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I've seen the idea several times,

Posted By: never dared try it. on 2005-08-12
In Reply to: Washed my keyboard in the DW - sm

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Not a bad idea for those crunch times. :)
NM
I've done this many times (sm)

My hubby used to travel around the country a lot for his employer and we used to stay in places from anywhere from a few weeks to as long as a year.  We used to just make sure that we stayed at one of the business-friendly hotels, i.e. the ones with high speed internet and a separate work area.  If it's going to be long term, try to get one of the suites if you can, because you'll be surprised at how quickly cabin fever can start to creep in when you're working out of a hotel room.


As far as the C-phone, other than being a pain to lug around with you, just plug it into the hotel's line, but do NOT call out directly.  Most hotels will charge their guests an arm and a leg to make anything but local phone calls.


What I did was to get an account set up with onesuite dot com (very reasonable low cost prepaid minutes), and I would use that to call out with.  Just make sure that your hotel doesn't charge for making 800 number calls, because an 800 number is what onesuite uses.


Many hotels do not charge for outgoing calls to 800 numbers, but be aware that some of them do.  In which case, neither onesuite dot com or a prepaid calling card will work.


All in all, the only real inconvenience of it all was having to dial all of the numbers, PIN numbers, etc., that were associated with using onesuite or a calling card each time I called out to connect up.


If you have any other questions, you can email me if you'd like.


I've done it, many times...sm

I know after 3 days if the job will not work out.  Let's face it hon...we need to make MONEY and if I see the platform is ridiculous, NOT MT friendly and is a waste of my time, poor training, training done by someone who is NOT a MT and has NEVER worked as a MT....HUGE RED FLAG!!!...That means that the company probably just wants "fingers" to type and type and type.....One company who is always hiring on the boards....I gave it a while, and today I was offered a nice position with someone I used to work for!!!!! it is awesome!!! and I quit that other hot mess today.  Good luck!!! Don't feel bad if you quit...hey, we gots to make a living here. with the economy and everything being so bad...you have to look out for number 1 and your family.


I've responded to this many times
Look through the archives.

I just don't want to subject people here to the information ... again!
I've heard this a few times- maybe you have too

Do you think anyone would ever be on their death bed, surrounded by loved ones and say, "I wish I had spent more time working."  Doubt it.  My kids are grown now, and the good memories for them are the ones I didn't think were so great.  Like the time we lived in an apartment building in the Northeast, had all our Christmas decorations in the storage room in the basement, and someone stole them.  We made all our own that year with aluminum foil covered cardboard and strung popcorn.  Not even any lights, couldn't afford them.  They to this day call that tree their Charlie Brown tree.  That's just one of many "little memories" that may not seem like much when they are happening, but it's the things they remember.   


I've used them several times w/o any probs at all. nm
s
I've had it a couple of times.
  Doctor gave me a sheet of exercises to do on my own which just amounted to moving my head and/or eyes around in different positions.  It can be just a horrible thing to have.  Yours is probably worse than mine if you have to "have therapy." 
Any job I've been on has used Times New Roman at 12. nm
s
Yes, I've called many times and they
tell me the same thing, that it is being reviewed. I havent'sent any money because they want the entire amount, and the mtg payment is more than I can afford. I figure I'd best try and save half of that to go toward deposits on apartment and moving truck and such.
What is a TROLL! I've asked many times, no ans.
Thank you!
RE: What is a TROLL! I've asked many times, no ans.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In internet terminology, a troll is a person who posts inflammatory messages on the internet, such as on online discussion forums, to disrupt the discussion or to upset its participants. The word, or its variant, "trolling", is also used to describe such messages or the act of posting them.


No big deal. I've done this a few times, can't be helped
nm
Yes, several times. I've learned to listen to them. (s/m)
A very long time ago, I once had a dream that my dog got hit by a car - the exact time, place, etc. And exactly one week later, to the day, place and hour, she got hit & killed by a car.

