This is just basically a test post using the WordPress Application on my new Android phone. I’m pretty blown away by the advancement in cell phone technology in recent years. The good thing for the reader is that any blog post from the phone will be pretty pithy. It will allow me to share thoughts on things as they come to mind instead of waiting until I can get to a computer…because by then I’ve usually forgotten what I was going to say in the first place.
Mobily Yours….
Here’s a new video from BGEA (via ransom.tv) It’s Remedy Drive “Rescue”. My favorite part of this video is the “guitar cam”. This is a new little camera we’ve been attaching to everything. We even attached it to a baseball and pitched it to Albert Pujols on a recent shoot we did with him. Fun!
Since I’ve been a slacker and haven’t updated this blog since February I figured I take some of my downtime while on vacation and catch you up a bit.
We are on our yearly vacation to the beach with my parents. We are at Holden Beach, North Carolina which is a sentimental favorite in our family. It’s a very low-key, family-style beach. So, if you’re into excitement and a night life, Myrtle Beach…about 45 minutes south of here…might be more your style. If you like the laid-back approach to vacation then Holden Beach might be a good fit for you.
We came down on Friday as Eddie was scheduled to teach at Baptist Librarian’s Conference at Caswell Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell. He taught an assortment of technology-related sessions and did a great job. He really enjoyed it too. He may be asked to come back and teach a general session next year.
Fort Caswell was built in the mid 19th century but never saw any real battles. At the tail end of the Civil War Fort Fisher….which is several miles North…was taken by the Union Army. The Confederate Army then sent orders to Fort Caswell to abandon the Fort, but first they were told to destroy as much of the fort as possible so the Union Army wouldn’t be able to utilize it. Well, the soldiers that manned the fort weren’t the sharpest crayons in the box and threw all their ammunition and gunpowder into the midsection of the fort and ignited the whole mess. This resulted in an explosion that did considerable damage to the fort but also killed several of the soldiers and blew out all the nearby windows in homes up to five miles away.
After the Civil War the fort changed hands between government ownership and private ownership until shortly after World War II when the Baptist Association bought all the land and structures on the property for $86,000. That was quite a steal since a hundred years earlier it cost over $400,000 to construct the initial fort structure.
Camp Caswell is now a wildly popular destination for many Southern Baptists. In fact how I grew up as a Southern Baptist kid in North Carolina and never went to Caswell until this week is some sort of anomaly. Most SB kids went to “Camp Caswell” at some point in their childhood.
We are now at Holden Beach for the rest of the week. So far the weather has been a bit stormy and windy. Yesterday morning the storms that produced the deadly tornadoes in Mississippi rolled through here, and it felt like a hurricane here. The storm passed, but it has remained very windy. Still, a windy day at the beach beats a day in the office anytime.
There has been lots going on in my life in the last few months both with work an in my personal life. Four weeks ago last Saturday Eddie had to undergo emergency gallbladder surgery to remove a gangrenous gallbladder. His recovery has been slow but steady, and we’re so thankful that he is regaining his health.
Last week we also celebrated the grand re-opening of the Billy Graham Library. I had the awesome privilege to serve at the re-opening dinner and got to see Dr. Graham in person one more time. If you’ve never been to the Library I highly recommend that you come by. Even if you have been there before there are lots of new things to see including a beautiful new mural created by the famed artist Thomas Kinkade. (you can see the image of “The Cross” on the Thomas Kinkade website).
That’s all for now. I’m going to enjoy the rest of my vacation!
Here’s a new video we shot back in January. Grab a tissue or a hanky and take a peak
The only constant is change…which is true. Some things change more slowly than others even in the face of rapidly changing technology. The transcriptionist’s/scribe’s job has remained relatively unchanged for thousands of years…
From Wikipedia:
A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep tracks of its records.The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing. The work could involve copying books, including sacred texts, or secretarial and administrative duties such as taking of dictation and the keeping of business, judicial and historical records for kings, nobility, temples and cities. Later the profession developed into public servants, journalists, accountants, typists, and lawyers.
I’ll pause here and say I disagree with some of that definition. I don’t believe the invention of the printing press made the profession of transcription lose any importance. I believe it made it more important because the printing press doesn’t magically produce accurate info all by itself.
