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I begin my day, every day, with a nice 2 to 3 mile walk with

Posted By: my two dogs. on 2007-03-05
In Reply to: Stress - Anna

This gives me time to think, alone time, fresh air and of course exercise. I love to walk and it seems that since I began doing this I am less stressed out. Have you had your thyroid checked??? Just wondering if that could possibly cause hair loss. I wish you the best.


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I'm in GSO too, about 1 mile from PG. nm
 
I have about a 20 mile drive
There are a couple grocery stores in that vicinity. I won't shop at Target, either, as they will not support the military and will not allow the Salvation Army outside their stores at Christmas. They are a big supporter of gay and lesbian causes as well. So far, I guess it is K-Mart for other things. Around here, Wal-Mart is trying to build a super center practically on every street corner, trying to run everybody else out of business. Really sad-- Sam Walton is probably spinning in his grave.
I'd pay $10 an hour plus 0.35 a mile. GL. NM
d
60-mile drive
I used to drive 50 miles one way for my transcription job.  It took me four years before I got to go home, and then I still had to drive back and forth to pick up the tapes, until they got me on the system last March  - so now I totally work from home.  So nice, but you are the only one that can determine whether it is worth it for you.  I need/want the bennies and was willing to do it.  With a sickly husband at home, it is so nice now to be at home working.  Don't know if I would go back to working outside again. 
35 cents a mile???? UR kidding???...nm

Gov. pays 44.5 cents a mile, will probably....sm
go up to 48.5 cents over the summer. That's what we claim on travel vouchers.
I used to drive a 100+ mile roundtrip....SM

I did it for over two years to be able to work in the office of my mentor and get the experience I needed to be a good MT.  Most days I didn't mind, but did try to avoid busy times on the freeway.  A lot depends on traffic too and not just gas.  I have always enjoyed the time alone in a car, which is something I rarely get.


Thirty miles isn't that far.  Good luck!


I think there's a difference between going the extra mile
and not going at all. I used to spend lots of time, probably way too much time, looking up words in the pre-production days, but those days are over, and those kinds of questionable words get left as blanks. That's not the same thing as not trying at all.
Where to begin?
Brandy,

Where do you live, most importantly? I am a mom to 3, in Georgia, and am currently homeschooling my son in kindergarten. I can give you some tips, if you want, but there is a lot, too much to post here. IF you want more info, post back and I'll give you my e-mail address or e-mail you privately.
Oh, where shall I begin. sm

The *hoopla* about offshore not being secure is absolutely a valid threat. It may have nothing to do with transmission and everything to do with the value system of another group of people though. At least three VERIFIABLE instances of offshore MTs holding medical records for hostage and at least one where the MT threatened to publish the records on the internet if she was not paid, exist. Hardly *hoopla* my dear. I seriously doubt if the CMT will ever become a mandatory credential and I seriously doubt that for several reasons. After nearly 30 years, the AAMT has fewer members now than it ever had. People are leaving in large numbers. I also have it on good authority that the test the offshore MTs take is not the same one given to US MTs. Personally, I don't put someone down for having a CMT, I just have no great real respect for it or the association. I trust I am allowed my opinion. I worked at a local hospital where the transcription supervisor was a CMT and she could not answer one blank when asked! I actually know a lot of CMTs who are not all that.


Hubby has 30 mile drive to work (sm)
so he bought a motorcycle and rides that instead of driving his truck.
My DH lived 1/4 mile from my childhood home,
can't you tell I'm a country kid. I thought he was a geek when he was younger (he knows this), he was a looker in high school but had a steady girlfriend and was subsequently engaged, then she left him and he went in the service. Once he came home I was totally surprised at what a great man he'd become, a hottie and a really nice guy too! Her loss was my gain and the rest is history as that was 26 years ago and he's still the love of my life!
My DD has to ask me for money, still lives with me. I moved less than a mile SM
from her college (since I work at home) for her sake, the things we do for our kids.
K-force, yes they still do. They offered me 11 cpl and 40 c/mile in San Bernardino, CA. nm
nm
Would you make a 60 mile round trip every day
I have been driving back and fourth to a hospital for over a year.   It is 30 miles away.  I have to put two small children in daycare close to my home because it is more affordable then the ones close to where I work.  This is another issue.  If I have to take them to the doctor or if they have anything going on at the daycare that I can attend well, I have to take a full day off.  The pay at this hospital is only 9 cpl so the pay is not what is really keeping me it is the bennies.  $65/month covers my kids and I.  It is excellent coverage too.  We also have a 401k plan where they match.  We also have flex spending, PTO which is about used up because we keep running out of work.  We are only allowed to get sick 5 times a year, that includes family too if we have to take off.   I have asked to work at home because they have home MTs.  I used to be one of them but they moved me in house they did not like my slow internet connection.  Now that we have cable internet available I asked if can go back home and they seem to give me the run around like it is either "not in their budget" or “maybe in a month or two” but that never comes.  These outsourcing companies keep dancing around.  I just really want to be back home closer to my kids and so I can eat lunch with my husband again.  I do know that any job I get there will be pitfalls.  I am just afraid of jumping from the frying pan into the fire. 
I wore mine on a 900 mile drive

