script to monitor internet connection

[Brian John]

Hello,
I would like to write a script to monitor my internet connection status. 
My home connection goes down fairly often and I would like to get an idea
for just how often it goes down and if possible how long it goes down for.
 Could someone help me write a script that will check my connection to the
internet and log whenever it goes down and possibly how long it goes down
for?  I want to have some evidence to give to my ISP that my connection is
going down.

Thanks

/Brian