Live in the Boston Area? Feeling Inventive? That’s Not Totally Surprising.

So lots of famous products and brands started right here in Massachusetts. WBZ published this list and I wanted to share it here! I especially can’t believe we invented Chocolate Chip Cookies. Wow!

1. Vulcanized Rubber by Charles Goodyear in 1839 – WOBURN

2. Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 – CAMBRIDGE

3. Liquid-Fueled Rocket by Robert Goddard in 1926 – AUBURN

4. Smiley-Face Logo by Harvey Ball in 1964 – WORCESTER

5. Microwave Oven by Percy Spencer in 1946 – CAMBRIDGE

6. Marshmallow FLUFF by Archibald Query in 1917 – SOMERVILLE

7. Telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 – BOSTON

8. Polaroid/Instant Camera by Edwin Land in 1947 – CAMBRIDGE

9. Basketball by Dr. James Naismith in 1891- SPRINGFIELD

10. Chocolate Chip Cookies by Ruth Wakefield in 1930s – WHITMAN

11. Volleyball by William G. Morgan in 1895 – HOLYOKE

12. Schooner by Andrew Robinson in 1713 – GLOUCESTER

13. Packaged Frozen Foods by Clarence Birdseye in 1930 – SPRINGFIELD

 

[See WBZ’s photo gallery here.]

Congratulations BOSTON BRUINS!

2011 Stanley Cup Champions!

Beat the Heat and How to Save Some Cash While Doing It

 

Mass. is going to start offering rebates for the purchase of newer, energy efficient air conditioners ($150 for energy-efficient and $50 rebate if you are replacing an older model). The program starts after July 28 (via CBS Boston and Mass.gov).

Unfortunately, the hot days are here now. If you haven’t heard already, then you probably don’t watch the news: Forecasters are predicting record-breaking temperatures for today and tomorrow (via CBS Boston).

Here are 5 tips on how to stay cool [South Shore Edition]– aside from doing the regular thing like drinking a TON OF WATER and staying in the shade:

1. Visit Peaceful Meadows on Rte 18 in Whitman for some amazing, homemade ice cream.

2. Go Ice Skating at Pilgram Skating Arena on Recreation Park Drive in Hingham. Ice rinks are definitely a great place to get cool!

3. Take a swim in a big pool at Webb’s Pro Fitness on Rte 53 in Norwell.

4. SHOP, SHOP, SHOP! Malls are air-conditioned so take a drive to the South Shore Plaza in Braintree, MA.

5. Museums are air-conditioned too. Did you know that local libraries have free or heavily discounted passes to places like the Museum of Science, the Boston Aquarium, the ICA, the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum, Roger Williams Park Zoo, etc. (See Norwell Public Library’s Museum Pass Page).

Taking the Dive? Consider Wedding Insurance

Look, I get it. Weddings are expensive. But if you think paying for an Elvis-impersonator to sing at your wedding is exorbitant, just imagine if you paid him and he didn’t show up. No music.

Or what if you paid the photographer who mysteriously disappeared after a bout of bad food poisoning? No photos.

WORSE: What if your bride or groom-to-be got cold feet and bailed?

Then, you just lost a boatload of cash.

In Plymouth County, couples, on average, spend between $24,000 and $41,000 on the big day according to The Wedding Report, Inc. Imagine paying all of that out for NOTHING.

Well, now that I have you good and paranoid about your engagement, let me make you an offer.

What if I told you that for somewhere between $100 and $200, you can be INSURED for this type of financial loss?*

Well, you’d be right.

You’re not dreaming. This is called Wedding Insurance. It protects you in these situations and given the good weather, I wanted you to know NBA Insurance is your hot spot for it.

So, before you suit up or get something old, borrowed, new and blue, give us a call to get a quote: 781.871.5414. You can also email us at TC@NBAInsurance.com.

*(Not an official quote, numbers taken from an article done by WBZ.com)

WickedLocal Delivers Deals to Your Door – Why Not Save More Money?

Tired of getting emails from Groupon, Living Social, and the other slew of companies who give deals of the day?

Nah, I’m not tired of those either.

But I did think it was kind of cool that Wicked Local is offering competitive deals delivered to your door rather than electronically. It’s totally free to sign up too! If you aren’t familiar with WickedLocal, you should know that it’s a news site featuring stories from our local papers (Patriot Ledger, etc).

Click here to see their deals site — it also includes a bunch of gift cards to local restaurants and retailers, priced at 50% off! Not too shabby if you find one of your favorite restaurants.

Valentine’s Day – What to Do in the Area When You’re in Love or “Single and Bitter”

I went scoping on the internet to see what kinds of events will be taking place this Monday. Whether you hate Valentine’s Day or love it, I’ve accumulated a solid list of activities and events taking place the whole day through.

• Free Texas Hold ‘Em
  Pembroke, MA
  British Beer Company, 15 Columbia Road, Pembroke, MA
• Skate Your Heart Out!
  6:00 – 8:00PM
  Derby Street Shoppes
  Hingham, MA
• Food Inc. (The Movie)
  1:00PM
  Cambridge Cityside Senior Center
  806 Massachusetts Ave.
  Cambridge, MA
• Salsa Dancing Lesson for Beginners
  7:00PM – 8:30PM
  Dance Union – Tango Society of Boston
  16 Bow Street, 2FL
  Somerville, MA
• Valentine’s Day Ball
  7:00PM – 10:00PM
  $35.00-$40.00 Admission Fee
  Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall
  27 Garden St
  Cambridge, MA
• Share the Love Fundraiser
  4:00PM – 9:00PM
  $60 Admission Fee
  Prisco’s Pasta Market
  245 Ferry St.
  Malden, MA
• Harvard Book Store Author Event
  7:00PM
  Harvard Book Store
  1256 Mass. Ave.
  Cambridge, MA
• New Works of Art
  The South Street Gallery
  149 South Street
  Hingham, MA
• Karaoke
  Sam Diego’s
  51 Main St.
  Plymouth, MA
• Live Music!
  Enoteca Di Vino
  39 Court St.
  Plymouth, MA
• Love with a Cause – Valentine’s Art Auction
  7:00PM
  Hancock 309 Gallery
  309 Hancock St.
  Dorchester, MA

If you’re looking for a quote,

look no further.

