Blog – Page 37 – PDRater – Permanent Disability Calculators

Road Warrior Tip – Four Ways To Improve Long Drives

By Jay Shergill Posted on February 3, 2009 Posted in Author, Not Workers Compensation No Comments Tagged with Amount Of Time, Auburn, drive safe, Driving Into The Sun, East Bay, Finding Food, gps, Long Distances, Mcle, Music Loading, Negligible Amount, Prescription Sunglasses, road warrior, Speed Limit, Stressful Events, sunglasses, Wrong Turn

I used to really dislike driving long distances. However, in the last few months I’ve done a few things to completely change my mind.

Use a GPS. I no longer have to worry about leaving directions at home, taking a wrong turn, finding food or fuel, or needing a detour. I just hop in the car, hit the road, head in the general direction of my destination, and plug in the address on the way.
Buy prescription sunglasses. Sunglasses have made a world of difference. Yesterday I drove out to Auburn in the morning and back to the East Bay in the afternoon, driving into the sun both ways. Having the sunglasses has completely eliminated squinting and strain on my eyes.
Take Music. Loading up the GPS with music has really helped pass the time. I even added a few hours of MCLE, just in case!
Drive slower. I’ve made a point of obeying the speed limit, even when I’m running late. Driving fast saves a negligible amount of time and can be very stressful.

These four things have transformed my long drives from stressful events into fairly enjoyable trips.

Cheap Online Glasses – Received!

By Jay Shergill Posted on January 26, 2009 Posted in Author, Business, Not Workers Compensation No Comments Tagged with cheap glasses, cheap prescription glasses, Customer Service, Eye Doc, Frames And Lenses, Funky Pair, Morningstar, online glasses, Optomologist, Pairs, Prescription Lenses, sunglasses, Tinted Glasses, Transition Lenses

As I mentioned about two weeks ago, I had ordered some glasses online through two different retailers. ((Photo courtesy of Morningstar Lee)) At an average of $20.00 a pair, it was hard not to get carried away.

One pair of glasses had “polychromatic” lenses and cost about $35.00. The other three pairs included a regular pair of glasses, a pair of tinted glasses for use as sunglasses, and a funky pair since they were totally free free (complete with frames and prescription lenses!?!?!)

I ordered from two different retailers because (1) $35.00 for those “transition” lenses aka “polychromatic” lenses was too good to pass up and (2) so I could compare the customer service and quality of the two companies.

Service through one company was a little better than the other. However, I’m not qualified to judge quality. Although I’m very happy with the look of these frames and lenses, I’d feel a lot better if I took them to my optomologist to be sure.

That said, I’m going to postpone an in-depth review until I see my eye-doc. When I post the review I’ll include a few tips for ordering glasses online. ((You know, from my vast experience.))

Multiple Disabilities Table Calculator

By Jay Shergill Posted on January 14, 2009 Posted in 1997 PDRS, Calculators, Free, Multiple Disabilities Table, PDRater, Workers Compensation Resources No Comments Tagged with Compensation Calculator, disability calculator, Increments, Multiple Disabilities, new year, Pdrs, Table Calculator

Right after “workers’ compensation calculator” and “permanent disability calculator,” the top search term for people coming to this website is “multiple disabilities table.”

If you want to combine multiple disabilities for injuries before 2005, ((After 2005, you may need to use the Combined Values Chart from the 2005 PDRS.)) you can:

Use the six step formula in the 1997 PDRS on page 7-12.
Use the two page chart in the 1997 PDRS on pages 7-15 to 7-16 ((FYI: The multiple disabilities chart in the rating schedules gives you disability increments of 5% points.)) ((The chart on the right is from the 1988 PDRS))
Take 30 seconds to register for this website for free and use the multiple disabilities calculators whenever you want!

Cheap Online Glasses?

By Jay Shergill Posted on January 12, 2009 Posted in Business, Marketing, Not Workers Compensation No Comments Tagged with Cheap Eyeglasses, cheap glasses, cheap prescription glasses, Funky Glasses, Job, online glasses, Online Retailers, Pairs, sunglasses

I’ve already said I’m a big fan of NPR. A few weeks ago they ran a story about the “Best-Kept Online Secret: Cheap Eyeglasses.” The author, tired of paying hundreds of dollars for glasses, tried out a few different online glasses retailers. ((Photo courtesy of Morningstar Lee))

This weekend I ordered glasses from two different websites. (I’m going to hold off mentioning which ones for now. I’ll wait to find out what kind of a job they do.)

I ordered four pairs of glasses for much less than what a single pair used to cost me. If all goes well, I’ll be getting one pair of sunglasses, one pair of color changing glasses, one pair that looks almost identical to the ones I wear now, and one pair of funky glasses (this was the free one).

The trade-off is that the glasses will take about two weeks.

See you in two weeks! ((Ha ha!))

Dell Customer Service!!!

By Jay Shergill Posted on January 9, 2009 Posted in Business, Laptop, Technobabble 2 Comments Tagged with Corporate Customer, Customer Service Experience, Dell Customer, Dell Customers, Dell Inc, Dell Laptop, Dell Xps, Dell Xps M1210, E Mail, Integrated Graphics, Motherboard, Next Computer, Nvidia, Nvidia Graphics Card, Technical Emergency, Warranty

Dell’s customer service has been my single greatest customer service experience with any product, ever.

Let me break it down for you:

My computer, a Dell XPS m1210 was out of warranty. ((It died within 1 year after my warranty expired, but by the time I talked to Dell it was more than a year out of warranty.))
It had a bad nVidia graphics card.
I wrote one e-mail to Dell’s Chief Blogger, Lionel Menchaca, stating the nature of my technical emergency. ((It was a very simple and short e-mail, so it took me forever to write.))
He told me someone was going to contact me.
Less than 24 hours later someone from Dell’s corporate customer service called me to tell me they were going to replace my entire motherboard. ((The only way to fix a bad integrated graphics card.))
Less than 24 hours later I got a call from their local technician – James. He came to my home that very evening and swapped out my motherboard. ((“Rock on completely, with some brand new components!” – CAKE))

Here’s Lionel’s e-mail to me from just after midnight this morning:

“Jay:

That’s great news. I’m really glad to see it all worked out smoothly. I appreciate you being a loyal Dell customer. Feel free to tell any other Dell customers how to contact me directly if they need some assistance.

It’s customer’s like you that make this the best job I’ve ever had.

Sincerely,

Lionel Menchaca

Chief Blogger, Dell Inc.

www.dell.com/blogs

e-mail: lionel_menchaca@dell.com

Twitter: twitter.com/LionelatDell

phone: 512.728.8685″

If you’ve got an issue with your Dell, get a hold of Lionel directly. He’s an incredible guy working for an incredible company. Lionel and Dell took care of me. This Dell XPS m1210 is my third Dell laptop, and my next computer will absolutely be a Dell too.