racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

If you pay for something, should you still see advertisements?

This is one question that has been looming on my mind since the first time I ranted out about advertisements on Sky Cable a couple of years back.

When you pay for a premium Flickr account, do you get ads? No? When I bought myself a Flickr Pro account, the promise was for ads to disappear unless it was absolutely necessary to display advertisements. And Yahoo!/Flickr made good on their promise.

What about SkyCable? No.

Take Nickelodeon, AXN, Cartoon network, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel. All of these channels that feature ads for their own shows during breaks now also feature ads for Sky, Home Cable, and affiliated companies like Sky Internet.

I mean I pay PhP 800 plus (~$16 +) per month for a Sky Cable Gold subscription, and I expect nothing but quality ad-free programming. But what do I get? Advertisements.

One of the built-in games on my Nokia 1112 (a very very basic phone) is Yahtzee. You might be familiar with this game as the Yacht dice game. I usually play this game to pass the time during those lull moments. I used to play this game on the computer, too, way back in the late 1990’s, when we were addicted to Hoyle Board games (we especially liked Parcheesi, too).

I’ve more or less mastered Yahtzee through the many times I’ve played it, but recently I’ve developed a surefire technique to increase points—and I think this might have good parallels with work flow and work habits.

The system

First, the basics of the game. Yahtzee is a dice game, where you roll 5 dice to arrive at a combination. You get a total of three rolls per round, in which you can save certain dice so they won’t be rolled in the next roll (in the hopes that the next roll + the saved dice will give you a good combination). Here’s a visual reference for the rules (although rules have varied through time and through different game releases).

Here are the combinations and the points.

Upper section

• 1 to 6: The sum of the die faces corresponding to the number.

Lower section (combinations)

• 2 Pairs: The sum of all die values
• 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind: The sum of all die values
• Full House: A pair and a trio: 25 points
• Small straight: dice 1 to 4, 2 to 5 or 3 to 6: 30 points
• Large straight: dice 1 to 5 or 2 to 6: 40 points
• Chance: any combination of dice, the sum of all dice
• Yahtzee: 5 of a kind, 50 points

The technique

For the longest time, I had been focusing on filling in the combinations, especially with the upper-end values. For the fixed points, it’s okay to get low die values, since you get fixed points anyway. For instance, three 1’s and two 2’s give you a full house.

But for the combinations where the points are summed up, it’s best to get the higher values. For instance, a four-of-a-kind with four 6’s and one 5 will give you 29 points, while a four-of-a-kind with four 1’s and one 2 will give you only 6 points, since it’s summed up.

Of course, it’s the Yahtzee puzzle that’s the jewel of the game. This gives you 50 points, whether you get five 1’s or five 6’s. But it’s also the most difficult to achieve, in terms of chances.

At first, I tended to disregard the upper section, and just selected these when I couldn’t find a better combination. After all, combinations either get you fixed high points, or the sum of all dice. The upper section just gives you the sum of all corresponding die faces. So for instance I get two 5’s and a mix of other die faces, and I select the “5” box, I only get 10 points.

A new strategy

However, I realized later on that the game—at least according to the rules that my mobile phone uses—that the game will award you a bonus of 50 points if your upper section totals to 63 points or more. This means if you fill in the single number boxes with high values through the game, you get the chance to win an extra 50 points.

For instance, if I get four 6’s, that’s 24. Another four 5’s, that’s 20. Another four 4’s, that’s 16. Another single 3, and that’s 3. In total, that’s 63 points already. I get an additional bonus of 50 points!

It’s just like getting a Yahtzee! But it’s way better, since apart from getting 50 points, you also get the combined points of your upper section boxes.

What have I learned from this game?

In real life, getting the Yahtzee is like winning the lottery. Or it’s like going through a short cut at work, with business, or with other important things. You get the big bucks, or you get some result, but you didn’t really work hard (or smart?) for it. However, your chances of winning the lotto are very low. You either have to be very lucky, or have a very very good strategy to win. And when you do shortcuts (like cheat in exams, bribe your way through bureaucracy, etc.) you’re not really helping solve problems, but instead it’s like helping a sickness get worse.

