Hidden Fortress

Doing A DIY Move – Hire Local Moving Services to Load The Truck!

Introduction

Moving can be an exciting, yet overwhelming experience. While a DIY move gives you total control over the process, it can be a physically challenging and time-consuming task. However, did you know you can split the difference? Hiring residential moving services to load the truck can provide you the perfect balance between a full-service move and a DIY move.

Understanding the DIY Moving Process

DIY moves often come to mind when you're trying to cut down the expenses associated with relocating. The prospect of self-packing and renting a truck can seem like a cost-effective solution. However, there's more to a DIY move than just the financial aspect. You'll also need to consider the physical labor, the time involved, and the stress that comes with it. While a full-service move done by residential moving companies might save you from these challenges, the costs could be substantially higher. This is where local moving services can come in handy, bridging the gap between cost-effectiveness and convenience.

The Role of Local Moving Services in a DIY Move

Local residential moving services typically offer an array of options that you can tailor according to your needs. They can provide just loading and unloading services, which is an excellent option for a DIY move. Hiring professional help to load your truck ensures that your belongings are packed safely and securely, minimizing the risk of damage during transit. Choosing the right local moving service will depend on several factors, including their reputation, reliability, cost, and the range of services they provide.

Preparing for Your DIY Move: From Planning to Packing

Creating a moving checklist is crucial to keep your DIY move organized. This list should include tasks like acquiring packing materials, organizing and decluttering, and packing room by room. As far as packing goes, don't skimp on quality packing materials. The safety of your belongings is paramount, so invest in sturdy boxes, packing paper, bubble wrap, and packing tape. Consider your local moving service as a partner in this process. Communicate clearly about what items you have, so they can assist with packing strategies and provide additional resources, if needed.

Maximizing Local Moving Services

To fully maximize the benefits of your local residential moving service, careful scheduling is essential. Coordinate with them in advance to decide the most efficient way to load your truck, and remember to make allowances for unexpected delays. Once they arrive, your role will be more supervisory, ensuring the process goes according to your plan. Remember, these professionals know best when it comes to safely loading a truck, so rely on their expertise while retaining control of your move.

DIY Move Safety Considerations

Keeping your belongings safe doesn't end at loading. Make sure to discuss insurance options with your chosen local moving service to cover any potential damages. Furthermore, don't forget about personal safety. It can be easy to overlook, but moving, especially a DIY one, can be physically demanding. Proper attire, hydration, and taking breaks are crucial.

Post-Move Considerations

Upon reaching your destination, the unloading and unpacking begin. If you've labeled your boxes well and provided a clear inventory to your residential moving service, this process should be straightforward. After settling in, take time to evaluate the service provided by the moving company. Were they punctual, professional, and careful with your belongings? Leaving a review or providing feedback helps these services improve, and assists others in making informed decisions. If any issues or damages have occurred during the move, reach out to your moving service promptly to resolve them.

Conclusion

The advantages of a DIY move combined with a residential moving service are numerous. This option can provide you with control over your moving process while still offering the convenience of professional help, particularly when it comes to the heavy lifting. So why not make your next move a DIY one, aided by the expertise of your local residential moving companies?

Chronic Pain and VA Disability Claims

Chronic pain resulting from another injury or illness is an eligible condition for which veterans can submit VA chronic disability claims.

Though this has not always been the case, since the case of Saunders vs. Wilkie in 2018, the VA now considers chronic pain as a claimable service-connected disability when certain conditions are met.

VA chronic pain disability claims help professionals encourage all veterans experiencing chronic pain to file their claims, even if they have been declined prior to 2018, with the necessary evidence to receive a fair rating.

Chronic Pain and a Service-Connected Injury or Illness

To be eligible for VA disability pay for chronic pain, the veteran must have experienced a service-connected injury or illness to which the pain is attributed and the pain must be ongoing for more than 6 months for it to be considered chronic.

