Here Comes The Holidays!

For several weeks now I've been griping about my snail-paced Internet connection. I couldn't get any work done online. Needless to say the Daily Dotventures suffered as a result.

I missed quite a few events which I wanted to write about. Like Chinese beauty Zhang Zilin winning at home for the Ms. World 2007 pageant last December 1, same day as the commemoration of World Aids Day.

Or the Hatton-Mayweather fight which saw the returning WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather retain victory over the challenger with powerful head shots that knocked Ricky Hatton down twice in succession in the 10th round, urging referee Joe Cortez to stop the fight in favor of Mayweather.

Then there was that ill-conceived siege at the Manila Peninsula Hotel by frustrated-mutineer-turned-Senator Antonio Trillanes IV that miserably failed (again) to overthrow incumbent Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Don't forget the Spice Girls' ongoing reunion world tour. Love them or not, they're back in a big, gingery, scary, sporty, baby and posh way.

Well, like I said, I missed quite a bit because my ISP is, in a word, c-r-a-p! The significant slow down may also be attributable to the oncoming holiday season. More people are sending emails to their loved ones, surfing for bargains, doing online purchases, booking flights, making VOIP calls, uploading video greetings, and so on and so forth.

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Not only that, apart from the slow down in Internet connectivity due to increased demand in bandwidth, the holidays are also a time for the hundred-fold proliferation of spam. Every online marketer and their brother are making their mailing lists and checking them twice. It doesn't even matter if you've been naughty or nice. You'll get the spam and chances are there's a "free" gift along with it - READ: malware.

So do protect yourself online this hoiday season. Deck your Internet halls with a safer browser, an anti-spyware, an anti-virus and a firewall. And while we patiently bear the holiday lag online, perhaps its a good opportunity for all of us to ponder the true meaning of the season.

Here's wishing everyone a less-stressful and a happy online holiday.