Shopping Product Reviews

Peru – At the head of the Inca Trail

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Leaving Cusco by private bus, we enter the Sacred Valley. Making a stop in Pisaq to experience its delicious and well-known market for shopping and lunch, we continue on to Ollantaytambo.

You can only pronounce that word by carefully pronouncing the syllables, and you can only appreciate this town by settling in for a few days and walking the rustic, cobblestone streets. Located in the mountains that rise from the floor of the Sacred Valley, it is the gateway to Machu Picchu and the start of the Inca Trail that takes hikers approximately four days to traverse on their way to the ancient monument. The town of Ollantaytambo is geared up for the adventurer and feels similar to a college town in the 1960s (at least to me!). Shops sell adventure gear and sunglasses, and restaurants sell affordable, hearty hot meals and refreshing cold beer. The sun is strong and the air is fresh.

There are ruins to explore here and it is a perfect setting to take a moment, or a couple of days, to prepare your energy and thoughts for the journey to Machu Picchu.

Our group met a skilled shaman named Don Victor. In Spanish, “Don” is a title of respect rather than a name, a fact that comes in handy when you start to wonder why there are so many people with the same name. Don Victor gathered our group and took us to a private sanctuary called “The Garden of Illumination” to participate in a moving and healing ceremony.

Entering the property through a gate along the driveway, with only headlamps and flashlights to guide us, we find ourselves in a courtyard. We had been told that our ceremony would start in a sweat lodge and then move to a garden, however, because it was the summer solstice, the sweat lodge was being used by their home group. We made our way along paths, winding between giant cacti and foliage, and multiple paths that led to smaller gardens, to an open area on top of a hill. There we settled on the blankets we had brought, forming a semicircle around an area designated for campfires.

Don Víctor’s assistants began to bring firewood and rushes of herbs, flowers and plants for the fire. Soon, the warmth of the fire took away the chill of being outside in the winter season in the mountains of South America.

For the next five hours – until 3:00 in the morning – we would watch the fire burn and recede, we would meditate, we would witness the moon rising over the Andes with Venus in tow, we would gaze at the southern hemisphere night sky (disorientingly different from the northern ). sky) and be part of the intense activities of deep shamanic healing work. It was a memorable and life changing experience. And all I can say is that you would have to experience it for yourself as it cannot be adequately described.

Sports

Brief Reports 101

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Short stories are an exciting field! From the courtroom to the deposition room to the television broadcast, court reporters, deposition reporters, and captioners make it happen! Court reporting is the way to start a professional career that is crucial to the legal field, challenging and well paid. There are literally global job opportunities waiting for you.

There’s no question about it: brief reports provide a needed service in the legal community. But did you know that court reporting services also provide communications access for the hearing impaired? Think about it… people with hearing loss can now access the world through the unique skills of a court reporter. You can be an independent contractor receiving a 1099 at the end of the tax year, work as a county clerk for a courtroom, or even start your own court reporting firm. With short stories, the chances of landing the job you’ve always wanted have never been greater.

Court reporting professionals are part of exciting court trials and also make history, word for word. They report on high-profile trials and even caption presidential inaugurations!

Facts about judicial reporting:

1. Court reporting professionals earn an average of $60,000 or more per year. (Including broadcast captioners and statement reporters).

2. Closed captioning of television programs (performed live) is done by highly specialized court reporters called “broadcast captioners.” US federal law requires literally 100 hours of (live) television programming to be captioned each week, creating abundant career opportunities for people with these skills.

3. Many court reporting professionals use a closed captioning method to provide individualized services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing through Communication Access Realtime Translation. CART reporters accompany deaf clients as needed to university classes to instantly translate speech into written words. The demand for this type of skill is so high that court reporting companies that provide this type of service cannot keep up with the demand.

4. Only a minority (about 27%) of court reporting professionals in the United States work in courtrooms. The vast majority are independent court reporters (1099 contractors) who are used by attorneys to produce word-for-word transcripts called depositions during the discovery phase of cases.

5. Short report job opportunities are likely to grow as fast as the average for all occupations through 2012. (Source: US Department of Labor)

How Much Do Court Reporting Professionals Earn?

Court reporting professionals had median annual earnings of $42,920 as of May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $30,680 and $60,760. The lowest-paid 10 percent earned less than $23,690 and the highest-paid 10 percent earned more than $80,300. Median annual earnings in May 2004 were $41,070 for briefing professionals working in local government.

Both compensation and methods of compensation for court reporting professionals vary depending on the type of court reporting work, the experience of the individual court reporting professional, the level of certification achieved, and the region of the country. Official court reporters earn a salary and a per-page fee for transcripts. Many salaried court reporting professionals supplement their income by doing freelance work. Freelance court reporting professionals are paid per job and receive a per page rate for transcripts. CART providers are paid by the hour. Stenographers receive a salary and benefits if they work as employees of a captioning company; Stenographers who work as independent contractors are paid by the hour.

How to become a court reporting professional

Let’s be honest about it: becoming a professional short story requires a high level of commitment, effort, and money. It’s not easy, but the rewards make it worth it!
Most students start out in a short report school. These are typically private business universities located in large metropolitan areas. See this link for a list of NCRA-approved schools. The course of training and practice takes most people several years.

