Extremely windy today. Winds here in Anderson were showing at 24 mph (sustained) with gists to about 60 mph. If the temperatures were up in the mid 50's F rather than hovering in the upper 30's F, today would have been a great day for me to have gone sailing at the lake, if I didn't happen to have had my shop open.

I couldn't get away from my boating and fishing shop today since my hours here during the Winter season are Wed - Fri from 10 am til 5 pm, but my friend, Capn Dan went out to the sail club and left me a message letting me know that my vessel was handling the wind and waves well out on its protected mooring.

I took Amy out sailing on Canadian Mist on Jan. 1st from about 1300 til about 1700 hrs, which that was a cold, windy day. Temps that day were in the upper 40's but the winds were recorded at the lake at being around 15-18 mph with gusts at 40+, so it felt a lot colder. Being that I was sailing single-handedly, I decided to just try the mainsail by itself, which proved to be a lot of fun. A few times, I had my vessel heeling over at about 25°, with the foot rails skimming the water's surface and the spray from the breaking waves attacking my face even with my being aft in the cockpit. Amy stayed in the cabin below since it was a good bit warmer in the cabin.

When nearing the harbor, I decided how my vessel would handle in doing a quick 360° turn and she responded marvelously. I then sailed her into the harbor and docked her under sail (though I did have the engine on for just in case I needed to engage the propeller).

I prefer sailing her single-handedly in much lighter winds, but I wanted to see how she handled in heavy winds. She performed well.

Last weekend, a friend of mine named Dan took his vessel out for a sail on Sunday and invited Amy and me to sail with him that afternoon. The winds were light and we sailed on Dan's vessel (Dream Weaver) all afternoon, spending about 4.5 hrs sailing that Sunday. Although I have been privy to sail on Dream Weaver a few times in the past, Amy never has, so it was a new experience for her. We all had a great, smooth sail.

Amy and I had a wonderful New Year's Eve and a fabulous start for 2010 on New Year's Day.
We spent New Year's Eve at the sailing club. There were about 15-20 of us there. We all brought some food and our beverage(s) of choice. Amy and I took some of those new pretzel crackers, along with a pasta salad dip and a chicken salad dip that went over well. A few other members baked some pizzas in the oven there. Another couple brought a tiramisu that was extraordinary. Some folks brought some chips, others brought dips and salsas, others brought some party mix.

Amy and I drank beer throughout most of the night. We all watched the ball drop and at midnight, we all ate 12 grapes, threw out cups of water, and toasted the coming of the new year. Amy and I had hard cider instead of champagne, as that is what has been the traditional toasting beverage of my family and ancestors from way back.
The New Year's Eve party came to a close at around 2:30 am, then Amy and I went to our boat's cabin to sleep.

We awakened the next day, New Year's Day, in the morning, went to the clubhouse and had coffee with biscuits for breakfast. By about 2 pm, the sun was shining warmly, though we had a good, brisk wind comming off the water, so it was still a bit cold out, but Amy and I decided to take the boat out for a sail.

Perfect day for sailing my C&C 30, which is an offshore racing cruiser. Winds were up at about 15-25 mph, steady, and gusts up to 41 mph! It was awesome out there, with whitecaps breaking at the bow and spray coming off the water!

I only had the mainsail up, since having both the main and the jib would have been more work and probably better only if I would have had a crew of a couple of extra people on board. Even with just the main, I still got the boat heeling a few times at 20 and 25 degrees, and twice having the toerails (the top of the sides) touching the water. Those couple of times, I quickly brought her back to about 20 degrees, since that is about optimum for sailing speed.

This was the first time that Amy had seen me take the boat out by myself during rough water weather, so it was a good thing, since she was able to see, firsthand, how well I handle a nice-sized sailboat in rough water and good winds. Amy mainly stayed in the cabin, since it stays much warmer down below than in the cockpit.

Since I had not taken her out by myself in high winds and rough water yet, it gave me the opportunity to see how well she handled under these conditions. She handled extremely well.
After a couple of hours of sailing, I decided to take her back into the harbor and dock her. I started the engine, but decided not to engage the transmission unless I absolutely had to. Instead, I sailed her back into the harbor and she handled so well, docking her nearly perfectly, under sail.