I guess what is at the root of this post is that I have taken recent comments made to me concerning my profession personally. I have been told that since there are so many ways a person can convey their thoughts, work, etc. that transcriptionists have become obsolete or passe because “Everybody types…”
True, almost everybody types. I believe I’m safe in saying that compared to 20 years ago a much larger percentage of the world’s population has at least adequate keyboarding skills, but that does not mean that everyone is proficient in producing accurate records.
Don’t even get me started on grammar skills. I’ve never professed to be flawless in my grammar, but I see people posting/writing/blogging things on the internet that if I didn’t know better I would think they were being written by cavemen (no offense to cavemen). While I occasionally utilize “text speech” (BFF, LOL, JMO…etc.) it’s only for say….text messaging or “tweeting”. Almost on a daily basis I get e-mails from professional colleagues (mostly 10 or more years younger than I) who speak in a vague…sometimes indiscernible text speech. They then get irritated when I send them a reply of “huh?” and treat me like Aunt Bea because I ask them for more detail. It gives me great pause when I think that these darn whippersnappers are going to be recording our medical/government records and other important information within the next few years. If we think the “pants on the ground” are a problem think about these kids programming nuclear code while trying to simultaneously hike up their pants.
I know I sound like an old school marm wielding her ruler while shouting “grammar, GRAMMAR!” but I’m more than a little concerned about the backseat proper speech is taking in our society.
Back to my main point…I still don’t believe scribes/transcriptionists are anywhere close to being obsolete. Shortly after I started my career as a medical transcriptionist in the early 90′s I was told that I would be replaced by voice recognition within a few short years. Fast forward nearly 20 years…while there are some entities using voice recognition the majority of medical transcription is still being performed by trained medical transcriptionists. Even if voice recognition is utilized it is almost always QA’d by a trained language specialist. So, voice recognition is far from a perfect way to produce an accurate record. If voice recognition were so wonderful then we’d be bypassing the human editor.
In the last six years I have been in media transcription for a production house that is still heavily reliant on the written transcript to aid in editing footage into a finished product. I have been told by some folks that transcription is a luxury. My experience has been that it’s just like having a cell phone. Once you’re used to this “luxury” it’s hard to do without it. While my particular position has evolved into more of a “transcription coordinator” (coordination the work assignment to freelance transcriptionists) the demand for transcripts has not become less, in some cases it has become more.
Example, recently we had two crews on the ground in Haiti (after the earthquake) that shot anywhere from 50 to 75 hours worth of footage. When this footage came back what was the first thing they wanted? Transcripts! The producer and editot did not want to sit in an edit suite hours on end spinning through hours and hours of footage. Transcripts would cut the editing process down significantly.
So, if you’re thinking about becoming a transcriptionist or if you are already a transcriptionist and are job scared I’d say put your worries to rest. I’m not saying that the industry has not suffered some in the last several years…most specifically due to off-shoring of work…but after the dust has settled and more work comes back into the U.S. (and I believe it will because the off-shored product tends to be terrible) I believe opportunities and wages will increase.
Transcription is one of the oldest professions, and I believe it will exist for many years to come.
Okay, I’m going to take advantage of my blog to advertise my availability for freelance transcription projects. I do hold down a full-time job outside the home but would like to do a little extra work on the side on the evenings and weekends. I am capable of doing a wide range of transcription projects including but not limited to: Medical transcription, media transcription, interview transcription, manuscript transcription, thesis transcription, etc.
Here’s a brief synopsis of my experience:
My rates are reasonable, and I can offer relatively quick turnaround (2-3 days depending on the scope of the project). In my current job I have transcription projects almost weekly so my skills are not rusty. I am open to almost any type of transcription job as long as the source material is not pornographic or overly profane.
If you or anyone you know might have need of my services please contact me via my e-mail address: vsprouse@gmail.com.