VA chronic pain disability claims showing that the pain a veteran is experiencing is affecting their quality of life and/or ability to work will be rated in the same way that all other service-connected injuries and illnesses are.

With that evidence-based rating, the veteran’s disability pay can be adjusted accordingly.

Difficulty of a Chronic Pain Claim

The challenge that many veterans face when attempting to claim their chronic pain is in proving the significance of that pain, how it is related to their service-connected disability, and how it is negatively affecting them.

There is no specific VA rating system that considers chronic pain alone, making gauging its effect difficult and subjective.

Still, as any veteran experiencing it knows, chronic pain can cause more than just discomfort; it can be downright debilitating, cause mental health issues like depression, and even contribute to additional health problems.

Seek Expert Help For Chronic Pain Claims

In the effort of presenting all of this as evidence to support a disability claim, veterans struggling with chronic pain should consider seeking VA chronic pain disability claims help from an experienced third party that understands the claims process.

The right VA chronic pain disability claims assistance can ensure that the right evidence supporting chronic pain conditions is submitted, increasing the chance that a fair rating will be assigned.

What Evidence Must Be Presented?

This evidence should include everything from military and VA medical records to private medical records, including doctor statements on how the pain is thought to be associated with the veteran’s service-connected disability.

It should also include evidence that shows how chronic pain is affecting the veteran’s employability and their overall enjoyment of life in general.

To effectively provide all of this critical information in the most considerable ways, veterans can seek VA chronic pain disability claims assistance from knowledgeable specialists who are experienced with the disability claims process.

What is the Concurent Retirement and Disability Program?

A common concern of retiring veterans with service-connected disabilities is how their VA disability benefits compensation will affect their retirement pay.

Normally, veterans receiving disability pay and then reaching retirement age and the start of their retirement pay will see a reduction in retirement pay in the amount of their veterans disability benefit.

Yet some disabled veterans can qualify to retain some or all of their retirement benefits while continuing to receive their veterans disability compensation if they qualify for the Concurrent Retirement and Disability Program.

What is the Concurrent Retirement and Disability Program?

The Concurrent Retirement and Disability Program or CRDP allows qualifying military veterans with service-connected disabilities to receive veterans disability benefits plus military retirement benefits concurrently without a reduction in retirement pay.

It is designed to protect the retirement pay of disabled veterans who made the military their career prior to their disability.

How Does A Veteran Qualify for CRDP?

To qualify for CRDP, veterans must have a disability rating of 50% or higher and in addition, meet one these requirements:

They must have retired from the military after 20 or more years of service.
They medically retired under Chapter 61 due to a service-connected disability.
They retired early, having served less than 20 years, under the Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA).
They served for 20 or more years in the National Guard and Reserve.

For veterans meeting the above requirements, CRDP will restore some or all of their retirement benefits based on their disability rating up to 100% of the retirement benefit.

Under this program, veterans with a total disability rating are entitled to their full retirement pay concurrently with the full VA disability benefits package.

Are There Retroactive CRDP Payments?

Additionally, as this program is a newer benefit still being phased in since 2004, some qualifying disabled veterans may also be entitled to retroactive CRDP payments if the date that their disability became 50% or higher was prior to their application to the program.

Any retroactive CRDP payments due are issued by the VA in a lump sum separate from current veterans disability compensation and retirement payments.

Find Out If You Qualify For This Benefit!

Disabled veterans who have served 20 or more years before their retirement and have a disability rating of 50% or more at this time could qualify for the Concurrent Retirement and Disability Program, which allows them to keep more of their retirement benefits every month.

To learn more about this veterans disability benefits program and whether they qualify, disabled veterans should reach out to the VA or discuss it with a veterans disability compensation expert who can help them access all of their VA disability benefits entitlement.

How Does Full Body X-Ray Scanning Work?

Full body scanning has become an essential practice in correctional facilities and other places, as it provides the most accurate means of contraband detection available.

