Word Building...

...is going swimmingly. It almost feels like I'm moving through it too fast, like I should be taking more time. However, I'm fairly confident in my understanding and spelling and want to keep moving forward! I am grateful for the flash cards CS included with the materials, they've helped me to feel very confident in my learning AND I get to impress J with all the big words I know when I have him quiz me.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get a feel for what I want in a word list. I started with just a table in MS Word, but I really hate inserting new cells when needed (even with the keystrokes, I'm too impatient) and I hate the search function. So I downloaded Lil Red Notebook, which is fine, but I'd like to have definitions and notes on top of just the word, which LRN doesn't help with. Same with SlimList. I just downloaded PinderSoft's Pegasus CardFile, which is essentially a very simple rolodex situation, which is all I wanted. I'm test-driving it for a while, we'll see how it goes. Worth $20? We'll see. I'm also just a smidgen sad that I didn't upgrade to the Dorland Electronic Dictionary, as the online access is SLOW to retrieve words and definitions (again, impatience) but I think I'll be fine.

Always with the problems!

I was approved for the CS forums and chats yesterday and have spent some time roaming the forums and already I'm incredibly grateful for that resource. Everyone is very helpful and it's good to know I'm not the only one going through these feelings of inadequacy and other insecure thoughts.

Not two weeks into the program, and I've already screwed up. Last night as I was falling asleep, it occurred to me that I may have accidentally thrown out the install disc for my foot pedal. A preliminary search this morning through my "desk" area (the left side of the living room couch with corresponding coffee table space) confirms this. I tried just plugging it in and installing Express Scribe, and it reads the pedal just fine, rewinds and fast-forwards just fine but has issues with straight-forward playback and pausing. No good, right? I emailed CS to find out what I need to do next. Honestly, I was too nervous to ask on the forums just yet, I'd hate for my first question there to be one that is so ridiculous.

Also, last night I started my word list, just in a table in Word. I immediately was hoping for a better way of going about it, and found out about Li'l Red Notebook. So I promptly downloaded the trial and installed... and so far, it isn't working. It won't even let me uninstall it! I'll keep fiddling with it, hopefully something can be done there. Very, very silly of me. I went to the Horus website, and lo' and behold! Special directions for use with Vista! How funny! So the problem is all fixed, I can play with it a bit and see if it's right for me!

ETA: Extreme facepalm... apparently there is no install disc for the foot pedal. All the issues I had with it are covered in the link the very nice CS counselor gave me. Ugh, I am utterly ridiculous.