Building up the upper section, on the other hand, is like working hard (or smart) on something, and then earning a big bonus once you’ve reached a certain goal. It’s like breaking even with your new startup business sooner than expected because you know how to optimize operations for best profit and least cost. It’s like putting out the best output at work (not necessarily by working hard, but perhaps by working smart) and impressing the boss, warranting you a bonus.

What do you get from this? At work, you build up experience (and brownie points with the boss) while getting a hefty bonus paycheck in the process. In business, you better optimize for profit, and hence you are likely to earn even more than you planned.

Focusing on or prioritizing the upper section is like building a structure on top of a solid foundation, instead of just focusing on how the structure looks from the outside. Focusing on winning the Yahtzee and neglecting the upper section is just like building a skyscraper without digging deep into the ground for some good foundation. Soon enough, you have a good looking building in no time, but it’s likely that this will topple soon enough, too.

Focusing on the Yahtzee and the higher combinations made me neglect building up this upper section in the past. But since I discovered that I can get better points by building up the smaller non-combination amounts, I learned to focus on this instead. So now, when I get four 6’s and a 5, I prioritize the 6 box instead of the four-of-a-kind box. I know I’ll only get 24 points (6×4) instead of 29 (6×4 + 5) but I know I will potentially gain a bonus of 50 points if I grow my upper section total to the appropriate level.

So when I started focusing on the upper section (and with a bit of luck in die rolls) I can now beat the opponent (which is the phone) more often. And while my highest scores below were in the range of 250+, these days my average is 300+, and my highest would be about 380+.

Now if you get to both build up a solid foundation, and get the Yahtzee, then you’re really lucky and smart!

The rules may vary across games and systems, as I earlier mentioned. But it’s the concept of building up a good, solid foundation that’s important in winning the game.

Christmas is just a few days away. I can imagine people in a shopping frenzy, rushing to get presents for their loved ones. First, I would like to ask all of you what you want for Christmas. My mom’s doing a Christmas Wishlist and one of the things she’s planning to do is ask all our blogosphrends (okay, bad mashup of “blogosphere” and “friends”) what the want for Christmas. So I’d appreciate it if you can send your Christmas wishlists my way, either through the comment form below or via email (jangelo at racoma dot net).

Updated: edited some text on the “new place to live” paragraph. Apparently, textile converted some extra hyphens into stricken-out text and made some lines disappear.

Oh, do check out what my wish this Christmas is. And I believe I have an excellent photograph posted there.

What has 2006 given you?

Now for the more important part. I’d like to also ask you guys what you are thankful for this 2006. This year has been a very rewarding year to me and my family. It’s the year we had sort of a reversal of fortunes (2005, in contrast, was very challenging!). There are the material things, and there are those that cannot be seen by the eyes, but felt. Here’s what 2006 has given me so far.

Better financial standing. Back in 2005 I was still working my day job. While the pay wasn’t really high, it was a bit better compared to usual wages here in Manila. However, due to some circumstances, I wasn’t always able to complete my 40 hours in a workweek (non flexitime, no overtime pay, long commute, etc.), and earnings fell because of that. I was trying hard to look for ways to monetize my writing talent and netrepreneurship skills, though, so this day job was a stepping stone towards that goal.

I had to resign by December—I originally planned to stick with the “notice” period of 30 days, so I can finish up with my tasks while moving on to start a short-term project I was contracted for. But the company thought it best for the resignation to be effective immediately that time. So that meant I had to do a complete turnover before any of my last salaries, back-pay and 13th month pays were released (which came a couple of months after). The family spent the holiday season last year without much money. I was able to depend on proceeds from my project, but that wasn’t much. Then my then-landlord decided it was time for me to settle some arrears. That made me worry.

Then I started writing freelance early January. Since that time I’d been working from home. That opened up many possibilities, particularly with my getting better-known to the online community as a problogger and freelance writer. I got a problogging gig with the Bloggy Network, and we were in better financial standing since that time.

New place to live (and work) in. Since I was already working from home, I considered the environment we had back at our old place a bit cramped. We were a family of four, plus we had househelp back then. So you can imagine the stress living in a one-bedroom, one-floor apartment. I had to visit my parents’ place (the adjoining apartment) each midnight just so I can get some work done through the night.