Of the two body scanning technologies that are used today that are backscatter and millimeter wave, it is the former that is most commonly used in corrections facilities, partly because this technology has been available the longest.

What Is Backscatter X-Ray?

Body scanning x-ray devices used in airports, corrections facilities, federal buildings, and others employ a technology called backscatter x-ray, which is a low-power, digital version of the old x-ray machines that imposed images on photographic film.

The old machines involved an image scanner behind the body and an x-ray tube in front, a setup that required a considerable dose of radiation that had to pass through the body to create the image on the film.

Today’s x-ray body scanning machines are fortunately much weaker and much safer.

What Are Full Body Scanning Machines?

Also called soft x-ray scanners, modern low-intensity full body scanning machines contain a single image scanner on one side of the body only and an x-ray tube close to the image scanner.

With the image scanner and the x-ray tube on the same side, x-rays do not need to fully penetrate the body to generate an image.

Instead, these weaker x-rays only penetrate through clothing and about an inch into the body, where they scatter, bounce off structures within the body, then ricochet back to the image scanner.

The data generated by the scattering and rebounding x-rays are used to create the x-ray image.

How Do Body Scanning Machines Discern Different Body Parts?

How do body scanning machines differentiate between flesh, bone, and other items?

Different shades in the image are generated according to the way that low-powered x-rays behave as they enter the body, then bounce back out.

Based on the density and makeup of different materials, the energy signatures of ions and atoms and other factors, clear, details x-ray images are produced.

How Is Contraband Detected?

How do modern body scanning machines now detect contraband so easily?

Continued advancement in full body scanning machines has now led to technology such as software that understands the physical makeup of various substances, from parts of the human body to non-human items like weapons, packets of drugs, paper, and much more.

Based on the response generated by low-powered x-rays as they scatter and bounce back, the body scanning machine is able to detect the physical makeup of everything in front of the scanner.

This Is a Developing Technology

The x-ray technology used in body scanners continues to develop, making it not just more accurate, but also safer.

As full body scanning continues to evolve, corrections facilities and others using these machines can continue to accomplish fast, safe scanning while delivering the smallest doses of radiation possible.

Fortunately, today’s top-of-the-line full body x-ray scanners have been approved as being exceptionally safe, with little risk for repeated use.

Scanning for Person-Borne Contraband in Correctional Facilities

There are multiple ways in which contraband makes its way inside prisons and other correctional facilities.

Person-borne contraband is that which is found hidden on a person, either concealed within or under their clothing or within a body cavity.

Detecting person-borne contraband must be done using capable, yet safe methods to be accurate enough to locate items while also not causing harm to the person or to security personnel.

Full body scanning using advanced x-ray technology is considered the safest and most accurate way to locate person-borne contraband.

What Detection Methods Are Used in Correctional Facilities?

There are two methods in which scanning for person-borne contraband can be performed at a correctional facility: full-body stationary walk-through scanning and handheld wand body scanning.

Both of these devices are available using various technologies such as x-ray, backscatter x-ray, transmission x-ray, ion scanning, millimeter wave, and others that detect different items including cellular devices, metallic and non-metallic items, narcotics, and explosives, each to varying degrees.

The devices also have varying degrees of penetration in three different scanning situations, those being on the body, within a body cavity, and under body armor.

Yet among all of the different walk-through and handheld devices available, as of yet there is no single device that can detect all five categories of contraband in all three locations.

Which Devices Yield the Least Amount of Radiation?

Concerning radiation, the scanners emitting the lowest amount of radiation can detect the fewest types of contraband, while those detecting the most types emit higher radiation.

While all of these devices are considered safe for repeated use, the number of uses considered safe for each device may be higher or lower depending on the amount of radiation emitted.

Handheld devices generally deliver smaller doses of radiation in comparison to walk-through units, but this is not always the case, as exposure may increase based on how the device is used.

