Category: Uncategorized


  • Where Did Thanksgiving Come From: Abe Lincoln or the Pilgrims?

    Thanksgiving here in Central New York is one of our favorite holidays. It’s a terrific time for family, football, and a great way to usher in December’s holiday season. Tradition has it that it was the Pilgrims who started Thanksgiving. But that’s not quite true. So we thought this would be a good time to […]

    November 22, 2016

  • How to Avoid Dangerous Carbon Monoxide in Your Home

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), unintentional carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning in the U. S. causes more than 20,000 people a year to visit the emergency room, 4,000 people to be hospitalized, and more than 400 to die. The Mayo Clinic lists the signs and symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning as […]

    November 15, 2016

  • Did You Know This About Teachers in 1915? No Ice Cream and No Men!

    We ran across an interesting page in the Old Farmer’s 2016 Almanac the other day, and it reminded us that American Education Week is coming up November 13-19. The page showed a list of rules for teachers in 1915…and by today’s standards, it’s pretty comical. Teachers today have never been smarter or more ready to […]

    November 8, 2016

  • 8 Ways to Get Scary Ghosts Home Safely

    We were speaking with a friend the other day reminiscing about our Halloween as kids. He and his brother, cousin, and neighbors got together before the big night and mapped out their route. Then he begged his mother to allow him to be a hobo, which at the time was cool. They double brown bagged it […]

    October 25, 2016

  • 5 Dos and Don’ts of Flying a Drone

    Drones have become popular here in the Mohawk Valley. Have you seen some of the spectacular videos of Utica and the area shot from drones? Here’s one of the fireworks during the 4th of July. Very cool! Mohawk Valley Community College offers training courses in Unmanned Aerial Systems (drones) and we even have the headquarters […]

    October 18, 2016

  • 7 Tips to Help You Handle Rainy Days Behind the Wheel

    We’ve had a great fall weather wise here in the Utica area. But with the leaves coming down soon and the weather probably getting rainy, at some point, every driver here has to deal with wet weather. But many people don’t realize the hazards the rain causes, so they just drive as they normally would. […]

    October 11, 2016

  • Steve Zogby Elected to Board of Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, Inc.

    Our own Steve Zogby was elected by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York, Inc. (IIABNY) to the national board of directors of IIABA on September 7, 2016. He will fill the unexpired term of John R. Costello as National Director of New York’s oldest state insurance producer trade association. Steve will represent […]

    October 4, 2016

  • The Most Common & Deadly Mistakes Made with Home Generators

    It sure is inconvenient during those rare times when the power goes off here in the Mohawk Valley. In fact, just last Saturday morning 17,000 National Grid customers in the Utica area were without power. A line on a transmission tower in Walesville fell down across another line causing the outage. While outages are usually […]

    September 27, 2016

  • Personal Property Insurance “Special” Limits, the Facts

    Did you know that your homeowners insurance policy covers your stuff everywhere? Here it is, straight from the policy, “We cover personal property owned or used by any Insured while it is anywhere in the world.” Wow! So unless your chest of drawers is on the moon, it’s covered! That is, of course, subject to […]

    September 20, 2016

  • My Car Caught Fire!

    Have you ever thought, “What do I do if my car catches fire?!” It could be after an accident or for a mechanical reason. And we just read in the Utica OD that a Tesla car caught fire in France during a promotional tour. So how do you prevent car fires in the first place? […]

    September 13, 2016