The Whitewater Lawyer

Author: wwlawyer

  • “I just can’t understand it.”

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    There exist two different ideas, which I will spell out here explicitly: Sometimes, when someone engages in a course of action that I hear described in a particular way, I cannot comprehend the line of logic that would lead a person to do that. There is no emotional input I can conceive of that, through…

  • Some technical details on the Winnebago Hike 100 1316SB

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    Some detailed photos and component links for potential buyers who are more technical like me, since I’m procrastinating loading up. If you’re like me you may have some questions about equipment and wiring setup and hopefully this post can answer some of your questions. First, some of the basics: Solar charge controller – GoPower GP-PWM-30-SQ…

  • I’m finally on the road, what next?

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    I keep hearing isolated phrases from music that don’t really make any sense in context, just feel like phrases that makes sense to my life right now. From Hamilton… We’re finally on the road, we’ve had quite a run… We get the job done… of course that doesn’t actually make any literal sense in context,…

  • “On writing,” but not like Stephen King’s book

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    I am bilingual. You know, I speak two languages. My languages are “sailor” and “professor.” I can speak eloquently and professionally, diplomatically even. I can tell you to fuck off without telling you to fuck off, but I can also just tell you to fuck off. Seriously, when I don’t think about it, I drop…

  • Route planning: the distance and time expectation

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    Route plan so far, more stops to be added, this just gives me a baseline. The trip will be a minimum of 12k miles and 200 hours of driving. 2/3 of the driving is on the way there, as this route assumed just heading straight home from Denali. Adding a stop at Kenai would add…

  • Getting ready to go north

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    It’s been a while since I took a proper trip.  And yet, I have not been staying still.   I started traveling essentially as soon as I had control over it.  In childhood, my parents tended to center travel around a fixed location, a weekend house they built on the opposite side of the city…

  • In memory of Megan Thompson

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    Today is the anniversary of our friend Megan Thompson’s untimely death on the Oconaluftee River in the Smokies last winter. I almost forgot the day but a news story reminded me – the one year anniversary of war beginning in Ukraine, which happened actually at around the same time. In fact my last message to…

  • Just kind of a general long-overdue update

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    It’s been a while! How embarrassing, it looks like my last post here was as I was wrapping up my first van life experiment, almost two years ago. And it really wasn’t fair of me to ghost the page because there really was a lot going on over that time. I never really recapped the…

  • RV for sale

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    While I haven’t written about it enough on here, I’ve had this lovely 2006 Roadtrek Adventurous RV in my possession for the last two and a half years, but it’s come time to move on. It is a 2006 RV (2005 van) built in Canada by Roadtrek, on a van built by Mercedes in Germany…

  • The Biblical argument for Biden (from Facebook)

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    One of my Facebook friends, a Trump supporter, shared this meme on his Facebook page.  https://www.facebook.com/levi.hombrelibre/posts/4918530741506195 I made my usual snarky comments, then got this in response: Here is my reply: Sorry for the slow response, as is typical in Facebook “argument” I am being tasked to reply to a lazy meme with detailed research. …

  • Update at the apex of my 2020 cross-country road trip

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    2020 08 20 I feel kind of bad that I haven’t been blogging along the way on this trip. I’ve been updating Facebook and sometimes Twitter and Instagram, so see my personal social feeds for the blow-by-blow. I’ve been on the road for a little over three weeks now, on a trip that will eventually…

  • Update and reboot: Some discussion on happiness research

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    I know I haven’t posted in a while, but I’m going to resist the temptation to update you on all the developments of the last two years. Instead, I’m going to focus on the findings of my research. As most of you know, my main drive in life is happiness, and I’ve spent the last…

  • iPhone Xs vs Pixel 3: An observational review

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    The iPhone Xs I loved the design of the new iPhone X when it came out in 2017, but after trying one out for a week in early 2018 I decided to hold off for the next one.  My iPhone 7 was perfectly adequate at the time.  Then Apple introduced the iPhone Xs with a…

  • Update: Who’s Ready and other happenings

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    Every time I come to update this site I’m disappointed in myself for how far behind I’ve fallen.  So this post might be a bit of a belated catch-up. Who’s Ready My major new project for 2019 is a new social networking app called Who’s Ready.  I’ve got a whole web site set up about…

  • First RV trip, lessons and experiences

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    I realize I’ve fallen behind and this post really merits at least three posts on different topics.  So I guess I’ll just dump a lot of info into this one post, with the dates when I should’ve written them. 2/11/18 – After this Yosemite experience, it’s clear to me that I need to make some…

  • Birthday in Yosemite

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    What a long strange trip it’s been! Some of you may have heard of GoRuck. They make backpacks, and to sell more backpacks they invented the sport of “rucking” and started hosting “GoRuck challenge” events in various cities. So they’re known among the adventure/obstacle racing circles and have been on my radar for years. Their…

  • Some thoughts on starting a Social Security practice

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    I’ve been fielding some questions on Reddit lately about starting an SSDI practice, and I’ve been asked to share the content.  Unfortunately I can’t copy-paste without doxxing my main Reddit handle, so I’ll have to start from scratch here.  I now present my super abridged guide on how to get into Social Security advocacy, assuming…

  • Business travel essentials, part one: Packing

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    The frequent flyer’s handbook part one: The business trip packing list. One part of my work that I really enjoy is traveling to cover cases all over the country. This is usually a service I perform as a contractor for other attorneys when their clients move to a different area, but I sometimes encounter the…

  • Lifestyle design

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    So I’ve dropped this phrase “lifestyle design” on this site a few times and it’s been a while since I explained it, at least concisely, if at all. Lifestyle design is a phrase I stole from Timothy Ferriss’s book “The Four-hour Work Week.” It refers to the idea of taking charge of your complete life…

  • Called myself out in a bar

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    2017 10 10 I’m sitting in a bar in Palm Beach where I just had a conversation with a lovely young woman who claimed to be a writer but admitted she had no real reason not to be committing to her writing except she’s afraid to take the plunge. I told her about what I’d…

  • Struggling to get by after receiving benefits

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    There’s a great article today in the Washington Post exploring in detail the stories of some SSI recipients struggling to get by in rural parts of America. This is a sad truth about our disability benefits system and social safety net in this country: very often the benefits just aren’t enough to get by.  It’s…

  • How to get Social Security benefits – Part 1, the Initial Application.

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    Potential clients often ask me what it is that I will do for them, and in a lot of ways the main answer is that I know how to win Social Security benefits, and I take them through the process. It’s true that, if the steps are followed carefully, you may not need help from…

  • Commentary on the newly proposed revisions to the Social Security regulations

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    The government has proposed drastic changes to the Social Security law which would have a devastating effect on Social Security claimants.  The proposed regulations and explanatory documents can be found here: http://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=SSA-2012-0035 The rule is presented to look benign enough and even beneficial.  The rule is proposed as elevating non-doctor medical sources, such as social workers,…

  • Some thoughts on the trend in grant rates

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    It’s become a harsh fact of life for experienced Social Security advocates: the government simply isn’t granting cases like they used to.  The grant rate at the hearing level is down below 50% nationwide according to disabilityjudges.com, which notes that the nationwide average grant rate is down to 44%.   Most advocates have seen our…

  • Musing on purpose

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    I’ve been a bit down about work lately and I don’t fully feel like I’m making the difference in the world that I want to make. I’m in Social Security.  I advocate for people seeking benefits from the government.  The work is depressing because the situation is depressing.  Most of my clients wait at least…