working on laptop while on trip -- q:
Posted By: sm on 2008-04-02
In Reply to:
If i do work some while on a trip, with good reason but still not required of me, is that trip then tax-deductible, or would that be wrong?
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working on a laptop
does anyone here do their transcription on a laptop? I know you can add a normal sized keyboard to the laptop to work on, but are there any problems with working on a laptop full time? 
Working from laptop
I also travel with my laptop. I have AT&T mobile broadband, works great. I use a separate keyboard and mouse (bluetooth wireless). Works really well.
Been working on a laptop for 6 years.
Definitely need an external keyboard and I would also recommend an external mouse instead of using the touch pad, unless you have a keyboard that has a touch pad. Unless you plug in an external monitor too, the smaller screen may be an adjustment, although several of the newer laptops have 17 to 17.5 screens now. A major plus to a laptop is if the power goes out and you download via wav files you can work, at least for a little while, using the battery. I have cable internet, but I also get 20 hours/month dial-up with that, so I can use the dial-up to download/upload and use my battery to work for 3+ hours. You can also get an inexpensive inverter to plug into your cigarette lighter in your car and plug your laptop into that to charge your battery, or use for working in the car while traveling. I have a box about 1-1/2 inches tall that all my power cords plug into and I have my laptop sitting on that and it makes it the right height for typing.
Laptops generally run considerably more than a desktop, though you can find a decent laptop now for $800.00 or less, though most will run you around $1000.00/more depending on what bells and whistles you want.
Working on laptop using a C-phone?
 Considering taking a position where I'll have to use a C-phone. I travel and work on my laptop frequently. Does anyone know if this is possible while using a C-phone? Sorry, may be a dumb question but I'm not that computer savvy.
laptop not working with foot pedal?
I just tried my new laptop with all my peripherals; everything works except the footpedal. Laptop is Toshiba; foot pedal is an Infinity IN-USB-1. I plugged it in cold (as the others) and have no clue what to do or if it needs replaced, what to replace it with. Can anyone help?
thanks a whole lot.
To all of you Escriptionist out there...Laptop question. Have any of you found a laptop that you can
thing. I tried one of those adapter that goes from the 9-pin to the USB but when I plugged in the USB my foot pedal did not work right. I know supposedly there is a help section on the escription website that says the adapter may work and how to make them compatible etc but it never worked for me. Has any of you find a solution or a laptop that this foot pedal with work with. I'd like to work while traveling and get a laptop but it never worked on my old one. Ideas??
Have fun on your trip! sm
...and don't you dare feel guilty about leaving the kids. Taking this trip will make you a better mother when you get back. Enjoy your vacation!
trip
I went back to visit the family Thanksgiving and that is where I have been torn, as it has been seven or more years since I was back in the Midwest and of course, seeing my granddaughter for the first time really set me to thinking about returning. When this offer was presented to me, it threw me for a loop nevertheless, but I am still thinking about the fact that I am now 50 and none of my friends is getting any younger and that right now, I feel isolated in more ways than one, with the living situation and with working at home. I have a base of friends where I currently live, but they have their own lives and interests as well. In a way, I feel that if I do return back to the Midwest, that I will have the "support" that I need as well as being able to at least have a life at times. I am currently involved in a relationship, but because of work schedules and financial constraints (mostly on his end) that has been hard as well.
We have everything already for the trip, but.....
we haven't purchased the Disney or Universal passes - I am wondering if those tickets can still be purchased easily at the resorts - we are not staying on site, but rather on International Drive
How was your puppy and your trip?
Been wondering. Hope everything went well.
Hawaii trip
Do you know how we can find out? I mean, today is July 11th, so its 10 days from when the winner was supposedly chosen! I have to put in my vacation time doncha know! LOL
MQ Hawaii trip
According to the MQ home page, it states that someone named Lori Gryttenholm is the winnder of the trip. It didn't say which office she is from.
If you book your trip - sm
through one of the many online companies, such as Expedia, Travelocity, or Hotwire (to name a few) they give you the option of purchasing cancellation waivers. They are usually 35 to 50.00 per person.
Just means that if you have to cancel the trip for any reason, you get all of your money back aside from the cancellation fee (the 35 to $50.)
FLORIDA TRIP
I have bought plane tickets on the internet. You book your flight online and then you print out your tickets. It all worked out fine. Are you a AAA member? I have used them for our trip to Disney. They took care of everything for us. (FLIGHT, HOTEL, THE PARKS)
IMO no, trip is not tax deductible at all. (nm)
x
Only way trip is deductible is if it is
Like if you are going to an MT seminar or traveling to meet a new client, etc. Working while on vacation doesn't count since you aren't required to work from that location.