Come September, I was quite envious that my fellow problogger (and longtime collaborator, and also colleague at the Blog Herald) Abe Olandres had been sent on an assignment in Taiwan for a blogging and podcasting workshop. We usually hold the workshops together, under the sponsorship of the FNF. I only realized I was fortunate I didn’t come on this assignment since this was the week I was able to chance upon a recently-vacated and renovated apartment just three houses away from our previous place. We moved in mid September.

We’re used to living in this area (UP Village), since it’s convenient and accessible. It’s not so much upscale like other private subdivisions, but it’s a comfortable place to be in. And being a few houses away from our old place does have its advantages. Still, the important thing is now we have better living and working space.

New toys. This year, I was able to acquire: a Compaq Presario V2000, an old PowerBook Pismo, a new refrigerator, a car, a new (cheap) mobile phone, an iPod Video, new Canon digital camera (to replace the Nikon that broke this January), and numerous other stuff. While these are all material, these are tools that make life easier. What I think matters is the added productivity and happiness that these bring about. With the computers, I can work (and play) better. With the car, the family can travel in comfort.

(That folks, is what economic benefits are all about—not money, but happiness.)

The opportunity to share and help out. This year I also had the opportunity of sharing the blessings and helping out people. For one, I was able to hire a handful of people for the company I worked with. The arrangements were also the same—work from home. What’s great is that some of these guys are fresh out of school. And the work that they do is great. This just proves that the Internet is the great equalizer—You don’t have to have ten years of experience to earn good money if you know where to look for opportunities. I’m sure they’re pretty happy with how things turned out for them.

I was also able to be part of several blogging conferences, like iBlog2, and the Go-Ogle! team which I’m part of won fifth place in the recently-concluded Isulong SEOPH contest (we’re on page 1 of the continuation, Ituloy Angsulong).

New opportunities. 2006 is also the year I got another great assignment—as assistant editor (if that’s an appropriate title) and marketing manager of the Blog Herald. With this, I had to give up writing for my great blogs at the Bloggy Network, though, since I had an exclusivity agreement with them. Still, I think this means I’m off to bigger things (and one of those is a plan to start a content network of my own—but that’s for 2007!).

What about you?

In all, 2006 was a good year for me. There were ups and there were downs, too. But overall, I’m thankful to be here (alive and kicking) and thankful for my family, loved ones and friends.

What about you? We’ll be publishing your Christmas wishlists and 2006 “thankful for” lists by this weekend. Keep the comments and emails flowing!

Let’s see how far a little search-optimized blog ranting goes (I hope we get to reach front page for queries on my metropolis’ power distribution utility, “Meralco”).

Don’t believe that crap Meralco gives you in their television, newspaper and billboard advertisements. They say they have an efficient customer service desk you can always count on for help, but it turns out they’re not so great after all.

It’s been four days since we lost power at our place in the heart of Quezon City, Metro Manila, due to typhoon Milenyo and up to now we’re still in the dark ages. I thought yesterday’s power restoration was already permanent, but boy was I wrong. Just thirty minutes of getting home, the power went out again. And that was while I was taking a shower! Very timely, indeed.

I called the local barangay office (the local equivalent of the town deputies) and they told me they got reports of a step-down transformer exploding along our street near the corner of the Mini Stop convenience store, plunging the vicinity into darkness. Yes, just our short strip of Maginhawa Street. So you can imagine our frustration when the neighbors a few houses down the street are already shining in all their bright electric glory.

I’ve been trying to contact Meralco’s 16211 customer service number to no avail—it was always unreachable or I get one ring and then a busy signal. In fact, the barangay operatives had also been trying to call the Meralco call center and they didn’t have any luck with getting through, either.

I even tried caling the 117 emergency number to see if they have a direct line to Meralco, but it turns out they also use the Meralco hotline for cases like these. They did give me a Globe mobile number to send SMS to, though (0917-5592824). I’ve sent a handful of SMS messages but I haven’t had any responses.

So in the end, I don’t think anyone was able to report that incident. Things like these should take only about 30 minutes to an hour to fix! Now it’s been almost 20 hours and we still have no power!

Meralco customer service sucks!

