Preparing for Equipment Failures

Your CAT system is going to die.

No, this isn't a tardy Y2K prediction, it's a statistical certainty. Your system may die in the middle of realtime, with a flash and a bang. It may die peacefully in its sleep, and just not turn on some morning. You may even choose to send your CAT to that great digital litter box in the sky when it's time for your next big upgrade.

But sooner or later, your system will die. Since we can't prevent its eventual demise, the next best thing is to plan for it, and make sure that your life is disrupted as little as possible by this unhappy event. This article will focus on coping with hardware (equipment) mortality, as software is a whole topic unto itself.

Postponing the inevitable

Today's electronic equipment doesn't require nearly as much preventive maintenance (PM) as did the computers of old. Most personal computer owners wouldn't know a floppy diskette head cleaner if they found it in, well, their floppy drive. A bit of minimal PM can do your computer and other equipment a world of good, however. Try some of these:

• Take your steno machine in for annual cleaning and lube job. Few things shorten the lifespan of mechanical moving parts as much as poor lubrication. You can oil the machine yourself (and you should!), but when you take it to a repair center, they'll disassemble it and lubricate parts that you can't normally reach.
   
• Blow the dust out of your keyboard every so often. This helps to prevent keys that stick or don't depress properly, and if the key doesn't depress, you might be the one that's depressed. If you don't happen to have an air compressor at home, pick up a can of compressed air at the computer store. They sell it for just this purpose. Hold the keyboard upside down with one hand while spraying compressed air into and around the keys. You might want to wear goggles and cover your nose and mouth - all kinds of gunk blow out of keyboards.
   
• Do the same to your computer. I remove the outer case from mine every six months, and blow out the fans, the floppy drive, the CD-ROM drive, and all of the circuit boards. It's astonishing how much dust can accumulate in such a short time, and if you keep your computer on the floor, there will be even more. If you use a compressor for this, don't hold it too close to the delicate parts. The cans of compressed air are safer.
   
• Defrag your hard drive regularly. That sounds like something you'd have Arnold Schwarzenegger do, but it's actually short for "de-fragment." When you run a disk defragger, it groups all of the files on your hard disk so that the disk heads don't have to thrash, seeking madly from one end of the disk to the other. This decreases wear on the drive, and increases the performance of your computer. I do this once a week.

It's all about your attitude

The true measure of a professional isn't found in flawless performances; it's in the ability to deal calmly and rationally with adversity. When realtime fails to start, when a great "poof" of smoke comes out of your computer, when the connector falls off the end of your cable, or when the leg snaps off of your tripod, all eyes in the room will be on you.

If you fall apart, it will cause serious damage to your reputation as a professional. If you sit back, take a deep breath, and systematically set about solving the problem, you'll demonstrate that you're the right person to have around when things go wrong.

When I was training technical support people, I used to split them into two teams and have contests. Each team would take a working system, break something, and give it to the other team. We'd then time them to see who could figure out what was wrong and fix it first. When they dealt with real-world problems on the phone, it was old hat. This may be overkill for most reporters, but if you do a lot of complex realtime reporting, CART, or captioning, it's worthwhile to try this exercise with a friend. You'll be surprised how much it can build your confidence.

Backups

If you read only one sentence in this article, make it this one: Make regular backups and carry a set with you at all times. Not your only set, mind you. There is nothing so crucial to your work as your CAT dictionary. In addition to the copy on your computer, there should be one readily accessible in your desk, one in your briefcase or steno case, and one offsite somewhere well away from your office. Any self-respecting thief is going to take all o f your backups in addition to your computer and briefcase, and a fire would destroy the whole house or office. That extra copy in your safety deposit box or at Uncle Bob's house could really save your bacon.

Don't just back up your main dictionary. Make sure you have all of your job dictionaries, custom phonetic translation tables, auto-includes, style sheets, cover sheets, witness letters, address lists, billing records (!), personal spelling checker dictionaries, CAT user preferences, and anything else that makes your system uniquely yours.

