Captioning Progress

It turned out that Eclipse doesn't have an iCap encoder, which wasn't surprising. So I contacted the company that asked me to get connected first, and they said they would watch me write without the encoder connection. I did a couple of sessions with them, and they felt positive about it, so I got my USB modem and my second phone line, and called Eclipse and made sure I could connect.

It was a little rocky at first. I wound up being on the phone with Eclipse for 20-30 minutes. I think all I really needed to do was reboot the computer. I had already done it after installing the modem, but I think it just needed one more go. The modem was super easy to buy/install, and getting the second phone line was just a matter of having them turn it on. Easy as pie. Then I did a third test with the captioning company, this time connected to their encoder. I was only connected for about 10 minutes, but everything went fine.

I was surprised how easy it went with them - I just dialed the number, and poof, I was connected! I don't think I need an audio coupler or a mixer or any of that intimidating stuff you read about needing. My headphones connect wirelessly to the phone, and I think that's all I'll need. So I signed the contract, and I'm officially on board with that company. The only downside is that it doesn't pay nearly as well as CART. It's still considerably more than Caption Colorado, though, and I didn't have to sign anything saying I wouldn't concurrently work for other companies.

I haven't gotten any captioning jobs yet because they made the schedule for all of April on March 15th. I don't mind, though; I have plenty of CART work to keep me busy right now, especially since I'm still doing my data entry job. I officially put in my two weeks for that, though, and April 14th will be my last day there, which is pretty exciting. It was a great backup to have, but it's been a drag for a while.

I got on with another CART company, one that's been in the works since they contacted me in November. I haven't gotten any work from them either yet, though, so I'm not sure if anything's really going to come out of that. I also tested with a company in the UK a month ago. They still haven't graded it, but I'm pretty sure I bombed it, so I'm not expecting much there, either.

I added on another company that I do overflow work for. It seems like they have at least a few jobs a month. It doesn't pay as well as my main company, but I think it will be good to do some jobs for them. I could also look into captioning for the original CART company I started with. For captioning, they pay about as much as the new captioning company I just joined. I don't want to have my hands in too many things, though. I think it's best to let the things I have play out for now.