I've heard that whatever you are doing on New Year's Day, you'll be doing that a lot throughout the year. I definitely plan on sailing a good bit throughout 2010.
I hope ya'll had as wonderful or better New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Capt. Leonardo Ortiz (USMM)

Another year fixing to finish, with New Year's Day just around the corner on the calendar.

This is a good time for reflection on the past and setting goals in anticipation of the future. I take this time to ask myself what I have and have not done during this past year to affect my life and the lives of people around me, and whether it may have been better to have done some things differently, better, or not at all.

Then, I look into the coming year and set positive goals... some which will be easily achieved, some that will require various levels of effort and commitment to achieve, and some that may not be achieved, yet offer challenges for me to at least try to achieve.

Overall, I've had a very good year. I've helped a few of my Social Security clients get their disability benefits started. I've helped a few people who wanted to stop smoking. I've helped a few others who wanted to lose weight. I've helped some folks do better in school. I've helped some folks improve their relationships. I've married a few people. I've taught some boater safety education courses. And I've helped some folks have more fun by helping them with fishing, boating, and camping needs.

Did I make a million dollars?

Nope. It wasn't one of my goals.

Did I become rich or richer? Yep, sure did. I made a few new friends, helped some folks have better lives, and lived a relatively stress-free life without depending on any happy pills. In my view, that makes me pretty rich.

Were there things I feel I could have done differently... or that I feel I should have done but didn't? Yes, definitely so.

Some of my goals for 2010 include getting 5-10 more social security clients and settling 5 or so disability cases I already have on my books (I usually only take on 5-10 new clients per year so I can concentrate on those client's cases without getting too overburdened). I also hope to help folks out by restructuring my fees for counseling and hypnosis in order to make my services more affordable during these tough economic times.

For my store in my garage, I plan on building an outdoor shed so I can have a place to keep my yard tools and other stuff taking up space in the garage so that I can expand my sales floor some, since I have expanded my line of products now to include boating, ropes, and other products in addition to my bait, fishing, and camping products that I already sell.

I don't have any resolutions, per se, since the idea of new year resolutions has taken on a bit of negativity and I personally don't feel that resolutions carry that element of positive commitment as do goals and plans to achieve those goals.

As you read this, take the time to reflect back on this past year ending, and then work on establishing new goals and plans for accomplishing those goals for 2010.

And then, stay focused.

Wishing ya'll a Happy New Year!

Capt. Leonardo Ortiz (USMM)

When Amy and I take trips, we usually opt for the US and state highways rather than the interstate highways. There's a lot more to see and when you feel like pulling over and taking a break, you don't have to wait to get to an exit or a rest area, since you usually pass through plenty of small towns and along country stores dotting the smaller highways.

Sure, you can't travel at 80 mph very well on those smaller highways, but then, what's the point in doing 80 mph rather than 55-65 mph, other than adding to the plenty of stress you already have daily?

We've done the interstate thing plenty of times and discovered that by going on the interstate highways, you not only miss out on all kinds of things, but you also end up usually taking more time than by taking the smaller highways, you use up more gasoline, and when you arrive at your destination, you're so stressed out that you need to pop another one of those prescription happy pills.

Of course, you run into some really, really slow drivers every once in a while (the ones that are doing 40 mph or less), but then usually those folks are just going into the next town just up ahead and if you have a little bit of patience, they'll make that left turn sometime soon. Then you can do the Mazda thing and zoom zoom once more, or just relax and take in all the stuff around you and drive at a much less stressful speed of about 55-65 mph.

We went to Savannah over Thanksgiving weekend. We drove through interesting little towns, such as Harlem, GA. where Oliver Hardy (of Laurel & Hardy fame). was born. We stopped at a convenience store at a crossroads, where I was going to get a snack and the convenience store had a little cafeteria inside it. While I was looking at some snacks, I noticed a number of folks coming in, getting food and eating it there or taking it out, so I looked at the items on the menu and the food looked great. I went back to the car empty-handed and told Amy we could stop and have lunch there.

