Any time I travel and don't have room for my keyboard I use a pillow in my lap or prop
Posted By: me on 2006-05-25
In Reply to: Question for traveling laptop workers - gimpyMT
it on the edge of the desk. I find it also takes some of the stress off my wrists and I tend to sit straighter in my chair. Takes a bit getting used to, but if you travel with your own pillows you can use your own and it won't be so bad. You could also go to one of the office warehouse companies like Office Depot and look at their keyboard trays. They may have some that slides or clamps onto a desk that would work for you.
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I prop a pillow on my keyboard tray and then
put my keyboard on the pillow. You need a sort of squishy pillow, too firm and it doesn't work. I find that it makes me sit with my back against the back of the chair and it also helps with pain in fingers, wrists, and shoulders.
I use a standard bed pillow - foam not feather.
I use a pillow that I prop against either my desk or my
keyboard tray and then put my keyboard on the pillow. It helps my fingers, wrists, back, and shoulders, which helps my production. I find that I sit back with back against the chair, which helps ease shoulder and back discomfort.
I use a standard-sized bed pillow and isn't too fat or firm.
I travel with a laptop, printer, and keyboard - sm
My printer is small enough to fit into a backpack - about the size of a portable DVD player. So the printer, along with the laptop go on the plane with me. The keyboard and mouse go in my suitcase that gets carried under the plane. Now, if i have to take a transcriber with me, depending on where I'm going, I will either ship that ahead or TRY to take it with me on the plane, but it depends on where I'm going and how long I'll be gone. I have had to replace a transcriber because of security deciding to take it apart when it was packed in my suitcase. Lesson learned on my part.
I use my c-phone whenever we travel. You can hook it directly into your room phone. Be sure and as
xx
Thanks for sharing. I also travel A LOT..and the majority of the time things go smooth, but sometime
Last time we went on vacation, I forgot to pack my keyboard that I had just bought for $50 and had to run to Radio Shack and get another cheapo for $30. Then, the hotel internet was AWFUL and kept cutting me off so production was sloooooow..Overall, I just check ahead to see what the hotel offers in terms of internet etc..and I do end up having to pay anywhere from $10-12 a night at hotels but it is worth it so I am not missing work or using all of my PTO time. We're heading to Mexico next year and the hotel has wireless so I think I'll give it a whirl. We have a condo in Hawaii and I have sat out on the lanai all day looking at the ocean and working. It was the highest production I have ever had. The only downfall I have found is trying to remember all fo the time changes so I am starting and stopping when I am scheduled. Hawaii is 5 hours different from home so I had to factor that in. In any event, thanks for sharing and I agree. Vacation can be fun AND productive.. LOL
One time I typed "Tp and his wife are retired and travel in their rectovaginal." Caught it tho
x
sitting in my computer room, typing away when my boyfriend at the time, called me from work. nm
ss
A nice sunny room just for me in our finished lower level. Love my cocoon room.
:+
omg -- listen, get in a recliner and prop that leg up. then
you can put a small cloth over your footpedal and put it under your elbow and just lean a little on it and type! lol
i know it sounds wierd but it works! that way your foot can be elevated properly and you can still work from the comfort of the recliner!
hope that helps!
Use something to prop your foot pedal
higher, sometimes it is as simple as putting it on a telephone book or have someone make you a wooden stand. At one hospital I worked one fo the ladies' husbands made us all a gradually sloping stand to put our foot pedals on, it was great.
I have never had my own room. I shared a room with my sister, went away to college sm
and had a roommate (whom I am still close to) for 4 years, moved back home and back to sharing a room with my sister while she went to a local college and then got married. In fact, after 17 years of marriage, this is the first time in my life that I have had my own dresser, not just the top two or bottom two drawers!
I could never live alone. Not for fear but for loneliness. I like my alone time but I love to have people around.
Date with keyboard on Friday to have time for
My twin granddaughters, the dynamic duo, (17 months) who will be spending the rest of the weekend with Gram and "Aunnie" (my 11-year-old). Can't wait to play and spoil, spoil, spoil!
I probably will be in bed and sound asleep after they leave Sunday at 7:00. :)
I use a Vista laptop with an external keyboard 100% of the time..sm
I would never buy a desktop again. I travel all over and just bring my laptop, foot pedal and external ergonomic keyboard.
Keyboard Kelly - Many thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions.
I really do appreciate it.
DixieKaye
hehe I was able to nurse and type at the same time. It's all a matter of the chair and keyboard
x
I have a big old pillow or two.
