Wheel Of SysFortune

I mentioned this in my recent post PYIB, with a photo of a fellow who won the chance to take out some pent up 'computer frustrations' by using a golf club to directly interface with an old laptop!! haha!
The golf tournament contest was held by SysGen and aptly titled 'Wheel Of SysFortune', where golfers could give the wheel a spin and get a chance to win prizes, including the chance to practice their swing one last time at this tourney. And don't worry, all the parts were picked up and recycled afterward :)

PYIB

PYIB stands for Professional Young Insurance Brokers, whose mandate is to build a strong, professional young broker network through continuing education, industry involvement and political action. They are a subcommittee of the IBAA, Insurance Brokers Association Of Alberta.

The PYIB helps to create a better awareness of the insurance industry, improves young brokers confidence, and creates a venue for industry peers to meet. I t acts as an introduction for young broker members into the provincial broker association by providing a venue for political involvement and input on the ongoing changes within the industry. The PYIB also helps to tailor education to meet the current needs of young brokers, gets involved with communities at a grassroots level to help strengthen the broker image, and provides a place for young brokers to voice their opinions and help shape the future of their broker industry. 

One of the things they do in the community is raise funds for charity, with things like the PYIB golf tournament held this past weekend at Alberta Springs Golf Resort. With a full slate of golfers on the greens and many organizations and groups pitching in with sponsorships and prizes, including BlueCircle and our subsidiary company, Hole In One Direct, the tournament was a great success, a lot of fun, and raised some money for an awesome organization called KidSport, who help kids whose families cannot afford to enroll them in sports programs.

I had lots of feathered friends hanging around, thanks to this birdhouse and the nice pond on the 12th hole.

Selfie!

In addition to the Hole In One, we had a fun game of "lasso the case' for a chance to win a prize. 

It was a scenic spot to hang out on a beautiful day

"I did it!!"

This fellow's nephew is a real cowboy who would have been proud!

Pretty good technique

There had been a big windstorm a day earlier

Caught her!

SysGen had a prize draw for a chance to take out your frustrations on an old laptop!! haha

Water Is The New Fire?

Water is the New Fire! At least that the case when it comes to insurance. Pete Karageorgos, the Director of Consumer and Industry Relations at The Insurance Bureau of Canada recently stated that water has surpassed fire as the leading cause of home insurance payouts. Home insurance was originally started as a way to deal with the consequences of fire but insurers now pay out more than $400 million annually for severe weather and subsequent 'flooding' damages. These weather related damages have been on the rise since 2009 and the annual amount is quadruple the payouts prior to that time, with no reason to believe that it will ever decrease. Other than the obvious concerns  about our environment and the impact this is having on so many people's lives, from an insurance viewpoint the concern is how to provide proper coverage that is going to protect the consumer yet be affordable. Stay tuned for more developments on this front in future posts.

Stuff It

This YouTube video was forwarded to me by someone who thought it was quirky and funny. I had a good laugh and thought I'd share it here too.

Hail Caeser...Cocktail Of Canada!!!

Thank you to Kyla for performing her magic on this awesome image she whipped up for me last night

Hail Caeser...cocktail of Canada!! No doubt, eh? In fact, the Caeser cocktail was concocted by Walter Chell, in what is now the Westin Hotel, back in 1969, right here in my home city of Calgary. Maybe that explains why I love them so much, especially with my wife's pickled Brussel sprouts as a garnish!! Delish!! haha!

Though the Bloody Mary is quite popular across the globe, the variation called the Caeser, made with Mott's Clamato juice is well known and well consumed pretty much exclusively in Canada. Interestingly, 'Clamato Juice' was first invented in 1966 in New York by two employees of Duffy-Mott, who combined tomato juice and clam broth in order to blend a Manhattan style clam chowder cocktail. Not sure what happened with their version but evidently Walter got a hold of the juice and created his own signature drink in honour of a new Italian restaurant opening in what was then the Calgary Inn.

Much loved across Canada, everyone seems to have their own variation, a customized or personalized blend of some sort, and I've seen (and sampled) many Caesers that came with some of the tastiest garnishes, including steamed clams, oysters, pickled asparagus, and my fave, as mentioned early, the home-made pickled Brussel sprouts. I've also seen some unusual, though still equally tasty, variations, like bacon crumbled in with the salted rim and a slice of crispy bacon wedged in the drink.

There's the Mexican version, with extra hot sauce and tequila instead of vodka. And, how about the folks who pour a bit of pickle juice in with the Clamato, to give it that extra pucker.

