Indianapolis is My Home

03
Jan

Hoosiers Among Those in Kenyan Turmoil

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Charities, General, Government, Indianapolis History, News, People, Politics, Volunteers

When news about Kenya arrives via the TV or Internet, I perk up a little more now than in the past. I’ve got a couple of web clients that are either directly located in Kenya or have strong ties to the area. My parents have been in some of the areas that are at the epicenter of these riots and turmoil as well. After college I had the opportunity to live in Nairobi and work for an undetermined amount of time at a local university there.

I came across an article in the IndyStar today that also let me know there are a number of Hoosiers that are also in the midst of the political strife happening right now in that country.

“I took heart in an ER this morning when I no longer needed to step over a body,” wrote Indiana University’s Dr. Joe Mamlin, who works at Moi University School of Medicine in the western Kenyan city of Eldoret, where about 50 people were burned alive Tuesday inside a church where they had sought shelter.

Hopefully things will calm down and everyone can get home safely. Hopefully the people and government of Kenya can get their own arms around this situation and determine the best solution to bring peace back to their country as well.

News Story: Dozens of Hoosiers stuck in Kenya
Photo Credit: Yahoo News

28
Dec

The Week Between

Author: Jason Bean, Category: General, Humor

It’s that wonderful time of year where things just seem to be in a refreshing state of limbo. It’s like it’s a non-time window of our lives. That week between Christmas and New Years. Does much happen for anyone during this week?

I know many employers have the week between as a general vacation time for their employees. Some are forced, others encouraged and others are just given it as a gift from their employers.

What about you? What are you doing this week?

I’ve been recovering from the weeks leading up till Christmas. Been doing loads and loads of laundry and other house cleaning. Enjoying being home with my family. Also enjoying the flexibility I have with my job(s) in being able to work from home or just about anywhere else with an Internet connection.

06
Nov

Indiana State Police Ticketing Changes

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Areas, General, Government, News

Not sure if this is valid or not, but figured I’d share it with my readers until I hear otherwise. Better safe than sorry.

Indiana State Police & new ticketing policy

Indiana State Police are going to start cracking down on speeders. Their new slogan is “Lower Speeds, Less Crashes, Save Lives”.

Per their Superintendent they are going to start issuing citations for :

1. 6 Miles over the speed limit
2. Failure to Yield
3. Improper Lane Movement (which includes not signaling 300 feet before you change lanes if traveling over 50 mph or not signaling at all)
4. Following too Close (this is $160.00 ticket by itself!!!!)
5. Passing an Officer

Just an FYI. This is  information that a relative of a friend was given at his post meeting yesterday. He already saw another one of his co-workers pull a guy over this morning for merging onto the interstate and then pulling right into the center lane without properly signaling. They’re going to start cracking down. They want to have the same reputation as the Ohio State Police.

Can anyone out there confirm this? Let us know in the comments.

13
Sep

The Pacers On the Defense….stand.

Author: Jason Bean, Category: General, Indiana Pacers, Indy Pro Athletes

Gary Varvel of the Indianapolis Star had this editorial cartoon today. Very fitting, very fitting.

If you haven’t kept up to date with Gary’s work, you’ve got to check-out his blog on the IndyStar site.

17
Aug

Property Tax Curb Appeal

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, General, Government, Humor, Real Estate

I’m sure some of you have probably received this little e-mail, but thought it was funny enough to share on our website as well.

Here’s how you see your property….

Here’s how potential home buyers sees it….

Here’s how your mortgage lender sees it….

Here’s how your appraiser sees it….

and here’s how your Indiana Tax Assessor sees it….

Read the rest of this entry »

14
Aug

All-Indy Pass

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Art, Business, Childrens Museum, Colleges, Concerts, Dining, General, Indiana Fever, Indiana Pacers, Indianapolis Indians, Indianapolis Zoo, Special Events, State Fair, Theater, Things To Do in Indy

My wife and I have been wondering lately why Indianapolis doesn’t have a citywide pass that would get you into a variety of attractions for a single, annual fee.

We’re members of the Indianapolis Zoo, The Indianapolis Children’s Museum already and would be interested in buying a membership to NCAA Hall of Champions, Indiana State Museum, Connor Prairie, Eagle Creek Park, etc.