to florida. Didn't leak a bit.


 


Texas drivers ~ insurance by the mile....

Have any of you heard of this?  It is auto insurance charged by the miles driven.  I got a quote online for myself and it is very reasonable for me but not for the 17-yo.


https://milemeter.com/faq/other


Maybe it's your attitude to begin with.

Change your tune.  Be sugary sweet when you think someone is being rude to you and see what happens.  Pay it forward.  Give someone a smile or a kind word.  Let someone in line in front of you.  Just do one little nice thing per day and it will multiply.  People are never rude to me.  Everywhere I go, they know me by name because I take the time to be kind to them.  Gas station, grocery store, bank, school, doctor's office.  You might have to fake it 'til you make it, but you can change your outlook and how you perceive the world treats you.  If someone is "rude" to you, blow it off.  Maybe they're having a bad day and it's nothing personal.


To begin with, I would suggest
Paying for your rent/mtg, food and utilities without fail first.

I ended up in BK 13 so I can't help you with a company name but this is what I learned, food and shelter come first.
That's Why I Posted To Begin With
I didn't make the assumption that 'fast typing' was all it took. I still believe that you have to be able to type fast, but I also have 'top notch computer skills' and can learn well. I wanted to know more about training in this field because I assumed training was a necessary evil. One thing I didn't assume was that the folks on this forum were just downright rude!! Not saying you are, just most of the others that replied to my initial post. I am certainly not looking at MT as a way to pay my mortgage or put my daughter through college. Just a way to fill some free time.

Thanks for your post!
You should have a system to begin with. SM
I recommend mining the Productivity Talk forum for tips and a book such as Saving Keystrokes by Rolland. One high producer strongly recommends Easyscript Express by Levin, an old ABC-based ShortHand method that can be used with a keyboard.

When I first started with expanders, in the Ice Age seemingly, there were no forums like this to consult and I just started dropping definitions in without a good system. I've since had to redo everything a number of times as I wanted my Expander to do more and more for me.

As time goes on, you'll also want to abbreviate EVERYTHING for you, which requires system, both because you can't possibly remember thousands of abbreviations but remembering a few rules is easy AND because you need to have a way to enter various terms that seemingly need the same letters.

One tip just to jump you off: Some systems start two-word phrases with the first two letters of the first word and the first two or three of a second word. However, if you look up "lesions," say, in a medical dictionary, you'll see immediately that starting with three letters of the describing/adjective word and two of the noun (i.e., cocle for cochlear lesion and corle for cortical lesion) would serve you much better. Although if you gaze over just at the ones that start with intra- you'll realize more system than that is going to be needed for more complex terms. I personally start that prefix with "ia" to differentiate from ones that start with inter- "ie". Best wishes.
ADD vs. MT - Let the Battle Begin
Have you tried setting a timer for 20-30 minutes, then giving yourself permission to get up from the desk (setting the timer again for 10 minutes or so), wander around, surf the web a little (on a different computer if you can, it will help keep the surfing bug separate from the MT'ing bug), then when the timer goes off again, go back and set it again for 20-30 minutes and start typing again?

These days, I'm working in bed from a laptop due to back and wrist issues that don't play well with conventional desks, but in some ways that actually helps keep me focused, because it's such a pain in the neck to get up and walk away... I still struggle with wanting to surf while typing though - a problem I never dreamed of having back when my shiny new computer was an IBM PS2 or something like that - where the floppy drive held less information than my cell phone does today!

