John Chew

Day 10 of no home Internet, and without high speed phone data no video calls, streamed video, or launching Pokemon Go. New modem does same as old: PPP auth fail. D14 Bell tech visit booking coincides with godson’s planned surgery date. Have started reading books again.

NASPA Word of the Day: CLAYBANK n a yellow-brown color. Hook:claybankS. Blanagrams:Playback backlanD blaTancy. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

Looking west along the north sidewalk of Eglinton Ave E, toward Vacsmart.

It’s a shame I don’t need to buy a vacuum cleaner more often, because the guys at VACSMART have an amazing combination of technical knowledge, improv skills that make me feel like I’m in an Abbott and Costello skit, and inventory that always has things I didn’t know I needed, at a reasonable price.

Day 9 of no Internet because backend issue. Bell will send a tech on D14. TekSavvy sending a new modem today, but must sign for it, so I have to be home. Where there is no Internet. CBC.ca/lite helping; any other text websites still out there? Please send bandwidth.

NASPA Word of the Day: SUINT n a natural grease found in the wool of sheep. Anagram:units. Hook:suintS. Typos:quint saint skint stint suing. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

Unlikely, but thanks!

Day 8 of Bell being unable to restore our DSL Internet service. They helpfully texted today to say they’re throttling my high speed phone data, because I was using too much. I know they want us to switch to fiber but friends who did hate it so much they use phone data, so I’m saving time.

NASPA Word of the Day: CAIQUE n a long, narrow rowboat. Hook:caiqueS. Typos:calque casque clique. Anahooks:acequiA acquiRe caCique caZique. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

Asked Teksavvy for an update on Day 7 of our Internet outage. They say Bell is scheduled to send a tech back out on D14. I asked why, if the last tech identified a backend issue; a mystery. Teksavvy will kindly send us a tester modem on D9 in case it's actually the modem; we need only pay if it is.

NASPA Word of the Day: PASH v to strike violently. Anagrams:haps hasp. Hooks:pashA pashM. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

NASPA Word of the Day: CULICINE n a mosquito. Hook:culicineS. Typo:colicine. Anahook:nucleiNic. Blanagrams:Glucinic encliTic leuciTic nicKelic nucliDic unicYcle. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

A bus approaches a bicycle, buried almost completely in a snowdrift, except for its bell.

“Every […] bicycle shall be equipped with an alarm bell, gong or horn, which shall be kept in good working order and sounded whenever it is reasonably necessary…”

We’re in the grey area between what the carrier is legally required to and their willingness to devote budgetary resources to support it.

After a 3-hour call with a very helpful and entertaining @teksavvy.bsky.social support rep on Friday night, they booked the Bell service call for us today. Today's guy agrees that it's a backend issue, and says if it doesn't get fixed we should call back in a week.

No Internet at home since late Friday night. My theory is that Bell Canada fired the dev who supported 3rd party PPPoE over VDSL, and they're stalling because the overseas company they outsourced that role hasn't yet told them that they don't understand the issue.

NASPA Word of the Day: MANSE n a clergyman's house. Anagrams:amens manes means mensa names nemas. Hook:manseS. Extension:manseRVANT. Typos:hanse manes mange marse masse mense. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

NASPA Word of the Day: EPIBOLY n the growth of one part around another. Blanagrams:bioType pReboil. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

NASPA Word of the Day: GRIVET n a small monkey. Hook:grivetS. Typos:privet trivet. Anahooks:vertigO virgAte. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

NASPA Word of the Day: GUFF n foolish talk. Hook:guffS. Extensions:guffAW guffAWED guffAWING guffAWS. Typos:buff cuff duff gaff gulf huff luff muff nuff puff ruff tuff. Anahook:gRuff. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

NASPA Word of the Day: MITRAL adj pertaining to a valve of the heart. Anagram:ramtil. Typo:citral. Anahooks:maltiEr maritAl marlitE martiAl miStral ramtilS timBral. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

NASPA Word of the Day: NUMMARY adj pertaining to coins. Typo:summary. Blanagrams:Juryman manuAry. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

NASPA Word of the Day: SWARTH n turf. Anagrams:thraws wraths. Hooks:swarthS swarthY. Extensions:swarthIER swarthIEST swarthILY swarthINESS swarthINESSES. Typo:swarty. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

A hooded figure wearing balaclava and reflective ski goggles stands at a bus stop in Toronto

Comfortably dressed for waiting for the bus, but for some reason my iPhone facial recognition has stopped working.

A narrow path leads between 1.5 m snowdrifts to a roadway.

Keeping bus services running in a snowstorm includes digging through snowdrifts at bus stops. Thank you to whoever dug this path.

NASPA Word of the Day: PLUMULE n the primary bud of a plant embryo. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

A laneway full of snow at night, with a narrow footpath leading to a wooden gate

60 cm of snow, and our laneway is transformed into a network of narrow footpaths shovelled out by neighbours reaching out to each other.

NASPA Word of the Day: TONETICS n the phonetic study of tone in language. Anagram:stenotic. Anahooks:coRnetist notcHiest stocKinet tAconites tectoniCs tectonisM. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

Listening to it for the first time, I realize that I might have come across as a little nerdy when I cited the mediæval board game of Arithmomachia as an example of Grognard capture.

NASPA Word of the Day: BENTWOOD n wood bent for use in furniture. Hook:bentwoodS. Blanagrams:Unbooted beAtdown downbeAt woodbIne woodnOte woodtOne. https://scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/wotd.pl