Just when you thought it was safe to return to your local polling place, Kenneth Eaton has announced that he intends to unseat U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander in this fall’s election:

After deep consideration and talking with my family, my political mentor Bob Clement, as well as his long time friend and chief of staff Larry Woods; I have decided to enter the race. These friends are confident that I should run, and believe we have the ability to win this race.

If Eaton’s mayoral campaign was a longshot (and it certainly was), I’m not sure how to describe this latest effort. Quixotic doesn’t quite say enough. It may be time to solicit more realistic mentorship and advice because I’m not sure why trying to unseat one of Tennessee’s most popular political figures seems like a good idea to anyone.

Eaton is ready, though, even if his Web site is not. Note that “Kenneth Eaton for Mayor of Nashville” is still the home page’s title, but at least he still has a home page. (It’s amazing to me that this site still links to a Web directory months after the election.)

I’m not sure what to make of the source for this news. If the author had concerns about Harold Ford’s unsuccessful Senate campaign, he will be plenty busy analyzing this one.

After seven hours waiting in line outside in the cold and being subjected to way too many mediocre renditions of “Unchained Melody” and “Don’t Take the Girl,” local radio host Miss Vicky (above) has had enough:

Spending 7 hours at a Nashville Star audition is like audition week on Idol, only add a twang, cowboy boots, spitting, chain smoking, diesel trucks, really bad cliche “country” outfits and a lot of yodeling like screeching.  It was 7 hours of absolute agony! I never want to hear “Unchained Melody”, “Crazy”, “Walking After Midnight”, “More than a Memory”, or “Don’t Take the Girl” ever, ever, ever again … If you were wondering how my audition went… I think it was actually bad enough you might see me on the reject reel.  I might get my tv time after all! I NEVER want to audition for anything again!

Yikes. I think I will listen to Lightning 100 or Nashville Public Radio during my commute this morning. I would really miss Unchained Melody if I had to ban it from my earshot.

It’s no MusicCityMoms.com, but Local stay-at-home dads now have their own presence on the Internet: nashdads.com. If you’re a dad and have no interest in the previously mentioned AP position, check it out.

The Nashville Associated Press bureau (located in Brentwood) is searching for a news editor. Like the rest of the media (and the rest of us, for that matter), the AP is shifting on the fly to figure out how new technologies and the evolving media landscape are continuing to change how news is prepared and delivered:

Candidates must have a commitment to all media platforms … Applicants need to understand the growing importance of multimedia news and be able to coordinate with AP staffers from other formats.

Submit an application or your resume online if you’re interested.

I was in third grade at a conservative Christian school in 1983 when I first learned that “gay” did not merely mean happy. I discovered that when one of my classmates got in trouble for calling someone gay, and I didn’t understand why saying that was a problem.

I think in-depth discussion of sexuality can and should wait until middle school, but for there to be no mention of it whatsoever prior to that point is, I think, naive. If I and my classmates were discovering the concept in a sheltered environment two-plus decades ago, today’s students know even sooner.

There is a significant and legitimate need for more parents who are willing to adopt in Tennessee, especially for older children. Determining whether an adult is a fit parent, in my opinion, should have little to do with their sexual orientation and plenty more to do with their character.

I’ve said this before, but I would much rather have Metro Council member Keith Durbin parent a child than State Rep. Rob Briley, and that feeling has nothing to do with which one of them is gay. Decisions about adoption and parenting should have to do with making sure that those who adopt are responsible and compassionate people who are willing and able to care for children above all else.

A Florida Gator fan, in town for yesterday’s basketball game against Vanderbilt, received an unexpected, and perhaps unwelcome, serenade from a few members of the Commodore football team:

Of course, it’s more fun to perform than to watch others perform. That’s why I ventured down to Printer’s Alley last night for a little late-nite karaoke. After watching some Vanderbilt football players pull a soft, boy-band rendition of NSync’s “Bye, Bye, Bye” (which might explain their perennial last-place finishes in the SEC East), I decided to bring some rock and roll back into the equation with an old standby, Bon Jovi’s “Wanted, Dead or Alive.” The kids appreciated it, even though many may have just been born when it topped the charts.

