgia. Even to this day, before I put a stick of that minty fresh gum into my mouth, I first take little whiff of that classic Doublemint scent, and think of them. I am reminded that scent is a powerful thing. For today, it brings back to me a little hint of my grandmother, who I miss dearly, and a memory from my childhood that will forever be nestled away in my mind.