just read article today that it's become bad site.

• myspace - are you on it?
  • I am 26 and have a profile... - TM
  • Just turned 40 last week, Not on myspace and won't allow my teens either. sm - Middle-aged
  • I'm 28 and on it - sm
  • My husband and I both 30 and have MySpace sites... sm - MT
  • I really don't know why anyone over 25 would be on it, seriously. - ??
    • I'm 48. I use to blog, to stay in touch with - sm
  • I'm on it. I'm 24 - Amanda
  • I'm not on it, but my teenage daughter is. She has it set - sm
    • Glad to hear that my adult knitting friends and I are "trashy." - thanks. nm
    • My space protection. - sm
    • I don't agree with you at all. sm - MT
      • Sad thing is... - anon
        • I applaud you! - sm
          • True.... - mtmtmtmt
        • I have a profile - JK
  • I'm 30 and have absolutely no desire - to be on it.-nm
  • I'm 27 and have no desire to go on it... - sm
  • I'm on it.. nm - age 46
  • let me try this again - are you on it? (OP)
  • No, but have nothing against it (sm) - open minded
  • Not on it. don't wanna be...age 56 - not me
  • myspace - Sandi
  • just read article today that it's become bad site. - not on it, nor are my children...nm
    • Yes, it's not good. The only space children should be taking up... - is outside in the fresh air! nm
      • Ditto. Just talked about this yesterday - sm

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But this article states it would only affect new customers right now.  So I am upset over nothing.  I went through heck with BellSouth when they charged me a surcharge of an extra 50 a month and then would write a letter saying I had to switch to a long distance service and pay by the minute because of my "excessive" use. They told me the unlimited charge was for an average of an hour a day not somebody who worked out of their home and I needed to switch a business plan at over 200 a month charge.  I switched over to cable because of that and then to read that cable was going to charging on a per use fee and not a flat monthly fee it upset me.  It is the nature of our work, VR, only paying for VBC, having headers and footers taken away, now being charged for being on line, etc.  It just seems that everything is done to keep to insure less money.

NY TIMES today stating that not only is Dell's tech dept over in India but they are now opening up manufacturing plants in India to make Dell computers there.

See article in its entirety over at the offshoring concerns forum here....at mtstars.

Been a DELL diehard for 7 years and also an HP printer diehard person for 11 years. 

paper about increasing car sales in India.  The Indian people are enjoying higher wages and are now able to purchase cars.  Car makers are scrambling to get pieces of this new, juicy pie. 

I wonder how long it's going to take before sending our work to India is not cost effective for the MTSO anymore.  The Indian MTs won't be able to live on their 2 cpl anymore and will need more, and more.  It's going to be interesting to see this evolve. 

There's hope for us!

outsourcing (their wording) work to India.  The contractors in India are now outsourcing the work to other places in India.  They figure if  we (the US) can outsource American work to India, why can't they outsource the work also.   Your medical info is going to be as private as if you took out a billboard and posted it there. 

About India take on offshoring.  I don't think they are worried about loss of American jobs.

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/17/1548054.aspx

A three-year-old boy was struck by a vehicle and killed early Monday after wandering away from the Gwinnett County condominium where he was staying.

Gwinnett County police spokesman Darren Moloney said Anthony Lloyd Oscar Littrean was staying with family friends at Olde Mill Crossing complex off Graves Road while his mother was hospitalized giving birth to a sibling.

Officers responding to a 4:30 a.m. report of the missing child found Anthony on Graves Road, across from the complex, Moloney said. He had been hit by a southbound vehicle.

Anthony was taken to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, where he later died, Moloney said.

"They child was staying with family friends while the parents were at Northside Hospital," Moloney said, adding that Anthony's mother gave birth early Sunday morning.

Moloney said investigators believe the child "defeated the locks at the apartment he was staying at."

"When the family friends became aware the child was missing, they immediately began to search and called 911," Moloney said. "At this time, there is on indication of criminal neglect on the part of the child's caretakers."

He said Gwinnett police were "asking for help from anyone who might have been traveling down Graves Road toward South Norcross Tucker Road, away from I-85."

Moloney asked that anyone with information on the accident call 770-513-5048.

"Our investigators want to stress that it is possible that a [driver] struck the child without knowing exactly what they did," Moloney said. "It's possible a person struck the child without even causing damage to their car."

says it is being tested later this year, will affect new customers only, and the test area is extremely limited.  I saw the same thing today about Comcast.

If they do go this route it will be months to years before it affects most people. 

So we're considered a thing of the past, ah-hem!  Here are the 10 jobs. ~

Administrative Assistant
Also known as virtual assistants, home-based administrative assistants use office experience and computer skills as support personnel. Many skills easily transition into this position which offers many part-time and temporary opportunities.

Advertising Sales Agent
It's said that Americans are exposed to more than 3,000 ad messages a day. Advertising sales representatives sell or solicit advertising space in print and online publications, custom-made signs, or TV and radio advertising spots.

Computer Software Engineer
Computer software engineers are projected to be one of the fastest-growing occupations over the 2002-2012 period. Duties include design, development, testing and evaluation of computer software, and continual training is suggested for the quickly evolving industry.

Corporate Event Planner
Employed by a private company rather than a hotel or convention facility, a corporate event planner coordinates staff activities including group meetings, client presentations, special events, conventions and travel.

Copy Editor
Copy editors mostly review and edit a writer's copy for accuracy, content, grammar and style. This is a competitive field; however, the growth of online publications and services is spurring the demand for writers and editors, especially those with Web experience.

Desktop Publisher
Desktop publishers use computer software to format and combine text, images, charts and other visual elements to produce publication-ready material. Duties of this fast-growing profession include writing and editing text, creating graphics, converting photos and drawings into digital images, designing page layouts and developing presentations.