Another time I was driving on the freeway, and suddenly in my mind got a very clear picture of a pickup truck on fire. Yet there was no truck on fire where I was, and no smoke or anything. About 10 miles up there road, I came around a bend and there was a truck exactly like the one I'd seen in my "mind-flash", and it was on fire.

Go figure, but yes, I definitely DO go with my hunches and premonitions.
I've traveled and worked many times

To try to answer your questions.. Whether your foot pedal will work in your laptop depends on the laptop that you buy. When you're looking to buy one, try to find one with the correct kind of port for your pedal.  The one I recently bought doesn't have a serial port, so I bought an adapter at Circuit City that plugs into my USB port, and then I can plug my ergo keyboard and mouse into that.  In any case, your laptop will definitely come with at least a couple USB ports, so you could always buy a USB pedal to use with it if you have to.   As far as the headphones, every laptop I've ever used has had a place to plug in a pair of headphones so that should be no problem. The thing is...if you're going to buy a laptop specifically for this, then look at the ports on the laptops and make sure it has what you need.  I would say if you don't mind buying a USB foot pedal, though, you're not going to have problems because every new laptop will have USB ports, and I'm sure a place for your headphones.


If you're staying in hotels, try to stay in places that have free high speed internet which so many of them have now.  You can plug right into that and work.  If not, I know Verizon has a wireless broadband service now for around $60 a month you could check into.


I hope this helps some.


 


Yes, about 65K and I've given all my tips multiple times.
no message
Hey, I've had them stumble over their OWN name (3 times in 1 report). nm
nm
I've heard people have to try a new food 10 times before they know for sure they won't like it
I heard that somewhere.

I had a SIL who actually SAT on her young children and force-fed them new foods if they refused them at the table. We were appalled, but weirdly, the kids often got up from the floor and happily ate the food they were just force-fed!
I've tried to quit 6 times in the past 6 years but

always went back to it. The longest I've quit was 3 weeks. My mom died from COPD and she had smoked from age 16. She really enjoyed smoking and although we kept trying, couldn't get her to quit until she was on 24 hour oxygen.  She told me if she couldn't enjoy anything in life (smoking), why live. She died 3 months later.


I started smoking at 13...you know, the "try it, you'll like it" phase. We both tried to quit when I was 19 but we only lasted a day. There was only cold turkey then.


I've tried the patch (3 weeks off cigarettes), cold turkey, herbal meds, hynosis (only lasted 5 hours), you name it. I've used all the suggestions possible to no avail.


With a cigarette dangling from my mouth, I told my boys never to start smoking because they'd never be able to quit easily. Two took my advice, one didn't. He also tried to quit smoking but failed. He was on Wellbutrin for it.


My husband started smoking at 8 while working in a coal mine. He quit cold turkey 19 years ago. He was smoking almost 4 packs a day and one day he got so disgusted with it, he  just threw them out the window of the car. Never touched one since and smoke from other people doesn't bother him.


He told me you really have to have the willpower and just get disgusted enough to quit. There's no other way. I guess I just don't have that willpower.


I've tried to go back to the office a number of times and

I never can make the transition.  One consideration is your wardrobe.  You have to start dressing in office attire which is something I don't miss and found irritating when I went back into the office.  I also found that after working at home for as long as I have done it, it's kind of stressful to get out there and try to be social and friendly.  Office politics is another negative.  Offices are very much like high school, very cliquey and filled with gossip.  There is more to working in an office than just doing your job.  At home, it's just me and my PC.  I do the work and I get paid.  In the office, there's you, your PC, the person who shares the desk with you, the person who sits across from you, the person who sits next to you, your supervisor right across the hall, the doctors knowing you by name and seeking you out to complain about their dictation, the constant ringing of phones, chattering of voices.  The people you share office space with, one will always be hot, one will always be cold, one thinks it's too bright and there's a glare on her screen, and one thinks it's too dark.  You can't wear perfume because the girl next to you is allergic...


