You’d think you’d need to be older to be a dad in this town, but IndyDads.com is celebrating their first birthday today. Congrats to them for being around after the first and garnering a pretty great group of dads to participate in their social network.

If you’ve got kids be sure to take advantage of this resource and information that’s available to you on the website.

Happy Birthday IndyDads.com!

As I was walking out I noticed a promotion that the area restaurants are doing where you can get an appetizer, two entrees and a dessert for $30. It’s called restaurant week at Greenwood Park Mall and the promotion is valid at The Cheesecake Factory, Stir Crazy, Bravo Italian restaurant and BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse.

After getting home I noticed an email in my Inbox that let me know I could get a free appetizer (up to $9) with the purchase of an entree if I bring in a retail receipt from a store or a movie ticket stub from the AMC Greenwood Park 14. Great promo! Help your own business and those businesses around you!

Last night my family and I went to the Hometown Celebrity Softball Challenge that took place at Victory Field in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was an absolutely great event. The weather in Indy was perfect and there was plenty of fun things to do.

The entire event was to help benefit the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund. Due to the price of the event, only $5, the stands should have been much fuller. Next year, we need to make sure we publicize this even more and get more fans there.

Before the event there were a number of carnival type games that the kids could do for free. My son tried his hand at a few, threw a 36mph pitch at one game. I gave it a try and surprised myself a bit by throwing 55mph.

Unexpected too was some Star Wars actors there in full garb. Got some photos with them. Also got to see the Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl XLI Vince Lombardi trophy. We got our photo with that to help HoosersHelpingHoosiers.org, but that photo hasn’t been posted on their site yet, so waiting on that.

There were loads of local celebrities and athletes on hand for the game. Here are just a few of the people that I can think of that were there:

Robert Mathis, Peyton Manning (didn’t play, but showed up), Dwight Freeney, Gary Brackett, Raheem Brock, Tyjuan Hagler, Melvin Bullitt, Ed Johnson, Bob Sanders, Jeff George (former QB) and Jack Trudeau (former QB) of the Indianapolis Colts. Stephen Graham and Boomer from the Indiana Pacers. UFC fighter Chris Lytle. Ryan Thompson, former Indy Indians and New York Yankee.

Megan Meadors (Miss Indiana), Bailee Zimmerman (Miss Teen Indiana)

Media personalities included Big Joe Staysniak, Amber Stearns and Dan Dakich from WIBC. Anthony Calhoun from WISH-TV8. Rich Nye from WTHR 13. Carlos Diaz, a Greenwood High School alum, now on the TV show Extra! Det. Christine Minka from the TV show "The Shift", which is about the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

There’s plenty more people I can’t remember or don’t know their names, so whomever I missed please let me know and I’ll add them to the list with a link to their website.

I’ve got a number of photos from the event you can see on my flickr account here.

Bill Bean over at What Bill Thinks has brought it to my attention that Houlihan’s restaurant on the north side of Indianapolis has a special promotion going on right now to help Gleaner’s Food Bank.

If you bring in a non-perishable food item, they’ll flip a coin and if it’s "heads" you’ll eat free! That’s a pretty great promotion.

If I were on the north side of Indianapolis, I’d be sure and take advantage of this special promotion.

If you need a little bit of laughter to brighten up your week, you can catch one of two great comedians at Cracker’s Comedy Club. Tickets are now showing available for only $7 while they last.

Purchase your discount tickets to the Crackers Comedy Club shows here.

This past Friday night my wife and I had the opportunity to enjoy an evening dinner alone and my wife chose Greek food and that led us to Santorini Greek Kitchen located in Fountain Square, just southeast of downtown Indianapolis.

My wife is not very adventurous when it comes to her dining options. She texted me last week and said "I’m eating Greek at some place in Fountain Square". I replied "Santorini Kitchen" as I’d been there before for lunch, although never for dinner.

Santorini Greek Kitchen began as a dream. We opened our doors in a small (50 seat) restaurant, in the heart of Historic Fountain Square in 2001. Since then, we have blossomed, with the help of our loyal guests. We have moved and established our "final resting place," just a little east of the Fountain. As we like to say, kitchen is defined by Webster’s as a room with cooking facilities, our Kitchen is different, it is filled with our hopes, wishes and dreams… We offer you our Kitchen, a special place to enjoy food, family and friends.

On this evening I decided to take advantage of her willingness to enjoy Greek food again and ordered a few different items to let her try some additional tastes.

