New EAMS Article!
I just posted a new EAMS article with three new downloads and some important information about walk throughs and case filings!
DVICA 2008 Golf Tournament Results
I posted last week about how I learned a lot about golf at the recent DVICA golf tournament. Thankfully I remembered to bring my digital camera to commemorate the event.
A belated congratulations to Tom Biskobing, Joe Domingo, Ray Hoang, and Thomas Kim for winning the tourney with an impressive 53!
Jeff, Chris, Steve, and I managed a 65. That isn’t to say we didn’t walk away with a few souvenirs. Each one of us won a raffle prize! Jeff won a bottle of Coppala wine, Chris a magnetic white board in the shape of a surf board, and Steve got a bluetooth headset!
I received a $100 gift card to Nordstrom’s courtesy of Jeff Gary of WorkCompTV.com.
While I was slightly less than diligent about taking pictures at the tourney, I did get two good pics. The top photo would have included me between the two blonds except that Steve’s photography kung fu is weak. (Sorry, man, but its true!) I think he was faking just so he could get his picture taken.
Not convinced? Well, here’s his photo of me with the same girls:
Latest EAMS info!
I received a few handouts regarding the new EAMS system while at the San Francisco WCAB yesterday. The WCAB SFO only had a limited number of these documents, so I’ve scanned my copy for everyone else’s benefit.
- Learn More About EAMS (3 pages)
- Revised 08-21-2008
- Paper filings, CD filings of pre-scanned documents
- Priority of Actions After EAMS Go-Live (1 page)
- Walk throughs are second to last in priority!
- EAMS is Ready, Are You? (4 pages)
- Revised 08-01-2008
- Discussion of training, OCR, and E-forms
I also learned some interesting things about EAMS:
- Everyone knows that EAMS and the WCAB will reject your filings if you’re not registered with EAMS. Did you know that the Judges aren’t sure if EAMS will reject your filings if the employer is not registered?
- If a party brings physical paper exhibits, Judges will only be accepting the most important documents for filing (since the WCAB will be doing the scanning)
- The parties will be expected to bring any possibly relevant exhibits. Any documents not accepted will be returned to the parties or shredded.
- Judges will mainly be accepting just permanent and stationary reports.
- A party bringing a CD burned with scanned exhibits, will need to submit all medical files and documents which are typically required to be filed with the WCAB.
- They will will not have the option of only submitting the most relevant exhibits.
- For the time being, normal walk through procedures are gone. Any new case activation would not be assigned a Board number until approximately 3 am after the day of submission. Be ready to drop off your walk throughs the day before you want to obtain approval.
- The EAMS forms haven’t been approved by the Office of Administrative Law and won’t be mandatory until approved.
- For the time being, every Board will have a telephone conference each morning starting at 8 am with their “command center.”
- The decision to go ahead with EAMS starting August 25, 2008 was only made on August 22, 2008!
Inside the Calculators – Part IV – MySQL
I recently gave a brief overview of my permanent disability and workers’ compensation benefit calculators. In that post I wrote a little bit about how my online benefits calculators work. Since then I’ve posted about my use of javascript, PHP, and AJAX in creating these permanent disability and permanent impairment calculators.
As I mentioned in the prior post in this series, my first few versions of this website and its workers’ compensation calculators did not use MySQL. The initial versions of this site only saved information – which meant I only had to use PHP to open a file on the server, add an extra line of information, and then close the file. This had several problems:
- Once my website became more popular, it was not uncommon to have more than one user online. That meant the server tried to open the file – but couldn’t since it was already open. This caused the program to freak out.
- In order to view just a little bit of information, I had to download the entire file. This got crazy pretty quickly.
- Each time the file got larger, it would take slightly longer to open, append with more information, and close.
MySQL is an incredible tool for storing, organizing, and retrieving a large amount of data. Like PHP, it is also open-source. This means it is:
- Well supported. There are lots of online resources and books to help you learn.
- Secure. Lots of people spend a lot of time thinking of ways to prevent security vulnerabilities.
- Customizable. You can configure or even rewrite it, if you wish.
- Interoperability. You can save it to just about any format – including MS Excel spreadsheets.
- Free. Unlike Oracle or any of the MS alternatives, it is totally free.
So, why did I avoid MySQL? I didn’t want to have to learn a whole new programming language. I had to learn how to set up a database, tables within the database, how to search for information in a table, how to put information into a table, and how to change information which was already in a table. There was a lot of trial and error. I ended up doing some pretty cool things in the process of learning this language. Some examples:
- Teaching others some of the basics of MySQL
- Writing a program for cataloging books
- Writing several programs which performed various calculations to track invoices, billings, etc
- Setting up several blogs/websites
The end result of learning this language is a more interactive website. One of the last incarnations of this site was a version that would show different color schemes, advertisers, and messages depending upon the user. All of this was made possible by large amounts of data stored in MySQL.
Thus ends my technical overview of my workers’ compensation permanent disability calculators! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or leave a comment below!
Who uses PDRater.com?
When a user registers with this website they are given the option of listing a little bit of biographical information about themselves. Have you ever wondered who else uses this website? Well, wonder no longer! The people using this website include:
- Injured workers without attorneys
- Claims administrators and supervisors
- Applicant attorneys
- Office managers and paralegals
- Defense attorneys
- In-house counsel
- City and state agencies
- Medical groups
- Doctors
That’s a pretty diverse group!
100th Registered User!
Well, the title really says it all.
This website was re-launched on July 6, 2008. While all of the permanent disability and workers’ compensation benefits calculators are still free, a quick and simple registration process is now required to use them.
In the 33 business days from July 7, 2008 through August 20, 2008, one hundred people have registered for free access to this website. I like to think that’s pretty good.
