Let me tell you some interesting things about Nancy Epstein who is a resident here in Johnson Lane. Her background was originally as a court reporter for 10 years before changing her career to closed captioning services. What is that, you ask? She worked in Anchorage, Alaska, for the NBC affiliate and subcontracted to CNN and CNBC doing the captions you see at the bottom of the television screen when it is on mute.
It's kind of like playing the piano but instead you get words. Like being a translator, she sets up the machine to abbreviate all weird words and it saves them in the computer's dictionary so she can just hit a few letters to transcribe onto the page. Say for Toiyabe, she might hit "t y b" and the computer will know she wants it to be written Toiyabe. The advantage to this type of steno machine is she can type about 260 words a minute where if she had to type on a regular computer keyboard she may only be able to type 60 words per minute.
As I sat in her office looking around I couldn't help but notice the four clocks on the wall in front if her. They all said different times, so I asked about what was up with that? She explained that one was our current time here in Minden at 12:30 p.m. The next one said 11:30 a.m. which she explained was Alaska time. The next was 3:30 p.m. which was East Coast time and the last stood still on 5 p.m. "It's 5 o'clock somewhere," she said. I like that idea. I think I'll find my broken decorative clock and set it for 5 p.m. in my house.
"Toiyabe" means black mountain, and Toiyabe Builders is the name of Nancy's husband Kim's business. She has two daughters: Jencie Lejeune, who is 24 and lives in San Francisco, and Sarah Epstein, who is a sophomore at Douglas High School. I think Nancy has a very different type (Did you get it " type?) of career.
Burn season
Darn it, burn season is ending and I just got started. I am always worried about burning when there is the slightest breeze, so I wait for a gorgeous day like last Saturday was. My problem is how to get it all done at one time. Because both of my parents were firefighters for so many years and I think I have heard it all, I am very cautious. I start the pile real low and continue to add branches a little at a time. One year I started my pile and when I went to turn the hose on it was frozen solid. Oops, maybe I shouldn't say that. So anyway, I am sure to always err on the side of caution when it comes to fire. Be safe!
n Lisa Welch is a Johnson Lane resident and can be reached at 267-9350.