A little backgrounder. Typhoon Milenyo hit Metro Manila quite hard that a lot of power lines were brought down (some by collapsed trees and billboards, perhaps). This brought power in much of the metropolis and neighboring provinces down in the morning of Thursday, September 28th. One can understand the difficulty in getting through to the Meralco help desk on that day due to the volume of calls, but would you believe it—I was able to get in touch with them to ask for information when the power would be restored.

Friday and Saturday were bright, sunny days, so we thought the infrastructure damage would already be fixed by then, but it seems we were wrong. No power still! By this time, we had to contend with the heat and humidity (compared to the cool, rainy and windy night the day the storm passed) and the kids slept quite restlessly. And guess what, calls to 16211 could no longer come through.

Count on a little force majeure to bring a big company’s communication systems down.

Disappointing

Now why am I so pissed with Meralco? Well, I think almost everyone is. While it is understandable for them to experience difficulties at a time like this, I would expect a company of its stature to at least enforce some measures to ensure its clients can at least get in touch with the helpdesk, especially during these difficult times.

It seems to me, though, that Meralco just disconnected their phone lines at the height of the demand and the ensuing days after. Talk about customer service! I can’t even send a complaint or any feedback thru their website. All I get is an Error 500 message!

I understand if their call center staff also have to go home to their families. But couldn’t Meralco also set up—or outsource—call center desks away from their service areas, say, in other provinces, too, so there would be redundancy in case disaster strikes in the vicininty of their main office?

It’s a monopoly!

If this were just any regular service company I would’ve stopped dealing with them because of crappy customer service. But this is a utility. And it’s the sole power distributor in the metropolis—so it’s a monopoly! It’s not like I could just switch providers at will. I have no other choice because they’re the only distributor here.

Yes, my Bayantel phone service also went down, but I’m not ranting much about it since it was my choice to go for Bayantel (cheap DSL+phone). I knew Bayantel service goes down when the relay stations run out of battery power during extended power interruptions, but I still stuck to the service. I could’ve opted for PLDT, but I decided otherwise. (Incidentally, Bayantel is also owned by the same company that owns majority shares of Meralco.)

I hope you’re reading this.

So there. I hope you get to read this, Meralco! I couldn’t get in touch with you guys over the phone, thru your website, and not even thru SMS, so I’m writing my complaint here.

I pay my (expensive) bills on time (it’s not like I have a choice—you disconnect power only a few days after the due date). So I expect quality customer service in return. I know it’s hard to fix collapsed power lines and damaged circuitry. But the simple fact that I can’t even get through to your helpdesk a full four days after the actual calamity struck tells me that you suck at customer service.

I’ve had it with these establishments pretending to be upscale cafés or coffee shops. It seems that everywhere there’s a supposedly quiet and comfortable café where you can find a quiet spot to lounge in and perhaps get some work done via the WiFi network (which ain’t free anyway!). But alas! People always manage to make it so noisy with their useless chatter.

I’m at Starbucks right now, and it sounds like a frickin’ high school cafeteria (not that I didn’t have fond memories of my ol’ high school cafeteria—mmm, food!).

My point is that these establishments are ideally where people go to jumpstart mornings with their daily dose of caffeine, or relax after a day’s work, or even do work itself (I call WiFi-enabled cafes my satellite offices).

Or are libraries the only quiet places you can find these days?

I’m all right with the occasional meetings and chit-chat; these are generally productive conversations. But kids these days—they seem to feel so at home with these establishments that they generally tend to be unmindful of the rest of the world with their screams and rambunctious banter. Yes, screams. And rambunctious banter.

And by kids, I mean college-aged or probably recent-entrants to the workforce (a.k.a., “hell”). Hey, I’m still in my mid-twenties and I can say that more or less I try to act a bit more maturely when I’m in public (okay, I drool sometimes and ogle when I see cool gadgets!).

Two words for you people: grow up! And why not try to patronize some of the establishment’s goods for a change? Don’t just sit there. Go buy something. These cafés are not there for free table space.

I think this is the norm in my country, or perahaps in my metropolis. I hear people are usually more, umm, civilized in other parts of the world.

That’s why I usually bring along my personal Digital Noise Reduction System™. My good set broke a couple of weeks back, though.

Or it’s probably just me. Sorry—just ranting here!