1. Noise - You could be a lover of hard rock, jamming out on your drum set in the garage and driving your neighbor insane, one beat at a time. Noise is probably the number one complaint between neighbors, especially those living in apartment complexes. However, rock n’ roll isn’t the only cause that could send someone complaining. Listening to music and movies too loud or even having a dog that barks a little more than usual can all be a nuisance to your neighbors. So take it down a notch. If it’s your dog you’re trying to keep quiet, you might try a bark collar.
2. Dog Bites - If you have a pet that happens to bite a neighbor, they could have the right to sue you for medical bills and possibly pain and suffering. The best course of action is to, one, train your dog only to act when physically threatened and, second, to keep your dog on a leash or maintained properly in your yard to keep this unfortunate act from happening. If this does happen to you, you might want to profusely apologize for the incident and offer to pay before the headache of a lawsuit were to happen. The same can be said for other animals, but these situations are most commonly known to involve dogs.
3. Property Lines - Some people are very touchy when it comes to their property, especially if you have a tree that is causing a negative effect with their property. For example, you have a big oak tree boarding your property line. If your tree becomes diseased with a large branch breaking off onto their property this could damage a fence, a roof, a car… As the owner, you’re responsible for keeping up with your landscape so it’s not interfering or ruining your neighbor’s property. Word to the wise, maintain your landscape!
4. Water Damage - Say you have planned the vacation of a lifetime – skiing the slopes in Vail. While you’ve been enjoying your time with family, there was a sudden cold snap and you forgot to winterize your sprinkler system. Not only have your pipes burst, water is now flooding yours and your neighbor’s property. This can and has happened, as well as even leaving sprinklers on too long or altering your landscape in a way that causes the water drainage to runoff into your neighbor’s yard. All scenarios that could cause damage and a reason for your neighbor to take you to court. Take precaution with your property and how it could affect your neighbor.
5. Harassment - You are frustrated beyond means with your neighbor’s unruly child, dog or maybe it is even your neighbor himself. Keep your snide digs to yourself. If you threaten, harass, or say anything that could cause them grief or mental anguish you could find yourself in a neighborly dispute that could arise to a lawsuit. Best course of action is to try and work out the underlying issues, and/or just respect each other’s privacy and keep to yourselves.

Susan Wright DVM works for DogFenceDiy. If your dog is a escape artist and is causing trouble in the neigborhood we can help you understand your options when it comes to installing an invisible fence alternative from wireless units to wired technology.

I just saw a link shared by Indianapolis Bloggers on Twitter about an article in the Los Angeles Times from Chris Erskine and his visit to Indianapolis.

Chris seems to have experienced a little for himself that things that make our city Positively Indy! You can read his full story here: Indianapolis’ big Midwestern howdy.

His article leads me to believe he did get a good cross-section of all the things to do around Indy from sports, to culture, to eating and of course racing. His only bad experience was trying to get directions from some of us on where to go and how to get there. Do you know where you’d send people if someone just walked up to you on the street?

You do?

Where?

Let us know in the comments and let’s see all the places that we can think of that visitors to Indianapolis should experience for themselves that Chris may have missed out on himself during his visit. If you’re on Twitter, Chris is on there too at @erskinetimes.

There’s more to May than just the 500 and there’s more to Speedway, Indiana than just a race every may.

What many people may not realize outside of the city is that there’s more to Speedway than just a racetrack. Of course the town is tied to the race, but it’s a great little city inside The Circle City for the other 11 months of the year as well.

Here’s a very nicely done video about the city of Speedway, Indiana and the history behind it and it’s neighbors.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A couple of weeks ago I was in downtown Indianapolis and had to run into a client’s office real quick to grab something and then head back out. After circle a couple of blocks a few times looking for a parking space I finally found one about a block-and-a-half away. I raided the ash tray for all of my silver change and fed the meter. I thought it would be long enough, but when I returned I had a $20 parking fine left for me underneath my windshield wiper.

As the time I thought that it would have been really great to have a meter that could take a credit card payment, or perhaps even a payment via cellphone in some way.

Turns out, I was only a few weeks behind the times and a couple of streets further away, but from a recent article on the Indy Channel website, my desires have been heard!