Most of the hard work is in developing transcription skill during live dictation. It starts slowly and then increases to speeds of over 200 words per minute. Accuracy and stamina are required to get through hours of fast-paced speech with dense material.

You will also need to rent or purchase your equipment. A short report keyboard is needed during training. Most students rent or purchase a used manual typewriter (as opposed to a computer writer) for their initial education, but when entering the job market, professional-grade equipment is a must. Today, the equipment used by court reporting professionals is an electronic court reporting machine, a desktop PC, a printer, a laptop PC, and software to run on the computers that translates keystrokes into English on the screen.

Also, since most court reporting professionals are 1099 contractors, home office space and equipment are required, along with a fax machine, one or two additional phone lines for faxing, and business calls. An internet connection is a must to research those hard-to-find words.

A new court reporting professional faces several years of diligent study, as well as equipment worth approximately five to ten thousand dollars.

Many states require a license. In states where court reporting professionals must be certified, you must pass the state certification exam. In other states where certification is not required, examinations to satisfy the National Court Reporting Association can certify that a court reporting professional has achieved an adequate level of competency.

Technology

vital recovery services inc.

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Vital Recovery Services is one of two wholly owned subsidiaries of Atlanta-based accounts receivable management outsourcing company Vital Solutions, Incorporated (VSI). According to the company’s website, VSI’s Vital Recovery Services arm is a “fully licensed national third-party collection agency that performs bad debt recovery and skip tracking services.” Skip tracing is a process where people who have disappeared can be quickly found. Vital Solutions, Inc. was founded in 2002 by Chris Shuler and Chris Gugala, who have a combined experience in the debt recovery industry of over 40 years. They have 30 clients and post $3 billion in placements annually.

Over the years, there have been complaints about the company’s tactics, including harassing phone calls and threats of lawsuits; however, the company’s website states that its number one goal is the quick and successful recovery of its customers’ receivables in as friendly an environment as possible.

Specialized services

Vital Recovery Services will put together a program to meet the needs of any client looking to recover bad debt, but they specialize in the following industries:

automotive financing

Credit cards

Utilities

Communities of Owners

Government Municipalities

Vital Recovery Services has been an Accredited Member in Good Standing with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) ​​since November 2002. The BBB has given Vital Recovery Services a rating of A+, its highest rating. Vital Recovery Services is also a member of the American Collectors Association, Electronic Payment Associate, and the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce.

consumer complaints

Although Vital Recovery Services is accredited by the BBB, the office processed 133 complaints in the last 36 months against the debt collection company. According to the BBB website:

“When considering complaint information, keep in mind the size and transaction volume of the business and understand that the nature of complaints and a business’ responses are often more important than the number of complaints. BBB processed a total of 133 complaints about this company (Life Recovery Services) in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total 133 complaints closed in 36 months, 63 were closed in the last year”

Many customers have complained of constant harassing phone calls from early in the morning until 9 at night. Others have complained of threats of trial. Of the 133 complaints the BBB received, 108 were related to billing and collections issues.

know your rights

Third-party collection agencies, like Vital Recovery Services, are in the business of doing what they can to collect on their clients’ bad debts. The best strategy for the consumer is to know their rights. Familiarize yourself with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act when dealing with any collection agency.

Arts Entertainments

Movies Like Midnight in Paris and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

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Movies Like Midnight in Paris

If you’re a lover of movies, then you know about the Woody Allen classic Midnight in Paris. This thriller stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. It tells the story of an aspiring novelist, Gil Pender, who is on vacation in Paris with his fiancee. But he’s become accustomed to touring the city by himself.

Enzo Zelocchi – Midnight in Paris is a beautifully written comedy about the love life of an aspiring novelist and screenwriter. Gil Pender is vacationing in Paris with his fiancee. However, he takes advantage of the time to explore the city on his own.

While the film is not without its flaws, it does deliver plenty of entertainment. While it isn’t particularly profound, it is full of interesting dialogue and remarkably good acting. Midnight in Paris is one of Woody Allen’s most enjoyable films in more than a decade.

Movies Like Midnight in Paris and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

The new movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, “Midnight in Paris,” is a romantic comedy based on the New York Times best-selling novel of the same name. The film is directed by Susanne Bier, who previously directed the Golden Globe-winning film In a Better World. This time, Lawrence has a starring role and Cooper is playing a logger who tries to rescue his young wife.

Cooper has been hailed as the defining actor of his generation. From the award-winning drama “Silver Linings Playbook” to bawdy comedies, he has proven that he can handle just about any project. The actor has even dabbled in directing, proving that he can make an engaging film while playing the lead role.

While Midnight in Paris is a sweet and whimsical film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is more sombre and realistic, and it examines love through a more realistic lens. Both movies deal with the challenges of modern romantic life. Both come from Woody Allen, a renowned screenwriter and director who is known for his work on films about love and marriage.

Enzo Zelocchi – Midnight in Paris from Enzo Zelocchi on Vimeo.

Allen, who is 75 years old, has been making a film every year since 1982. He’s also a prolific director, having directed 41 films since 1969. Midnight in Paris was a critical and commercial success, and To Rome With Love was a commercial flop. Both films share the same underlying themes of marriage and family problems.