Amy and I each got a baked chicken thigh and green beans. She also got mashed potatoes, while I got fried okra instead. And we each got a couple of "ho cakes" (cornbread that looks like pancakes). Great country cooking, and both meals, including tea for each of us, was under $9. You rarely find anything like that along the fast-moving interstates.
With us stopping for lunch, we made it to Savannah in 4.5 hrs. On the way back, I took the interstate system, and it took us 6 hrs to get back home, and that's because I got off on exits 3 times before getting stuck in accident traffic. Had I gone interstate all the way, I imagine it would have taken us 9 or more hours to get home.

And the next day I may have needed to see a physician to get a prescription for some happy pills.


Plain.
Simple.
Common Sense.

Capt. Leonardo Ortiz (USMM)

I'll be adding two new websites in the very near future. I already have one nearly finished and the other one will be worked on soon afterward. I am hoping to have both websites up and running by the beginning of 2010.

In so doing, I have also decided to restructure my Blog page and have it moved to my main website when my other two websites are opened.

In my new websites, I will have separate pages for the various products and services which I offer, along with offering associates of mine the opportunity for them to have a website of their own created or updated, and then linked between my sites and theirs.

My new websites will be also featuring a payment section whereby clients and customers will be able to order products and pay for services by paypal, credit card, or debit card in a secured and safe manner. What this means to my customers and clients is that:

1. local area customers can contact me, place an order for their products (be it bait, tackle, boating, rope, groceries, cigarettes, etc.) and then pay for the products online, and then I'll have their products available for them to simply drop by and pick up on their way home from work.

2. Customers who live a bit farther way and can't come to my store directly will be able to place an order, pay for it plus shipping, and I'll have it shipped right to their door.

3. Clients and prospective clients who use or wish to use my professional services offered can do so even though they don't live right in my area.

4. Associates of mine will be able to expand their geographic service area, as well.

Making things better for you.... this makes

Plain.
Simple.
Common Sense.

It's that Holiday time of the year again. Cold weather ushers in the feeling of Christmas and the Holiday spirit. For some, it is the time for holiday spirits, as well. And for some, it's time to pig out, making their clothes in the closet shrink a size or so.

Then follows the New Year's resolutions... losing weight, quitting smoking, doing better at your job or in school, blah blah blah. As a CCHT certified hypnotist and neuro-linguistic practitioner, I usually get busy with the resolution-making folks starting a few weeks after Jan. 1st when they realize will-power alone, nor all the fads and gimmicks sold on TV end up doing any good.

In February, you start seeing used exercise equipment for sale in classified ads and in the thrift stores. Those are from the folks that bought the gimmicks for their resolutions that have since gone awry. Some folks just put the stuff in their basement or the attic or in a storage building to collect dust, instead.

By February, those who didn't think ahead before heavily participating in the holiday spirits of beer, wine, and liquors end up hundreds of dollars in the red and maybe even losing their driver's licenses since they have been to court.

It doesn't have to be that way at all.

If you used your head a bit for something other than wearing a hat, you can save yourself all those headaches.

I have nothing against eating and drinking. I do it. I like food. I also like beer and I like rum and wine and vodka and tequila and...

I simply remember what Paul said in a letter to the Corinthians once upon a time long, long ago... "All things in moderation."

When Amy and I go out, I may have a beer or maybe even two. After that, I stop drinking alcoholic beverages and just drink water or some other non-alcoholic beverage. It's not just because I don't want to get a DUI. I just never really liked getting sloppy drunk and being in a position whereby I cannot function well enough in a crisis situation should one arise.
Even when we go out to the lake where we have a place to sleep it off if we drank too much, I still moderate my alcoholic beverage intake, but then again, having embraced my having such a dominant personality influences me greatly in my making sure that I can be in full control of any situation which may arise where I need to have control.

When it comes to food, it is very easy for me to pig out if I don't make myself aware before eating and remind myself that I am no longer 25 years old and exercising 12 or more hours a day like it used to be back in my younger days as a professional dancer. I can no longer eat 6 platefuls of food followed by 6 platefuls of desserts and keep from having a dunlap (that's when the belly "dunlap" over the belt), so I have to be sure to moderate how much I eat.
Additionally, Amy and I lead a pretty active lifestyle. We sail, walk, camp out, swim, fish, and still go out dancing whenever we get a chance.