I sit on one and have the other behind my back. I wish I could take the seat out of my blazer and type on that all day. :-)
I just use a pillow
for back support
How about a neck pillow you can
That can help sometimes; you can even make one. Just sew up a tube and fill it with beans or rice. Or maybe you could get someone to massage your neck to loosen up those tight muscles? If nobody is around to do that for me, I sometimes stand under the shower with hot water or take a long soak in the tub with Epsom salts. Also, those neck rotating exercises help loosen up tense muscles sometimes. Hope it gets better; I know the feeling well. If it's not the hands, wrists, or arms, it's the back, neck, or butt.
Put a small pillow on it and ..
lay it on the armrest, just under your elbow. Just a little pressure will press the mid play section. Ease up to stop.
I used a pillow. I placed part of it on the
the keyboard tray so I wasn't having to chase it around. You could also get something to put under your desk to put your foot pedal on. The old wooden Coke crates are great. There are adjustable keyboard trays. Part of mine broke and I'm limited in what I can do with it, but could go up and down, tilt it, go sideways. You could go to a store like Office Depot where they have various things setup and see if anything would work for you.
Try using a standard-sized bed pillow
instead of a board. I put the pillow on my keyboard tray or I prop it against my desk. My posture is better and you aren't banging on a hard surface. It helps with wrists, elbows, and shoulders.
It may take a day or two to get used to. I found a sort of quishy pillow works better than a very firm pillow. I don't have problems with the keyboard bouncing off. I've also had the pillow up again my chest (I have a large ledge - LOL) and I type with the keyboard angled down sometimes. The pillow supports my forearms that way and relieves the stress on my shoulders/back.
I do the same thing. Put a pillow/cushion in my lap
and type away. I had purchased an ergonomic keyboard and simply could not get used to using it. I read on one of these boards about somebody putting their keyboard in their lap. I tried that with my ergo keyboard and now I love it. It's really hard to type on a flat keyboard now. Typing with my keyboard in my lap is much easier on my shoulders and back, too. I usually have one leg propped up on the hard drive of my computer, too. 
Try propping your pillow against your desk or
or keyboard tray. I'm short and not much lap, so having it in my lap doesn't work for me. I don't have issues of chasing my keyboard when I prop the pillow.
I think a sort of squishy pillow works better. If you have a fat one I think there is too much bounce in it and then you will be chasing the keyboard.
Thanks for the pillow suggestions; the frontal
nm
Try sitting on a pillow. Extra cushy!
Advice on any topic given freely here. 
I changed my pillow to a memory foam and
that has reduced my neck pains and headaches a lot. I also have a memory foam neck pillow I bought at Wal-Mart.
I wedge a small pillow between me and the armrest on each side for my arms to rest on.
;L
You can travel while
There are no restrictions on that. Of course, you are expected to maintain the confidentiality of the records you work on while you are away. As far as a bare bones summer cottage, you would have to make arrangements as you see fit and necessary in order to make it comfortable for you to work in.
I do when I travel.....sm
I dock my laptop when I'm working from somewhere else (i.e. my elderly grandmother's house) and use my own keyboard and mouse. If I'm just going to work a couple of hours I don't do all of that - only if I'm working all day.
Where did you travel to? sm
I guess my main concern is going overseas to England and for some reason not being able to work there. The internet in the house I would be living in is high speed internet but I just want to make sure that my computer would work there and everything goes smoothly.
astral travel
Always thought it was hogwash until it happened to me too. I was working in a bank as a teller. On my fourth day as a teller a guy came to my window with a gun, couldn't believe it. It was like a rose above my body and watched this poor girl being robbed. To this day, 30 years later, I can still see the dress I was wearing, hairstyle etc. Back then they called it "out of body experience."
Anyone here travel and work (sm)
I am thinking I could work while I travel if I had a laptop computer and am wondering if anyone here does this and what is involved. I know many motels offer free wireless internet now. Is that all I need to be able to do this? Thanks for any help!
Does anyone travel with their laptop
and use a Sprint broadband card for internet access, or one of the other company broadband cards. Just wondered how it worked for you for traveling and if you can use it on the road? I've been trying to research this but not really finding the answers. From what I read, if there is good cell phone signal you should be able to get service, but the guy from Sprint told me that his parents tried it down the road in Nebraska and did not work, and I asked why since it said on the site that you would get service if the cell coverage is there, maybe just not as fast as in a city such as Lincoln or Omaha, and he didn't know why but said I could try it out for 30 days. Thought maybe some of you road warriors would have some suggestions. I would like to stay with my mom and use something like this since she doesn't have internet. Thanks for any suggestions if anyone has used this particular method for working.
Laptop travel
I take my laptop with me every weekend. If we go someplace besides our place in the mountains, I get my internet service to get me a dial up number of where I am going so I can connect with the internet service through dial-up. It is much slower than my DSL, but works like a charm. So contact your Internet Service Provider about numbers in the place you are are planning ongoing and so far I have had not a single problem. I have worked in Florida, in New York, in Oklahoma, in New Mexico, using the local numbers that my internet service provider gave me. I have SBC/Yahoo, now called AT&T. They even helped me set it up the first time as I could not figure out how to do it.