Jeesh, all this talk of Caesers is making me thirsty!! haha. I'll have to wait a few hours for work to be over and I can get home to mix one up!

??????????????

It's a crazy busy time of year for us at BlueCircle, since it's motorcycle season and not only do we have lots of renewals happening, but a lot of people hear about our excellent motorcycle coverage and are calling to get quotes and write up new policies. Last year about this time,  a 'gentleman' called me to get a quote for a motorcycle he was wanting to buy at a dealership. He was so anxious to get the bike that he cut me off in the middle of a question I was asking about his license particulars and blurted out in a rude manner "f**k all these questions man, just get me the insurance!". Of course, no-one wants to be spoken to like that, let alone be pressured to not perform their job in a professional manner, as required by their employer or the insurance companies they represent. I told him so and,  realizing he obviously had no idea of how these things worked, made the effort to explain why the questions were important. Needless to say, he hung up on me, so no real surprise there, and it went into the journals as another life lesson about "some people".
Fast forward to today and I am reading an industry news article about an insurer who states the intention to do away with all the questions, though I am not sure exactly what that means since there was no real explanation in the article about how this would work, just that they felt insurance companies were asking too many questions and 'annoying' their clients or potential clients.
As with anything else I've ever written about insurance from an educational point of view, this is another topic worthy of a few words. We, at BlueCircle, ask a lot of questions because all that information form the basis of the rating system. Your birth date and your subsequent age is an indicator of your behaviour, and your experience, as is your actual insurance history, your license status and history of convictions, and some of those other facts on which you are queried. The type of vehicle you are operating is also a critical piece of information, with make, model, age and value being part of the puzzle. Perhaps you drive a vintage or classic car, have an old beater, or a custom bike, but how that vehicle is valued and how it would be repaired or replaced is of concern of course. and, things change so rapidly, updates are constantly required too.
Anyway, you get the gist of what's being said and understand why there's so many ??????? Perhaps it is annoying to go through the process and get the third degree every time you deal with your broker or insurer but, really, would you want it any other way? Each client deserves to get their asset covered properly and for a fair price, and they certainly don't want to be just lumped in with everyone else out there, even though actuaries do that to a degree. If you choose to drive a basic car, why would you want to be rated the same and pay the same as the person who goes exotic and has a $100,000.00 car. if you're a good driver, with a clean record and no claims, you want to be rewarded for that and not have to pay the same as Joe Leadfoot, with multiple tickets.
So, why all the questions? Just to get the facts and make things fair, that's why!

Black Hole Photo

Sorry, but this is NOT a photo of a 'Black Hole'. It's just an artist's' rendering of one, since there has never been the technological capability to actually capture this phenomena on film . This is due to the fact that 'Black Holes' are either too far away or they're too small, and since they absorb all light, it's an extremely difficult subject to photograph.

What exactly is a 'Black Hole' anyway? They're cold remnants of former stars, so dense that no matter, not even light, can escape their powerful gravitational pull. Most stars eventually end up as "White Dwarfs" or "Neutron Stars", so "Black Holes' are the final evolutionary stage in teh lifetime of an enormous star, typically estimated to be 10 to 15 times the size of our own sun.

And, the truth is that they're only a theory, based on observations around the disturbance of stars and their orbital patterns, as well as images of infrared and radio waves that show debris fields created by objects being sucked in to the 'Black Hole'.

Now, there's a new project called "Event Horizon Telescope" that will use a series of probes to scan what is referred to as Sgr A, the largest and closest Black Hole to Earth that makes it a good subject. In their words "Sgr A* is thought to mark the position of a ~4 million solar mass black hole, and because of its proximity and estimated mass presents the largest apparent event horizon size of any black hole candidate in the Universe."

All pretty cool stuff and way out of my realm of thinking, but it will be interesting to see what they come up with when they put this all together. Then, maybe by then I'll have figured out what a "White Hole" is and can wrap my head around that concept, since it appears to be related to a Black Hole! LOL

Dishwasher Safe?

Yes, believe it or not, there are lots of people offering recipes and related suggestions and tips for cooking food in your dishwasher. 

There's something fishy about using your dishwasher to cook

A novel idea and intriguing enough to merit a bit of research on the topic, so off I went to check it out. And, while it would be easy enough to get into all the details of the variety of those recipes and suggestions, the 'pro' side so to speak, here's the slant of my post which focuses on the 'con' side. 

Take it from the authorities, that being the people who build dishwashers and know the capabilities of their equipment, there's a downside to improper use of this appliance.