Spare parts and redundancy

You should always keep a spare parts kit with you, especially when writing realtime. Since court reporting school, you've been trained to carry enough steno paper, but what else should you have?

• Extra batteries for everything you can. Not all steno machines and notebook computers have user-swappable batteries, but if yours do, carry extras. And don't forget to bring along your chargers and AC adapters.
   
• Floppy diskettes. You never know when you'll need a diskette. Carry blank, preformatted diskettes with blank labels.
   
• Cables. I know they get bulky, but it often pays to have extra cables. If you're doing CIC work, carry at least two extra hookups. If you have a modem, carry an extra 25-foot phone cable. Steno machine cables can fail, too. They're not that expensive. Carry an extra one. I like to keep an extra AC power cord, an extension cord, and a power strip with me, too. Just in case.
   
• Tripod. You don't have to carry it into every job, but keep a spare in your car. It's very rare for a tripod to break, but if it does, you're dead in the water. Have you ever tried to write all afternoon with your machine sitting on a conference table? An extra tripod is a cheap insurance policy.
   
• Software installation. This includes your CAT or captioning software and realtime litigation support software. Why? If your computer fails, and you need to borrow one from someone else, it probably won't have your software on it. You should be able to install your CAT software in a matter of minutes, and go. I'd recommend actually practicing this process at home.
   
• Backup diskettes. I mentioned these before. It won't do you much good to load your CAT software on another computer if you don't have your dictionaries to go with it.
   
• Power supplies. Many steno machines can't make it through a day of realtime on a single battery charge, so if you can't plug into the wall, you're shut down. Those AC power adapters are cheap. Carry a spare.

Oh, and one other thing that technically has nothing to do with preparing for equipment failure, but is a really good idea anyway: I recommend carrying a simple little toolkit with you at all times. Include a small flat-blade screwdriver (if it takes a different kind to adjust your steno machine, carry one of them, too), steno machine oil, several paper clips, 9-to-25-pin and 25-to-9-pin adapters, a pocketknife, scissors, and some black electrical tape. I always keep a roll of duct tape in the car, too. As any Star Wars fan knows, duct tape is like the Force: it has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

Sometimes, though, the simple spare parts just aren't enough. Few reporters have the budget to buy two of everything, but that isn't really necessary. When you buy your next new computer, keep the old one around. Watch for somebody unloading an old steno machine, or purchase an inexpensive manual or realtime-only machine, depending on the type of work you do. Items like distribution boxes are probably cheap enough that it pays to buy an extra one. Your backup system doesn't have to be top-of-the-line, just enough to get you through a day.

If you can't create an entire backup system, you can still make contingency plans. Get together with some fr iends and put together a spare setup that is available as a backup to all of you, and keep it in a central location.

Again, if your computer melts down right there on the conference table, it makes you look very good to say, "Hang on, I've prepared for this possibility" instead of coming completely unglued.

Interchangeability

Does your work call for more than one computer? Do you have notebook computers that you rent to attorneys for realtime litigation support? Do you use a separate computer for sending transcripts over the Internet in realtime? Do you have a second computer for captioning applications?

If you have to purchase more than one computer anyway, there's a lot to be said for making them interchangeable. Buy the same brand - even the same model. Load them up with the exact same software. If you choose modular notebook computers, you'll be able to swap batteries, floppy diskette and CD-ROM drives, and other parts between them.

Dealing with obsolescence

Okay, the day has come. Your old computer just doesn't have what it takes anymore. It would cost more to upgrade than to replace. Now what?

If there's a way to use the computer as an emergency backup, that's the obvious solution. If you already have a backup system, or if this one just won't cut it, then what?

You can always sell the old computer, but with the prices of new systems so low, the market for old computers is pretty bleak. A better solution is donation. Go to your child's school, or the local court reporting school, and see if they can use your old system. That way, you'll be supporting education, and you get a tax write-off that's probably worth more to you than the couple of hundred dollars you could get for the old computer on eBay.

Now that you're prepared for disaster, you can relax. You can walk into work tomorrow with a few less worry lines and a bit more spring in your step.