It would usually make sense to advise poor singers to keep their day jobs, but in this instance, I’m not so sure. (That’s witnessing a lot of tough losses talking there.)

Twenty-three hours ago, the West Nashville Costco reportedly had a pallet of Nintendo’s red-hot Wii gaming system. It’s anyone’s guess whether there are any still available tonight.

I had the honor of participating in a panel discussion today at the Center for Nonprofit Management. The topic, “Meet the Media,” featured local reporters and editors along with yours truly as a local blogger (and admitted non-journalist). I think those in attendance enjoyed the conversation and gained some knowledge along the way, and I certainly hope they did. Here are some things I learned:

• Panel moderator and CNM President Lewis Lavine once worked on the “dark side,” public relations, as I have for the past decade.
• Editor Dave Raiford and the Nashville Business Journal are working on a new design for their print edition that will launch soon. A Web redesign will follow later this year. I’m looking forward to seeing both.
• City Paper Editor Clint Brewer has a three-week old baby at home, and he didn’t sleep so well last night. Never one to spare an opinion, he still had plenty of good and candid insight for the crowd despite his lack of rest.
• WPLN-FM reporter Christine Buttorff, and the rest of the panel for that matter, are out there reading local blogs. They dig Mike and Sean, among others, and said so by name. (I do, too.)
• By the way, check out WPLN’s pretty new Web site. I’ve apparently been listening more than visiting lately and missed this upgrade.
• Tennessean reporter Michael Cass and I are both comfortable arriving casually late (five minutes in this case), more so when we each realize we’re not the only ones who aren’t on time. I think Cass has been one of the best locally at juggling the competing duties of reporting and blogging that so many journalists now have on their plates.
• Something I haven’t learned: Is there a shortcut or subdomain for Metro Dispatch and other Tennessean blogs? The URL I found is one of the longer functional addresses I’ve come across in ages, but at least it works.
• CNM is preparing to launch its own blog later this month. Stay tuned.

There was a lot more useful information shared today, but it’s tough to take notes when you’re participating in a public discussion. (People keep expecting you to say things, you know.) If you work for a nonprofit but missed today’s session, check out CNM’s full-day new media workshop coming up in March.

Clarification: The NBJ will be launching a new version of its print edition soon and a Web redesign later in the year. I’ve corrected that in the original post above, too.

I have driven from Nashville to Lexington several times during the past few months. It’s a long, inconvenient drive, but I bet the trip was especially rough for the Blue Mist yesterday evening after Vanderbilt throttled Kentucky 93-52.

Kentucky has great fans who travel extremely well to support their team, and it’s been a long season already for the perennial SEC frontrunner. It’s astounding that the Commodores now hold the record for the ‘Cats worst-ever SEC loss, but don’t feel too sorry for Kentucky: They won’t be down for long.

I’m not really sure what’s taking place in Old Hickory Village via the Web or in the real world. The internet has changed so much in our society so quickly, but it has not changed one thing: We’re all neighbors, whether we’re separated by picket fences or IP numbers. It appears that there’s been plenty of mudslinging in various directions in this particular instance, and I have no clue who is in the right or in the wrong here.

The internet can help us do incredible things, but it also naturally reflects the good and the bad of human nature. Without some measure of respect and civility and a desire for constructive dialogue, what sounds nasty in person still sounds ugly in cyberspace. And that kind of rhetoric, whether analog or digital, doesn’t get anyone very far.

I’m pleased to see Starbucks taking steps to offer free* wifi at its locations. I think the company’s current agreement with T-Mobile is restrictive, and it benefits the wireless carrier far more than the coffee company. Starbucks made this deal early in the wifi era, and in retrospect I think it was a mistake, as competitors lured customers with free internet access of their own. Starbucks is reeling in the wake of increased competition, especially from McDonald’s, and this move is better late than never, in my opinion.

*An active Starbucks gift card is required, and sessions longer than two hours require payment. This isn’t a great way to engender loyalty from your customers, but it’s a start.