When it IS business related, you have to have receipts and legitimate paperwork proving it is work related and that you spent time conducting business. A trip expense like that would be a red flag to the IRS to audit you, so you darn well better have excellent documentation.
Hawaii trip for 2 winner?
Does anyone know if they have announced the winner for Hawaii trip offered by MedQuist? When I filled out my entry form it said the winner would be announced on July 1, 2005. I am so curious! :)
Thanks for the ideas, but trip is being booked through-sm
ticket agent that does not offer insurance or refunds for any kind of cancellation.
Whe my daughter went on a school trip...
there was an option on the form to opt for insurance. Have you gotten the paperwork yet? It might be there on there.
You're a trip, RadGuy.
c
4 of those years are used to learn an ego trip.
x
I don't know if you'd make the trip in time. When my
mother was dying she died within 24 hours of her kidneys shutting down - by this I mean she quit producing urine. She had cancer that has spready rapidly throughout her body so there may have been contributing factors involved.
LOL! I know the feeling - my last trip was $350 - one cart!
x
YOU CAN EVEN CRUISE/TAKE ROAD TRIP
I'm leaving again next week on a cruise, and can take the work with me. As an MTSO, I don't have to transcribe, but could if I needed; just download via ship internet to laptop and type offline, then send back. I use to move files, answer emails, and JUST IN CASE, have the ability to transcribe should the world fall apart while I'm gone! Also, if you get an AIRCARD, you CAN download/send files while traveling where phone signal is available. Life is good with flexibility!!!
Same here, although I won't be spending it on a trip to China
I do disagree about not being good at MT though. I think many competent MTs shoot themselves in the foot by not recognizing the value of their skills and working for less than they are worth.
Cross country trip to CALIF and
back. My husband and I took three weeks and drove to California and back through the Southwest. Saw Yellowstone and the Giant Sequoias, Santa Fe, Sedona, etc. We had never been there and it was great just driving with no set plans, stopping along the way whenever and where ever we wanted... such freedom.. My second best was a week and a half to Glacier Falls, Montana, but that's been years and years ago. Heck, any vacation is a great one! My bags are packed and ready anytime!
Not all QA people are power-trip freaks (sm)
I work in QA and would probably welcome an email from an MT who said they really tried but that there were numerous blanks in a report they just sent to me. I frequently did exchange emails with helpful hints and tips to the MTs until we were given a quota to reach, then I had to cut down on the "extra" feedback and just send the basics. I hated it because I like the personal touch with feedback.
Some QA staff do end up with their job as a power trip; I was just never that way. I remember what it was like waiting on feedback and cringeing at some of the remarks I would see. I vowed not to do that to fellow co-workers.
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.
Sounds like she is on power trip. Stand your
x
The high school class took a graduation trip sm
to Aruba. I guess every parent that let their child go on the graduation trip was in bad judgement. There are many HS trips out of the country. Please get a grip.
Going on a school trip for childs chorus competition--sm
in March to New York. Went to a meeting with school/parents and told the school board will cancel the trip if the terrorist threat level goes to red--understandable, but also we would lose our money ($1600 for four of us to go). Does anyone know of an insurance company who underwrites trips or tours? One of the parents said they heard of this but did not remember the details or company.
drove 80 miles round trip to work for $5/hr...sm
sitting in a metal folding chair at a folding banquet table, banging away on a Selectric in a room full of smokers. This was a service that would UPS cassette tapes out to your home when you started working from home. Obviously this was 25 years ago. After two weeks, the owner let me go and told me he couldn't make money off of me, even at $5/hour. But then I applied at the hospital for a radiology transcription position (because now I had experience!) and they hired me because I was the only one who would work on Saturdays. When I consider what I had to go through to break into the field, makes me laugh when I see newbies fresh out of school with no experience asking for 6 cents a line to work from home...I guess just understand you do what you have to do to break into the field. That goes for every job that is hard to get into.
If he has a sudden bronchospasm at home, he may not LIVE during the trip to the ER. He needs to go.
s
When I took a business trip one time, I came home to an immaculate house.
Then during the next few weeks, I couldn't find certain things like clothes, dishes, and items I kept on the counters. DH had decided to put all the dirty stuff out in the garage where the babysitter couldn't see it because he was embarrased by the mess he and the kids had made. There was mold and mildew on everything because he taped it inside boxes or stuffed it inside coolers, and he forgot to tell me about it.
It was a graduation trip with the high school class. There were chaperones but evidently sm
she went out on her own, but for you the blame the parents and victims dosen't make sense. Go back to your rocking chair and rock on.
Just got back on a Timeshare trip - cost - 200 and included 3 nights hotel
and tickets to a bunch of free stuff! It was fun. Was it worth it? I am not sure! We got hounded pretty bad about 'buying a timeshare' but it was very affordable! Beautiful place too!