Here are the answers…pardon any inconsistent formatting. I’m waaaay to full and lazy to be detail oriented today:
1. Bleached Yule—White Christmas
2. Singularly Specific Yuletide Melody—The Christmas Song…more commonly known as “Chestnuts Roasting on an open fire…”
3. Singular Yearning for the Twin Anterior Incisors—All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth.
4. Righteous Darkness—O Holy Night
5. Arrival Time: 2400 hours, Weather: Cloudless—It Came upon a Midnight Clear.
6. Loyal Followers Advance—O Come All Ye Faithful.
7. Far Off in a Feeder—Away in a Manger
8. Array the Corridor—Deck the Halls.
9. Bantam Male Percussionist—Little Drummer Boy
10. Monarchial Triad—We Three Kings
11. Nocturnal Noiselessness—Silent Night
12. Jehovah Deactivate Blithe Chevaliers—God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
13. Red Man En Route to Borough—Santa Claus is Coming to Town
14. Frozen Precipitation Commence—Let it Snow
15. Proceed and Enlighten on the Pinnacle—Go Tell it on the Mountain
16. The Quadruped with the Vermillion Proboscis—Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
17. Query Regarding Identity of Descendant—What Child is this?
18. Delight for this Planet—Joy to the World
19. Give Attention to the Melodious Celestial Beings—Hark, the Herald Angels Sing
20. The Dozen Festive 24-Hour Intervals—The 12 Days of Christmas
21. Exalted Heavenly Beings to whom Harkened from Above—Angels We Have Heard on High
22. The Christmas Preceding all Others—The First Noel
23. Small Municipality in Judea Southeast of Jerusalem—O Little Town of Bethlehem
24. Obese Personification Fabricated of Compressed Mounds of Minute Crystals—Frosty the Snowman
25. Geographic State of Fantasy during the Season of Mother Nature’s Dormancy—Winter Wonderland
26. Tintinnabulation of Vacillating Pendulums in Inverted Metallic Resonant Cups—Jingle Bells
27. Jovial Yuletide Desired for the Second Person Singular or Plural by Us—We Wish You a Merry Christmas
We played a really fun game last week at our department Christmas party, and since it involved words…while everyone else was eating…I was playing the game. Word games are about the only thing that will divert my attention from food. Below are actual Christmas Carols whose names have been changed to words with a similar meaning. Now, some of the words may not be everyday words. This game will increase your vocabulary as well as testing your ability to be a human thesaurus. It will also get your brain to clicking again if it’s been slowed down by too much eggnog and fruitcake. I will post the answers in my next post which will hopefully happen on Christmas day. If my brain gets bogged down by two much eggnog and fruitcake then I might not post until after Christmas You know how it is…
Get ready… get set… go!
1. Bleached Yule
2. Singularly Specific Yuletide Melody
3. Singular Yearning for the Twin Anterior Incisors
4. Righteous Darkness
5. Arrival Time: 2400 hours, Weather: Cloudless
6. Loyal Followers Advance
7. Far Off in a Feeder
8. Array the Corridor
9. Bantam Male Percussionist
10. Monarchial Triad
11. Nocturnal Noiselessness
12. Jehovah Deactivate Blithe Chevaliers
13. Red Man En Route to Borough
14. Frozen Precipitation Commence
15. Proceed and Enlighten on the Pinnacle
16. The Quadruped with the Vermillion Proboscis
17. Query Regarding Identity of Descendant
18. Delight for this Planet
19. Give Attention to the Melodious Celestial Beings
20. The Dozen Festive 24-Hour Intervals
21. Exalted Heavenly Beings to whom Harkened from Above
22. The Christmas Preceding all Others
23. Small Municipality in Judea Southeast of Jerusalem
24. Obese Personification Fabricated of Compressed Mounds of Minute Crystals
25. Geographic State of Fantasy during the Season of Mother Nature’s Dormancy
26. Tintinnabulation of Vacillating Pendulums in Inverted Metallic Resonant Cups
27. Jovial Yuletide Desired for the Second Person Singular or Plural by Us
Believe it or not there is some “comfort and joy” going on around here. I decided a few weeks ago that…darn it all…I’m going to do some Christmas decoratin’ come heck or high water! It doesn’t matter that we’re hardly home around the holidays (spend most of the time 2 hours away with our families) and that we have to put things out of reach of our cats…I was going to decorate at least a little this year, so I did.