Also, the cost of these devices tends to correlate directly with the radiation level and detection ability of each device.

Which Scanning Device Is Right for Your Facility?

Practically speaking, handheld scanners may be more desirable in many cases due to their easy use and affordability, but they are more time-consuming to use.

Conversely, full body scanners are more convenient and thorough, but much more expensive.

When considering the cost of these devices and their different limitations based on the technology and radiation exposure, the sensible solution for any correctional facility is to use a combination of these approaches to detect the most types of person-borne contraband while delivering the least amount of radiation possible.

Curious About Hot Stone Massage Therapy? Here Are Its 5 Benefits!

There are a lot of ways to relax, de-stress, and energize.

You can go on a vacation leave from work and spend time with family and friends, you can visit the park with your pets, or you can do some yoga session with your pals.

But if you prefer to do something truly relaxing, calming, and energizing, booking for a hot stone massage therapy might be the best option for you.

A massage therapy that combines the art of Swedish massage and the unique and satisfying effect of heated stones will surely relieve your stress and refuel your energy.

What Is Hot Stone Massage Therapy?

Whenever you see video clips or images portraying a massage therapist carefully putting smooth, heated stones on the back of a person lying peacefully on a spa bed, then that is what hot stone massage therapy is all about.

Hot stone massage therapists are trained to use and place heated basalt river stones on trigger points and other specific points of the body and they can even hold and use the stones while doing Swedish massage techniques like kneading, stroking, and rolling.

Five benefits of hot stone massage therapy

There are five great benefits that you will discover from hot stone massage therapy:

Alleviate Anxiety And Relieve Stress - All massage therapies, including hot stone massage therapy, are found to be very effective in relieving stress and anxiety. The use of heated stones even adds to the relaxation and calming effect that significantly induces positive vibes and energy. After a long week at work, a hot stone massage therapy might work its magic on you.
Reduce Muscle Pain And Tension - Since heat has been used to manage muscle pain and tension for a very long time now, hot stone massage therapy is also very effective in doing such. How does it work? The heat applied on the body part will increase the blood flow in that area and reduce muscle tension and pain.
Promote Sleep - Research found that massage therapy can replace sleeping pills in people who have difficulty in sleeping. Hot stone massage therapy, when done particularly on the back, can help in promoting sleep and relaxation. Once you get a good sleep, you will automatically feel better and energized when you wake up.
Improve Immunity - When you undergo a massage therapy, it can lower your arginine-vasopressin, the hormone which regulates water retention and blood pressure. This will lead to having your immunity boosted, which can help you ward off diseases and sicknesses.
Aid In Managing Cancer Symptoms - Cancer symptoms such as depression, nausea, anxiety, stress, fatigue, and pain are found to be managed well through massage therapies like hot stone massage therapy.

Trigger Point Massage Therapy – Learn Its Many Benefits!

Trigger point massage therapy, also called neuromuscular therapy or myofascial trigger point therapy, is a manual form of therapy that aims at releasing and detecting trigger points.

It mainly targets the muscles.

Trigger points are hyperirritable muscle spots mostly with palpable taut bands or knots in the muscle tissue.

On compression, the trigger points are painful and often relay tenderness and pain to other body areas.

The affected muscle is in most instances ischemic which causes the whole muscle to be weak, painful, too tight, and becomes fatigued easily.

The trigger points are usually caused by overstressing the muscle, sustained chills, and muscle fiber trauma.

What Does Trigger Point Massage Therapy Do?

Trigger point massage therapy targets directly the trigger point and the adjacent muscles.

The therapist keenly identifies the trigger point and may use whole-body vibration, friction strokes, compressions, or stretches which is suitable to make the trigger point melt away.

There is a significant or complete alleviation of pain once the trigger point is released.

Trigger point massage therapy can be used in managing headaches, frozen shoulder, osteoarthritis, temporomandibular joint pain, migraines, back pain, whiplash, tinnitus, carpal tunnel syndrome, sports injuries, hip pain among others.

