I do the same thing for set my timer for 20 minutes, that 1 nap does the trick usually for the rest
Posted By: Laura E. on 2005-07-19
In Reply to: Yes, it's the scourge of the MT. Here's what I do.. - SM
of my day (if I happen to be working during the day). If I start nodding off late at night, I just go to bed and get up early if need be to finish up.
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I use a little handheld digital timer from Pyrex (our oven timer doesn't work) - sm
and it's great, has two digital windows, clock on top, counter (which is what I use) on the bottem, then you can switch "modes" to a screen with 2 timers if that is what you want. Cost about $10. So I time myself more now since it helps me buckle down and I see who I am fastest at this way.....average anywhere from 12-18 minutes of dictation an hour doing this--- unfortunately I spend too much time looking up addresses but I hope my address directory will be to the point one day where I don't have to look up anymore (or at least not much). Have fun.
is there such a thing as a cell phone with pre-paid minutes,
and no monthly bill? A couple years ago i heard one was being developed, and yet, at least here in the middle of the country, have yet to see such. I would like to have a cell phone for emergencies or very occasional use, but can't go for the monthly bill...
Is this w/the built-in hand rest? Touch was nice, but the rest made my palms achey. Didn't
s
I used to say he nursed for 30 minutes every 30 minutes. I was trying to figure
out a way to strap him across my chest so he could help himself while I went about whatever it was I had to do. I really miss those days too.
Get you a timer and sm....
and see if you are actually working that entire time or if you are like me and very distracted and really only work 5 of the 8 hours. I am terrible about checking emails, looking out the window, surfing the internet, etc., etc. and once I really look at how long I worked I really only got in about a third the time I thought I was actually working. This may not be you at all, but this would help you to see if this is part of the problem. You might also get you a notepad that you have on your desk and write down everytime you answer the phone, answer a question from spouse or kids, got up to do something, etc. and see what type of distractions are taking away from your working time. I am talking from experience here. If I was not so distracted I would probably do at least 2000 lines a day but I am lucky to get 1300. Just a thought and good luck.
Timer
XNoteStopwatch.com
A real old old timer
When I learned how to type in high school, we had the manual typewriters with no letters on the keys. The first electric typewriter when I was a senior, was awesome! You barely had to touch it. I can't remember either the name of the first "word processor" I used, but I know that soon after came the "Mag Card". I definitely don't miss any of these. Yes, that was before production. Boy, just thinking about this makes me realize how "ancient" I am and how far technology has come in my lifetime.
TIMER FOR TRANSCRIPTION?
Here is a question for you gals (and guys). Where can I find a timer like the chess players use that you can hit the button and it stops, hit it again and it continues. I would very much like to be able to track just how much time I actually spend on transcribing versus jumping up and down doing housework, answering the phone, door, etc.
Thanks!
I used to use a timer, but not anymore.
It would jump the living daylights out of me every time as I was "in the transcribing zone." :)
Sounds like me to a "T" -- I use a timer too - sm
I find if I set it in 15 minutes increments I get more done; then I try 30 minutes. I find with the harder doctors I can get up to 12-14 minutes an hour done that way. One doctor I can do 25-28 minutes in an hour this way (he's my favorite), even then though I only average about 160 lines an hour since I have to look up addresses, or look up an unfamiliar term, etc. All that slows you down too. I am getting better though in the time department but still have a long way to go. Kills me to think I can have my work done in 6 hours or less IF I would buckle down; don't know why I torture myself but need to give myself a good kick in the butt!
Is using a timer cheating?
I work on production only. I do have a set schedule, but the company I work for is fairly flexible. I have started using a timer where I set it for 60 minutes and stop it if I am interrupted, have to get up, etc. This gives me a more accurate picture of exactly how much I can type in an hour. Is this cheating not to just go by clock hour?
Only part timer here
and i have a housekeeper, have for years (say 12-15) even when it was just me and my child at the house. I do not like housework, never have so I have someone to come over not every week because only the 2 of us and the 3 furry ones. I do not think that expensive.
Part-timer, too sm
Half the year I only worked 15 hours a week, second half worked 30 hours a week and will make just over $30,000.
for old part-timer
Yes, I have.
I think 0 Vicryl looks weird.
