Divya & I have taken new assignments at work.

Also, we now call Nashville, TN home.

FAQs:

1) What is Tennessee?
It is the name of a state. It is part of the lower-48. Owing to the geographic location and cosmopolitan-ness, it can even be termed as the “lowest of the lower-48”

2) Where is Tennessee?
We are told it is somewhere in the US, only not where.

3) Do people always Drink and Drive?
Though JD is made here, people don’t seem to DUI

4) Do people always play tennis here?
There seems to be no connection between the name and the sport of tennis.

5) Is this place small?
The city seems to be small, but all places are far apart.

6) Is this place cheap?
No you effer, I wouldn’t have moved, if that was the case

7) No, what I meant is — Is this place inexpensive?
If you have lived in California, especially in a place like Orange County, any place in the world is less expensive

8) Is the weather mean?
Again, if you are pampered with the Californian weather, you will be surprised to see ice (not snow) on your windshield every morning.

9) That’s right….Tennessee is nothing like Calif. So, freeways and surface roads will be empty all the time.
Wrong again. Tennessee apparently is the process of becoming another California. Roads just happened to the first thing they emulated.

Update#1 11/11/07: We usually drink a lot of wine and have atleast 6–8 bottles in the racks. When you need more wine bottles, what do you do? Go to the grocery store and buy ’em. Back in California you can get decent tasting wines for under $20, many under the $12 range.

So what did I expect to do when I needed more wines in Tennessee? Exactly that. I went to the grocery store and they suggested that they dont sell anything other than beers. I had to go to a liquor shop, which are kind of quarantined from the civic mall/shop areas.

Tennessee law dictates that liquor shops should sell liquor and only liquor. Which means you can buy a bottle of wine, but not a corkscrew to open it. You can buy liquor but not the glasses. Well, you can buy a corkscrew, but it has to have atleast 1% alcohol in it. Shitty idea.

Also, while in Calif and many other states, you can buy good wine for less, the only wines in the under-10-dollar range are names you have never even heard of. The ones which usually walk by and dont buy in California stores or atleast you consider beginner’s range — Mondavi, Beringer, Sutter home — are all above the $22 range. French table wines like Louis Jadot are in the top range.

So how much did I spend on 6 average bottles of wine? Whopping $64

The company I work for reduced my allowances and therefore my paycheck, because I moved to a less expensive place. But if I were to continue my wine culture, I definitely need a fatter paycheck.

Also, if the cost of wine is any indication of the prices of everyday things here, Tennessee is definitely not a low cost location.