The early part in the week in downtown Indy has been dominated by locals and families. Parents with strollers and folks wearing Colts gear are everywhere. The weather has been unseasonably warm making this already walkable city a dream combination for the temporary attractions and businesses downtown. As the week progresses more and more visitors, including celebrities like Katy Perry and Ryan Gosling, can be spotted downtown. By Friday and Saturday I suspect the crowds will shift from locals and families looking for photo ops and group corn-hole games to out-of-towners looking for high end shopping and dining and exclusive parties. 

I am sitting in the Emergency Operations Center in Indianapolis. I am surrounded by more screens than I can count with all the emergency response plans and real-time updates at the fingertips of the people at each screen. This is the place where all the appropriate agencies can respond to anything from a cluster of illness to a car accident to a major disaster. This is designed to be the command center of a city to direct resources to respond to needs. Every city of substantial size, including Lexington, has a similar room. This is where the response efforts are coordinated. Obviously, access to this area is restricted. The information available is restricted and the response efforts need to be protected from outside influences. 

Last week the creative content/social media functional team of Hive, presented work-flow to other Hive team members. The podcasters created a demo interview featuring Christain Ecker called “On the Spot.” The social media writers showed their interactive pages created through facebook, twitter etc. connected to the A&S page. And to show what I do in terms of photography here at A&S, I took portraits of all Hive team members at the meeting in yearbook style! Brian and I provided everyone with funky clothes from our closets and everyone had a lot of fun, because the creative content/social media team has a lot of fun doing what they do.

I have chosen the best dressed out of our portraits at the meeting, your prize is pride. Here you go…

1. Brian Connors Manke

2. Dustin Mays

3. Luyi Su

4. Adrian Booker

5. Scott Horn

6. Cheyenne Hohman

7. Christina Buckner

The Proof is in the Pudding: So just want does goes into hosting a wrinkle free international sporting spectacle?

Weather: It is no secret that Indy get it share of winter storms. The first weekend in February last year held an ice storm that put many people out of power for days. Indy officials and the Host Committee had its fair share of anxiety concerning the unknown weather factor. However, Indy has experienced an unusual warming trend with weather in the 50s. This temperatures are supposed to drop as the week progresses, but the sheer absence of a blizzard is enough to alleviate major weather concerns for folks responsible for ensuring a positive experience in Indy.