The 0 could easly be lost somewhere. It makes more sense to be typed as 0-Vicryl, so that one knows where this '0' belongs. Otherwise it is just dangling there all by itself.
I looke it up and the right way is like that:
0 Vicryl
3-0 Vicryl.
This has no logic.
There is a trick
I did a concrete patio painted a couple of years back. We etched it first, which I think is supposed to be an important part of keeping the paint from peeling. After applying the concrete paint (which was bought at Lowe's), we waited the required time and put a sealer on it. So far, no problems.
Just an idea you might like -- we took all different shapes of leaves and did some concrete paint on them in a contrasting color and pressed them down around the edges to "pretty" it up a bit. We get tons of compliments!
a little trick
The > points right - more right-handers. The < points left - less left-handers.
what's the trick?
Could you please share with us or e-mail me what the trick is??? I'm having the same problem and it's driving me nuts!!!
Thanks!!!
Is this a trick everyone knows but me?
Maybe it's got to do with the way my pools were set up at past places, but I never got to see the entire body of work to pick what I wanted. At my current place, I get 2 jobs at a time that are automatically routed to me, I assume by computer. Once again, I have no look at what is out there. Theoretically, I guess I could return a job to the pool and take the chance that I'll get something better, but there is also the chance that I'll get something worse and that my repeated rejection of jobs while come to the attention of someone, bring their wrath down on me. I can spot sneaky a mile away, but I apparently never mastered the art of executing it.
I use a stopwatch but I'd rather have a chess timer!
Makes a real difference for me!
Agree with Old Timer. Don't shortchange sm
yourself. A good education will make this very difficult profession a whole lot easier for you. After college, though, you should get a job in a hospital or clinic to get some good in-person mentoring. The MTs who don't do this and go straight to working at home end up having to struggle and never quite making it.
I'm an old-timer who loves PRD also and will share with you what little I know
PRD is DOS based and must run in DOS-based WP program.... I have a link that explains how to load WP DOS if you are interested. Looks pretty complicated to me... I gave up as realized I was eventually going to have to move to Windows. Bought InstantText which allows you to add PRD glossaries - but I hate it!!
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/windowsxp.html#installguide
Part-timer here and I have housekeeper
NM
Desktop Timer- Where can I get this online?
For Free.
Weber short timer
I too have only been with the company a short 3 months. Great supervisor, 2 good accounts. I do radiology and work 3rd shift so I do run out some nights. But plenty of opportunity to make it up during the day if I want. So far thats the ONLY negative I have seen. :) Good luck and welcome aboard.....
Trick or treat
Since we have a Doberman, I doubt it will be a problem.
good trick
Thanks for the tip!! This is off the subject but I have seen other posts like from Mimi that end with "nm", what does that mean? Thanks
This is a neat trick, if you don't already use it...sm
I'm sure many of you have heard of this already, but for those who haven't...it sure helps me when I'm typing AND reading back over my work. You can hold down the control key and turn the roller wheel up a notch on your mouse to enlarge the print on your screen. Then just hit control and scroll it back down to make it smaller again. This has made it "easy on the eyes" for me. Hope someone can benefit from this as I have!
The trick for cc: in AutoCorrect is to use a ; or /
in front of cc in the replace box so Word will back up and change the cap to lowercase. It's a lot faster than AutoText.
;c expands to cc:
Can someone help with an internet trick...
If I was looking on the internet at something and saw an address to respond to, I could click on the email address and it would pop open a box in my yahoo and put the address right in the "compose" a message part of my yahoo mail.
A couple of days ago, this feature stopped working, and now I am cutting and pasting the email addresses off of the internet and pasting them into my yahoo mail.
Does anyone know how to get this feature back.
Thanks!
No distractions. Stay in your chair. A timer.
x
Use a timer and limit yourself, you'll feel much better
x
digital kitchen timer and a scratchpad ....
I am always startled at how much tallying line count every hour or two keeps me focused. Some days just spread out vaguely and my line count suffers as I get distracted or restless.
The info your platform provides should be enough ... to keep some sort of a running tally.
I trust almost no one is still doing manual logs (best kept in Excell, imho), but yes, even with manual logs, a "bad" hour total can provide the seat-in-chair motivation to perform better next hour.
Taking breaks is a good idea -- but I admit I still spend a lot of time playing catch-up.