Besides we needed to kick ourselves in the pants a little and try to get ourselves out of our Christmas doldrums. I think I succeeded. Eddie…maybe not so much.
So, I climbed up into the attic…a feat in and of itself since 1) I’m afraid of heights and don’t like climbing on ladders, and 2) I have been deathly afraid of our attic since Eddie fell through the ceiling last year while in the attic. Now, it wasn’t the attic’s fault. It was just doing what an attic does, but he learned the hard way that bare sheetrock doesn’t a good support system make.
I pulled out what boxes I could reach. I must stop here and say that we did not do a Christmas tree per se. The reasons being 1) We have a kitten yet again this year, and kittens and Christmas trees are a sure-fire recipe for yuletide disaster, AND 2) Our artificial tree is languishing under several heavy boxes in the attic, and I just didn’t have the energy to dig it out and try to get it out of the attic without killing myself.
(What is UP with me and the numbering thing today?)
Besides…we have a perfectly good ornamental Spruce in front of our house that we paid over $100 for several years ago, and gosh darn it…that thing needs to earn it’s keep. So, it is yet again our Christmas tree, although I will refrain from putting our presents under it since it’s outside, and it seems like Winter is going to be our official monsoon season this year:
Since we’re outside let’s take a look at our entryway shall we?
There’s actually something spectacular here…I made the wreath a few years ago, and if you knew of my total lack of craftiness skills you’d understand why it’s such an accomplishment. Probably wouldn’t make it into the pages of Southern Living, but it ain’t bad.
Well, I actually did decorate inside the house. Come on in!
Aren’t these just the cutest little signs?! My brother’s girlfriend gave them to me Thanksgiving, and they’re hanging in my foyer (or foy-yeah if your all French and fancy).
This wreath is also in our foyer. I just love the iciness of it. It reminds me of the beauty of an ice storm (minus the power outages). I’ll probably leave it up all Winter, because it’s loveliness goes beyond just Christmas.
Let’s move along into the living room…
Okay, I’m no interior decorator, but there’s nothing like a decorated mantle at Christmas. If you have a mantle and you don’t have the time or energy to do anything else then decorate your mantle. It does wonders! I left my Willow Tree figurines there, because Willow Tree figurines are pretty much all-season don’t you think? We won’t go into the semi-creepy fact that they don’t have actual faces, but they’re still romantic and pretty enough for Christmas. See those little oil lamps on each end? Yes, they actually work! I found them at the Dollar Tree several years ago, and you guessed it…they only cost me a $1.00 a piece!!! The tightwad and the Laura Ingalls in me were giddy simultaneously!
And the snowmen? Well, I think I told somebody one time that I like snowmen…I mean, who doesn’t? But I think the whole world heard me say it, because I have gotten nothing but snowmen-themed gifts since? Really, a happy misunderstanding, because they are as cute as the dickens. I just better never make the mistake of saying I like snakes or lizards or something.
This is a wreath I found a few years ago at the Big Lots. It’s funky and fun…sort of like me.
Okay…we move into the Dining room/my husband’s work area. I say that because he’s been working on refinishing our stairway for like sweet forever, and the dining room table might as well be a carpenter’s bench as it’s seen more construction supplies than it’s seen food in the last several months…but I digress. So, pardon the mess to see that we have a cute little ceramic tree…which for most years has been our indoor Christmas tree, because like I said above…we’re crazy cat people…so on and so on. The lighted wreath is one of my favorite things. My mother-in-law grew tired of it several years ago and gave it to me. It matches my decor perfectly with all the earthy colors it contains (I’m an ardent fan of the color “cranberry”). I love to turn off the lights in the dining room and bask in it’s warm light since, again, we don’t do the Christmas tree thang usually. It do have a bowl full of Christmas ornaments which I found at the Dollar Tree for…you guessed it…a dollar for pack of five ornaments!
Oh…look at you, you little snowman cutie! I know, I want it to snow too, but it looks like we’re just going to have to make do with 40-degree cold rain. You just hang there on my downstairs bathroom door and keep up your positive thoughts.
