11-19-2013 Smartup meetup at the Speakeasy

On Tuesday evening I went to the speakeasy in southern Broad Ripple and listened to Doug Karr of DK New Media.  The does the tech marketing blog and I had heard him speak before.  He makes common sense.  My takeaway from his talk was:

1. carefully screen your customers to find the right fit
2. develop a continuing relationship with the customer
3. do the right thing and deliver value
4. don't focus on the trends and instead focus on creating good solid content and good solid customer service and let the traffic and benefits come to you instead of always chasing it
5. be humble about your knowledge

There were about 25 -35 people at the Smartup Meetup

 The event was very very enjoyable and well worth attending.

11-15-2013 2-Night backpacking trip Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky

We met up at our friend Susie's at 7 on Friday night and left for Daniel Boone National Forest (specifically the Red River Gorge area) near Slade, Kentucky.  You could go out I-74 or I-65 and it was only 1 mile and one minute difference according to Google.....Interesting....we went down I-65 since that is what we always do.   The trip takes 3:45.

We kept track of each other on the way down and the trip was fast and smooth.

That Friday we camped at Koomer Ridge Campground and got up and left early on Saturday.

Our spot at Koomer Ridge Campground

The plan was to do a 6-7 mile loop with some side trips.  We left from the main parking area for Courthouse Rock.

Parking lot was pretty full, but we didn't see tons of people on the trail

We hiked the old road out to Double Arch, then went back to the Auxier Branch Trail and found a campsite.  The next day we saw Courthouse Rock and took the Auxier Ridge Trail to loop back to the parking lot. (That is not my thumb in the picture by the way)

We did the loop trail and this was an old road that we started on

I reminded Jay to be careful....the cliffs can be dangerous

Shawn always has to look over the edge

That night we found a nice campsite that had been used a lot in the past.

There were many beautiful vistas

This was our great lunch spot on day one

This was our camp spot on Sat. Night

This was our camp spot on Sat. Night

Courthouse Rock

On the hike out Sunday, there was rain, mist, fog, etc.  We knew strong storms were coming

They had a small fire there that was contained to the area of a football field

As we left a fog rolled in....this is looking back over the valley near where we hiked

We stopped in a quaint town called Midway.  We had a good meal at The Grey Goose (the only place open that Sunday).

11-13-2013 Yelp Paleo Party

We got our hair cut and then we went to the Yelp Palio Party that was held in honor of the opening of the Mammoth exhibit at the state museum.

We started by seeing a 3d imax movie that had some interesting effects, but was targeted to somebody that had never heard of a mammoth before.

There were about 10 vendors there that gave samples of their foods.

11-12-2013 Green Drinks at Indiana City Brewing Company

Indiana City Brewing Company is downtown basically on the corner of Shelby and Washington Street in downtown Indianapolis.

There were about 20 people there at the meeting and we got a great tour of the facility.  We learned that the very same building was a very successful brewery and across the street was a 10 story brewhouse that was put out of business by prohibition.  The building had no electricity or water and they have done a marvelous job of restoring this building and highlighting its age.  It is really cool.

This says."the day will again dawn upon Indiana when a man can drink what he wants, when personal liberty will again be a citizens right."  This was written in a letter to all businesses as the old brewery was forced out of business by prohibition.

Picture of the fermenting vessels

They are a small brewery that brews much as a home brewer would....no doubt they will grow.

This is the burners for the vessels above....I wondered if they built it or bought it?

11-11-2013 Meeting and Dinner with Mark Davis

When we first started our business in 1996, Mark Davis had started an Internet Service Provider.  We tried to help each other with our businesses for years and had strikes and gutterballs....but we always had a great time.  Mark retired 4 years ago and I hadn't seen him since.  We always had Tech in common and that connection has weakened.

But Mark informed me that he is going to move to Belize in February and hopefully we can go there and help that area with Tourism marketing on the Internet in the future.  He had a lot of cool new things to show us then we went out to dinner.  Here is the review of the Dinner.  I didn't want to embarrass myself and geek out and take pics of all the dishes since we were with somebody I hadn't seen for so long.  I only reviewed my meal.

11-9 to 11-10 Backpacking in Morgan Monroe State Forest

We parked at the backcountry campground area lot and hiked in for 2 miles.  We camped about 100 yards from the creek.  Everybody had a great time and no injuries were reported.

We had a really nice area with a couch

11-8-2013 Climate Change Meeting

First I stopped by Bier Brewery.  They make some of the best beer in town IMHO.  They have a super nice staff and they always just set you up with a sample of all of their beers.  In the end I got 5 bullets out of 7 choices.

I went to a climate change meeting that was part of the www.spiritinplace.org events going on.  The meeting was at Epworth Church and was well attended.

This is the link to the info for the event.

Climate Change Meeting at Epworth Church

After the Climate Change meeting I gave Jim Poyser of Earth Charter Indiana a lift and we enjoyed an app and a beer in broad ripple at three wise men brewery.