Good luck!
Does it have 3 letters, begin with an M?
If so, I'm there too...Ain't life grand???
The one time I asked for one, they said no. Ask and if they say no, begin looking elsewhere.
dd
The rules for Op notes are a little different. You may begin a....sm
sentence with a numeral; so, you would never spell out cc for blood loss, IV fluids, urine output etc. In the indications section, if a sentence starts with a number e.g. "Three days ago the patient" or "One day prior to surgery, I spell out the number. Otherwise, in the body of the report or in the headings, I use the number.
Don't get excited. You should have provided it to begin with. nm
x
The head set worked to begin with so
if it was in the wrong hole would it have worked in the beginning?  Because it worked until I downloaded the pedal software.
How do you begin to come up with a line rate..
to pitch to a new account?  Been working for others as an IC, now contemplating approaching an account on my own.  No clue how to not hang myself and selling out at too low of a rate vs giving a quote that's too high and will make them back off quick.  Would it be a good "rule of thumb" to take what you make as an IC on someone else's accounts and add .05cpl?  From what little I've gathered over time, that's about the ballpark of what the MTSO gets paid per line for the account vs what the IC gets paid to do the typing.  Does this sound about right to those of you who have experience with this?  Tks
It was a $1 a mile, not hour! Made good noney back then. nm
x
I promise you - I begin work at 7:00 p.m. - I'm only PT, and my day always begins with
stat, H&Ps, consults, etc! I love it!
When they have me working mornings I am getting special procedures, ops, caths, and don't like it one bit! Maybe 2nd shift would work for those who just can't see themselves working from 11 to 7. Good luck!
Nope. It was a small account to begin with.
The work never went anywhere.  The company has not lost contracts.  I'm not being "phased out" either.  The workload simply doesn't suit my needs any longer.  I can do it in my sleep, so I'd like more work that's more challenging.
I would never begin a sentence with an abbreviation, for one thing. nm
x
Was taught in my program that all those eye words begin with
s
That is assuming they could even understand the dictation to begin with.
I would love to see the doctors having to listen to dictation.
Ok, I invite you to hop on a bicycle for 15 mile ride in below freezing weather, snow, ice, etc.
s
Utilize the speed typing engines and begin
storing in their favorite phrases so that a few letters will bring them up. I am working for several physicians. Took me a few months to get all the words into speed typing mode but now that I have, the time I spend typing is cut in half.

Never type a word larger than 4 letters.

chest pain - cp

pneumonia - pnea

atelectasis or infiltrate - aoi

so on and so on - whatever works for you. This is how to make money these days, high production. And the speed typing engines lessen change of typos and other erros.


Okay. Where do I begin? I need some advice! My husband is in real estate. sm

               He owns 5 houses (rents 4), and just closed on a house on Friday that he needs to "flip" really quick! Basically, it's a 30,000 profit IF he sells it quick! We've never bought a house to flip before, but have purchased them for rental property and to gain the equity. Okay. I'm spoiled. Very spoiled. Or you could call it blessed! We are both Christians with good jobs. I only work part-time and then we live off of his salary and the 700 we make in rent that is extra after paying ALL the mortgages. But we are in a real bind now. We have renters who owe us 2 months of rent, well now 3 months of rent! They won't take our calls, you know the rest of the story!  This house that my husband bought on Friday cost us ALL of our cash because we had to put some down and then pay closing costs (close to 4,000!).  So now, for the first time, we are broke (NO cash flow whatsoever now). And I'm struggling over here! I mean, we can't even go and get ice cream tonight.  I'm really questioning our decision to purchase this house.


See, we had no idea UNTIL closing (honest to God), just how much it was going to cost! So, we couldn't back out of it. We were thinking 2000 on the high end.  I completely flipped out when the attorney told us how much we needed to write a check for!!!!


 


We've gotten a couple of calls on the house, but obviously no takers. My husband went straight from the attorney's office to the house to put up for sale signs in the yard! It's a cute house. We just need someone to buy it ASAP!


So, if you've ever wanted to meet the people on the Carlton Sheets infomercial - here we are!!! yes, we've made a lot of money in real estate, but there are huge, gigantic RISKS! You could go for the gutso (like we did and buy all these houses) and you could lot a lot if it doesn't work out. The loan we got on this new house is a type of loan I've never heard of before. It's just a "quick" loan where you need to pay it back pretty quick in the hopes that you will make the 30,000 in equity that the house did appraise for.


