A Year in Review

I can't believe it has already been 1 year since I left my beloved state of Michigan and moved to the south. I've made my home in the metro Nashville area which is a new experience for me to be so close to a major city. I love having the option of going to downtown Nashville to hang out with my new friends. And Nashville has a small town feeling with big city attractions. I really like the community I selected. It is a growing area with a new library, police station, community center, mall and train depot (the four corners near my subdivision recently replaced the 4-way stop signs with an actual traffic light). I also picked this area because it is a short commute to work and the airport. Housing values continue to rise in the Nashville area with all of the business growth with Nissan and Dell.

Work has taken up a lot of my time. I actually spent 119 days away from Nashville this past year traveling to my customers in Mexico. There are some definite changes that I am still getting used to with living in the south.

• Life is a lot slower in the south. My driving habits have changed and I don't drive as fast anymore (I can't because I can't speed around the slow cars in front of me!).
• Sports are a bit different down here. The majority of southerners are into college football and basketball (in that order) and not too many follow pro sports. And of course NASCAR ranks right up there.
• No state income tax!
• High sales tax 9.25% because there is no state income tax (keeps me from shopping!).
• One of the best things about Middle Tennessee is the weather. It is sunny and warm most of the time.
• Country music - still can't get into it!
• Central Time Zone - only 1 hour difference from Eastern, but I still cannot get used to it. It seems I am always an hour late watching something on TV!
• I have great neighbors who look out for each other.

For the most part, I am happy I chose to move to the south. I can't wait to see what's in store for me as I enter my second year in middle Tennessee.