Internet now back up and running

Well, Yak has finally restored my internet connection, after 8 days of downtime. Of course, they've offered to compensate me for the lost service, but with spending 1-2 hours a day on hold with their tech support, there's no way I'll recover even a fraction of the value of the wasted time with them.

Oh well, it seems to be a bit faster than before, but P2P is still pretty slow.

More followers!

I recently started using Twitter (you can follow me on Twitter under "ksyed0"), a micro-blogging service. I follow a few others, because I don't want to be overwhelmed with updates.

However, I don't have too many followers right now.

I recently came across an interesting service which lets you build followers: FastFollowers.com

I'll let you know how it works out!

Yak off!

Well, our internet connection has been out for the last 4 days. I can't believe it! We're currently with Yak Communications because they had a great deal with a real POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service, ie not VOIP) line and high-speed internet together for $69.95+tax a month. Compared to Bell, where I was paying about $55/month for internet, plus another $60/month for a VOIP phone line.

All has been fine for the last 6 months since I switch, but this Friday, Yak switched from using TekSavvy as the wholesale provider to providing the services themselves. Well, you would think they would have tested more extensively. They've been down now for 4 days with no ETA in sight. If it wasn't for some (probably not tek-savvy) neighbours (linksys, default, and dlink Zindabad!), I would have no internet at all.

Not good when I'm a teleworker and work from home 60% of the time.

Even worse, they don't seem to know what the problem is, and have no ETA for service resumption. They just ask their clients to reset their modems and try to connect every hour.

Boo! At the very least, at the first sign of problems, they should have backed out the "upgrade".

The good news, when they come back up, is that my service has been upgraded to 6meg service from 5meg.

Let's see when it happens.

Linksys, whoever you are, you are a lifesaver! Come over for a barbecue burger on me sometime! :)

Happy Birthdays!

Wanted to send a congrats to our adopted son and our oldest daughter on their birthdays.

Zaki (on the left with the paddle) is now 6 years old and adjusting well to life in Canada.

My older daughter (on the right) is about to turn 12, and becoming a little adult now. She's almost as tall as my wife, and next year will probably pass her.

These are pics from our recent daytrip to Earl Rowe Provincial Park. Our first canoeing experience as a family!

Congrats again to both of you!

Fishing in Lake Erie

We recently went fishing for the Bass Opening weekend in Lake Erie. We usually go to Charleston Lake near Kingston, but it was a bit out of the way this year.

At the left is a picture of one of the few fish we caught - we didn't do too well this time. Its a pic of a friend with the first fish he caught. He's sitting in his new Seadoo sports boat, 250HP, it can really move!

Congrats Arif!

Congrats!

Wanted to send out a congrats to my new brother-in-law Imran Khan, and his wife (my wife's younger sister) Tahneyat Fatima!

May you have a long and happy life together, and have a good time in Chicago!

The Fat Myth Explained

I recently came across an interesting documentary called Fat Head by Tom Naughton, created as a riposte against Super Size Meby Morgan Spurlock, the story of a man who gains 30 pounds in one month, after eating nothing but fast food from Macdonalds. It was definitely an eye opener, and poked a lot of holes in this other documentary. Most importantly, it really explained, in layman's terms, the holes in the Lipid Hypothesis, which is the (flawed) basis of the low-fat, high-carb diet recommendations that we often see today.

The video begins by discussing the key points and flaws, in Spurlock's documentary, and the especially damning problem of the near impossibility of gaining as much weight as Spurlock claims, following his own rules. Something's rotten in the state of Denmark (or Spurlock)! From there, he goes on to establish his own challenge: eat only fast food, each meal (three times a day), every day for a month. The catch - he'll use his head and NOT "get fries with that", and he won't consume sugary sodapop. In fact, he'll restrict his carb intake to about 100g per day, equivalent to about 400 calories. Other than that, he will eat as much as he wants. His only exercise will be a 30 minute walk in the evenings.

He starts off the challenge with a baseline visit to his doctor, to establish his weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.

Here's a trailer:



As he goes through the movie, consuming fast food - burgers usually, but sometimes sandwiches and other traditionally "fattening" foods. Along the way, he interviews many well known doctors, such the Dr.'s Eades (of Protein Power fame), Dr. Al Sears, and more.

He explains the Lipid Hypothesis with some good clarity, and shows how the American public (and subsequently us in Canada and elsewhere) have been hoodwinked by the drug companies into taking more and more medications while pointing the finger at the wrong bad guy - fat, especially saturated fat, instead of the real villain - processed sugars and starches.

I'll let you watch the movie yourself to find his conclusions, but I for one found this an excellent video and very educational. Highly recommended!