I could go on... 


Amen, and I will add one more thing. If I had a penny for all the times I've heard, "just a ty
well, maybe I wouldn't be rich, but I could buy a months' worth of groceries! LOL
I've an idea

Professional pictures of her in lingerie, posed sensuously but not sexually. Let her eyes send him all the right messages.


I've no idea!
I'd get a sample of the dictations before agreeing to a by-the-minute price!

I have one client that can barely get 5 real words out between the hemming, hawing, and ummm-ing in three minutes of dictation. One of my other clients can rattle off 3 million, 367 thousand and 289 words in three minutes of dictation.


Thanks! I think I've now got a good idea how it all
ended. I thought it was one of the best episodes of this show that I've seen.
Great idea...I've often thought of doing some...

thing similar.  After all, AAMT was started by individuals with an idea.  Unfortunately the original, most likely that *good* idea has been long lost.


So, form a new organization.  Set up testing.  Issue a credential.  Actually represent the American MT.  What a concept. 


Great idea. Thanks. I've had a mental block on
nm
Dang Lucy's got a good idea. Now why didn't I think of that because I've been experiencing





I use EXText with my current job and I've used at a couple of other jobs I've had. I've ne

used DocQscribe, but I have used Meditech, Cerner, Vianeta, the Precyse platform (I can't remember the name), Dolbey, and  Lanier platform I think was called Cequence (?). 


Out of all the different platforms I have typed on, I have liked EXText the best.  In my opinion, it's very user friendly, easy to learn, and I really like ESP which is the built in abbreviation expander.  Plus it is very easy to create your own normals which I love.  My fingers literally never leave the keyboard because there are macro keys for everything.  You can use your mouse if you prefer or learn the function macros.  I love it.  I think I'm more productive on EXText than with any other platform.


hit left Shift key 3 times, then right Shift key 3 times -
nm
Spell as best you can or blank them and keep going. I've passed many tests when I've left blan
s
As you can already see, you've come to the wrong board! By using the word professional, you've
excluded about 99% of the population of "whatever" it is that hangs on these boards. Certainly not professional for sure! But you sure are doing a good thing for someone! Its the thought that counts. Sorry you met the dregs right at the start.
HELP! I've turned my screen sideways, I can't straighten it up. I know I've seen sm
this before, but I can't remember what it is.  Do you realize how hard it is to read sideways?  TIA.
I've lost track of how many people who've asked about it to NOT
.
I've always verified every line I've typed (I have my ways) -sm
If you're supposed to be paid a certain $/line, that's what you should be getting no matter how they do billing unless of course it's specified in YOUR contract with THEM.

BTW, I've never caught a company cheating me ever.
I've used it. It's the worst piece of crap I've ever seen.
seriously. I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy, or their Vianeta program. Awful, just awful.
Wait until you've been there six months and if you've improved
quality and quantity, I'd say go ahead and ask.  Otherwise I'd say annually...  good luck
I've seen the same every place I've done acute care, and
pointing out dangerous or repeated errors (often in normals for goodness sakes!) never got the result I expected. When I would press the issue, supervisors said if the dictators didn't complain, then the mistakes must not matter!

It didn't matter if the MT changed what had been a cardiac med in the beginning of the report to an antifungal by the end - I kid you NOT! One poor girl used facial for fascial and fascial for facial!