Benefits Of Trigger Point Massage Therapy

There are many benefits to be received from trigger point massage therapy.

Improves Body Posture - Tight muscles negatively affect the posture through slouching. Trigger point therapy may be used to relieve muscle tightness and alleviates pain which in turn gives the normal human posture.
Improves Flexibility - Trigger point massage therapy stretches your connective tissue and thus improving the body's flexibility.
Increases Range Of Motion - Muscle weakness and pain majorly causes reduced flexibility and decreased range of motion. Release of muscle tension from a trigger point increases the range of motion and improved flexibility.
Promotes Hormone Production – Trigger point massage therapy also helps with lymph drainage.
Alleviates Pain - It alleviates all kinds of pain. Before pharmacological pain management is given, muscle tension release should be done on the main trigger points.
Improves Muscle Circulation - Through tissue stimulation, there is improved blood flow. This reduces the ischemic-related pain.
Reduces Stress - Trigger point massage therapy frees your mind from emotions and difficult situations. It also reduces headaches and migraines by relaxing the tight muscles associated with migraines and tension headaches.

Trigger point massage therapy is used to relax the inflamed muscles which is often applicable to the those involved in sports.

Overextension of muscles may result in soreness and these massages help curb the soreness and hasten the recovery time.

In Summary

Trigger point massage therapy is rejuvenating.

At the end of the massage, one feels connected, revitalized, balanced, and energized to keep going.

Trigger point massage therapy gets rid of the body's distractions and stimulates the brain cells thus enhancing a healthy mental and physical connection.

Detecting Contraband in Prisons – What Is Contraband?

Keeping prisons safe starts with the utilization of the best detection technology like advanced full body scanners.

Before any type of detection technology for corrections including scanners can be used accurately, the definition of what classifies as contraband must be made.

Without policies that include the definition of contraband and how it must be detected, full body scanning is not as effective as it could be.

What Is Considered Contraband in Corrections Facilities?

In its most basic definition, contraband refers to illicit items that are not allowed within a facility being brought in or out illegally.

The challenge with relying on the basic definition of contraband is that what is prohibited in one facility may not be the same as what is prohibited in another.

While most people have a good idea as to which items are typically considered to be contraband, relying solely on interpretation can open the door for inaccuracies, even using advanced detection technology like full body scanners.

Scanning Is Helpful Only When Contraband Is Explicitly Defined

As useful as full body scanning with today’s more accurate and advanced detection technology may be, it can only be used to its greatest abilities by when the exact definition of contraband according to each specific facility is clearly stated.

In prisons and other correctional facilities, contraband normally refers to items like weapons, illegal drugs, items that could facilitate escape, tobacco, explosives of any kind, and alcohol, the obvious items that most people are aware of.

Other Possible Definitions of Contraband

Depending on the type of facility and the level of security, contraband can also refer to things like aerosol spray cans, medications, smoking accessories, USB storage drives, tattooing equipment, flammable liquids, and other specific and lesser-known items.

Unless there are policies in effect that identify all of these things and detection technology is used to detect all of these items, even the most accurate full body scanning features can still fail to keep a facility safe against contraband due to human inaccuracy.

In Summary

While it is essential that every prison has accurate detection technology for corrections systems in place, that technology cannot actually be protective without a unique definition of what constitutes contraband within that facility where it is being used.

The prime goal at every prison is to keep inmates and staff safe by keeping contraband out.

That can only happen when all staff understands the definition of contraband in their setting and are fully trained on how to use available detection technology to accurately locate those specific items.

Which Is Better? Movers or a DIY Moving Pod?

Pod moving containers have become a popular alternative for DIY moves, as they offer a convenient and affordable moving and storage solution.

In a few situations, these storage and moving containers can make sense over hiring full-service movers.

