I challenge you...

Dear Wigshop Readers (and writers):

This Thursday, November 6 is Operation Boot Camp's monthly Bring a Friend Day! I challenge you to attend!

1) We will have a new president by then (hopefully), so we could all pair the fresh start for our country with a fresh start for ourselves!
2) Holiday season is upon us, and what better way combat the holiday bulge than with a GREAT workout!
3) Daylight Savings means that daylight actually arrives about 1/3 through the workout, so it's not so dark anymore.
4) It may be cold but you warm up quickly out there!
5) It's fun! You may decide you love it and want to sign up for a month!
6) You get to meet me!

So, yes, I challenge you to attend! Read this for details. Pol, I would love to see you out there...

Trick-or-Treat

Happy Halloween all you out there in Wigshop land! (I tried to make a Halloween-themed Sunsphere photo, but Photoshop keeps making my computer crash.)

There's plenty of festivities going on in our fair city tonight, so don't be left in the dark after the kiddies have stopped coming to your door looking for tricks or treats.

And as I'm always uninformed, please let me know what I'm leaving off the list.

• AllKnox.com is hosting Scare in the Square at Market Square from 5 -10 p.m. Trick-or-treating, music and costume contests. This is a family-friendly event for those of you looking for wholesomeness on this, the most unwholesome of holidays.
• World Grotto is staying up all night with Nightmare on the Square. Art Vandalay is among some of the bands playing tonight. After the booze stops flowing for the night, the Grotto will serve coffee and breakfast.
• There's a block party in the Old City. Traffic will be blocked at Jackson and Central, and there will be live music. It's free and wristbands are available if you want to purchase booze.
• Freaker's Ball is being held at the Valarium. You'll need to get tickets if you want to get in.
• Nearly every bar has a live band tonight, and you can check out those listings at the Metro Pulse.

B. A. Pol-acus

In 2007, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Knoxville underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as bloggers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire...


Things tend to get weird around here when we run out of ideas.

Democracy Inaction

Well this is it. The last installment of this series reviewing the proposed charter amendments to Knox County Government. (Though I may be back Monday for a little A la Carte action on some of the other issues on the ballot).

In this final installment we deal with changes to the Mayors office in Knox county. As we are all aware, the current Mayor is not exactly the worlds most popular guy. He's been hit with scandal after scandal and hasn't exactly been the picture perfect executive. These changes would make for some rather drastic increases in his and future mayor's influence over county government. Like with Question 3 (see the previous entry in the series) this amendment has multiple parts which I will address... now:

SAMPLE BALLOT

#1 We lose our right to vote for, but stand to gain a better run set of offices. Law Director, Trustee, County Clerk, and Register of Deeds all disappear as separate individually elected offices.

At first this is worrisome, I mean it's always better to have more people voting to hold individuals accountable. I believe that completely, I am a big fan of accountability in the system and having as many people in government constantly concerned that their positions are only temporary, because I think that's how it's supposed to work.

But we live also in a time of great transition in Knox County. It's not that I don't want to vote for my register of deeds, it's that #1 far to few know what these fee offices actually do (though that's not a good enough reason in and of itself) and #2 Knox county government needs to stream line.

We currently have, from my understanding, some of the longest and most complicated ballots in the country during our elections. There's always some new referendum on top of the 18 different offices that are up for election. With two governments the voters of Knox county need the chance to streamline a portion of their government if they feel so inclined.

These offices will become answerable to and appointed by the mayor, who will have hiring and firing ability. The mayor will be able to select those who operate many of the day to day positions, not unlike a the presidential cabinet, and will be able to fire them, subject to approval from the commission of a 2/3 majority. This provides a system of checks and balances and encourages wise choices from the mayor about who he would put in those positions.

#2 The position of County Auditor would be eliminated and a 6 year term for Inspector General would be created. This will provide a voice in the mayors office that can report truthfully about the internal workings of all departments without fear of reprisals or loss of job.

#3 In a similar way on the changes to County Commission there is a provision to add a conflict of interest clause, requiring the mayor and appointed staff to disclose when they stand to make personal gains from decisions they make in their positions as county officials.

Whew, I know that was alot, everybody take a deep breath.

