Free pass

Yesterday I had an appearance in San Jose and then another up in San Rafael.  From San Jose I drove up through San Francisco, northbound over the Golden Gate Bridge, to my appearance, then back over to Contra Costa County via the Richmond Bridge.[1]

Wait for it…

The Golden Gate is only toll southbound and the Richmond is only toll westbound.  I traveled over two bridges and didn’t pay a single toll!

1. Photo courtesy of worldsurfer

T'was the night before Christmas... and the check still had not arrived.

I was waiting on two attorneys walking through a settlement last week while at the Oakland Board.  Applicant’s counsel had added some unusual language. [1] The Judge read it aloud to the hearing room:

Defendants shall make payment before Christmas.

Oh, and… the Applicant was Jewish.  :)

1. Photo courtesy of Joriel “Joz” Jimenez

'Nuff said

This last weekend while attended a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar of California I referred to myself as a workers’ compensation nerd. [1][2]

Some very kind, but ultimately uninformed, person assured me that I was not a nerd after all. [3] [4]  Let’s step back for a minute and examine the facts.  At that very moment I was:

• Taking a few days off work to attend a meeting about workers’ compensation[5]
• Inside a conference room with about twenty other workers’ compensation attorneys
• Awake at 8:30 AM on a Friday morning pontificating about Ogilvie math
• Sitting in front of my laptop, typing about workers’ compensation
• Making notes in my blog about workers’ compensation

Clearly, we need to have a heart-to-heart about “substantial evidence.”

Well, last night I received an e-mail stating that they had seen this website and offered this retraction:

“I must actually withdraw my objection to your calling yourself a workers’ comp nerd.”

They must have seen my walk through posts.

1. Can you believe someone already owns WCExec.com???  What a perfect domain name for the workers’ compensation executive committee!
2. I kid because I love!
3. Glasses notwithstanding.
4. Photo courtesy of this person.
5. Without MCLE in sight!

Keeping safe

I ran across this website a few days ago.  It’s a website devoted to the homemade modifications firefighters make to their tools and gear to make their lives easier and fighting fires safer. [1]  Hopefully a firefighter you know might find it useful.

Most of these modifications are simple and practical – and all are designed to help save a life. [2]

1. Photo courtesy of Thomas Hawk
2. Plus, I am a fan of customization.

WCAB Stockton

If you happen to be at the WCAB in Stockton, stop by and say hello.

Chance are I’ll be there most of the day.  Any good spots for lunch?

To sleep, perchance to dream

And my dream is to do four walk through settlements at three different WCAB district offices in one single day.[1][2]

I’ve given this a lot of thought and I even have a plan as to how to get this done.  If I ever got the chance to do four walk throughs at four Boards in one day, I’d do it like this:

1. Get up early, arrive at the Santa Rosa WCAB at 8:00 AM and attempt the first walk through
2. Head to San Francisco over the Golden Gate for the second walk through
3. In the afternoon, do the third walk-through in San Jose
4. Hit the road for Oakland and do the fourth walk through
5. According to Google Maps, that’s 234 miles and 4 hours and 26 minutes

I honestly don’t even know if this is possible. [3] There are a million things that could go wrong.  I could hit traffic, I could be missing a page from a benefits printout, someone could change their mind about the settlement, a doctor could issue a supplemental report.  I also know that I would need a LOT of things to go right.  Here’s my tentative checklist:

1. Four walk through settlements ready to be approved at four different Boards (this is easily the toughest part)
2. Four claims examiners standing by on speed dial
3. One full calendar day
4. A fully charged GPS, two fully charged cell phones
5. A full tank of gas
6. $55.00 or so ($10 for bridge tolls, about $5 for photocopies, and easily another $40 for parking)
7. A bag of snacks (I’m probably not going to have time for lunch)
8. Call ahead to all of the Boards to make sure I can do a walk through that day
9. The good will and cooperation of the Board staff and my colleagues

However, having done two walk through settlements in a single morning gives me hope.

1. Photo courtesy of robertrice
2. I told this dream to a co-worker yesterday and he laughed and called me a nerd.  Pssh – tell me something I don’t know, Steve.
3. Perhaps this might be easier in Southern California – there’s as many as seven Boards within about 15 or 20 miles of one another.

Happy Birthday PDRater!

I’ve been so busy lately I completely forgot to mention PDRater’s second birthday![1]

This site was launched on July 23, 2007.  For both of you who were using it back then, you remember it was an ugly ugly baby.

I’ve really enjoyed working on this website for the last two years.  I use the word “work,” but I don’t really mean it.  Building calculators, creating charts, and unraveling the mysteries of Ogilvie are my hobbies too.  :)

What would you like to see from this website in the coming year?  Please let me know in the comments or send me an e-mail.  I already have several (more) new calculators in the pipeline, but I’m always open to ideas.

1. Photo courtesy of rmansoorian

Bridge #2

Last Wednesday I set another personal record.  The last one I mentioned was doing two walk throughs at two different WCAB district offices in the same morning.

Wednesday I had to be in Novato, San Francisco, and then back at my office in Pleasant Hill.  As a result, I traveled over three bridges in the same morning – San Rafael, Golden Gate, and Bay Bridges.

