Indianapolis is My Home

29
Jul

IndyDads – For Dads in Indianapolis

Author: Jason Bean, Category: People, Things To Do in Indy

It doesn’t get much clearer on what the IndyDads website is here for does it. If you’re a dad in Indianapolis and would like a great resource on where to find other great resources and have conversations with men like yourself, check out IndyDads.com.

The site lets dads build their own profile and custom pages to collect the information they need. You can also share photos, videos and your opinion on just about anything you want through the forums. There are also a variety of different groups for all kinds of different interests you can join.

With the all too common problem of kids having too many “fathers” and not enough “dads” in their lives, hopefully this site can assist with that situation in Indianapolis and the more the merrier right?

29
Jul

Neil Diamond Turns On His Heartlight Tonight

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Concerts, Conseco Fieldhouse, Downtown

As a child I used to grab rummage through my parent’s album collections and listen to all my favorites as I’d play in my room or out in the living. Usually I was playing with Legos or building a card house, but many times the album I’d be listening to would be one of Neil Diamond’s.

I didn’t realize how prolific of an artist he really was until he was the guest on American Idol this past season. This guy has really produced some hits for himself and others and has been doing it a long time.

You can have the opportunity to see the legend perform tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse downtown Indianapolis.

You can get more information about the event from Eventful.com. If you’re already going, let me know what you think about the concert afterwards. Grabbing some fan photos would be great too! If you post them on your site or on flickr, just let us know.

27
Jul

Colts Sign Two New Quarterbacks

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indianapolis Colts, Indy Pro Athletes

That headline isn’t something you’d expect to read these days, but with the recent news of Peyton Manning’s surgery on his knee, it makes sense.

With Peyton being out for an unknown amount of time, Sorgi will be stepping up, but who will back him up if needed?

Gray, who played collegiately at Florida A&M, spent 2002-2007 as a backup quarterback with Jacksonville, throwing for 1,252 yards, 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. He became an unrestricted free agent following this past season and signed in March with the Houston Texans, who released him in June.

Lorenzen, who played collegiately at Kentucky, played in four games in three seasons with the Giants, throwing for 28 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

Jaren Lorenzen and Quinn Gray will be working out with the team because Dungy likes building on what he’s already seen with these two players instead of starting fresh with a rookie with no NFL experience.

I’m not expecting either one of them to see much action if any, but I’d like for Lorenzen to get some time being from the University of Kentucky. I think it’s also cool that he played under Peyton’s brother Eli with the New York Giants.

23
Jul

Local Indy Man Is Rubik’s Master

Author: Jason Bean, Category: People, Sports

When I was a kid the only way I could solve a Rubik’s Cube was to peel the stickers off or take it apart and put it back together. Doesn’t look like Mike Hughey got hung up on those tactics at all. This guy has figured out the secret and mastered the classic puzzle game.

In the video above he’s solving the last of 15 Rubik’s Cubes in a double-blind contest. He can take however much time he needs to memorize the pattern on each cube, then put the blind-fold on and solve the puzzle as quickly as possible.

That’s absolutely amazing! Even more amazing than this one-handed speeder.

UPDATE: If you’d like to see all the different Rubik’s events that Mike has challenged himself with and how he succeeded, you can view his official results page on the World Cube Association website.

22
Jul

More Tickets Available for Lucas Oil Stadium Tour

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium, Real Estate, WISH - Channel 8

More tickets are going on sale today in about 10 minutes if you’re interested. I’ve already snagged my set of two tickets for my son and I to take the first tour of the day on August 16th.

Twenty thousand tickets will be available Tuesday morning at 10 at the Conseco Fieldhouse box office or Ticketmaster.com. The tickets are free and required.

Not sure if you saw the other recent coverage of some of the seats that are available for fans in the new stadium.

How do you like those puppies? You’d be a bit upset wouldn’t you? They could have at least put up a nice LCD screen on the columns couldn’t they?

You’ve got to wonder if the people that designed the seating have ever been to a game before? Or is this the case of the new stadium needing to meet a specific seating threshold number of seats available? My boss suggested they could have hung seats off the various decks like those toddler seats you clamp on your kitchen table.

WISH TV 8: Indianapolis News and Weather - 20,000 stadium tour tickets available

21
Jul

Starbucks Closing 12 Indianapolis Area Stores

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, Carmel, Coffee Shops, Downtown, Greenwood, Indianapolis Area, Keystone, News, Northwest Side, Real Estate, Speedway, West Side

When I first heard about the news that Starbucks has finally appeared to out-grow their britches, I thought I’d read that there weren’t any Indianapolis stores closing. As the image above humorously depicts skewing the original imagery by M.C. Escher, Starbucks always seemed to be everywhere. Between their actual stores and their little satellite stores located in other stores, they’re everywhere!

At one point in our lives, my brothers and I have all worked at a Starbucks store. My middle brother went the furthest with it as he actually opened a new store, which I think is one of the ones being closed now, which doesn’t make any sense to me.