Data Entry Clerk
Like administrative assistants, job prospects should be best for those with expertise in computer software applications. By typing text, entering data into a computer, and performing other clerical duties, these workers ensure companies keep up with information and technology.

Insurance Underwriter
Insurance underwriters serve as the main link between the insurance carrier and the insurance agent. Underwriters analyze insurance applications, calculate the risk of loss from policyholders, decide whether to issue the policy and establish appropriate premium rates.

Market Research Analyst
Market Research Analysts gather data on competitors and analyze prices, sales, and methods of marketing and distribution. They often design surveys, compile and evaluate the data and make recommendations to their client or employer based upon their findings.

Paralegal
While lawyers assume ultimate responsibility for legal work, much of their work is delegated to paralegals. Paralegals not only assist in preparation for closings, hearings, trials, and corporate meetings, they also perform a number of other vital functions including draft contracts, mortgages, separation agreements, trust instruments and may assist in preparing tax returns and planning estates.

I've read quite a few things in the last few issues of Advance that have given me dyspepsia and even some reflux from time to time complete with a bad taste in my mouth beginning with their article on "globalization of the medical transcription team" which is just a PC way of saying offshoring of American MT jobs.

Listen, I'm all for a system of checks and balances in medical transcription and I am all for credentialling as a way of maintaining quality control in our industry.  Herein lies the rub, if we mandate credentialling, then the MTSOs have to pony up the dough!  Credentials will need to be recognized with more than just a cent more per line.  We need to be on the same playing field as the HIM employee with their RHIT or the CCS credentials. 

But will the MTSOs be willing to do that?  Not when they can pay an Indian MT a fraction of what they pay an American MT.  So if they start mandating credentials, then there should be a mandate on the MTSOs not allowing offshoring.  When everyone is prepared to do that, then they can force me to get my CMT.  Until then, I'm happy being alphabet free!

I have been trying all morning and kept getting a message that the website no longer existed.  I was beginning to have withdrawal symptoms! Thank goodness it's still here.

Did anyone else have this problem today?

Some from the long-time MTs just seem mighty ornery....I'm just sayin' is all.   

my ShortHand would type only the first letter of an expansion and then take all the letters away!  I checked and the Type It button is grayed out!  I have restarted the computer and looked on the Shorthand Help menu but can find nothing that applies.  Can anyone please help me ASAP?  I am lost without it!  TIA

know if I have too many screens opened up and minimized or what. I tried to open a website sent by email and froze up the email screen. Not sure what I am doing.

you've forgotten your own words! Your post above is 100% different "flavor" to it, now all positive and cheery! Your first post was 100% doom and gloom every which way, including "raining on your parade", and "if you want to go forward"...God, sounds like she's talking about jumping into oncoming traffic! Here is your quote:

My first boss (the one who hired me as a new grad) gave me some words of wisdom that I haven't forgotten. She said that transcribing at home with small children NEVER works under any circumstance. Either the work will suffer or the parenting will suffer.

****

How can the word "NEVER" in caps be interpreted in any positive way? You took about 8 paragraphs to cover every aspect and completely dash this poor woman's dream.  I'm not blind, I'm not talking about day care at all, I'm talking about the total negativity of your original post! You know exactly what I'm talking about, cause you added some sugar to your second version! And that's much nicer than the first!

Would anybody be interested if adminstrators would allow us to have this type of board or even put it on the main board.  Like on this other board they tell you to go to a certain web site for a coupon for 20% off Barnes and Noble or when Target has reduced prices on seasonal things.  Anybody got ideas or bargains they would like to share to save money?   We could call it the MT Stars penny-pinchers board.

I'm 57, learned on the job 28 years ago.  I can out transcribe people half my age.  I have no arthritis, no carpal tunnel syndrome, no fibromyalgia and only occasionally get a crick in my neck from my job.   My QA score is 100%, has been for years, and I type 90 wpm, transcribe 200 lph at least and that's on an account that is almost all ESL.   I could do this job another 20 or 30 years if I wanted to (barring sickness or accident that could happen at any age).

As far as the AAMT rep saying younger people are not lining up for this job - have they done anything to market MT to younger people?  I'm sure a lot of high school kids or even community college people would be interested in this work if they were educated about it. 

One last thought - the people they are offshoring this work to in India, Pakistan, Trinidad, the Philippines, are not spring chickens!!! 

I for one am sick of AAMT trying to justify their greediness by blaming their victims, the US MTs.

My first thoughts were like you, just another way to cheat us.  But then when I considered the possibility (trying to be kind here) that some companies are not giving us full credit for every character typed (as in perhaps counting 3 Keystrokes as 1 as has been mentioned here before), then even if they didn't pay us for spaces, we might make more in such a situation if they had to pay us for every single black character.  They can't hide that from us!  In other words, they would not be able to manipulate the line counting as much as I think they are doing now.  Now how much they would pay us for every black character might differ from company to company, but I think this might work in our favor overall.  If pay based on production is better for us than an hourly wage, we need to find what works most to our advantage.   And with the difference there is out there now in line counts from one company to another, pay by character might help us. 

And yes, even if it is a template, every character should still count as well as spaces, returns, tabs, demographic insertion, and also for our knowledge which comes into play every single time we keep the dictators from sounding like idiots and/or catching their mistakes.  Let's face it -- we do at least basic editing too, folks.  We are NOT just typists!  We should be reimbursed for our knowledge as well as production.   We're not donating our time to a charity here.  This is a way of making a living.  We should be paid for whatever we do for the company we work for, just like in any other job.  This might be a step in the right direction. 

I am cautiously almost hopeful.