I guess paying $10.00 in bridge tolls in one day is also a record…[1]  I was all out of singles so the CHP officer at the Golden Gate Bridge gave me the stink-eye when I paid with a $100.00 bill.

Seriously, that guy was NOT happy.  The officers at the Oakland Board are a lot friendlier.

1. Photo courtesy of Darwin Bell

There's a new sheriff in town...

I just found out the new Presiding Judge in Oakland will be Judge Mark Fudem formerly of  the Santa Rosa Board.[1]

Congratulations and welcome!

1. Photo courtesy of Slattner

I think we can dispense with the caption, just this once...

A defense attorney friend of mine called me up yesterday to say (I’m paraphrasing here), “You jackass.  Thanks to your Ogilvie proof every Applicant’s attorney I know is calling me up, gloating, and asking for 18 points on top of the whole person impairment on every case!  Why the hell did you do that???”[1]   My first thought was of my favorite quote from Swingers.[2] What I actually said was something along the lines of:

• It’s not like CAAA wouldn’t have found out about Ogilvie if it wasn’t for Jay Shergill mentioning it in a blog post.
• Nothing has changed except that now anyone can perform an Ogilvie adjustment calculation in their head.[3]
• Someone was going to prove that Ogilvie adds 18 points to the WPI in virtually all litigated workers’ compensation cases, so it might as well be me.

1. Photo courtesy of giuliomarziale
2. Just for you Ray!
3. And save $129.99 in the process
4. Hell, a permanent irreversible coma is only a WPI of 80.
5. Remember, just add 18 to the WPI!

Utilization Review Certified: 1 Fun Size Bag

A few weeks ago I posted about how swearing can reduce pain.[1] If you thought that was unbelievable, read on:

Researchers at University of Rochester Medical Center have apparently found that the dye in blue M&M’s can lessen the secondary effects of spinal injuries.[2] Those mice that received the injections of this blue dye recovered the ability to walk, and those without the injections did not.  The only side effect reported was, I kid you not, that the mice turned blue.

You can’t make this stuff up.  Anyhow, here’s the first ten jokes that occurred to me after reading that article:

1. The blue M&M’s replaced the tan M&M’s in 1995 when it was discovered the tan ones caused spinal injuries.[3]
2. Not to be outdone, Skittles researchers report their candies allow you to pee unicorns.
3. The WCAB has now issued another en banc opinion that the office candy jar constitutes the rendering of first aid.
4. *Disclaimer: This study was funded by The Great Pumpkin, the Easter Bunny, and the Mars Corporation.
5. It has now been discovered that the members of the Blue Man Group are impervious to spinal injuries.
6. …and that’s why the Smurfs have the lowest workers’ compensation premiums on the Cartoon Network.
7. Researchers also found that it was the blue dye in Viagra, not sildenafil citrate, that helped with erectile dysfunction.
8. The legislature has amended Labor Code 4604.5(d)(1) to allow a maximum of 24 ounces of M&M’s per industrial injury.
9. “Your honor, under Braewood v. WCAB (Bolton), Defendants must authorize the blue M&M’s in order to treat the underlying industrial condition.”
10. The Governor has added a new ballot measure that would replace the California MPN system with a new M&M based system.

I think the last one is my favorite.  :)

1. Photo courtesy of Daneen_vol
2. Via Slashdot
3. You remember the tan ones, don’t you?

WordPress Upgrade

Since updating this website to WordPress v2.8 in the middle of June they’ve released two additional security updates.  Unfortunately, the latest update also required a little extra tinkering and work on my part.  I look on constant security fixes for this fantastic (free!) open source software as a small price to pay for increased security.

Again, the calculators should all be completely impervious to changes in the WordPress program itself.  However, its theoretically possible you might notice a little weirdness in how the website looks/acts.  If so, please drop me a line and let me know so I can take a look.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled rating…

Permanent disability calculators only a workers' compensation nerd could love

And, really, what’s not to love about free permanent disability calculators?[1][2]

A few days ago I disparaged the MicroSoft and their new search engine, Bing.com.  Today I tried a search for “permanent disability calculator” on their site.  Guess who’s at the top?[3]

Search engine optimization, like fortune,  is a fickle creature.[4][5]

1. Photo courtesy of aWee
2. That’s a picture of an accounting sheet!
3. Hint: the website’s name rhymes with “PDRater“
4. This post has been brought to you by O Fortuna and the Rubaiyat.
5. Look at me, waxing all philosophical!

It turns out that this website is actually in the top 5% of all blogs in the WORLD.  Where did I get this incredible statistic?  The Internets, of course.[1]

While there are some 133,000,000 blogs in the world, all but 7,400,000 of them have been abandoned. [2]  Since I add a blog post on average at least once a week, I’m quite safely in the top 7.4 million blogs.  That doesn’t even count the number of updates to the permanent impairment and permanent disability calculators.

Top 5%!  I wish I had prepared a speech.

1. Photo courtesy of Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
2. Apparently not updating a blog in four months is considered abandoning it.