Anyhoo…it’s not much, but it’s what I’ve got. I do have a few more little things around the house like a clothes-hanger tinsel tree in my husband’s man cave, and a cute little wreath Christmas card holder that I didn’t get a picture made of because I was too lazy. I promise the years we have stayed home for Christmas (and invited family in) we go all out, but this year we’re doing good to put out what we have. Christmas is still fun. Oh, how I wish I had some little ones to share all this with, but me and the hubby and the cats will enjoy it all the same!
Merry Christmas!
Sometime between the fourth and fifth year of my life words ceased to be unintelligible squiggly lines and circles on a page and became things that meant something. Letters became sounds and sounds become letters. I had learned to read…however primitively…I could read! It was an amazing time for me. A whole new world had just opened up and I was enthralled. This breakthrough was aided in part by my great aunt Wilda who was pursuing a Master’s degree in Education. She was writing her master’s thesis on phonics, and I was one of her test subjects. She would bring out this box of wonderful word-sounding games and records, and over the course of weeks or months…I’m not sure exactly how long she worked with me…I learned first to sound out words and then recognize the letters that made up those words. Magical…truly magical to a little girl in the fifth year of her life.
Because I was a late October-born child (the 21st) and to qualify for kindergarten you had to be born by October 18th of your fifth year I didn’t get to go to kindergarten until I was nearly six years old. I was very bummed about that. I missed going to kindergarten by three little days, but eventually, my day to start school arrived. Within a few weeks of starting kindergarten I was tested and found to be reading at a 2nd grade level. I remember multiple teachers coming to me and asking me to read for them. My mom was called and asked what she had done to advance my reading skills to such a high level. Had I been to preschool? “No.” Had I been tutored? “No.” She told them about my being a test subject in a phonics study which only garnered more interest by teachers some of whom poo-pooed the phonics experience (they were not believers in the phonics way) and some who were very impressed by the then emerging phenomenon of phonics. I think there was even talk about advancing me at least one grade, but further testing revealed that I wasn’t as advanced in some other areas, most importantly, math (math was never my friend) and so it was decided that I was to stay in kindergarten.
Maybe I was gifted in the reading and writing area…maybe phonics advanced me beyond that of other kindergartners…maybe it was both? Whatever the cause it started my love affair with words. Today, I’m still amazed at “magic” of seeing a child learn to read and write. I’m not a teacher. I’m not even a mother, but when I see a child beginning to master the art of the written word I’m overcome by a sense of nostalgia and awe.
One of my favorite blogs is Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. She is a homeschooler, and in her blog she often highlights of some of her favorite homeschool blogs. She featured one last week which totally illustrated what it’s like to be a child learning to read and write. While most teachers would immediately break out the red pencil on words that were spelled incorrectly (based on the sounds) this homeschool mama completely grasps how important (and entertaining) the learning process is. Most teachers focus on the perfecting accomplishment of spelling words correctly, but the process of “sounding” is very important. This is coming from a girl who learned to read by phonics and didn’t grow up to be an incorrect speller. Quite the contrary…I usually aced…or close to aced…most spelling tests I ever took. The “sounding out” stage is very important.
So, this blog post delighted me in more ways than one!
Nov. 5, 2009
(Posted by: Heather L. Sanders of Oh My Stinkin’ Heck)
Following Christmas during our last “school year” I noticed Kenny had gained confidence in sounding out, and attempting to write, short captions beneath his drawings and color pages. In response, we cut out some of our curriculum’s “assigned” Language Arts work to begin our own daily “Illustrate and Write” page instead.
What did we cut out?
At the start of last year we spent multiple days reviewing Sonlight’s spelling words (write them BIG, write them “small”, etc…), we began to work them on Mondays only. I would still enter the lists at Spelling City, and when it interested Kenny (which turned out to be about 3x a week), he would review them on his own through the various games they offered. (I posted my review of Spelling City in a previous post here if you are unfamiliar with this FREE online spelling program.)
We also merged his Handwriting and weekly Copywork into one assignment. I felt it was far better for him to neatly copy one or two sentences from one of his independent readers, mimicking correct grammar, than to write “E” and “e” 25 or 30 times down a page.
What we discovered?
