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

Last February 22nd, I attended the grand opening of Timezone at Trinoma in Quezon City, on the invitation of Visions & Expressions, their PR handler. While Timezone there had been open for a few months now, it’s only now that they are doing their full launch.

Camera bag and kids in tote, we were enjoying the rides and games using the free pre-paid cards the organizers gave us. It was after a bumpy bumper car ride when I got a call from my dad. Apparently someone contacted him using my mobile phone (my alternate mobile phone, which I usually use only for mobile Internet browsing), telling him that it was at the mall’s security office.

I checked my bag and to my surprise, the phone was no longer there. So I called my mobile, and someone answered. True enough it was at the mall’s security office. We were told to ask for assistance from mall security personnel in getting there.

Dropped or Stolen?

My wife and I initially thought I had dropped the phone or left it at the restaurant where we had lunch. But when we arrived at the security office, we were informed that my phone had been recovered from a pickpocket. That group of pickpockets had already stolen a handful of other mobile phones, wallets and purses, when they were spotted by some of their victims. Good thing the other victims were able to alert security personnel, and tailed the culprits until they were apprehended (outside of Timezone).

There were three suspects: one male and two female. One of them was pregnant, seemingly near full-term. The guards say they had been victimizing people at Timezone. Figures, since the place was packed, and stories of thugs taking stuff at arcades and other crowded places are quite familiar to me.

I asked the suspects why they took our stuff. They said they didn’t have money. I asked how they got the phone. The lady said they took it while we were busy enjoying ourselves. I happily informed her that I was on the job, covering an event. And I told her other people have bigger problems than just money. So poverty shouldn’t have been a motivation to steal.

Some thoughts

In hindsight, here are some observations I have about this incident:

• When I asked the Timezone security guard for directions to the mall’s security office he seemed reluctant. And I didn’t even mention anything about lost phones! Perhaps he was aware of the incident, and probably felt culpable for the lax security in the area. The place was swarming with security guards, and yet they failed to apprehend the thieves early.


• Trinoma, like other Ayala malls, doesn’t seem to have high-tech surveillance gadgetry to monitor ongoings at the premises. The security office was very sparse—it was an empty store area at the far end of the mall (right next to the MRT gates). They did have communications equipment like radios, but no other monitoring devices. No wonder they still don’t know what exactly the cause of the Glorietta 2 explosion was!

The security chief told me it was their responsibility to convince us to press charges with the police. But they said that even without the charges, the suspects would be brought to the nearby station and would stay in jail for 36 hours to await formal charges. If none are filed, then they are free to go, but they will have police records.

While I really felt it was my responsibility to file a formal complaint to keep the suspects from being at large (and committing crime over and over again), I took the advice of those close to me who suggested otherwise. Trinoma Mall wouldn’t file the complaint on my behalf, so that I would have to do as an individual. That means I’ll be involved in lengthy legal proceedings, which would probably be more difficult and cost more in terms of money, time and effort than the PhP 6k my phone was worth!

And for some reason I felt that the cure for crime like this is to address it at its roots—poverty and a poor educational system.

Still, I was advised that I could file a formal complaint even after the suspects have been released from police custody.

Timezone Trinoma Launch

At any rate, here’s the Timezone press release, and some photos I took.

And finally …

Timezone’s Biggest Store Opens at Trinoma Mall

All residents of Northern Metro Manila now have a great, new spot to flock to inside the recently opened largest branch of Timezone in Trinoma Mall. At about 1,300 square meters, this is by far LAI Philippines’ biggest Timezone outlet and is almost 50% larger than the country’s largest outlet at Glorietta 4 in Makati City.

Kids, teens and young adults are guaranteed to have a lot of fun as they experience Timezone Trinoma’s newest, exciting rides like the 6-meter high Ferris Wheel and the 24-Horse Carousel; test their knowledge with the 8-player SuperTrivia mind game; exercise their vocal chords and singing prowess via the Music Zone videoke booths; you can also try their newest games like Dino Duel Masters, Deal or No Deal, Paradise Lost, Tekken 6, Maximum Tune III, Initial D4 and a whole lot more of games and machines from racing, arcade and redemption games that Timezone has long been known for. With the latest machines and games soon to be allocated, things can only get better in Timezone Trinoma.

Timezone is located at the 4th floor near the cinema lobby and the must-see Trinoma rooftop Park. Indeed, this highly accessible and refreshing location creates for a new and wholesome entertainment destination for the entire family.

I rarely win at raffles and lotteries. So it was a pleasant surprise last August 1st when I got a call from my dad from the Digital Filipino EB (he went in my stead, to accompany my mom, who was a finalist) to say I won a hundred bucks from the Top Emerging Blogs of 2007. Funny, as my post was the last-ever entry for the voting.

So here’s a hat tip to Janette and sponsor Yes Payments.

At least that’s what the Blog Parteeh! 2007 tagline says. Sounds like a cool event anyone into blogging would be interested in going to. Time for a little get-together offline.