There are loads of different events that happen across the city on a regular basis, it seems like an Indy City Pass would be a great idea for somebody to implement. You could even incorporate restaurant discounts, free parking and similar items.

Even thinking about it a little bit more, it would be great to be able to choose one game to attend for each sports team: Pacers, Colts, Indians, Fever, Ice and maybe even local college sporting events.

11
Aug

Indianapolis #1 on Forbes

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Areas, Awards & Recognition, Business, General, News, Real Estate

Even with all of our local tax uproar and questions, Forbes magazine still ranks Indianapolis as #1 in housing affordability.

If you’re not sweating your monthly mortgage payment and don’t obsessively check refinancing rates, chances are you live in one of America’s most affordable areas.

Homeowners in Indianapolis know what that’s like. Its residents don’t have to scrimp and save to afford a home at the median price. There, the bulk of the housing stock is well within reach of the average household. Savings depleted? According to our calculations, it would take just two years of gross salary to become a homeowner there.

What I think is scary is that there are probably still 1,000’s of people that struggle with their finances every month. It doesn’t matter what things cost, it matters what we save and don’t spend doesn’t it? Doesn’t matter where we live, we all seem to have a talent for living above our means and stretching the almighty dollar ever too thinly.

Here’s how the Top 10 cities played out.

1. Indianapolis, IN
2. Cleveland, OH
3. Detroit, MI
4. Pittsburgh, PA
5. Cincinnati, OH
6. St. Louis, MO
7. Atlanta, GA
8. Greensboro, NC
9. Dallas, TX
10. Austin, TX

The photo of Indianapolis was that was available on the Forbes website slide show is a beautiful one. I can’t place where it’s at though. It doesn’t look like it’s actually the canal, wrong angle. Does anyone know where this is from?

• Article: Indy tops Forbes’ most-affordable list
• Source: Most Affordable U.S. Real Estate Markets on Forbes

31
Jul

Rebuilding the Wall

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, Charities, General, Real Estate, Volunteers

At one of my previous jobs a couple of years ago, I was able to participate in a charity work day for an organization called Rebuilding the Wall.

They basically revitalize urban homes and sell or give them to families in the inner city to help them reclaim the neighborhoods and give the family a fresh start with a great new home.

The mission of Rebuilding the Wall, Inc. is to stabilize and empower low-income families by renovating vacant inner city properties and giving the families the opportunity for homeownership.  We combat social injustice by building relationships across racial and socio-economic barriers; and we stabilize community by the recycling of resources within the neighborhood.

As I said, I participated in a one-day work session to help renovate a house. I signed up for their e-mail list and have stayed connected to some of their efforts, even though I haven’t set aside the time to do another event with them.

I think I’m going to present the opportunity to my life group to see if they’d be interested in taking on a project across a few different Saturdays coming up.

If you’ve got a heart for the inner city and are connected with a group of individuals that would be interested in volunteering a few hours or days of your time, I really encourage you to contact Chris Provence or one of the other people involved directly with this organization.

18
Jul

Where In Indianapolis Are We?

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Awards & Recognition, General, People, Sports, Things To Do in Indy, Venues

I was thinking the other day that it might be fun to play a little game with our readers every now and then, maybe every Friday or something.

I was going to take pictures of various, random locations I was in around the city and see if people could guess where I was. For those that guess right, maybe we could rustle up some prizes or woobies or something and give them away.

Then I thought, the places I go may get old and boring after awhile, so what if I had other people submit photos of places they’ve been around the city and we’d share those.

The photos could be from anywhere. Events you were at, restaurants, sporting events, concerts, driving in traffic, funny signs, funny scenery, just about anything.

What do you think?

17
Jul

Did we forget how to drive in the rain?

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, General, News

What was the deal this morning with traffic? I left a little before 7:30am and pulled into the client’s office at Keystone @ the Crossing at 9:00am. When I started from the south side I knew I could go east or west on I-465 and make it in about the same distance, so I listed for the traffic report. Wrecks both sides.

I decided to “go west young man” and take my chances as most of those wrecks were on the farther northwest side and I figured they’d be cleaned up before I got there.

I don’t think I got above 40mph the entire way. Feels like I’ve been driving at LeMans for the past 24 hours. I even had to make a pit stop at a Jiffy Lube to check my oil since my engine oil light kept coming on when I was braking.

Traffic Cam Image Obviously from WTHR13