Here was our meal:

• Appetizer: I picked a combination plate of:
• Baba Ganoush – smoked eggplant dip
• Saganaki – flaming cheese "OPA!"
• Hummus – smashed dip of chickpeas, sesame seeds, olive oil and other seasonings
• Entree:
• Me: Lamb Lovers – selection of lamb kabobs, lamb chops and another cut that I can’t remember
• Her: Chicken Souvlaki – skewers of chicken with grilled vegetables

Our meals started with the delicious appetizer and greek salads. My wife was leary of trying the Baba Ganoush and ended up enjoying it the best. The saganaki was tremendous as well.

Both of our meals were great. I was a little surprised the the lamb in that it ended up not being as tender as I had expected, but it tasted tremendous. Both entrees also included roasted potatos, rice and green beans.

I had hoped to try a couple of desserts as I had looked at the Rezogalo, a rice pudding dish, and the Galaktabouriko, a Greek custard with phyllo dough and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Sadly, we were both too stuffed to even waste our time trying to finish off two desserts as well. Perhaps the sweetest treat of the evening though was the absolutely phenomenal service we received from Bill, our server. He provided what was perhaps the best service I’ve seen at a restaurant in my life, outside of our recent experience at Disney World. He was very informed and articulate about the dishes available and what things to think about as we ordered and I expanded my wife’s culinary experiences.

We’ll be back to Santorini Greek Kitchen again, and I’ll probably call ahead to make sure Bill is there as well. If you haven’t been to Santorini Greek Kitchen, head on down to Fountain Square and give it a try. Ask for Bill and let them know we sent you!

Santorini Greek Kitchen
1417 E. Prospect St
Indianapolis, IN 46203
317-917-1117 restaurant
317-917-1116 office
Hours: Mon-Th 11am-9pm / Fr 11am-10pm / Sat 12pm-10pm

Image Credit: Brian Tabor, another local blogger, who also had a great experience at Santorini Greek Kitchen as well.

This inaugural event is a 7-inning celebrity softball game and will take place at Victory Field on June 6. Gates open at 5:00pm. The game will be played between players of the local professional sports teams along with other Indiana celebrities.

Tickets are only $5 with kids 3 and under getting in FREE.A special kids area will also be available with games, face painting and other activities.

Robert Mathis, Defensive End for the Indianapolis Colts is the chairperson of this inaugural event.

Have you seen the new golf site in town? It’s called Hoosier Caddy. What a great name! If you’re a golfer, go check it out.

I’m hoping I can play more golf this year than normal for me. What are your favorite courses in the city? What courses do you choose in Indy?

Let us know.

The example shared in the article really highlights the issue in my mind:

Commonwealth Engineers on the south side is typical of how the impact will be felt. The company employs 56 people and, until last year, had rarely laid off anyone. But when eight employees were laid off, it put the company in a higher unemployment tax bracket.

The combination of that and the new higher rates will cause the company’s bill for unemployment insurance to rise from $20,000 a year to $35,000 this year and almost $40,000 next year.

The point that’s not made clear in the article is how ridiculous the unemployment system is already. I understand the need to help people out in a tight situation, but we can’t make it easier and more comfortable to just look for a job instead of taking a job that’s available, but pays less than they’re pulling in on their unemployment check.

The other thing that really irritates me is when people are working various jobs under the table AND still collecting their unemployment check, continuing to drain the unemployment funds that businesses have been paying into in both the best and the worst of times.

Read the article, "Business Leaders ‘Outraged’ Over Jobless Bill" and share your own thoughts in the comments.

I just read this post over on the Smaller Indiana website and had to share it with our readers as well. Participating in events like this can be a lot of fun, and you’re helping your community as well.

Be a part of the Lilly Global Day of Service and the more than 50 community partners coming together to help prepare the city for 2,500 new trees, 75,000 new plants, new play grounds, outdoor learning areas for local schools, and much more!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: MAY 6-19th (in preparation for the big day on May 20)
We need help unloading and sorting trees and perennials, loading trucks, watering plant material and more …

For more info, check out http://tinyurl.com/84vcrg or contact Sarah Grain at 317.264.7555 x106 or sgrain@kibi.org

It is your city…Help make a difference.

I used to do events like this at least once a year when I was in college and have helped at a variety of similar events through the years.

Find out all you need to know about Keeping Indianapolis Beautiful on the Keep Indianapolis Beautiful website.