It's a difficult situation we find ourselves in. There have been many upheavals in county government over the past two years and now we are continuing that trend by making some dramatic changes. There are portions of these changes that I am not crazy about, but overall the changes, I believe, are in the best interest of all Knox County residents and will enable us all to move froward with a stronger, more responsive, and better structured local government.

So for the final Charter Amendment the Pol says:

How travel made me fall in love with Knoxville

I’ve been fortunate to have seen a fair share of foreign countries in my day. One of the greatest things I’ve learned from traveling is how to live simply. Without a car, the best way to eat or drink sometimes is by foot. It may be a stretch, but I think it’s the closest I’ll ever feel to being a hunter, famished and exhausted after a day of walking around, scoping out different cafes and markets, trying to find something to eat that suited me and whoever I was with. It was tiresome, but the greatest. I’ve actually squandered all of my money in Europe somewhat recently and am confined to stay in Knoxville for quite some time until my next adventure.

When I look at my life, though, I realize how much Knoxville has become like those faraway places I can only revisit in my mind. I realize I’ve made my life here as simple as possible. I live, work, and socialize in close proximity to one another, getting to places by foot or bike. I live downtown, work downtown, and play downtown. I found myself having a “European” morning the other day. I woke up fairly early and walked 30 minutes to Old City Java. I saw downtown from a completely different perspective.

The other day, an old man and his wife saw me leave work and get on my bike. He mumbled something to me, like, "Enjoy that while you can." You can be sure I am, old man. I'm positive when I'm older and acquire more responsibility, I'll look back to right now and be incredibly jealous.

Of course “big city life” can get hum-drum and small, and so a little exploration drive every now and then has become necessary. This is one of my favorite things to do because it makes me realize something vital: The more I see of Knoxville and its surroundings, the more enamored I become with it.

Monday was my good friend's 24th birthday, and so we decided to have a picnic out at 7 Islands, which I had never been to. We got there by going down Chapman Highway to John Sevier, and then through some beautiful farmland. It took us about 30-45 minutes to get there from downtown. We parked our car, loaded our arms with blankets, wine, and food, and walked down the road that winds through beautiful countryside along the French Broad River, passing old barns and houses along the way. I can’t believe I only recently heard about this place, through the MetroPulse, actually. It is amazing.

I have a bad habit of never taking my camera anywhere, so you'll just have to go there to see it, I suppose. You can get there by taking I-40 East and getting off at the Midway Exit (I think). There should be "7 Island" signs that lead you all the way there.

Be careful, though, you may just fall in love with this place.

Democratsy En Axcion

We're halfway through the Charter changes and now into the real meat of the issue. If you have any opinions on this whole thing it's likely in regards to questions 3 & 4.

You've probably seen the signs around town that say something to the effect of, "save our right to vote" and then say vote no on 3 & 4. In my professional opinion, that is an oversimplification of the situation... also called politics.

Question three deals with reducing the size of county government from 19 to 11 members, keeping current Knox County employees from also holding concurrent positions on County Commission, a prohibition on nepotism, and a requirement to disclose conflicts of interest.

Yep, it's pretty in depth, but no worries- we will examine all of it here, and I'll keep it as short as possible.

First if any of you caught it, there was a debate on Newstalk 100 last night about the changes, it was rather educational.

Now to quickly run through the points of this change:

1. Reducing the size of the County Commission from 19 to 11. I see both sides of this. I am a strong believer in ample representation, but also believe that too many cooks spoil the broth- right now there are too many cooks. The long and the short of it is that we need to move to a more streamlined, smaller, and unified government and if we can begin by shrinking the County Commission, then so be it.

2. Keeping Knox County employees from double dipping. No holding a seat on Commission while also running the county's parks department, makes complete sense. The big argument against is because of the teacher thing, where this would prohibit teachers from serving, but we need those elected to be as independent as possible. You can't be independent if your financial well being depends on the government you are supposed to represent for others.

3. Prohibition against nepotism. Write in Spellings, Write out Nepotism, anyone remember that mantra? Well I do, this is a no brainer here. No more putting family into positions of power. Our government will be held accountable, and will look more like a family tree with lots of branches and less like a family fork.

4. A requirement to disclose conflicts of interest. Yes, yes, a hundred times yes. I want to know what my commissioner stands to gain from the use of my tax money. No more brother-in-law deals, no more selling that old useless piece of swampland to the county for the new middle school at 10 times market value, and no more using your position on county commission to help you (the commissioner) improve your business on the tax payers dime.