UNBELIEVABLE!!! I am speechless. I literally have no words! A $5000 trip to China to teach
them how to steal our jobs?
Took an RV trip last year and toured around the west, one of my favorite stops was Palo Duro Canyon
outside Amarillo, and also Santa Fe, New Mexico. No trip this year, just had a baby, but hopefully one next year!
You get more working the evening or night shifts and working w/o benefits. And producing like a mad
,
Ditto....granted I am not working much these days, but am currently trying out a new way of working
when I do work which seems to be helping. I am timing myself and keeping a log of how long it takes to to type however many minutes. I am averaging anywhere from 13-18 minutes of dictation an hour now doing this. Granted the time fluctuates between who I am typing, and if I have to look up names, addresses, etc., just depends on the division I am doing at the time. But work that used to take me 3 hours to do is now taking me under 2 hours, I am also trying to put in more macros as I go along, which slows me down initially but pays off in the long run of course. I was working "all the time" before but took forever to get done since I was not applying myself. This new "attitude" has helped me a lot. My goal, in the Fall, is to do 90 minutes a day consistently at 6 hours, and then maybe get up to 120 minutes a day at 8 hours, still while having at least half of the day free (do 60 minutes at night, and the other 60 by Noon). Thereby doing 1200-1400 lines a day. I have never really buckled down and done more than 8000 lines per pay period, so it will be a nice change. Maybe you can do something like that and have a specific knock off time as was suggested below. 
Working holidays? Out shopping in stores where someone IS working
that holiday you refuse to work? Grocery stores, food joints & seems any store is open on holidays and you expect them to be fully staffed, so why shouldn't we?
Yes, I took off for the first time on Christmas day, in 18 years and it was great, but I worked Christmas eve and this whole past weekend.
Someone has to do it!
working IN A HOSPITAL is different than working at home.
Someone can steal you identity from the internet if they want to. Why would you go to the time and trouble to jeopardize a job that requires some level of skill to steal someone's identity or medical records? You could get a job as a retail clerk and get info easier than going through the testing required to become an MT.
Somehow working at home translates into not really working
My in-laws are the worst. Whenever they plan something last minute and my husband says that I had to work, they say, "but she works at home!". When I one time mentioned I had a "schedule" and basically punch a clock and work full time, I don't think they believed me. They will sometimes call mid-day during the week if they are in the area to see if I want to go for lunch, etc! The best is, my husband doesn't make all that much money, so where is it coming from, the money fairy? I am ready to strangle someone! So I know how you feel and I'm sorry it upset you. You are not alone.
I daydream about NOT working while I'm working.
There are so many other things I need and want to get done. I've been working way too hard lately, and summer is just slipping by again. Well, I'm outty.
laptop
I WOULD USE A LAPTOP. THIS CONDITION HAS TAKEN MY WHOLE LIFE FROM ME. MY JOB , MY INDEPENDENCE, BUT I REFUSE TO LET IT GET ME DOWN ALL THE WAY. AT HOME YOU ARE ABLE TO CHANGE POSITIONS OFTEN, GET UP AND WALK AROUND, SIT IN A DIFFERENT PLACE, LAY DOWN IF NEED BE. MY DAUGHTERS ARE NOT USED TO DOING WITHOUT AND I DO NOT INTEND FOR THEM TO START NOW. ANY POSITIVE HELP IS MUCH NEEDED, BUT I GUESS YOU CAN KEEP THE BAD TO YOURSELF. MAYBE I JUST DONT WANT TO FEEL LIKE THERES NOTHING I CAN DO. MAYBE I DONT WANT TO GIVE UP AND FILE FOR DISABILTY JUST YET. ANY HELPFUL ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
ANGELA LEE LPN
I use a laptop too
We bought it a year before I started working - not knowing what the required ports would be for foot pedals, etc. I have a Compaq Presario. I also have Bellsouth high speed internet connection. It works for me fine even when I go out of town.
laptop is the only way to go s/m
I would never have a big computer again! I have worked on DocQScribe and other internet platforms and never had any problems. Also have BellSouth DSL. My computer is a Dell Inspiron. If any disasters strike here that I can see coming will load the pets some clothes and the Dell and take off. Good luck getting put back together!
Laptop
Can you tell me which Dell you purchased - I am trying to decide which one would meet my needs - using DQS as well. Thanks
Anyone using a laptop?
Am in the market for a laptop and looking for suggestions. Thanks.
laptop
Yes, but hook up an ergonomic keyboard and a mouse. The portability of it is great.
Laptop
I use my laptop as a backup or to work when I am out of town. The only problem with it is the smaller screen. Performance is no different than my PC though. I do have a regular keyboard for it, and a mouse.
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