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Welcome to my website. At this site insurance agents—and others in the industry—can find current information on how to effectively utilize technology in their organizations. Information is updated often as I find new hardware, software, and websites that are interesting and useful. If you’re here searching for a particular topic you can use the search box to the right or click on one of the menu items just above in the blue bar.
You’ll also notice this site contains more than just technology. My other passions include cooking, travel, and flying. You’ll find information about my favorite recipes, great restaurants, and sights I visit while traveling, and my adventures as a private pilot.
I hope we can have a conversation. Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you think. I look forward to getting to know you better.
I’m a crab snob. I moved to Montgomery County, Maryland (just outside Washington, DC) when I was in the 7th grade and lived there until we moved to Texas in 1990, so I grew up eating Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs. Bushels of them. One of my fondest memories was going to a friend’s parents’ house on the lower Potomac River on a Saturday morning. We purchased a couple of bushels of fresh cooked crabs and ate them all afternoon. My youngest daughter Stephanie was given her own crab picking tools when she was 5!
Now, if you have had the pleasure of eating these crabs you know they are not very big and do take some work to get the meat out. But oh my! The meat is so sweet and succulent, the work is worth it. When I pick crabs, I am a piler. I pick the whole crab and pile the meat in front of me. When I’m done, I add a little melted butter, a little Old Bay Seasoning and savor the meat. Yes, I am that patient. Just ask Karen!
So, when anyone tells me that the Pacific Northwest Dungeness crab are better, I turn up my nose. I do eat all kinds of crab, including Snow Crab and King Crab, but in my book there is nothing better than Chesapeake Bay Blues.
So, my cuisine of choice when I am in the Maryland area is crab, of any kind. I am always on the lookout for the “best crab.” A couple of months ago I was in Baltimore staying at a hotel next to BWI. For dinner I looked online for some recommendations for a good crab shack. When I asked at the hotel they gave me the name of a place just a couple of miles away. That restaurant is G&M Restaurant and it advertised it had “Baltimore’s Best Crab Cakes.” Being the skeptic that I am, I had to try it myself.
Well, the picture below may not do it justice, but it was a very good crab cake. If fact, I might not call it a crab cake at all. It was more like a crab mound. It was filled with large lumps of back fin (the best of the crab) and it had just enough filling to hold the meat together. This place is highly recommended if you are in the vicinity of the BWI airport outside of Baltimore. Just understand, it’s a crab shack. It is nice but certainly not fancy.
G&M Restaurant
804 N. Hammonds Ferry Rd
Linthicum, MD 21090
(410) 636-1777
www.GandMCrabCakes.com
As I travel across the country talking to agents, the question I hear most often is, “Can you just give us a couple quick tips on the top things we can do right now to make our agency more profitable and effective?”
The answer is, YES!
As an insurance technology consultant and editor, I’ve been able to discover the cool new tools, websites, gizmos and gadgets that can make your life easier, more productive, and more competitive.
I have created a new, weekly emailed newsletter — Steve Anderson’s Tech Tip — that will highlight one new “thing” that will help an agency increase productivity and effectiveness: Tech Tip is short, to the point, and quick to read.
After working with literally hundreds of agencies of every shape and size, I’ve come up with what I believe are the best agency technology resources available anywhere.
Is there a charge for Tech Tip? The answer is: NO!
This is my way of supporting agents in these trying economic times — not to mention that I really do love finding the latest gizmos and gadgets that can increase productivity — just ask my wife!
All you have to do to sign up is go to www.SteveAnderson.com and complete the simple Tech Tip subscription form on the right sidebar. Once you verify your email address, you will begin receiving the newsletter every Thursday morning. And, of course, I will never give your name out to anyone and you can unsubscribe at any time.
One more thing: As you begin to get my Tech Tip newsletter, always feel free to email me with comments, new ideas or products that have worked for you. I’ll check them out and spread the word!
Question: What technology tools do you use to gain a competitive edge and increase profitability?
I really do love good barbecue. Karen and I moved to Texas in 1990 where we learned the culture that surrounds good Texas barbecue. (Texans think there is no other kind) We learned about smokers, and rubs, and barbecue sauce, and how good brisket can be.
We also learned about the different kinds of woods needed to create the smoke that makes for the best barbecued brisket, ribs, and chicken. We learned that good Texas barbecue is created by low heat over a long period of time (with some beer along to pass the time).
The pastor of our church had a “smoker” that was on a trailer, which he towed behind his car. Yes, it was that big. Because we had a big backyard, there were many parties and church picnics with the smoker as the centerpiece.
This barbecue education has allowed me to enjoy the many different types of barbecue found in various parts of the country, like Kansas City. One of my favorite places to go when I am in Kansas City is Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue. It is an institution in Kansas City and is always among the top of the best barbecue places in the city.
Pictured below is what I always order: Lamb ribs, burnt ends, coleslaw, and baked beans. I have never found lamb ribs at any other barbecue joint anywhere. If you enjoy lamb, they really are quite good. Burnt ends are the tapered end of the brisket that often gets more well done than the other part of the meat. But, they are far from burnt, are very tender and very good.
If you are in the Kansas City area and like good barbecue, Fiorella’s is highly recommended.
Fiorella’s Jack Stack BBQ – www.jackstackbbq.com
In a case of modern technology meets the traditional courtroom, a small but increasing number of jury trials are being declared mistrials as a result of jurors doing research on Google and using their mobile phones to send text messages and to Twitter.
An article by John Schwartz in the New York Times published March 17, 2009, details some of the problems arising because of jurors’ use of modern technology. In one example, the judge in a federal drug trial in Florida was forced to declare a mistrial because nine of the 12 jurors admitted they had done research about the case on the Internet.
This trend is not going away. People are becoming more comfortable with posting comments about their daily activities on Facebook, a blog, or in a Twitter post. This is going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to control. Just another little example of how transparency is affecting all areas of life.
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steve's • Tech • Tip A short, to-the-point weekly tip for agents who want to increase revenue or reduce expenses:
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