He learned his Spelling words faster.
His Handwriting improved.
And? The daily “Illustrate and Write” turned-out to be the most enjoyable and comprehensive way to introduce new words, correct spelling, and naturally introduce grammar.
Go figure.
I didn’t tell him what to write about. After he gathered his supplies, he would twist circles in his chair, staring at the wall or ceiling, and chewing the end of his pencil. Then, not unlike a jack-in-the-box, he’d POP UP, pull-up to the table, and begin.
“puekepolls rea goweng to ther homs bkus tha got in a fit”
(Porcupines are going to their homes because they got in a fight.)
I LOVE watching the written word develop in my children, but even more, their excitement when I can actually READ what they wrote without their assistance.
I will admit, without the illustrations, I might have needed a bit of help here and there…
“the monstr monstrs win tha aer babes tha wil be aerrete to go away and tha cots a Lot uv fod and win tha aer odrr tha cats mor fod.”
(the monster – monsters when they are babies they will be all ready to go away and they catch a lot of food and when they are older they catch more food )
“Crss rae rilee coll But wen evrr thea run aott uv gass thea rilee run autt uv gass and I men it.”
(Cars are really cool But whenever they run out of gas they really run out of gas and I mean it.)
You might notice at this point I was not making any corrections.
“fictheeg wieh my DaD is alot uv fun and oens huct 5 fithcc and I cot 5 fithcc”
(Fishing with my Dad is a lot of fun and once hooked 5 fish and I caught 5 fish)
I wanted nothing more than to release him to illustrate and write.
“Dinusors ahr cool and tha livd a log tim a go but tha ahr ded.”
(Dinosaurs are cool and they lived a long time ago but they are dead.)
In just a few short weeks he began to add capital letters at the beginning of sentences and periods at the end. This was something that naturally moved into his writing from what he gleaned in his Independent Readers and Copywork (I did/do correct his Copywork). So exciting!
He wrote.
I read.
That was that.
Summer came and went. Kenny did a lot of writing on his own throughout the summer. Like the girls, he kept a notebook to use when we went for long car rides, ran errands, when he went with me to get the oil changed, or on our nice and quiet days at home…his writing improved over the summer months – something I noticed immediately at the start of this year’s Illustrate and Write pages.
“DaDDy in his suprman costum is rillee funee Becuss he follD me to the Beb and he syed do Your schollwrck”
(DaDDy in his superman costume is really funny because he followed me to the bed and he said do your schoolwork)
At the start of this year I began writing the corrected spelling of words just above or below his words so he could see them.
“Scool is rilly fun and cis we are home scoold I thec that do weng homescool is evin more fun for me.”
(School is really fun and since we are home schooled I think that doing homeschool is even more fun for me.)
The first time I wrote corrections on his paper he didn’t seem to mind, but I noticed he was agitated the second or third time. When I asked him why he was upset, he didn’t quite have the words to put to it. After discussing it with him I realized his root frustration – he didn’t like that he couldn’t get the words RIGHT on the paper the first time.
“I looooove sharks becoss they can suyim really fast. there really dagris but evrebute nos that speshule the fich.”
(I looooove sharks because they can swim really fast. they’re really dangerous but everybody knows that especially the fish.)
For a few weeks after this discovery he would tell me what his Illustrate and Write was going to be about and asked me to write the correct spelling of several words on the page so he could write it correctly the first time. Sometimes I wrote them ON the page and other times, jotted them down on a scrap paper.
“What I like ubaot the cheplen at the old haos is that it whas very baose, but I actsudetly (not on a bet) got my hed stuck in the spregs.”
(What I like about the trampoline at the old house is that it was very bouncy, but I accidently (not on a bet) got my head stuck in the springs.)
Of course, there were still corrections to be made and he began to realize there would always be new words to learn – that mistakes were okay – that even Momma had to look up words in the dictionary!
This is when I began to attach a notebook page for him to rewrite the misspelled words.
By the way, “Goob” and “Woob” are monster names…in case you’re wondering.
Many of the words he rewrites are not typical “first grader” words, but I figure since he can READ them and he WANTS to know how to spell them, there is no reason to hold back.
And so I don’t.