This holiday season, keep this issue's Captain's Log in mind. If you're out at parties where food is plentiful, moderate your intake and your clothes won't shrink while hanging in the closet. If you partake in the holiday spirits, have a non-drinking designated driver or get a room or a taxi.

The old saying "Saving for a Rainy Day" can hold very true in cases of disability.

Many employers offer what is known as "Cafeteria Plans" of Insurance and Retirement Benefits to their employees by allowing an employee to pick and choose from a variety of insurance and retirement plans available at the workplace, and then the employer deducts the premiums on a per paycheck basis before taxes.

This can have more benefits than just the income tax benefits of paying for your plans with pre-tax dollars rather than post-tax dollars.

If you have Short and Long Term Disability Insurance available through your workplace, you should take a serious look into them. There are some insurers these days that even offer a return of premium if you retire without having a claim for disability coverage.

Of the persons I have represented so far in disability cases, there have been a few who took advantage of workplace disability insurance policies and they were much better off during their wait to be approved than those who didn't have any disability insurance.

Usually, disability insurance plans will pay a stipulated percentage of your payroll salary if you become disabled. The standard is 60% but there are plans that will pay higher percentages as well as there being plans that pay lower percentages of your normal workplace income. Additionally, insurers offer a variety of time elements for starting to receive benefits, from 1 week to around a month, generally, from the date of your onset of your disability.

Short term disability insurance plans usually offer other options such as a maximum time for disability benefits, such as 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years, with 3 years being pretty much standard in the industry. Since a Social Security Disability claim could very well take up to 3 years to get approved, I suggest that you look into at least Short Term plans that will pay benefits from about 1 week into your disability through 3 years, so that it will be of great help during the Social Security Disability application process.

Remember that, even if you filed a claim for disability with Social security and you were accepted in the initial application level, Social Security will not pay benefits for the first 5 months of your disability. Having a short-term plan that will start off with, like day 7 of your disability, will help you keep your head above the financial waters during those first 5 months, and until you get approved.

Long Term Disability plans usually cover the insured throughout the entire lifetime of the disability, but the plan can also stipulate the number of years of benefits (i.e. 10 years or any other specified number of years or months). Contrary to popular belief, the amount of Social Security benefits you receive is not affected by the amount you receive through your disability insurance benefits. Private insurance benefits would only affect the SSI benefits, if any, that you may receive.

Another card up your sleeve which you might wish to consider in case of disability is an IRA. If you have a qualifying disabling condition or illness, you can withdraw some or all of your IRA funds without having to pay a penalty for early withdrawal. If you have a traditional IRA, you will still have to report it and pay taxes on the amount you have taken out, but there wouldn't be any penalties attached. If you have a Roth plan, you already paid the taxes on that, so you would not have to pay taxes nor penalties on the amount you have withdrawn. You may wish to talk with your tax professional about this.

If you have questions or need help with a Social security issue and don't know who to turn to, feel free to contact me by clicking on the "Contact" link on my website:

www.ssabenefit.com

or you can call me at the number listed on my website.

Capt. Leonardo Ortiz (USMM)

Your Social Security Benefits are determined by the income you have earned and received, primarily over the past 5 years.

Generally, you should receive a Social Security Statement once a year, or you can get your Social Security Statement by visiting the Social Security government website online by simply clicking on the Social Security website link on my website:

www.ssabenefit.com

You will notice the Social Security link on the right-hand side of my main page.

You can also get a Social Security statement by calling your local Social Security office or stopping in and requesting one.

This is an important annual piece of information for you to have, since your Social Security statement will show you your annual earnings since you started working, what your retirement benefits would be if you continued earning the same amount until you retired, what your disability benefits would be if you became disabled, and what kind of benefits would be available to your spouse and children, if any, dependent upon variables.

If you or someone you know is disabled and don't know what to do, who to talk to, if you need representation and if so, who to represent you, contact me.

You can contact me by clicking the Contact link on my main page, answer the questions, and send it to me (be sure your phone number is included, so I can call you), or you can call me.

I deal only with Social Security and Labor cases, with my concentration being in Social Security Disability cases. It is my specialty since 2001.

