Knology goes down. Hard.

Not that anyone in the local media noticed, but Knology suffered a pretty major outage today for several hours. A couple of limp tweets indicated downtime (long after it had begun) and supposed uptime (I just gave up and went somewhere else -- having to abandon my house to get work done is always great).

What I find HILARIOUS is that they responded to less than a dozen people on Twitter. Knology, seemingly incapable of understanding the internet, is also your supplier of internet service. Their phone lines were busy today, I'm guessing due to call volume and not massive incompetence.

My options to switch? Comcast, which has terrible (legendary and sometimes hilariously, spectacularly BAD) customer service and quality of service, or AT&T's U-Verse. AT&T actually had a guy come to our house (which we hate) and knock on our door unsolicited to give us a "great" deal on U-Verse when it debuted in Knoxville 2 years ago. Guess what? That work order sat on my fridge door for over a year before I think I threw it away, giving up on AT&T. I think it says something when a company can't live up to a signed document. Of course, if I fail to pay my iPhone bill I get in trouble. Nothing happens to AT&T in this case.

Knology, on the other hand, should be thrown out of Knoxville and fined massively for the incompetence and failures it has plagued our town with.

Hoping for a Rogero mayoral win

I really get the feeling Mark Padgett wants to be a one-term mayor, a one-term governor and then hit D.C. with a vengeance. I get the vibe from him (and yes, I've been around him in person) that he sees politics as an ambition, as a career path, as a route to fame and fortune.

Which is exactly the things you should never look for in someone you plan to put in public office.

Rather, look for a candidate who understands that civil SERVICE is a service to the community. Look for someone with a smidge of experience in the public sector, because, like it or not, the government and its ancillary minions are a complex web, and it takes experience to make the most of the taxpayer's money.

So I'm hoping Knoxville elects Tennessee's first female mayor to a town our size, someone with experience, vision and a heart: Madeline Rogero.

Can't wait to see the outcome!

Why I voted for Rogero

I typically don't tell people who I voted for in an election. There's a reason our voting system was designed for registered voters (fairness) but still remains anonymous (openness). Anyway, I cast my vote for Madeline Rogero because she knows how to run a city.

Contrast this with the under-35 Mark Padgett, whose qualification is running a company with less than a dozen employees.

I think the way the campaigns have been run are indicative of what types of people we're talking about. Mark has an "end justifies the means" attitude, and is downright combative when, in truth, he and Rogero agree on a lot of things. It's an attempt to paint Rogero as some "tax and spend" liberal -- a common Republican "fear factor" play. Not surprising, considering Mark's campaign manager worked on the McCain campaign. Scare the population, win the election. Well, it didn't work for McCain, so I'm hoping it won't work for Padgett.

I mean, he can't even keep track of speeding tickets.

Mark should spend some time as a city councilman before trying to run a city when he doesn't even know what programs are helping the city. I'm sure he means well, but he's simply unqualified.