I've used a few expanders, and of those I've used, all must be "coded" to get things lik
One thing I do to get around this, is to create a macro and then link the ShortHand command to the macro. It works for me, but I do the same five clients every day and only have about 20 or 30 macros/Shorthand commands that work like this. This may not work well for you if you have lots of formats and hundreds of docs.
I've been doing this doc for many years, so I've learned how to function with him. sm
I can tell what's a stutter, what's another word, what's just an "uh." Years of experience will get you through a lot.
Wouldn't want to do his charts all day, of course, but a few per day aren't bad. I haven't had to send his to review in a long time, but they do take a little longer to shuffle through.
I've worn contacts for 30 years. I've had both
hard and soft.  My vision is much better with the soft ones than they were with the hard ones.   When I first started trying contacts soft ones were still new and they couldn't get me to 20/20, so I went to hard.  Hard were okay until my eyes started changing shape and then I could no longer wear hard ones.  The soft should give you better vision as they conform more to the shape of your eye. 
different times
Question to a long timer. I have been transcribing for 15 years. I have been with one hospital for 10 years. I recently added a part time national using the same equipment and same format as my original account. For my original account I average 15-20 minutes an hour. After a month with second account, I am still only at about 8 minutes an hour. They do have a lot of ESL but so does my primary account (just not as bad, even when I first started them). I'm suppose to do a certain amount of minutes for this secondary acount, thinking I could do it in 2-3 hours a day, but I just can't reach my goal and I just do not have the time to work any more hours. Any advice?
Too much, several times a day.....but usually only for a
xx
End of times?
Does anyone think this unusually hot weather in practically all parts of the U.S. has anything to do with Bible predictions?
Can be done..but at times it can't...(SM)
I am never amazed at people that are in "awe" over the fact I work at home, which of course to them means I can keep my kids there and save tons of money on daycare. I have had countless people that have never touched a keyboard ask "So how do I get started doing that so I can stay at home with my kids?"....sorry..butI can't help but just giggle inside..much in "awe" of their cluelessness.

I did this job for years in house before ever finally being able to work into an at home position. I worked in house with my 1st child and was of course broke...so needless to say he was in daycare as early as they would take him. About a year and a half ago I had my 2nd child and really milked this one for all it was worth. Wanted to keep her home with me as looooong as I possibly could. I made it to 5 months and honestly, should have probably stopped at 4. The age of your child makes all the difference in the world. When she was a very young baby and slept most of the day..yeah it was fine, worked out really well. But the older they get..the more they are aware you are there but not paying them 100% attention...and the harder it starts to get. He's 19 months old now..and even if the daycare is closed for a day that I have to work we end up having to send him to my mother in law's house for the day..it's nearly impossible to get anything done with him here. He sees mommy sitting here staring at this screen and will bang on the keyboard, stand here and scream for the attention he wants to be focused on him instead. At this age..keeping him home is not a good thing. My oldest child now is in grade school..days out of school..he's fine to stay home. He can play and entertain himself and needs nowhere near the attention the baby does. If you have a schedule that you can work a couple hours here and a couple hours there and late evenings after bedtimes, then you might be able to make it work out fine. I'm an employee, not an IC...therefore I'm required to work a set schedule and keep up a required amount of production...cannot be done with a lil one interrupting that on a constant basis. Look at your schedule..look at the age of your child..look at your obligations/requirements to your employer. It can be done in some situations...others it cannot. Be realistic...be fair to your child's needs when considering this as well as yours and those of your employer..it's a whole big picture to consider. Best of luck in whatever you decide to do :)
I can't tell you how many times

feeling a touch or carress on my arm and it turns out to be a stray hair dangling from my head being blown by the fan.  I guess working remotely plays tricks on us once in awhile?


Trying times
I am in the dead center of Mississippi and after I got of church I saw cars with tags from the costal countiescoming through town.    We are in the hills and will receive 75 mph gusts.  This is serious.  New Orleans is under mandatory evacuation.  People without cars are at the superdome.  The casinos locked up Thursday.  Traffic has been one-way on the highways since noon Friday. I-10 and I-49 to get off the coast.  There are no hotel rooms in the state as of Saturday night news 10 PM report, as far as Grenada, MS (that's about 250-300 miles from Biloxi/Gulfport area).  They were good about emailing each other about vacancies.   The President has mandated that MS/LA are under a state of emergency.  Katrina is headed straight to the Big Easy.  If Katrina does not change course, there is going to be unbelievable losses in the New Orleans area.  Let us share our thoughts of faith and reflection with the people in these low lying areas.
Old times?
I am 79 years old and teach my grandchildren that peep is bad and nasty word. I don't like coming to this board only to find your nasty words. Being 79 years old, I know more than you will ever know and I KNOW what peep means. You are just being down right gross and yuck!
times 3 or x3? Which is okay? nm

Thanks.