Here are some of the soon to be closed locations:

• College Avenue & Fall Creek Parkway
• 38th and Meridian St
• 3855 E. 96th Street
• 9642 Allisonville Rd.
• 5060 W. 38th St.
• 5945 Crawfordsville Rd
• 3021 W 16th St
• 3801 S. Keystone Ave
• Merchant Square in Carmel
• US 31 & Fry Road in Greenwood
• Albany & 17th St in Beech Grove
• Metropolis Mall 2499 Futura Parkway in Plainfield

I had a Starbucks coffee for the first time in quite awhile on Thursday night. I’ve been cutting back on my coffee purchases in general, but when I do have a drink it’s been purchased from local coffee shop the vast majority of the time.

All-in-all I think closing a number of stores is a great move for Starbucks. I’m sure it will be a great opportunity for local shops and even Dunkin Donuts to make more of run for market share as well.

From my time working at the SBUX though, I think they’re a great company to work for that seems to care about their employees and work with them to keep balance in their lives.

Story Source: Grinding to a halt: 12 local Starbucks
Image Source: MIT Laboratory for Branding Cultures

14
Jul

I Got My Lucas Oil Stadium Tour Tickets

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium, News, Sports, Things To Do in Indy, WRTV - TV Channel 6

This morning I got a text message from Ticketmaster reminding me that the tickets for the free, public tour for the new Colts Lucas Oil Stadium tour that’s taking place on August 16th.

I went on to Ticketmaster’s website this morning and initially tried to get 4 tickets so each member of my family could attend. I couldn’t confirm that order so I backed my order down to two so my son and I could go. That was successful. I didn’t realize how huge the demand for this was until I saw a news article about it later.

Fans began lining up at about 7 a.m. for a chance to get the tickets. Some were season ticket holders, but most were people who normally don’t get to go to many games, 6News’ Julie Pursley reported.

Now I’m in a discussion about whether or not it was appropriate for the Colts or whomever to limit the “free” tickets to only 60,000 if there was a demand for much more. Did they create a problem? Is it okay for scalpers to now sell the once free tickets at a premium? Is it worth it to you to get to see the stadium in this way?

Colts Fans Snag Free Stadium Tour Tickets - Sports News Story - WRTV Indianapolis

12
Jul

Death Is Coming to Indianapolis

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Cultural Events, Indiana State Museum, Things To Do in Indy

Although the homicide rate in the city has been having a significant increase of late, there’s another version of death is coming to the Circle City. In this case it’s the “Bodies. the Exhibition” exhibit that’s coming to the city. Then there’s also “Body Worlds III” scheduled to come to the Indiana State Museum.

Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc. is looking to bring its controversial "Bodies… the Exhibition" show to Indianapolis. The exhibit, which features cadavers that have been plasticized, dissected and posed, has been dogged by reports that the specimens used in the presentation may be the remains of tortured Chinese prisoners.

If the show opens here, it would debut mere months before the Indiana State Museum is slated to bring the more reputable "Body Worlds III" exhibit to Indianapolis. The founder of that show’s company, Dr. Gunther von Hagens, has spoken out against using bodies from China, which doesn’t closely regulate its specimens.

Details on an Indianapolis exhibit are foggy. A woman who answered the phone at Premier, a publicly traded company, first said the exhibit was scheduled to open in Indianapolis on July 19 and referred detailed questions to a spokeswoman, who did not return a message.

Both of these exhibits sound like they’d be very interesting to experience and see. My question though is if we’re concerned about where the bodies came from in the “Bodies..the Exhibition” exhibit, what are people doing about it besides not going to see them? Are they only upset that they’ve got them placed in their cities, or are they really concerned about the conditions in China that potentially caused the deaths of the cadavers used in the exhibit?

Source: Controversial cadaver exhibit coming on IBJ

08
Jul

Indianapolis Monumental Marathon Coming in November

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, Outdoor Recreation, Sports

A new marathon is coming to town and I couldn’t think of news that impacts me less. You see, I’m not much of a runner (at all), but news of more events like this are exciting because it brings more visitors and interest to our city. Visitors will have the choice of a full marathon (26.2 miles) or half of that if they’re interested.

The Indianapolis Monumental Marathon will take place on November 1st and the organizers are preparing for this year and years to come as popularity increases.

"We designed the course knowing we may have 1,5000 or so this year, but it’s been designed and laid out so that we can handle the increase in numbers each year as we grow," said Ken Long, director of the Monument Marathon.

The course will take runners through loads of the city’s most popular monuments and landmarks. As a non-runner though, I’m just wondering how much “sight-seeing” the participants are going to be doing while their in the middle of their run.

Are you a runner? I’d love to hear what you think of this new marathon coming to town. Will you be running in it?

07
Jul

SmallerIndiana

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, Business Entrepreneurs, Business Leaders, Indy Bloggers, Organizations, Seminars & Conferences

Have you heard of SmallerIndiana? Are you already a member? Are you actively involved in business and networking in Indiana?

You’ve got to check-out this site if you’re not familiar yet.

Here you can see some of the more popular members that are active in the network.

Visit Smaller Indiana