“If you are in an office building, and let’s say you park your car here and you’re at the top of one of these buildings, you can use your cell phone to … add time,” Gerig said.

The cell payment option is available yet, but it’s coming. Along with more of these parking pay boxes in other areas of Indianapolis.

I love it!

Seems like this day has been a long time coming. We do so much with our phones, why shouldn’t we be able to be alerted to our time expiring and be able to feed a few more credits into the meter if we’re running longer than expected.

One thing I do wonder is if there would be an overall abuse of that ability. If you could keep pumping money into the meter without returning to your parking spot, that could hinder the “flow” of parking spaces becoming available for others throughout the day.

Source: Pay Boxes Modernize Indianapolis Parking

Photo: sxc.hu

In a recent link shared by Patric Welch of Noobie on Facebook, I discovered that Indianapolis is perhaps not quite as connected as I would have thought compared to other US cities. Indianapolis ranked 44th among Top 100 Socially Networked Cities in the U.S.

Is ranking 44th on the list a surprise to you?

Other cities of note to give you an idea include:

• Washington, DC – #1
• Orlando, FL – #7
• Austin, TX – #8
• Cincinnati, OH – #11
• Las Vegas, NV – #25
• Nashville, TN – #32
• Los Angeles, CA – #33
• Chicago, IL – #39
• New York City, NY – #53

Austin doesn’t surprise me too much as their the home of SXSW every year, perhaps a little lower than I expected. But I guess it shouldn’t count if everyone just connects in your city for a short period of time. With the music industry in Nashville and so many bands and musicians using social media and “networking”, I’d think Nashville would have ranked a little higher than #32.

Our friend Dr. Thomas Ho is doing what he can to further connect the city of Orlando like he did while he was living in Indianapolis, but they’re doing pretty well at #7.

Indianapolis has our tweetups, Smaller Indiana, and of course Blog Indiana. But are they doing what we need? Perhaps you’re asking yourself “Well, how did they measure the cities?” Good question!

It was a combination of determining the amount of people using LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter per capita. Then they also added online advertising traffic from sites like MySpace, Friendster, Reddit and Digg. Is that enough? What better ways could they have used?

Regardless of how they ranked Indianapolis, what do you think we should do to try and improve our position? Should we worry about it at all?

Imagine how neat it would be to have a few streets of these new solar roadways installed around the city in time for the Super Bowl in 2012. Take a look at this video and the Solar Roadways website and let me know what you think. Should Indianapolis be a test environment for this new transportation technology?

Here’s the article. I’m already trying to work on integrating more of these patterns and strategies into my daily job of parenting my two great kids.

Children do not come with a parenting manual, but they often come with a healthy dose of guilt. Many parents struggle with feeling they don’t spend enough time with their kids or they can’t provide their kids with enough material items or experiences as they’d like. Often, the guilt is undeserved and self-inflicted. Even with the guilt, many parents realize there are some areas in which they need to brush up and do a little better. Here are eight areas to consider in 2011 that will help you understand what influences parenting and where you might want to spend a little time improving.

Your own history: Where you came from impacts who you are today. The way you were parented, the experiences you had growing up, how your parents showed love and provided discipline—these things set the tone for how you will parent. Take inventory about what you liked and didn’t like about your childhood and then decide what parenting path you want to take with your own kids.

Your own health: When we don’t feel good (mentally or physically), we are usually off our game in every area, including parenting. As parents, we have to be sure to take care of ourselves so that we have something to give our kids. Be sure to eat well and exercise in order to be physically in shape the handle the demands of parenting. If you struggle with depression or anxiety, talk to your doctor or therapist so that you have some mental reserves for your children.

Your job: Our jobs demand a lot from us and some are trying to work more than one job to make ends meet in our current economy. Be sure, to your best ability, to leave work at work. Take time on the drive home to debrief from the busyness of the work day and change hats. Think about what you want your kids to see in you when you walk in the door and try to put your best foot forward. We are all tired at the end of a workday, but our kids shouldn’t be given the leftovers. Try to save something good for them!