 


8 times....
/
NY Times......sm.......
TheNew York Times" hspace=0 src=http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/logoprinter.gif" align=left border=0>




January 2, 2006


States Take Lead in Push to Raise Minimum Wages




Despite Congressional refusal for almost a decade to raise the federal minimum wage, nearly half of the civilian labor force lives in states where the pay is higher than the rate set by the federal government.


Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have acted on their own to set minimum wages that exceed the $5.15 an hour rate set by the federal government, and this year lawmakers in dozens of the remaining states will debate raising the minimum wage. Some states that already have a higher minimum wage than the federal rate will be debating further increases and adjustments for inflation.


The last time the federal minimum wage was raised was in 1997 - when it was increased from $4.75 an hour. Since then, efforts in Congress to increase the amount have been stymied largely by Republican lawmakers and business groups who argued that a higher minimum wage would drive away jobs.


Thwarted by Congress, labor unions and community groups have increasingly focused their efforts at raising the minimum wage on the states, where the issue has received more attention than in Republican-dominated Washington, said Bill Samuel, the legislative director of the national A.F.L.-C.I.O.


Opinion polls show wide public support for an increase in the federal minimum wage, which falls far short of the income needed to place a family at the federal poverty level. Even the chairman of Wal-Mart has endorsed an increase, saying that a worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford to shop at his stores.


"The public is way ahead of Washington," Mr. Samuel said. "They see this as a matter of basic fairness, the underpinning of basic labor law in this country, a floor under wages so we're not competing with Bangladesh."


The minimum wage has been the subject of fierce ideological debate since it was first established in 1938 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Business groups and conservative economists have argued that the minimum wage is an unwarranted government intrusion into the employer-employee relationship and a distortion of the marketplace for labor. An increase in the minimum wage, they say, drives up labor costs across the board and freezes unskilled and first-time workers out of the job market.


"Increasing the minimum wage is a bad move economically, philosophically and politically," said Marc Freedman, director of labor law policy for the United States Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Freedman said that any minimum wage set by the federal government was completely arbitrary and did not take local labor market costs into account.


According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, about two million American workers, 2.7 percent of the overall work force, earned the minimum hourly wage of $5.15 or less in 2004, the last year for which such statistics were available. Those workers were generally young (half were under 25, and a quarter were teenagers), unmarried and had not earned a high school diploma. About three-fifths of all workers paid at or below the federal minimum wage worked in bars and restaurants, and many received tips to supplement their basic wages.


Advocates of an increase in the minimum wage said that inflation had so eroded the value of the minimum wage in the last nine years that it was worth less today in real terms than at any time since 1955. They also cited studies that found that raising the minimum wage did not cause job loss, as opponents argue. According to these studies, employers can absorb the higher labor costs through efficiencies, less employee turnover and higher productivity.


Tim Nesbitt, the former president of the Oregon A.F.L.-C.I.O., said that despite having one of the highest minimum wages in the country at $7.25 an hour, Oregon had had twice the rate of job growth as the rest of the country.


The 2006 battle over the minimum wage is expected to be particularly intense in Ohio, one of only two states that have a minimum wage below the federal level (the other is Kansas). The minimum wage in Ohio since 1991 has been $4.25 an hour, which applies to small employers, some farms and most restaurants. Workers at larger enterprises are generally covered by the federal minimum wage.


Efforts to get the Republican-run General Assembly to consider raising Ohio's minimum wage have gone nowhere, so labor groups and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as Acorn, an advocacy group for low-income individuals and families, are planning a ballot initiative to put the issue to a popular vote in November.