What do you do on a budget? What do you do when you are so broke you can't even buy ice cream for the kids? I want to cry now, even though I know some of you out there have zero sympathy for crazy folks like us...Well, I need some ideas on food.  What's cheap to make and cook? I put 30.00 in my SUV last night and that will have to last me until the 15th!


To all of you who struggle every week like this, my heart goes out to you. It truly does.  Now I know what it feels like to live in desperate need every day.....


They're not thrown to the dogs when they had no work to begin with!
nm
How nice is this keyboard? Nice light touch?
I have a regular Microsoft ergonomic one now but I'm thinking I should probably get a replacement and use mine as a backup. 
I was nice today, and people were nice to me.
If you steer away from the nastiness, there are a few nice and encouraging posts in there. 
I think they will all walk
Have been thinking they are probably guilty, but really, there is no proof.   I agree 100% about the chaperones.  You wait until you get to the airport and then discover everyone isn't there?? Sounds absurd to me.  How come we haven't seen any of the chaperones on TV?   Still feel for the parents, but I think they have done all they can.  They certainly have kept it in the attention of the media. 
I don't think they are trying to walk all over
anyone. I think it is out of frustration. Lots of changes have came about in a very short time. Some people are not good with change. They see this attitude as rubbing salt in the wounds. They are being jerked around and you are all happy and that makes no sense to them. There are people begging for work out there and then you get on saying you got 9 accounts. In their mind, they are thinking how is this fair and of course lashing out at MQ. You do tend to lash out at people who you think hurt you. I do not agree with everything that is going on with MQ, but I do work here and I am going to continue to work here. I have sympathy for the other MTs who are not so happy. I agree there are those who get on here to do nothing, but bash, but then again there are those just trying to understand what is going on and speaking out of frustration. I just think that people should not be attacked or whatever you want to call it just because they do not share your views. You must remember, we are all in totally different situations and most importantly - we are on the same team. Why not try to help them get happy and try to work out their problem, rather than bash along with them.
How many MTs and MEs would be willing to have a walk out
If nothing is done by Oct 1st with MQ
walk, walk, walk, walk, walk. :)

I do 3 miles a day at a good clip and I have lost 25 lbs. since I started doing MT at home a year ago. I'm back into a size 6 from a 14.


No bagels, donuts, cookies candy, etc., etc. in the breakroom like it was at the office.


Keep the crap out of your fridge and cupboards too.


Leftover Halloween candy put 5 lbs. on me in one week! 


Yes, that should walk you through it
I am not real familiar with Melbourne IT, but when I Google searched, it came back with registering domain names, so yes, follow that through. The next time you post, if you need more help, click on the button to add an email reply and I will email you to see if I can help walk you through it
The Walk
Cesar emphasizes taking regular walks with your dog at your side, not in front of you. Maybe it would help to do this with your dog, establishing yourself as the leader, and then take two and eventually all three for a walk at the same time. He says this gets them used to being a pack, with you as the pack leader.
It's also a law here too and a law you can't walk dog without muzzle...
nm
Hello...that should be take a walk, not "talk"
Something must be wrong with my fingers :)
Walk in the shoes.
x
RUN - don't walk to the nearest ER. sm
I am an MT/ EMT/ nursing student, who has also had bouts of depression in the past, never hurting self but thinking how to permanently. I am great now, but with my family history I know what to look out for. PLEASE - Go to the nearest ER and talk to a professional about this. You cannot work through this alone or online with anyone. They will not judge you or belittle you - they are there to help and your hurting yourself is a cry for help. You don't have to tell your family or friends a reason for going, just say you don't feel well and need to go to the doctor. Don't wait, go now!
Walk your own talk, then.
Why don't YOU take in all that trash if they're all just innocent victims of "the system". It's always someone else's fault, isn't it? You liberals never hold the parasites responsible for any of their own actions or any of the CHOICES they make. It's always the government's fault, or capitalism's fault, or the fault of people with money (you know, the ones who worked hard and EARNED their lifestyle). We're all supposed to keep paying through the nose so a bunch of parasites can breed generation after generation of parasites and no one is allowed to point out the truth. Fine. YOU let them all live with you.