Yesterday Comcast added five additional high-definition channels to the Nashville line-up. This increases their offering to 35 HD channels: 25 included in the base HD package, plus five premium channels and five On Demand channels (including two that offer free content). The new channels:

220 USA HD
222 History HD
224 Discovery HD
225 Sci Fi HD
226 Animal Planet HD

The complete HD line-up:
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After four months in Nashville, it’s clear that my move here was a great idea.

Beyond the stuff I can say about my work, Nashville has surprised me in more ways than I can count. The only thing that I really wish I could have had before I moved here was a little more information about adjusting to life here in Music City, USA.

In an attempt to rectify that, I have tried my hand at listing out a few:

• Before you get the inclination to go shopping, realize that only tourists wear cowboy hats on Broadway.
• At most bars, if you order anything else other than a beer or a vodka/whiskey/rum cocktail you’ve probably already given away where you’re from.
• The weather is completely ADD…one day its warm, the next you are chipping ice-sickles off your truck. Pack accordingly.
• Parking downtown will cost you an arm and a leg so take cabs if you can.
• Don’t worry about re-discovering your southern roots, in a town like this they’ll find you when they’re good and ready.

I could go on for some time but you get the idea. Anyone care to add anything?

Photo by Hans Friedrich

Like a lot of people, I start putting up the winter/holiday decorations after Thanksgiving (unlike most retailers, but that’s a different story altogether). So as I’m thinking about whether or not to make any changes from last year, I came across an article in the Tennessean about Project Blue Light which encourages people to include blue lights in their holiday decorations to show support for law enforcement officers who have given their lives in the line of duty as well as current officers.

The project is sponsored by Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS), a national nonprofit group that supports over 15,000 surviving families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Locally, the effort is endorsed by the Tennessee Highway Patrol which, according to the Tennessean, encourages people to participate as a way to thank officers for keeping neighborhoods and roadways safe.

So, I’m thinking, “This is an interesting idea.” I certainly would like to express my appreciation to local law enforcement officers who have assisted me on several occasions this past year. But how can I integrate some blue lights into my decorations without it looking hokey? And I’m also wondering whether or not this will turn into another “yellow ribbon” campaign where it becomes so commonplace that it loses it’s meaning.

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on this? Is this something you would do?

Okay, so who was at 2nd Ave. N and Commerce St. last night around 2:30am? I was. And I heard 2 loud noises that sounded exactly like gunshots. And then people were running, huge crowds running, up the street away from the intersection as fast as possible. Then about 20 police cars, along with a good number of horseback cops, arrived. People got arrested.

What the hell happened? Was anyone there? Did anyone see it go down? I can’t find anything about it on the usual local news sources…

This weekend, Vanderbilt University is hosting what is possibly the most important event in social and environmentally sustainable business practices; Net Impact.

Ok, so I can see you give whoop but it’s a pretty big deal in the business community. Either way, right now Nashville is the epicenter of the green movement with speakers from Patagonia, to Conservation International to Dupont.

If you are out and about on Saturday and feel like dropping in on some interesting speakers, check out Net Impact 2007. Registration is minimal or you can just check out the live blogging at OwenBloggers.com.

Those of you that have been lamenting the closing of the driving range on Charlotte — well, too bad. You’ll have to continue wandering the city, zombie-like, as I am, searching for another outlet for golf. The driving range won’t be back. What will take its place, though, is apparently a new $250M development taking advantage of the riverfront property:

Plans are in the works for a $250 million development on the Cumberland River that would include live/work units, condos, restaurants, retail and boat homes.

…

Dubbed The H20 Urban Waterfront District, the project would be on a 35-acre wedge of land tucked away from the strip retail stores of the Charlotte Pike corridor at the site of an abandoned golf driving range.

Sounds like it could be kinda cool.

If you’ve driven on West End Avenue between I-40 and Vanderbilt at all in the last few months, you’ve seen it. Big and blue and neon green and, well, kind of ugly… it’s the new Hotel Indigo at the corner of West End and 18th Ave. The former office building (and, as some of you may remember, home to a gentlemans club on the top floor) has been completely repurposed by Atlanta’s Wesley Hotels Group and is home to the boutique concept Hotel Indigo as of last Friday. The girlfriend and I had lunch at Atlanta Bread Company across the street on Saturday and therefore had the chance to look around the place.

First of all, kidding about the blue and green stucco aside, the exterior of the hotel isn’t particularly inviting. There’s no focal point at the building’s front, so it’s hard to tell where the main entrance is. The front doors look like the front doors of any average retail shopping center – certainly not the impressive entryway a hotel charging $250 per night should posess. Also, with all the money they spent on the renovation, they didn’t spend money to fix the roof of the solarium next to the front entrance. Seeing broken roof flashing before you walk in the front door of a hotel is never a good sign.

Upon entering the building, however, things improve dramatically. I’ve been in this building before when it was mainly office, and the transformation of the space is nothing short of dramatic. They’ve added an impressive staircase to the second floor directly in front of the entrance, and filled the walls with colorful, music-oriented murals – a nice touch. The softly colored wood floors were another plus, though you could tell they were a little cheap. Overall the lobby felt very hip, exuding a bright, casual but crisp ambiance that definitely impressed me.
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Today is Blog Action Day, and over 15,000 bloggers will be talking about the environment. Here’s how you can take a step in the right direction here in Nashville to improve the environment.

Surf
Check out the newly launched Greener Nashville for all of your green needs.
Visit my own CoolPeopleCare for daily tips on making the world a better place.

Donate
Support organizations doing great environmental work, such as:
Cumberland River Compact
Tennessee Environmental Council
Nashville Tree Foundation
Middle Tennessee Clean Air Partnership
The TMA Group

Socialize
Gather some buddies together and watch Kilowatt Ours by local filmmaker Jeff Barrie.
Check out Green Drinks once a month and meet some cool green folks in the city.

Nashville’s getting greener – leave a comment below and let us know what’s hip in Nashville when it comes to the environment.

Now that the weather seems to be turning cooler — at least for a little while — thoughts turn to weekend activities that the summer heat makes difficult to enjoy. For me that means cooking and baking more often (I hate running the oven when it’s hot outside), riding my bike and gardening when it’s not too chilly, and getting out to see the leaves turn at Cheekwood and Shelby Park.

What are your favorite autumnal activities in Nashville?

Man pleads guilty to beating girlfriend’s pig