Check out the Association Of Home Appliance Manufacturers website and their post about why you should not be using your dishwasher to cook. Just the word "Salmonella" is enough to discourage me from using this method to prepare dinner, even if it was a consideration in the first place!

Can you say "Salmonella"?

Dinner is served?

While it may be a novel idea to use an unusual appliance to prepare a meal, it might be best to stick to more traditional methods of cooking and save yourself a trip tot he hospital ( or morgue!)

Moving....

We knocked down a few walls and changed things around to reflect the growth in the Commercial Dept.

Yes, Paul is on the move again at work and getting set to start doing some producing for the Commercial Department here at BlueCircle. Not that I won't be still involved with the usual stuff, marketing and promoting, being involved with the motorcycle community, running our boot camps at lunch and after work, fixing stuff in the building and helping out our tenants.....whew, it makes me tired just thinking of it all!! haha! Maybe it's time to get an assistant!! :)

But, I digress. The real point is that BlueCircle has this young and dynamic group of Commercial insurance brokers who are itching to build their book of business and make some great things happen in this area. What's my role? Well, since we moved our office to this great little industrial/commercial neighbourhood, we were reminded so much of what really makes the business world in Calgary go round. Yes, we have some major players out there in the oil and gas industry, as well as other movers and shakers, but it;s the thousands and thousands of small businesses that populate areas like ours that are the lifeblood of the business community. We recognize that and want to work with those people.

Our thought is that 'we've planted ourselves in the neighbourhood and now we want all of us to grow together" so I'm going to do the old school thing and knock on some doors, meet some people and introduce them to BlueCircle. We're a different breed of cat, that's for sure, and we believe in being hands on and personal. We know our clients value great service, which is why we're growing based strictly on being a referral only business. We plan on having our Commercial Department provide the same awesome service and coverage as our Motorcycle and Personal Lines Departments.

Did You Know?

Did you hear the story in the news recently about an Ontario woman who was having a bitter dispute with her husband, who subsequently set their bed on fire in an act of spite. The conflagration subsequently spread to the rest of the house and caused $160,000.00 in damages. The husband was charged with a arson and disregard for human life and sent to jail for a couple of years.. The woman made a claim on her insurance with Allstate in order to get the damages to the house repaired and was denied, based on the fact that the fire was deliberately set by one of the named insured on the policy.  Apparently this isn't the only case of this situation occurring and it does seem unfair that a victim of a crime should be denied a claim just because the criminal was a spouse. Fortunately for those who live in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, the courts or legislatures have enacted 'innocent co-insured laws', meaning the insurance company would face legal requirements to consider a claim separately from a spouse’s illegal and intentional actions.  

Addendum...on the morning news Thursday May 4th...a story of an Alberta woman with a complaint about her insurance company on this exact topic. Her estranged husband got into her house and duct taped the overflow on the bathtub upstairs, then turned on the water and left it running. There was water damage to the home to the tune of $70,000.00 and the insurer agreed to pay her what amounted to her half of the settlement. No, not 100%, but at least a compromise, considering that in other provinces she would have received nothing. 

Motorcycle Only Garage

How about this slick little 'garage' for your motorcycle. It's called BikeBox24 and it is designed to keep your motorcycle out of the elements. Might be great for those who don't have a full sized garage, or if you're like me and have no room in the garage at all. Great for keeping the bike safe from the elements in Winter, or for those nasty Summer hail storms so frequent in Alberta, where I live. Or, how about for people who live in apartments and have underground parking. The worst thing about parkades is that they are generally really dusty and covering your bike with this type of structure would definitely help keep the grit away. Also, parkades are notorious for thefts and pilferage, so this BikeBox would probably help cut down on those sorts of incidents. Might be worth the cost just for that reason alone!

Not So Great Parking

Haha! Just another example of what one can find when searching for something else on the internet. I did the post about the creative (and tight) parking required for car owners in Tokyo, then noticed a fair number of photos and written articles about people who do just the opposite and hog more than one space.

Check out this nice photo display of some people who are obviously 'special' and feel no guilt in taking up 2, sometimes 3 or 4 parking spaces for themselves. Like, screw you everyone else!!

Drives a truck but has no concept of space and distance

Someone who could give a rat's ass about the fire department or anyone who's house was on fire

Someone who is both ignorant and illiterate

White corvette guy may have a hard time getting in his car after white truck guy taught him a lesson about inconsiderate parking 

I see no handicap sticker but even if they had one, does that entitle them to three stalls?

Another lesson taught to someone who parked where they shouldn't have done.

Yet another lesson taught! haha!

Seriously...WTF?