Email Liz@NBAInsurance.com

or call 1-781-871-5414 for more details.

Roof Collapsings: Did You Know? And Fun Snow Comics.

On Channel 7, I just saw about 5 stories on roof collapsings all having occurred around Boston and up through the North Shore and New Hampshire. Jeremy Reiner shared a map indicating that depending on the region of MA you live in, roofs have to be able to sustain a specific amount of weight per square foot– specifically because of all the snow we get.

Boston, North Shore and South Shore roofs must sustain weight between 30 and 40 pounds per square foot. As you goto the Cape, the numbers decrease to about 20-25 pounds. Central MA was around 25-30 and Western MA requires roofs to sustain 40 lbs or more.

Many of the roofs that collapsed were those of commercial buildings because of the flat top. This reminded me, of course, of the ice dam madness that occurs most frequently (and more likely) on low pitch roofs. Click here to see that post.

As far as I could tell, no one is reported injured, but in most instances, there were people inside. How totally freaky that must have been.

This also means that there has got to be at least 30-40 pounds of snow per square foot on our roofs! And this is not coming to an end just yet– apparently, there’s another snownnoyance* on Saturday.

*snownoyyance = snow annoyance

Here are a few funny snow-comics. Click the thumbnails to see the full comic.

If you’re looking for a quote,

look no further.

Email Liz@NBAInsurance.com

or call 1-781-871-5414 for more details.

Is This a Record-Breaking Snow Season? Check Out These Stats.

This year’s 2010-2011 Snow Season seems like it’s been hard on us. But really, we’ve just hit 60″ of snow– far below the record brought by the 1995-1996 snow season of 107″.

Yet, we’re still 20″ above normal for Boston snow totals (the average being around 48″).

January 2011 does rank at the 3rd snowiest January (1st being 2005 and 2nd being 1996).

And still, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we potentially have another whopper coming Tuesday & Wednesday. As a graduate student, I view storms as snow days, but otherwise, I have to admit. This is getting a little exhausting.

Here are some stats on snow totals below:

Greatest Snow Totals:

107.6 1995-1996

96.3 1993-1994

89.2 1947-1948

85.1 1977-1978

83.9  1992 – 1993

Most Snow in 1 Day:

21.0     Jan 20 1978

Most Snow in 2 Days:

27.1     Feb 6-7 1978

Most Snow in 3 Days:

27.1     Feb 5-7 1978

Snow Accumulation Records:

Number of Days           Total            Starting Date

10                                 36.6              Jan 1 1996

20                                 48.6               Jan 19 1978

30                                58.8               Jan 9 1978

40                               66.7               Jan 7 1945

50                                72.0            Dec 25 1993

60                               79.8               Dec 29 1993

 

Sources:

WHDH

Boston Seasonal Snow Totals

 

If you’re looking for a quote,

look no further.

Email Liz@NBAInsurance.com

or call 1-781-871-5414 for more details.

 

Wracking Your Brain for a New Years Resolution? Wrack no longer. Get this GROUPON.

Wrack is a really strange word. But moving on…

Here’s a list of the most common resolutions:

• Lose weight
• Go back to school
• Get a better job
• Quit smoking
• Recycle
• Save money
• Take a vacation
• Volunteer

However, I’m really writing this post because I came upon a really cool Groupon today and wanted to share it with you. Especially because another popular New Year Resolution is to

LEARN A

LANGUAGE!

$10 for an Online Language Course at LiveMocha

Busy people unite. Learners unite. This is one of the only moments in history where you don’t have to sell an organ just to pay for school. (I don’t recommend doing that either).

Yes, $10 is very affordable. Busy people can still go on being busy bees, but they can still make time to learn a language because this is 100% ONLINE. Fabulous for the VIP.

They offer French, Spanish, German and Italian. And no, I will not get commission if you buy. Though I would love to.

What is that? Is that the sound of skepticism? Please reign that in. I was skeptical too. Until I read that they were featured as one of Time‘s 50 Best Websites of 2010. AND if you are still skeptical, just Google them like I did and you will see that it is a widely used utility- best for those who desire to learn conversation skills rather than petty grammar. And if you’re goal isn’t to write a term paper in French, what more could you ask for than “une baguette avec du beurre”.

To grab this deal click here! Or click here to visit LiveMocha.com.

2010 in Review: Our Blog is AWESOME Thanks to You :-)

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,900 times in 2010. That’s about 5 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 54 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 13 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 1mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was November 15th with 38 views. The most popular post that day was Really Cool Stuff: Norwell, MA Resident Writes Book on Local History.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, counter.bestproceed.com, networkedblogs.com, statistics.bestproceed.com, and twitter.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for grease fire, grease fires, car accident, positive post it project, and kitchen grease fire.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Really Cool Stuff: Norwell, MA Resident Writes Book on Local History November 2010

2

How to Deal with Kitchen and Grease #Fires with #NBAInsurance July 2010
2 comments

3

Ewwww! Bed Bugs in MA Suburbs!! For real. #insurance August 2010

4

Divorce Insurance. Yes, It’s Real. Read on. August 2010

5

Live Paperless. NBA Insurance Lists 5 Incentives July 2010