I have a guy at work who is always asking about voice software because he's such a terrible typist. I have to keep telling him that it's not going to be better, it's going to be worse; he's got a heavy accent, too. Man's gotta learn to type.

I'll bet I could take care of at least 50% and maybe all of your arm problems by adjusting your workstation. I've seen the Stranger desks in photographs; they make MY arms hurt. One good way to get the furniture you need (and beware that most "ergonomic" furniture is bullshit) is to utter the words "ell and eye" within hearing of your HR person.

bradley spine walker and shoddy also emeritus?! holy crap, i demand legal name changes from both brad and sean.

I also love Bradley Spine Walker.

It might be best if you get drunk before teaching it how you talk. That way it will clean it all up better in the future, when you go to a bar and dictate your story as you are telling friends.

Don't do it! I tried the voice recognition at my last job and it was more trouble than it was worth. Just type the fuckin' thang and be done with it.

All I got tonsay is the colts won. and my girlfriend from chicago is pissed off and having her time(her freiend showed up-period)so we go on a weeping and a waling while told of our fate, but our prayers were to late. Man I'm toast..... trust me kids dont smoke when your bumbed out and your gril is mad at you. You'll feel l;ike it new years eve in outerspace......

o.k. I'll type the friggin thing aaaaaaagh!

Jen,

Years ago, I ran technical suport for Dragon Systems. They developed NaturallySpeaking.

The mistakes you listed were the same I would have expected from the software in 1997. So I'm wondering which software you are using.

Nuance is still making NaturallySpeaking and I hear it is great. I'm sure there are other users in Seattle who can tell you more.

I bet there are a few, minor things you can do to make it much easier for you. If it is NatSpeak, there are a lot of resources for you.

Tell us. Which software are you using?

Duh!

How the hell does it get that from "Dan Savage"? I love computers ...

Chair height so your legs are horizontal, desk height so your forearms are horizontal, monitor height so the top of the screen is level with your eyes, and a split keyboard - that is most of what one needs to know about ergonomics.

i would love to see what it does with my name.

You left out elbow support and centering G-H with your monitor (which is almost impossible to do with most "ergo" furniture, but yeah, it's pretty simple. Oh, and throw away your gel wrist rests; they hurt you, not help you.

I am using iListen. Can't use Dragon, because it works only for PCs.

Re #13: It's the fault of that silly numeric keypad. It makes the keyboard extend too far to the right. If you center the "B" key on the monitor, like you're supposed to, the mouse ends up way over on the right edge of the desk. One solution is to mouse left-handed, which I've gotten pretty good at, but I may be more ambidextrous than most people.

Exactly, Orv, exactly. However, I can't really mouse left. And the configuration of a standard keyboard isn't exactly news; they've been that way for 25 years. Furniture makers don't give a shit about ergo, though.

The other big thing is the wrists. When you lean on a wrist pad, you are compressing the very thing you're supposed to be alleviating; and if you're typing correctly, your wrists are four inches off the table surface anyways. Mousing too: resting the wrist means inevitable pain. Support the elbow and pivot from there.

My company's HR continually puts out completely bullshit wrong ergo information which I then have to correct. The people who listen to me don't file L&I claims. The others, with their monitors mounted three feet in the air and off to the side, with their keyboard at an angle and their chairs in the wrong place, might have $100 glare screens and wrist rests but they still have pain. Ergo isn't about buying stuff, which I guess is what makes it hard for some people to understand.
As regular slog