Get a Hiney Buster! That will do the trick! nm
x
That probably would do the trick. After I hit "post message," sm
that thought struck me. I'll try it. Thanks!
Turning the control off did the trick. sm
I don't even need the convertor now. The plug-in downloaded and my GP plays the dvf files just fine. Wow!!! I can't thank you enough.
Thanks, thanks, thanks!!!!
Hey, cool trick for log keeping. Can you tell us how you do it? :) nm
s
another trick of the trade for soundalikes
that's a good idea; but to avoid extra Keystrokes and loss of productivity by deleting the glossary def entry you could also make *mental associations* for soundalikes, e.g. dysphaGia pertains to the Gut vs. dysphaSia pertains to Speech; ILlicit is ILlegal vs. Elicit Evokes; ilEum pertains to Eating vs. ilIum pertains to sItting... well, you get the idea! =)
An accent trick that helps me...
After spending way too long trying to figure out an allergy one night that was pronounced as s/l fee-oh-REE-nul and which turned out to be Fiorinal, I started double-checking and realized that East Asian (India, Pakistan, etc.) and Arabic language dictators will often incorrectly accent the 3rd syllable if the word happens to naturally be accented on the 2nd syllable.
So when I have a problem with a word that's accented on the 3rd syllable, I'll re-emphasize it in my head, changing to hitting it hard on the 2nd, and that will often help. Or just playing around with emphasizing different syllables from how they're doing it. Now if I could only find a way to mentally blank out the 'trilling' (arrgh).
ATT- I was paying $320 for 7000 minutes, I am now paying $175 for 5000 minutes in CA. nm
nm
(more than 1)Quiet, not coming here, timer, expander, deadlines - nm
x
Chris is a boring one-trick pony. (nt)
Daisy Dukes and a plunging top ought to do the trick!
/
My trick for stopping expansions from expanding....SM
This might not work for you but I find it quicker to add it in my shortcuts. I simply add the last letter on it again when I don't want it to expand. For example, BP = blood pressure but BPP = blood pressure. COPD = chronic.... but COPDD = COPD. That's a lot faster for me than to do all those other steps. Just thought I would throw that out there in case it might work for someone else too.
A product called *Oops* might do the trick
It can be found at places like Sherwin Williams Paint. It seemed to get up all kinds of stuff when we built our house. Good luck!
At one time, someone posted a link for a free clock timer. sm
I've searched the archives but could not find it. It was for timing your actual time spent transcribing. Anybody remember what it was. TIA.
Quick and easy last minute cleaning trick
Clean those vent covers from heaters, etc. the easy way. Put an old towel on the floor or beneath the vent to catch drips. Put hot water and your favorite cleaner (I use Fantastic because it really cuts the grease and grime fast) in a small bowl or pan. Take a medium to large paint brush and brush the cleaning solution over the slats in the ventilator covers. I do a quick brush over the whole thing first, then go back and start at top and work down. It will remove all the grime and gunk. Blot with a towel (real or paper). You do not need to remove the vent cover to do this. No need to rinse unless you use soapy solution.
Rip-off, oldest trick in the book - pyramid scheme
x
No trick, and you will be cut off and they will make you pay up to 21 cents per minute retroactive
If you aren't physically talking with another human being, they consider you in violation of the agreement and they will come after you. It happened to me.
Yeah, powdered milk supposedly does the trick - nm
x
Trick for keeping ants off picnic tables
I know you're asking about anywhere but when we would have picnics, we would use old tuna or catfood cans and wipe them all over, inside and out, with vegetable oil or mineral oil and then set the legs of the table in them. The ants couldn't climb the slippery outsides of the cans to get onto the table. It really worked.
You might try looking up the types of birds and beatles that eat ants and keeping a few natural predators around the flowerbeds.
I remember when I learned the keyboard-in-lap trick from a new graduate . . .
I was horrified to watch this 20 year in a reclining chair with the keyboard in her lap. I learned old school, of course: Sit up straight, elbows at side, blah blah. Well, it was immediate relief when I plopped that thing in my lap.
BTW, I never did get my invention off the ground - it was going to be a transcriber recliner, especially helpful for those with circulation problems. I wanted to retrofit a recliner so that the foot pedal could fit onto the footrest. Of course, being able to see the monitor might be an issue now that I wear bifocals!
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