sikander.org

Backing up to Gmail

sikander — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:35:15 +0000

Google released an email uploader recently called Google Email Uploader that allows a user to transfer emails from Microsoft Outlook to Gmail. I've had a Gmail account for a few years now but I didn't consider it my primary address. Fed up with the hundreds of spam emails that arrive at my sikander.org Catch-All address daily, I decided to shut it down and move operations to Gmail.

Unfortunately Google Email Uploader works with Google Apps hosted Gmail only. A normal user is not able to use it. However, there is an alternative.

IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol and it allows a client to access email from a remote server. Google added support for IMAP access to gmail last year.

This allow you to set up a new account in Microsoft Outlook to connect to Gmail through IMAP and then move your email from Outlook to Gmail. Be aware that copying a folder from Outlook to Gmail can take a long time depending on how big the Outlook folder is.

I've backed up most of my email archive to Gmail. Google will automatically label the emails that your import into it with the folder's name. The contents of an Outlook folder called FoxTrot will be labeled as "[Gmail]/FoxTrot" which you can easily rename back to "FoxTrot".

It's a relief that I don't have to worry about losing emails again. I can throw away the "Backup" cds and dvds. What a wonderful service.. and free too!

The oldest email I have is from January of 1998 from Shajiya Jafri. She showed me how to open an email account on hotmail.com when we were students at Merivale Highschool. I don't remember what website I told her about.. maybe Shacknews ? Haha!

Happy New Year – 2008

sikander — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:55:58 +0000

Videos: Walking north on Yonge street - Dancing in the Subway

New Years’ Eve Festivities

sikander — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:30:42 +0000

The year 2007 is at an end. Here's hoping that 2008 will be just as good, if not better.

Here's an end of the year message for someone who probably would just shrug it off and say 'meh':

Until next year....

First Snowstorm of Winter 2007

sikander — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 07:18:24 +0000

We had the first major snowstorm of Winter 2007 over the weekend. An approx 15-20 cm of snow accumulation all over Toronto. Don't drive outside if you don't have to!

Holiday Shopping

lunato — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:08:13 +0000

Sikander and I went to a "door-crasher" sale for the first time ever. We were in front of the local Canadian Tire store at 7 in the morning and ran inside towards the Treadmill department as soon as the doors opened. It was fun and we saved $1000 off the sale price for the treadmill. Now the hard part starts: actually using it on a regular basis.

Broken Laptop

lunato — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:03:05 +0000

Ouch! I was trying to close the laptop but there was a paper clip inside it and this is what happened :(:(

Dinner @ Medieval Times

sikander — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 06:42:01 +0000

I used to say "We have to go there someday" whenever the Medieval Times commercial was be on TV. Lunato surprised me this year for my birthday with two tickets for the show. It was wonderful and we would highly recommend it to everyone.

Toronto Sunset

sikander — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 06:40:33 +0000

Hiking at Algonquin Park

sikander — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 04:10:37 +0000

Lunato and I spent Saturday hiking at Algonquin Park. We stopped at the Dorset Tower on the way there. You can find Dorset on the Google Map linked below. It was our first visit to the park and we're definitely going back next summer. Wonderful place.

Videos: 1, 2

Milestones

sikander — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 07:15:28 +0000

Shekhar posted this on Facebook:

!!! Happy First Anniversary !!!

I'm sure all share my sentiments when I say it was a fantabulous evening. I know this bubbly couple goes all out, but the plan yesterday (September 15, 2007) was way beyond my imagination. Although I'm quite sure that HeaSik will provide a detailed description of the day and their planning process on sikander.org, I'd like to recap it anyway.

Sikander tells us to arrive at 6:45 sharp. Being proactive, I arrived at 6:50 while everyone was waiting. I see papers in hands of everyone, and yes I did guess it was going to be a scavenger hunt. My better half for the evening, Mr. Shirwa, and I were paired up (at Sikander's behest and my inability to obtain a date). Nonetheless, Ali and I proved to the perfect match as we beat all other couples and pieced together the words scattered around the buildings encircling (or ensquaring) the Quad. We got the task accomplished in 15 mins, and waited at least 10 minutes for the next couple to arrive.

When we arrived back, a very classy suprise was coming up and took the evening to a whole new level. A limo arrived to pick us all up (except Tony and Zainab who couldn't keep up with the rest... then again this wasn't their university). Thoroughly impressed, we all went downtown in this Lincoln 8-seater Limousine to Milestones. The dinner was great, with lots of exciting conversation, plus giving me the chance to get to know Jimmy and Song Woo better.

Dinner wasn't just dinner though. The games didn't stop there. We were provided a list of items and whoever had the most items won prizes. Since a lot of items did involve girly stuff (lipstick, comb, hairpin etc), and my partner being another male (and going against Jimmy's collection of photos and mileage cards), it didn't help us win any prizes here. Regardless, a fun exercise and the only thing missing was TV cameras.

Evening wasn't over yet. The limo took us back to Mooney's Bay (Ali and I decide to drive this time giving Zainab and Tony the opportunity to bond with the rest in the comfort of a family room on wheels). What do HeaSik surprise us with there? It was dark, slightly cold, we were right next to the shore. What a perfect place to light up some fireworks, celebrate our freedom and of course Heajoo and Sikander's anniversary. Some fireworks were really cool, while some were just duds (especially Sikander's). That was a cool thought, lot of fun, we took some (like 50) photos after that. After all those attempts, I hope Zainab got one good group shot!

We all headed to Tim Hortons after this and after some caffine we split up, and five of us decided not to end the celebrations just yet. Sikander, Heajoo, Ali, Song Woo, and I went down to Eighteen Lounge for some drinks and relaxation. Good music and ambience. After a couple of hours we headed over to Casino, more to cool off...

We dropped Song Woo home, and rest of us spent the night at Ali's house, where Sikander asked me "if there's anything else he can do for me". Ali refrained from making any moves as it's Ramadan. Night passed, we woke up to a wonderful morning, had breakfast, made flattering (and honest) comments on Ali's hospitality, and split off... HeaSik are likely on their way to Toronto at this point. It was good to meet up with all of you after so long.

Towards a lifetime of happiness to Heajoo and Sikander... Kudos for pulling off the plan with such excellence.