The details are here, the list of sponsors is here. I’m actually part of—or was once part of—some of the groups and companies sponsoring the event (namely the Blog Herald, Enthropia and the PinoyTechBlog team).

The parteeh (Why can’t we just spell it as “party”? SEO reasons? Or was the blogparty.com domain already taken? Heheh!) will be this coming Saturday, the 27th of January from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. Venue is 6th Floor (Poolside Area), Classica Tower 2 Condominium, HV dela Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati City. Why, oh why, can’t blogger meet-ups be organized in Quezon City or somewhere near my place?!?

See you there!

Update: Sponsor list is included below.

This event is sponsored by: Sheero Media Solutions, MyJournal Philippines, FeedText, Inc., Migs Paraz, A Bugged Life, The Blog Herald, b5media blog network, About My Recovery, Pinoy.Tech.Blog, Enthropia, Inc., Krispy Kreme Philippines, GMA New Media, Awesome Philippines, Codamon.com, Boracay.com.ph, Recipes.com.ph, WebMaster.com.ph, Bouncing Red Ball, Bo Sanchez, Microwarehouse Inc.

BlogParteeh07 Donors:



Marc Javellana, Bubba Gump, e-YellowPages, Adobe User Group – Philippines, Weddings @ Work, Google Philippines, Hinge Inquirer Publications

Oh, the instructions say I should include my email address. Well, it’s in th e sidebar, or I can be reached here.

In the Digital Filipino event which I attended as resource person yesterday (that deserves a whole new blog post altogether, but I’m too tired to post about that right now), fellow presenter Sacha Chua talked about social computing and networking. One of the things she really digs is upcoming.org, which she thinks is great for checking out upcoming events in Toronto, where she’s currently based. I’ve known about upcoming.org since 2005 when we were looking for features to integrate into i.PH. However, it didn’t really click here in Metro Manila simply because there isn’t much you can see.

The concept

Upcoming.org is yet another Web 2.0 application. It’s collaborative and it’s user-generated. People who are based in a certain location can post about events to be held in their localities (whether they are running it or know about it), and users can discuss. Users can even indicate whether they’re attending, or if they’re just watching discussions online.

What’s great is that this web app lets people learn about upcoming events in their own city or locality, and see whom among their contacts are coming. It’s a great way to organize get-togethers and meet-ups.

Unfortunately, the list for Metro Manila (or the Philippines, for that matter) is quite bare. So it’s quite disappointing since the application can be a really useful tool, especially since it gives the users power to add content, and to exchange information based on content. However, without anything meaningful, then the app would be worthless.

There are a handful of sites around that cater to local events (like clickthecity.com ). However, content is still mostly centraliezed or at least editorialized, and there is no true collaboration. I’m of the feeling that being listed is also a premium service (meaning companies have to pay to get listed), so there is no freedom to just add relevant events or listings if you’re not part of their circle.

Let’s populate the list!

So let’s see if we can make use of upcoming as a tool for highlighting events in Metro Manila (and also other metropolitan areas in the country). Maybe this can better facilitate parties and other gatherings. The important thing is that we set up an initial list of events we’re each personally interested in. From there, I’m hoping things would grow and become sustainable.

Note: Toronto has 200+ upcoming events in the succeeding couple of weeks (as of this posting). Metro Manila has 2. Let’s make it more exciting!

Another note: Upcoming.org was the brainchild of a single developer—Andy Baio of waxy.org—and the site was done in his spare time. Late 2005, Yahoo! acquired the service (for millions?). Isn’t that a good business model for Web 2.0 apps?

See you on upcoming.org !

You may be getting “bandwidth exceeded” errors my blog and others on the racoma.com.ph domain. Sorry for that. Our sites seem to be more popular this December than they were in the past. Perhaps it’s because of the recent inclusion of my mom’s blog (aptly named The D Spot) on the server. Or perhaps it’s due to my starting with my newest assignment on the Blog Herald (hey, I’m now on the “friends” blogroll).

So how did your Christmas celebrations go? We spent the past two weeks attending simbang gabi or dawn masses. We couldn’t get up at dawn, though, so we made sure to attend the anticipated masses in the preceding evening. The kids started to get sick a couple of weeks ago, though, so we weren’t able to go out much. We actually only got to go out buy presents on the 24th, so everything was a rush.

The holidays are a bad time to get sick!

Anyway, we spent the evening attending Christmas eve mass and had noche buena (Christmas eve dinner) with the family.

Speaking of getting sick during the holidays, my family was supposed to go out of town this week, and my parents have been planning the trip since the start of the month. My wife and I were having second thoughts, though, because of the distance (a six to eight hour drive). And with the kids catching the bug, we decided against joining. Midnight of the 25th (after the Christmas celebrations), my sister was admitted to the hospital for abdominal pains. And guess what—she had to undergo surgery this Christmas morning for appendicitis. Now the entire trip had been cancelled.

Everyone’s still happy, though, especially the kids. Now if I can only say the same for my wallet and bank account.

Merry Christmas everyone!