Tim Burga, legislative director for the Ohio A.F.L.-C.I.O., said that 92,000 workers in the state made less than the federal minimum wage, some as little as $2 an hour. The proposed Ohio Constitutional amendment would set the state minimum wage at $6.85 an hour, indexed to future inflation, bringing an immediate raise to as many as 400,000 workers.


Former Senator John Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, said in an interview that he planned to help organize the minimum wage campaign in Ohio as part of his national campaign to alleviate poverty. He called the current minimum wage a moral disgrace and a national embarrassment.


"My view is it should be $7.50 an hour, and I can make a great argument for it being a lot higher than that," Mr. Edwards said. "This is a perfect example of the Republican leadership in Congress, combined with the powerful presence of lobbies in Washington, thwarting the will of the people."


Leading the opposition to the initiative will be the Ohio Restaurant Association, which like its parent organization, the National Restaurant Association, closely monitors and vigorously opposes efforts to raise the minimum wage.


"Restaurants are a low-margin business," said Geoff Hetrick, president of the Ohio Restaurant Association. "A number of marginal operations which are more or less on the ragged edge right now might find this to be the straw that breaks the camel's back, especially in northern Ohio where they've had a significant loss in manufacturing employment that's taken a lot of disposable income out of the economy."


One of those who would be affected by the proposed minimum wage increase in Ohio is Rick Cassara, owner of John Q's Steakhouse in downtown Cleveland. He said that while all of his 55 employees currently earn more than the minimum wage, he opposed a mandated increase because it would drive up all of his labor costs. "It exerts upward pressure on all wages and prices," Mr. Cassara said. "If the minimum wage is $7 and I have to pay $8 or $9 to hire a dishwasher, then the cooks are going to say they want more. How much can I charge for that hamburger?"


Another small employer, Dan Young, owner of Young's Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs, a working farm and restaurant operation, said that more than half of his 300 workers were high school and college students, many of them in their first jobs. He said he paid many of them $5.25 an hour, just above the federal minimum wage, but most quickly won raises or earned far more than that in tips.


Mr. Young said that if Ohio enacted a Democratic proposal to raise the state's minimum wage by $1 an hour over the federal level, his labor costs would go up by $250,000 a year or more. "When you do all the math," he said, "I'll have to figure out a way to hire fewer workers, or raise prices, or both."


In 2004, voters in Nevada and Florida approved ballot initiatives raising the state minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, in both cases by more than a 2-to-1 margin. Nevada voters must vote on the measure again this year because it is a Constitutional amendment, but proponents are confident they will prevail. Lawmakers in California, which already has one of the highest rates in the nation at $6.75 an hour, approved a bill last year to increase the wage to $7.75 an hour in 2007, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it, the second time he has rejected such legislation.


Mr. Schwarzenegger said then that he believed that low-wage California workers deserved a raise, but said the legislation, which contained automatic increases tied to inflation, would be too costly to employers.


But aides to Mr. Schwarzenegger said late last week that the governor would propose a $1-an-hour increase in the California minimum wage in his State of the State address this week. If approved, the proposal would take effect over the next 18 months and would not have an automatic inflation adjustment, the aides said. The move appears designed in part to pre-empt a ballot initiative that would raise the California hourly rate an additional $1, to $8.75 an hour, and include annual cost-of-living increases.


Inflation indexing is also an issue in Oregon, where the minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour and adjusts every year for inflation under an initiative approved by voters in 2002. Each year since passage of that measure, the Oregon Restaurant Association and other business groups have pushed legislation to cancel the indexing provision or to exempt some workers from the wage law, but have so far failed. Gov. Theodore R. Kulongoski, a Democrat and former labor lawyer, has vowed to veto any such measure that reaches his desk.


do you mean how many times you use them? If so sm
go to help, the statistics, and it will tell you how many Keystrokes you are saving
I got through a few times at first (sm)
I got through maybe 5 or 6 times at first but now I can't get through.  I'll keep trying though.