Yet in other instances, regular moving services can still be a better option, even in those situations when moving dates do not coincide and item storage is required.

Benefits of Moving Pods

Why choose a moving pod?

The biggest benefit that moving containers offer is time, as those preparing for local moves can gradually pack their belongings and put them in the pod over days or weeks until it is finally filled up, then call the container service to have the unit picked up and relocated.

They can be less expensive than regular moving services, but pods only work out if there is a place for them to sit while it’s being loaded up.

Concerns About Moving Pods

Another concern is that customers must move their heavy furnishings into the container themselves, which may be difficult.

The fact that the pod sits out in the sun and/or the cold might be another issue that could affect the ability to actually use it as intended since some home items can be damaged by high or low temperatures.

Pods come priced for moves within a limited area, too.

Pods Can Be Very Convenient

Limitations aside, moving containers can be convenient for those dealing with a move-out date that does not correspond with their move-in date and it is necessary to store belongings for a while.

Storage usually comes at an additional fee, but it is a simpler solution than moving boxes to a storage unit, then moving them from the unit to the new residence.

Storage Is Available From Moving Services Also

What many people may not realize is that most moving services offer the same short-term storage options to help their customers deal with moving schedule discrepancies, sometimes at no extra cost.

Not only do customers hiring traditional local movers then have the advantage of someone else loading and unloading the truck, but the movers will frequently store goods in their own warehouses between move-out and move-in day, keeping items protected and climate-controlled.

Which Is The Better Option?

So, which is the better option to choose, a moving pod container or a regular moving service?

While both have their advantages and disadvantages, hiring moving services is better for those who want their things moved quickly and safely be professionals, even if that requires a short period of storage between pickup and dropoff.

Moving pods can work well for some who are willing to put in the hours of work themselves to get everything, including their heavy furniture, into the container, but full-service movers can do it all quickly and responsibly!

Why Are The Newest Full Body Scanners Safer to Use?

Body scanners have been in use in prisons, airports, and countless other facilities to improve security for many years now.

While these devices have already been instrumental in improving security at these locations, the technology is continually being updated, suggesting that facilities should be updating their equipment.

Are Body Scanners Worth the Expense?

As expensive as full body scanning machines are, it might lead some to question what the value is in replacing older x-ray body scanning units with newer ones.

This is a valid question that has an equally valid response for heads of corrections facilities especially to take into consideration.

Better Imaging - The latest technology in body scanners has introduced groundbreaking imaging improvements, with high-definition 3D imaging making it possible to detect contraband as small as a packet of powder or differentiate between living tissue and other materials.
Lower Radiation - Improved full body scanning can now be performed using a fraction of the dose of older, legacy machines, a factor that is especially important in prison facilities and similar where multiple scans per day can be normal.
Fewer Physical Interactions - Greater accuracy with lower radiation means fewer of the questionable images common with older x-ray body scanning machines as well as fewer pat-downs and other physical interactions. Advanced body scanners with 3D imaging and automatic detection eliminate the guesswork of older machines, making security scanning as close to being a completely hands-off process as it has ever been.

Based on these three noteworthy reasons, it should be clear how today’s more advanced body scanners make the security screening process faster and more convenient, but also safer for everyone involved.

Correctional facilities that have already updated their full body scanning capabilities are getting lower radiation readings among staff and inmates both, seeing fewer calls for pat-downs and body cavity searches, and experiencing fewer overdose incidences and illicit substances being passed around the facility.

The Final Focus

The important takeaway in this is that there is more to safety than just reducing radiation dose, which has always been a focus of improving x-ray body scanning technology.

Safety in correctional facilities is also measured by the kinds of interactions happening between inmates and staff, and the reduction of harm to the inmates themselves from contraband such as weapons and drugs.

With better ways to reduce all of these risks, every facility using full body scanning should seriously look at how upgrading to the latest technology can further improve the safety level at that facility.