We Are Back On the Record

 

All I hear is "Law and Order's" CLANG! CLANG!

It's heading towards 10 p.m. as I being to write and I'm working.

It's another deposition night for me.

It was two years ago this week when my friend Craig asked me to meet with him and his friend Dan about an opportunity.

Craig and I had hit it off a few years earlier as refugees from a former job. I also did some radio stuff with him. With the fallout of the former job, Craig was one to look out for me.

Keep in mind that I was in a very strange time two years ago. Oh, let's be clear, we were basically all in a strange time two years ago.

But, with Mom having passed a little over two weeks earlier, it was time for me to ramp back up in the world. My duties as her caretaker had obviously come to an end.

So I met Craig at a small office here in Greenwich. Dan came in not long after. Following some small talk, we got down to having an informal interview. No resumes were necessary as Craig could speak to what he knew about me.

In fact, Craig thought I was fairly perfect for the job. I remember a selling point as far as he was concerned was that I could multitask, as he'd watched me do in the WGCH studio.

However, the job wasn't full-time.

Yet it was time. It was an opportunity. It was money but not benefits.

It was the ground floor of this basically new business and I liked that.

I jumped in.

I came back a day later and trained with Dan, watching as he did the job that I would soon try my hand at. Dan is like me -- loves tech but he loves tech on steroids. So I've reviewed many a new tech item that he's picked up. Beyond that, he was more than willing to let me try equipment as we both have a background with audio.

While I've not spoken a lot about the details of a deposition, it's basically a court proceeding on Zoom. It's my responsibility to monitor it and keep the video elements under control.

From what I gathered, I picked things up quickly even if Dan said I spoke too loud (something I've heard many times). I actively tried to soften it.

I worked a collection of depositions through September, October, and November.

In fact, I was in the office one afternoon in October when a case came along that started at 7 p.m. We have two times that concern us: 1) when do we need to log on, and 2) when does the case start?

So, yes, I'll elaborate that the case in question had a log-in time of 7 p.m.

I said I was curious to give it a shot.

Dan -- always looking to support me -- made sure I had dinner waiting when I arrived in the office at 6 p.m. that fateful night. As always, I had other devices with me, in part to use as a backup if needed for work. But, also, as a device to watch. With it being October, I watched the baseball postseason for the first few hours of the case.

Then I walked around and tried to stay awake for the rest of it.

According to my notes, I left the office at 3:30 in the morning. As I still lived in Mahopac, that meant my head wouldn't hit my pillow until around 4:30.

At that point, I became the person to ask for the cases at strange hours. Weekends? Overnights? Sure, so long as I can juggle everything.

At one point, I was probably doing too much of it and paid the price. I was home after another all-nighter and took a nap in the afternoon. I also neglected to turn my phone ringer on.

I was due to get back to Greenwich for another nighttime case.

Dan and Craig tried to reach me for hours and were almost ready to start calling hospitals when I finally answered.

I was so embarrassed but appreciated their concern.

I had to hustle but I did get to the office for the case.

Eventually, as November began, we recognized that it would be best if I could work from home, so the guys hooked me up with the tools to make all of that happen. To call Dan and Craig accommodating would be understating it. I know my schedule can drive them crazy (yeah, the balancing and juggling are exhausting) but until I can settle things down, this is how it's going to be.

So I picked up a computer and monitors along with a stand and drove home where I reassembled everything. As with anything there, Dan or Craig is always a phone call away. If they can't (that's super rare) one of my colleagues (or me, for that matter) will help out. It's a great collaborative situation to be in.

Once I was set at home, taking on the crazy hours became easier. It was just last week where I got out of bed at 2:30 a.m. to get ready for a case. There have been plenty of other examples.

Yet, given this is a court proceeding, like I said, I've remained firmly "off the record" in talking about this gig. I've said some here and some there but have offered few details.

But I'll say this: this opportunity hit me when I was in a horrible moment of transition. Think about it. It was Sep 2020. COVID was still raging. There was no football to broadcast. There wasn't a lot to broadcast at all. There were no conferences to moderate. There were only a few podcasts to produce.

My mother had just died. There were all of the things to do to go along with that, such as preparing to sell her house and find a new place to live.

Then along came this job. It was almost like Mom had a hand in it if you believe such things. 

That, of course, isn't really my style, but I do kind of smile when I think of it.

It's been a fascinating thing to do. I've talked to more lawyers than ever and have learned about the world of court reporting. 

My own technical skills have improved and I've strengthened my ability to problem-solve because when things go bad in this gig, it's bad.

But, also ...

I've heard about my voice (and not the volume of it) a lot.

I've laughed with a lot of people in this.

I've listened to a lot of arguing.

And I get paid to do all of this and, once things are flowing smoothly, I can do my laundry or make a meal or watch TV or ...

Or?

Or write a blog post.

It's been a blessing and I feel like it saved me, as it was there when I probably needed it most.

And we keep growing.

Thanks, guys.

The case I'm on is in a break. Thankfully, they're talking about wrapping up around midnight.

That's good. This is not the week to be keeping crazy hours.