Capt. Leonardo Ortiz

When you file a claim for Social Security or Supplemental Security Income disability benefits, you become the party who has the burden of proof. You have to prove that you are disabled under Social Security rules in order to be eligible to receive disability benefits.

This is usually where the claimant ends up having the biggest problem in applying for disability benefits.

SSA (Social Security Administration) handles claims processing for both SSDI (Social Security Disability Income) and SSI (Supplemental Security Income), though the latter is a welfare program paid by the state and not by Social Security funds. When you apply for disability benefits through Social Security, they gather the evidence you have regarding your disabling illness or condition and then pass the information from the application process over to the Disability Determination Services (DDS) in order to determine whether or not, by the evidence available to them, you are disabled under SSA rules.

In the State of SC, DDS is administered through a section of the SC Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. Their job is to look through the information you provided, check your medical records, and determine if, by that information, you are disabled or not, pursuant to SSA rules. Sometimes, though not necessarily a requirement they do so, if they are not quite clear on whether or not your medical records indicate disability, they may schedule an appointment for you to go to an Independent Medical Examiner which may be able to help them clarify things some in order for DDS to make a determination.

If you have ample medical evidence proving your claim during the initial application level and showing that you qualify under SSA rules, then DDS will make a favorable determination regarding your claim. If not, then they will send you a denial letter. If you get the denial letter, you have 60 days from the date of the letter to submit the necessary forms to request an appeal, which is called a request for reconsideration.

During the Reconsideration stage, a completely different group of folks from DDS is supposed to review all the evidence and make their own determination, independet of the prior determination. If they make a favorable determination, then you will begin receiving disability benefits. If not, and you wish to continue with your claim, then you have 60 days to request a hearing.

Generally, it has been taking an average of 3 to 6 months for a determination to be made during the initial application process. If denied and you file for reconsideration, depending on when you request it, it can then take an additional 6 months or so for that determination to be made. If you are denied again and request a hearing, it then may take a bit longer for you to get your hearing date, since you basically take your turn and wait for your turn to come up.

If you have questions about the disability process and don't know who to turn to, and do not have someone representing you already, feel free to contact me through my contact page in my website here, or by calling me on the number listed in this website.

SOCIAL SECURITY

News Release

Social Security Hearings Backlog Down for First Time in Decade
Productivity and Processing Times Also Improve

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that for the first time since 1999, the agency has ended the year with fewer disability hearings pending than in the prior year. Social Security ended fiscal year (FY) 2009 with 722,822 hearings pending compared to 760,813 hearings pending at the start of the year, a reduction of more than 37,000 cases. Over the same period, the average processing time for these cases improved from 514 days in FY 2008 to 491 in FY 2009.

“Our backlog reduction plan is working, and progress is accelerating,” Commissioner Astrue said. “Even in the face of a significant increase in our workloads as a result of the worst recession since the Great Depression, we have reduced the hearings backlog for nine consecutive months. Thanks to the efforts of thousands of hardworking Social Security employees and the additional funding we received from President Obama and the Congress, we have exceeded our backlog reduction goal for this year.”

To achieve its backlog reduction goals, the agency has embarked on the largest expansion in decades of its capacity to hear disability appeals. This year, the agency hired 147 new Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) and 850 support staff and plans to hire 226 additional ALJs plus support staff in FY 2010. To provide flexibility to assist the most backlogged hearing offices, the agency opened three new National Hearing Centers (NHCs) in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Baltimore, Maryland; and Chicago, Illinois. The agency also has aggressive plans to open 14 new hearing offices and 4 satellite offices by the end of next year with the first of those new offices opening in Anchorage, Alaska in the next few months.

In addition to reducing the number of cases awaiting a hearing decision, the agency again targeted the oldest and most difficult cases for processing. Beginning in FY 2007 with 65,000 cases that were 1,000 days old or older, the agency has continually attacked its “aged” cases. This year, the agency targeted 166,838 cases that were 850 days or older and virtually eliminated this entire universe of cases. The goal in FY 2010 has been reset again to eliminate cases over 825 days old.

Social Security’s ALJs also continue to increase their productivity. The agency averaged 570 dispositions (2.28 per day) per available ALJ in FY 2009, an upward trend that has continued for the last three years.

For more information about Social Security’s hearings process and backlog reduction initiatives, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/appeals.