For several years, enrollment in my academic program Computer and Information Technology at IUPUI has suffered and we have largely attributed this trend to the MISconception that there are fewer jobs in information technology. Whether or not national trends support this view, it is evident from this article that Indianapolis is a bright spot on the national scene. Since most of our graduates remain in central Indiana, this is especially good news so we must do a better job of getting this good news out! Could this be an opportunity to apply social media?

Link to

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I had been waiting for Google to "get around" to adding Indianapolis, BUT now that it's finally happened, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I recall feeling that it was "spooky" when I first saw a satellite view of my house from the forerunner of Microsoft's Live Search Maps. Since I've had time to "get over it", you'd think that I'd just "take it in stride" BUT it does "hit home" when it comes to my neighborhood!

Web site adds close-up view of Indy | IndyStar.com

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It's good to know that Terry Kirts, the former culinary writer for NUVO and currently the restaurant critic for Indianapolis Monthly, shares my passion for the Lafayette Road Ethnic Food Corridor. 

Where Indy’s going, where it’s been - NUVO.net

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You might be wondering why I even care about this development because I've never "place-blogged" about this location previously. Well, there are (at least) a couple of reasons. Most importantly, my daughter attends Traders Point Christian Academy which is just west of Anson so we spend a fair amount of time up there. I'm also blogging this to make myself clear about how I feel about Meijer since someone MIGHT have noticed my tweet yesterday while I was waiting to checkout at the Pike Plaza Meijer off W. 38th Street in Indianapolis. I shop there most often, especially while my daughter is at Indianapolis Children's Choir twice-weekly rehearsals at Butler University which isn't far from this Meijer store and it is the Meijer closest to my home. I have nothing against Meijer, but I just don't like shopping at the Pike Plaza store for a number of reasons which I won't elaborate. I prefer shopping at Meijer's Carmel store so I am looking forward to being able to shop at this new store up in Boone County although I am wondering  IF the Zionsville "crowd" will try to mount a campaign against this development as they successfully stopped Wal-Mart who wanted to build on the Hamilton-Boone County line in West Carmel.

I have a related "funny" story about Wal-Mart who is finishing a store near Lafayette Square Mall in Indianapolis. I was attending a meeting of the Lafayette Square Area Coalition when a Wal-Mart representative was attending shortly after Wal-Mart's announcement. He said that it was so nice to be WELCOME somewhere for a change!

Meijer plans to join Anson as anchor | IndyStar.com

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Yesterday (October 26) was the BEST DAY that I've had in a long time!

First, I was able to sleep in (NOT too late though) because my daughter Tabby is on fall break from Traders Point Christian Academy. I figured that it was going to be a pretty good day because I was having lunch with the "Indy Christian Geeks" group (more about this later) which meets on the last Friday of every month.

Second, on my way to lunch, I noticed that there were (at least) a couple of AT&T vans in my neighborhood Crooked Creek Villages. I've been on the "lookout" for them because I've been anticipating the deployment of AT&T's U-verse service in my neighborhood for some time! Instead of going on to lunch, I decided to turn back to find out more. Actually, I was hoping for "good news" so that I could "brag" to my lunch buddies that I would be getting U-verse soon. So, I went to talk to one of the technicians and indeed, he told me that they were "grooming the copper cable plant" in the neighborhood and that I could expect U-verse to be available by the end of the year! That made me a "happy camper" so I headed on to lunch, but as I was leaving the neighborhood, I noticed an AT&T van on MY street and as I pulled up, I noticed that the technician was working in MY yard! That was really exciting so I talked to him and he told me that I might be getting the service even sooner than the end of the year...that "made my day" so I headed off to lunch thinking that it couldn't get any better...

Third, as I entered the Saigon Restaurant, my favorite for MY "comfort food" of the Asian variety, I was thrilled to see that EIGHT of them had showed up for lunch:

• Tom McCormick
• Scott Wilder
• Joe Whitchurch
• Daniel Derksen
• Tom Buckley
• Neil Cox
• Neil Devadasan
• Alex Conner

This event started a few months ago when Tom McCormick and I met to have our respective favorites (mine is wun tun mein...you'll have to ask Tom about his because I can never remember the Vietnamese name) and the group has grown somewhat since then although I think that as recently as a couple of months ago, only a couple of us showed up. I invited a few more guys this month and as the saying goes: "when it rains, it pours" so I praise God that He's pouring out "Christian geeks" as I have yearned for fellow brothers in Christ who also share my love of information technology. I'll be praying that God has bigger "plans" for this group than just meeting monthly for lunch and I intend to do MY part by encouraging the group to seek God's will. I hope to have the group over to my house during November so maybe we ought to just skip lunch next month and get together at my house instead for dinner. Then, we could spend some time on planning AND PRAYING.

As I said, it was a VERY GOOD DAY!

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I live in the North Michigan Road corridor in Pike Township on the northwest side of Indianapolis. It appears that my neighborhood is very close to the epicenter of the Neighborhoods of Crooked Creek which is among the neighborhoods identified by the Great Indy Neighborhoods Initiative (GINI) so it looks like I have found a cause that is very near and dear to my home and to my heart!

Let's see what Web 2.0 can do to help this cause! I'm excited!

Let's Improve the Neighborhoods of Crooked Creek

Neighborhoods of Crooked Creek

Those of you who know me well know that I'm a "foodie" and that I have an "adventurous" palate for different ethnic foods. For some time, I have been trying to promote the ethnic restaurants in the Lafayette Square area as the "Lafayette Road Ethnic Food Corridor" so I decided to create a Google map.

If I've done this right, this blog entry should also appear in outside.in because I've been trying to create Indianapolis-oriented content so that outside.in will create an Indianapolis "presence" on their site! I hope that others will join me in this endeavor because it's very easy to do!

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http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=115731772525054733494.0004383ef595b88b74afb&om=1&ll=39.822049,-86.233062&spn=0.046013,0.1157&z=13

This is the team:

• Susan Horvath, New Castle, PA
• Megan Jackson, Mount Vernon, IL
• Carl Nicklas, New Castle, Pa
• Samantha Gotterson, Detroit, MI
• Lucas Rockwell, Milford, IN
• Robert Strength, Freedom, PA
• Kelly Follmer, Freedom, PA

Here is a "geo-tag" for this story:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3001++Central+Ave,+Indianapolis&sll=39.936856,-86.150665&sspn=0.091609,0.2314&ie=UTF8&ll=39.813646,-86.149592&spn=0.011472,0.028925&z=15&iwloc=addr&om=1

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Today is Faith, Hope, and Love "Urban Projects Day" in Indianapolis! There's a "Week of Hope" team here from Group WorkCamps. The team is led by Sydney, a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, from North Carolina. I'll be telling you more about the team later.

They're getting ready to make sandwiches for tonight's Vacation Bible School held by Greater Faith House of Prayer whose pastors are Joseph and Gail Reaves.

Here is a "geo-tag" for this story:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3001++Central+Ave,+Indianapolis&sll=39.936856,-86.150665&sspn=0.091609,0.2314&ie=UTF8&ll=39.813646,-86.149592&spn=0.011472,0.028925&z=15&iwloc=addr&om=1

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This is actually the "rage" in Singapore from which I just returned. However, in Singapore, only 80 percent of the owners have to agree for the sale to go forward, BUT they get a LOT MORE MONEY than we would get in Indianapolis!

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