Your marriage: Someone once said the best gift you can give your children is to love your spouse. Your marriage and the way you communicate and share the household responsibilities have an impact on the way you parent. If there is conflict in your marriage, problems will arise in your parenting. Make time to work on your marriage and work out any issues that may get in the way of raising your kids in a healthy atmosphere. This may mean therapy, or it may mean something as simple as a weekly date night.

Your kids: Do you have a child that knows exactly how and what buttons to push at the wrong times? Our kids and their personalities often pull certain behaviors from us. Know how you and your children are both similar and different and manage those differences. If you have a quick temper and one of your children is really sensitive to anger, take a deep breath or walk away for an “adult time-out” before talking with them about something that is upsetting.

We can all find something in our parenting that needs a little fine tuning. Find out what it is and commit to doing something daily that will make it better for you and your kids. It will  pay off in huge dividends in the end!

Used with permission from Parenting Better in 2011 on Lotus Group website

As you can see in the image, there’s quite a bit of stuff that you can receive for free from the IPL website. Four light bulbs, two showerheads, three faucet aerators, and a thermometer for the water heater and the refrigerator.

IPL seems to be doing some more interesting stuff along the lines of being energy conscious. Tim P. (@pulliatn) shared this photo of a new electric vehicle proudly sporting the Indianapolis Power and Light brand.

I read a good article this evening in the IndyStar about how Indianapolis is really competing with larger cities. This article discussed how we’re continuing to expand entertainment districts and venues available to residents and visitors.

"In some of our fastest-growing industries . . . we’re competing with other cities like Boston and San Diego and Austin, Texas, and Seattle," said Michael Huber, Indianapolis’ deputy mayor for economic development. "We’ve got to make sure we’ve got an increasing number of diverse urban neighborhoods if we’re going to compete for talented, creative younger (workers)."

Good news to hear for businesses and residents. As more and more people see just how great this city is, it becomes more attractive to more investors and companies and people that would like to move here.

I’m not a big “night life” kind of guy, but I understand the value it can have to the city. There’s plenty of other positives to living and visiting Indianapolis as well.

What’s your favorite thing to do in Indianapolis?

Today we have a guest post by another long-time Indianapolis resident, Paula Henry. Paula is a local realtor who has great memories of Indianapolis.

I remember the first time I saw Soldiers and Sailors Monument lighted at Christmas in downtown Indianapolis. The ten year old child never forgot the beauty of seeing so many lights on what is dubbed by some, as the worlds tallest Christmas tree. For that little girl, it was a mesmerizing sight to see so many twinkling lights.

It’s still amazing to visit Monument Circle during the holidays, partly to enjoy the beauty and partly to relive the past. Walking around the Circle, people stop every few minutes to admire the monument all dressed up for the holidays. It’s magical!

While the memories of yesteryear are firmly planted in my mind, it’s more exciting for me as an adult. When I was a child, the only time we went downtown was to see the Monument at Christmas or to buy shoes at Stouts when school started.

Today, downtown Indianapolis is a vibrant, active city!

I find myself drawn to downtown this time of year. It’s an atmosphere that requires more than a quick trip around the circle. The lampposts are decorated, the mall is buzzing, the Indianapolis Zoo at White River State Park is embellished with hundreds of thousands lights. It’s worth putting on my winter gear to brave the cold and enjoy the wonder of it all.

Another favorite activity of mine is to drive or walk through the Historic Homes neighborhoods during the Holidays. When my family would make the trip downtown, we headed south on Meridian from 56th St. I would be the one seated by the window, so I could see all the big beautiful homes, so elegantly decorated.

I didn’t know then, it was the architecture of these homes that captivated me and still does today! A leisurely drive down the cobblestone streets of Lockerbie Square or a tour of Benjamin Harrison’s home in the Old Northside still brings a sense of wonder and excitement.

Today, I enjoy these activities with my children and grandchildren. They, in turn, will have their own memories and favorites to celebrate during the holidays and carry it forward to the next generation. Maybe, they’ll develop a love of the historical beauty of our city their Mimi so enjoys.

Mimi (Paula Henry) is an Indianapolis Realtor who lives, works and plays in Metro Indianapolis. Visit her website at www.hometoindy.com to see homes for sale in Indianapolis and surrounding communities.