And that's it.

Question three is a bit omnibus, but that can't be helped I guess. You'll continue to hear more about this in the coming days from local media and such, so keep an eye out and try to make an informed decision.

For my part, I'm in favor of question three and I will recommend that you consider also supporting it.

Todays Verdict:

Bearden, sushi capital of Knoxville

(Ed. note: Ok, so this post isn't completely about sushi)

I love sushi. I mean I loooooooove sushi, so it's a good thing that Knoxville's got more sushi restaurants per capita than any other city in the South. Ok, I'm making that up, but I'm willing to bet it's not far off. Seriously, five sushi places in a 1.5 mile stretch of Kingston Pike in Bearden?

Tomo is my favorite place to go for fast, cheap sushi. There's nothing too fancy on the menu, but you won't break the bank if you choose to go with an appetizer and multiple rolls. The staff there is super nice, too. [read full review here]

I love Nama just like everyone else, but I don't like having to wait an hour plus just to sit down and wait another half hour to get my sushi fix. I was really jazzed about Nama Bearden because it's close to where I live, it has good parking and the space is so much bigger than Nama v1.0.

The problem is, in a dozen attempts to eat at Nama Bearden, I've failed at 11 of them because I didn't want to do a 45 minute wait when there was plenty of other sushi places to go around. (That 12th time, my friend had the foresight to make reservations. Unfortunately, I was not blessed with such foresight). [read full review here]

I usually ended up going to Tai because it was close and had a pretty good sushi and drinks menu. Not to mention it was never crowded. And then Tai closed, which I'm sure had something to do with the whole never crowded thing.

Well, there's already a new sign on the building: Sobu. It says something about a sushi lounge, so I'm guessing this is going to be a Michaels/Palace/Purada turnover -- different name, same concept. I can't find anything else about this place, except that it already has some problem with its alcohol gross receipts, according to the News Sentinel (I don't know what this means, anyone?). I'm glad to see it making a rebound as a sushi place, but if the first place couldn't make it once Nama moved in nearby, I'm doubting this place will. [read full review here]

And in other Bearden new business news:
1. Dunkin' Donuts is moving into an empty building on the same Kingston Pike block where you can find McDonalds, Dippin' Donuts and IHOP. If I were a betting woman, I would say this probably spells trouble for Dippin' Donuts. I like Dippin's doughnuts, but their coffee is pretty bad, and if there's one thing Dunkin can do, it's coffee.

This sign has been up for a few weeks with a trailer parked out back, yet no construction seems to be happening.


2. Knoxify has the lowdown on the new boardsports shop on Bearden Hill, The Board Room. This looks like a really cool place. I hope it succeeds.

The Pols KAT Bus Experience

I live downtown. I work out west. I wish it wasn't so.

I drive my little green Jetta from home to Cedar Bluff five days a week. That is until recently.

I decided to give the bus system a try for a few days recently to see if it would be something that would be beneficial to me (mostly financially). At $3.50 plus a gallon it was hard to see how I could lose. So i laid out a track and hopped on board the west town bus at 8:15. Strike one.


















You see I don't have to be at work until 9:15, but the last express bus leaves downtown even earlier and would put me out west at 7:50, waaay to early to sit around and wait to sit around most of the day. So with my bike on the front I get dropped off about a five minute bike ride from my office about ten minutes before I'm supposed to be there. hmmm

The cost was a little better. It cost me $2.50 for a round trip, which saves me a buck and I enjoy riding on the bus. I read the paper, do homework (yep I'm taking classes at pellissippi), watch the world go by, listen to the radio, etc. It's relaxing, except for the worry about getting to where I need to get on time.

The ride home is better I cath the 5:10 express in the park and ride lot on executive park dr. Though the bus never actually shows up on time, it is usually anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes late.

The ride home is a great way to unwind, very relaxing. The buses are always clean and there is lots of seating on the ride home, not so much on the way out as my bus drops at walmart.

Final analysis, going out west the options are not great. I take what I can get and so that means sometimes I'm still driving. We can go over and over the shortcomings of our bus system, and we will I'm sure, but I'm going to try and make the best of what we have. I'd love to know if any of you have similar experiences headed out west on the buses.

Here is the pick up for the express bus. They even provide bike lockers if you want to stash your bike at the drop off.