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I’ve been fighting off and on performance problems with my service provider for the last few years. It’s one of those nagging issues where performance on my DSL would slow considerably, to the point where it was useless, and just when I got to the point where I was going to give up troubleshooting, a reboot of the router or something would magically make it go away.
Anyway, this happened again, and kept the same state for the last few days. I tried all the variables, and calling support is like going to confessional - “it must be your fault” “its something on your end, everything here looks fine” say the phone operator from Bangalore.
Anyway, after trying everything I was still convinced it had something to do with my provider so when I started researching and posing possible problems I found that a awful lot of people out there are having problems with SBC/Yahoo/AT&T DNS servers. A couple recommendations said that changing DNS settings from “auto configure from ISP” to OpenDNS would clear that up. So I tried it, and low and behold my problems magically disappeared. This would also explain why operators trying to test my line would not find anything wrong. Anyway, if you have this service, and have been dissatisfied with performance, try switching to OpenDNS. It’s free and if you aren’t very technical, they have pretty nice documentation walking you through step by step.

I recently went on vacation with my family and wanted to jot some notes down here in the event they might be useful to someone down the road.
Here is where we went - Las Vegas (2 nights), Zion National Park (1 night), North Rim Grand Canyon (2 nights), and Lake Las Vegas (2 nights).

First stay in Vegas was on the strip at the Mandalay Bay THE Hotel. The mini-suites there are very nice, offering two bathrooms (a plus with kids), three TVs and more. We all enjoyed the the room, but the reality was we were still on the strip and became obvious when we went down the pool. At 9am we were parked next to a group of men who clearly had been up gambling all night and were starting their day with a margarita. Escaping to the pool also only brought us closer to the lovebirds who had no problem playing patty-cake with their tongues and other body parks despite the fact there were kids everywhere. I’m not much of a gambler, but the restaurants were pretty good.

Zion is just amazing. One regret from the trip is that we didn’t plan more time there. We stayed at the Zion Lodge, and while the accommodations were modest, they were clean and all the people were very nice. I would stay there again, especially since it is the only place to stay within the park.

North Rim Grand Canyon is also amazing, but if you’re traveling with kids it feels like there isn’t as much to do there. There is only so long you can stare out into the Canyon, and if you want to go hiking, you are limited to some nice, but not spectacular hikes up around the camp site and lodge, otherwise you are committing to some more ambitious hikes. One whole section of the north rim area was closed while we were there.
TIP: If you are going there and are going to eat at the lodge be sure to ask for table #81 - it has the best view in the place.

Lake Las Vegas is just a little strange. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton which was nice, as you’d expect, but the little village adjacent was totally deserted. Regardless, the relaxed atmosphere and location away from the strip would make me want to stay there again. They offer shuttles to the strip daily (dropping you off at the Wynn), and we talked to many people that took advantage of that. The pool was much more relaxed as well.

Since this was a road trip we had a few meals on the road. We are fan of the Bob’s Big Boy and ended up eating at the Barstow as well as Baker locations. They were equally good, but we liked the Barstow A-Frame design and atmosphere a little better. But be far the best meal we had on the road was at the Rocking V Cafe in Kanab, Utah. We stumbled upon this cafe driving from Zion to North Rim Grand Canyon and thoroughly enjoyed the staff, atmosphere (with little gallery upstairs), and the food. The burgers were some of the best we’d had, but the key lime pie and creme brulee were what stuck in our memory.

If you think a plain turkey sandwich is safe from MSG (monosodium glutamate) at Chilis, think again. I had half a sandwich yesterday and started reacting last night.
With that, here are some other places confirmed to use MSG liberally:
California Pizza Kitchen
Kentuky Fried Chicken - KFC
Applebee’s
Denny’s

My understanding is that they are required to list in ingredients or the menu their use of MSG, but I never see anything on the menu. I guess you have to specifically ask for the ingredient list.

Here is a pretty good summary of the issues surrounding MSG on Wikipedia.
And here is what the FDA has to say about monosodium glutamate. Not the last statement about including it as an ingredient where added. I searched all over the Chili’s web site but found no reference. They list their menu, but not ingredients. The also have information for common allergies, but again all they do is give suggestions from their menu. In other words, they don’t want to give us the information to make our own choices, they believed they are medically qualified to suggest to us what is safe and what is not.

My question is, if there is any doubt whatsoever that MSG is bad for humans, then why not cut it out entirely. Clearly making food taste good does not require it, and it does not act as a preservative. I’ve been burned so many times now, I’m seriously considering picketing in front of some of these restaurants. If anyone is interested in joining me, leave a comment.

Next time she does something I don’t like or disagree with, I’ll think about this story.
11-year-old charged with driving drunk

I am . . . .

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