I prefer the CD. I can travel with my
job and used a laptop. I am able to have all my references available because I have them on the computer. Stedman's only allows 2 downloads though, so if you are one who may have lots of computer issues where you will need to reload your computer a coupld of times a year or if you might want to resell then CDs wouldn't be the way to go. The books you can find used on the classified board.
You can use www.drugs.com as a drug reference.
There aren't a separate set of books for clinic work, but I would recommend a book called Sloane's Medical Word Book by Ellen Drake. It is a large book with all the specialities and while obviously not as thorough as the Stedman's books, the terminology used in clinic work isn't as technical as acute care and will probably be good enough for you. I haven't looked at Stedman's lately but they may have a similar book.
Travel and work
As my parents are getting older I would like to visit with them more often. I live in the south and they live on the West Coast. I would like to work from their house, but they don't have an internet connection. I have thought about wi-fi but this presents privacy issues and the inconvenience of having to drive to Starbucks every day. My parents are not receptive to getting an internet connection as they do not have a computer. Anyone have any ideas how I can get some work done and yet still travel to see them several times a year?
My dream job would be to just travel, (sm)
see the world, play, ski, go on mountain bike & hiking trips, and do all sorts of unusual outdoor activities, and indoor activities (drawing) that I enjoy, and then get paid to write about them.
working while you travel
May I ask what company you work for, that lets you take your work overseas? I think this is a great idea, to travel while you work (or work while you travel) :)
I travel quite a bit. I used to have satellite, but no longer
do. Wireless is only good if you are in a place that has wireless service or you can get WiFi. Most of the chain hotels now have free WiFi and there are lots of other places that have free WiFi if you are on the road. It's always good to have a plan B too, just in case.
I read it... does it mean US patients would have to travel - nm
.
they require your uncle to travel; thus, pay him to
nm
question for those who travel and work
Does anyone have to use a C-phone for their work and use a long distance plan that they can use while away from home? I looked at Vonage, but I looked over previous posts and it sounded like the voice quality was not that great, which for obvious reasons I cannot have. Thanks for all input/suggestions!
What? I am a low income MT, can't afford to travel anywhere.
 I can't even afford to drive out of the state...gotta fix my motorcycle.
I am not taking all this too seriously but I think your post is a little inflammatory.
Nobody expects tourists to speak whatever the native language is. I think it is reasonable for local medical professionals living and working here to be able to speak easily recognizable English since the accuracy and quality of the medical record depends on it, not to mention turnaround time. My time is valuable too. Forcing me to relisten over and over just to decipher simple phrases is not fair. And that applies to the native speakers too (who tend to rattle everything off too stinking fast and IMO just as bad or worse than ESL).
help me understand laptop travel
I'm a hard-wired girl but I got a good deal on a laptop and would like to know exactly how you travel and work. I remember mention of air cards - where do you get these and is there a 1 time charge or do you have to sign up and pay monthly fees? Now - I still have to figure out how to connect it to router at home - TIA.
Travel to Florida/Disney - experiences?
We are planning a trip to Florida for the Daytona 500 in February - we are having problems lining up a hotel in the Orlando area that includes suites with kitchenettes and also has shuttle service to the major parks in the area. We want something in the mid range, maybe 3 star or 4 star, and will only have 2 tweenagers traveling with us - the rest will be adults. Can anyone recommend a place to stay with some atmosphere, pool area, restaurant, etc.?
We've been there before when our kids were young and stayed in very basic motels which was fine. We hardly spent any time at the motel anyway. This time, with some going to the NASCAR race, there will be down time for others, so a nice pool/outdoor area would be a plus.
Why not just ask a local travel agent? You don't have to commit thru them. nm
s
I guess I should say who work for a company that has you travel
to different on-site facilities and work for a few weeks providing all travel expenses and then on to a different facility?
I travel frequently and I have not found this to be a problem.
You can either search on-line or go to store like Office Depot and look at keyboard trays. They have them that will clip on. You can clip one to a table. Many times I've propped a pillow against a table and put the keyboard tray on the pillow. I've worked at a picnic table with a folded towel on the edge of the table. The height isn't the best and the towel kept the hard edge from pressing into my wrists. I've used a bed tray and put my laptop on top of that and placed the keyboard underneath.
I'd try a few things now before you go. I found that if I had to work I found a way to get the job done. I've even typed on the laptop keyboard with the laptop on my lap as we are going down the road.
oops... travel program should be LogMeIn.
oh yuck, I have to travel to NY next week for a hospital job - now I'm going to be cold!!
x
I use a MSFT Natural keyboard at home and the laptop keyboard on the road. nm
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