My totally unscientific research has revealed this website’s users to be:
- Well above average in intelligence;
- Have extremely discriminating taste;
- And, not at all susceptible to flattery
Javascript Games
Javascript appears all over the internet. You can be pretty sure that your favorite websites use a LOT of javascript. You see it every time a website creates a pop-up advertisement, sends you an alert, lets you bookmark their page, or interacts with you in some way.
I’ve written some pretty cool (in my nerdy opinion) things in javascript:
- A blackjack strategy simulator. You tell the program how many decks, when you want to hit, stand, double down depending on the deck count, and it will run through a given number of hands – telling you how much your strategy has won/lost overall.
- A “Deal or No Deal” odds simulator. The program calculated the average of the remaining unopened suitcases – to compare against the Banker’s offer. It made rudimentary guesses about how much the Banker would offer. There has been some incredible and complex analysis of how these offers are created.
- A billing program. It had separate timers for different tasks, tallied time, expenses, ability to save reports, and create invoices for different clients.
- A simple program for tallying points for gin rummy.
- Several small programs for solving various internet website puzzles.
- Several small tools which allow me to write other programs or web pages more efficiently.
I’ve written innumerable other mini-programs which either had a very limited or one-time use or which I never developed into an actual program. One example was a program that would help me quickly search muliple ebay auctions and compare the various prices. Another was a Sudoku puzzle solver which I never completed.
10 Things I Learned About Golf
I was fortunate enough to play with two (very patient) experienced golfers (and Steve) on Friday August 15, 2008 at the DVICA 21st Annual Golf Classic. While my individual performance was just above terrible, I had a great time. We were playing “best ball” and had to use my shot more than once.
I learned a lot on Friday. Some things are probably common sense or common knowledge. Some I learned the hard way, other things I learned by watching someone else learn the hard way. Here’s a list of the top 10 things I learned about golf from the event:
- 10. It helps to tie your clubs to the back of the cart.
- 9. Inevitably, someone will quote Caddyshack.1
- 8. Head down, knees bent, shoulders level, and always follow through.
- 7. Shorts or slacks – NO jeans.2
- 6. Finesse, not power, is everything.
- 5. Never walk through another player’s line of sight.3
- 4. Whatever you do, advance the ball.
- 3. Bring twice as many balls and three times as much water as you think you’ll need.
- 2. Golf is a game of honor and etiquette.4
And, the #1 most important thing I learned at the Diablo Valley Industrial Claims Association Golf Classic?
- 1. Worst player buys the drinks. :)
- I prefer Happy Gilmore. Sacrilege, I know. “The price is wrong!” [↩]
- Fortunately, I did not have to learn this one first hand. [↩]
- Sorry Jeff! [↩]
- No wonder I stink! [↩]
Inside the Calculators – Part III – AJAX
I recently gave a brief overview of my permanent disability and workers’ compensation benefit calculators. In that post I wrote a little bit about how my online benefits calculators work. Since then I’ve posted about my use of javascript and PHP in creating these permanent disability and permanent impairment calculators.
As I’ve mentioned in those prior posts, both javascript and PHP have inherent downsides. My very first attempt at online benefits calculators using javascript and ASP actually suffered from all of the downsides of javascript and PHP. Those first calculators used tons of user’s computers’ resources, bandwidth, and server power. However, learning more about AJAX enabled me to build a set of calculators which benefited from the strengths of javascript and PHP while minimizing, if not eliminating, their weaknesses.
The acronym “AJAX” refers to “asynchronous javascript and XML” – a collection of other technologies which allow a webpage to communicate with a web server without requiring an entire page download.
Example 1: A calculator without AJAX calculating “6 x 7” would send information to be calculated to the web server. The web server would then respond by giving you an entirely new page with the answer, “42”. However, in order to download that answer you would need to download a whole new page – and all the images, text, and code associated with it. Even a normal web page could be between 30,000 and 300,000 bytes in size.1
Example 2: A calculator with AJAX calculating “6 x 7” would send information to be calculated to the web server. The web server would then respond by sending back just the answer, “42”. This would be 2 bytes.
If my calculators needed to download of 300 kilobytes for every single operation, a simple calculation could take about 30 seconds on dialup and a full 1 second on broadband. Although 1 second doesn’t seem like a long time – it is in the internet age. Most of the calculations on this site take approximately .500 seconds using a broadband connection. I would guess that about 90% of that time is due to network latency/network lag – which wouldn’t be much different for a dialup connection.
For the first few months after the launch of this website, it did not use a MySQL database. I actually went to some pretty ridiculous extremes to not have to learn a new programming language. I eventually gave in, learned how to use MySQL and am a better programmer for it.
Next up, MySQL!
- A download of “www.google.com” was approximately 30,000 bytes and a download of “www.yahoo.com” was approximately 300,000 bytes. [↩]
Quis instruo ipsos instructus?
The Latin phrase “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes” means, “who will watch the watchers?”
The above phrase means, “Who will train the trainers?” Answer: The DWC.
Today our office manager is stepping into the brave new world of EAMS. (Thanks Monique!) August 15, 2008 is the Northern California training session for anyone who wanted to learn about EAMS in order to train their office.
Those of you who missed the EAMS training session in Southern California and aren’t going to make it today can get a glimpse into the future by reading the “EAMS Train The Trainer Overview.” The Board website also has a wealth of information about the system, demos, videos, etc.
Maybe our office manager will be able to answer my biggest EAMS question: If EAMS is web based, why does everyone at the Board need a separate monitor for it???
Golf or EAMS training?
I may be a nerd, but I’m not totally hopeless. See you on the green!