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

I’ve been meaning to post here several times over the past few weeks, but just couldn’t. Why? Well, these are super-busy days. I know I promised to write only stuff of substance here, but instead of waiting for that right moment and writing for hours on end to come up with interesting blog material, I thought I’d rather have more frequent–if short–updates.

So here’s what I’ve been up to lately.

* Been busy driving the car that blogging bought around town.
* Bought a 5.5th generation iPod (the iPod video) and a Belkin TuneFM to stream tunes to the car stereo.
* Been busy writing on my network blogs, as usual.
* Been busy writing stuff.
* Braced myself for another possible power outage due to suppsedly super-storm Reming.
* Attended the 9th Philippine Web Awards, where Pinoy Tech Blog was a finalist. Congrats to Noemi, who won.
* Very briefly attended the Digital Filipino Club EB where I was supposed to speak. Had to rush off to some other place that evening.

The Blog Herald

Big thing the past few days: the Blog Herald acquisition. Abe gives his insights on his blog. And here’s my introduction. Hey, if it’s a blog that’s just been sold for presyong bahay (that means its price could probably buy a house here in Manila–at least that’s how rumors peg it. Hey don’t ask me!), who wouldn’t get excited?

Of course this has implications on my regular blogging activities. It’s quite complicated. Let’s just say I’m refocusing my efforts to writing on a more limited set of blogs rather than many blogs at a time. For one thing, I had to give up Blogging Pro as it was directly in competition with the Herald. I’ll be more actively blogging on my other favorites, Apple Gazette and ForeverGeek, though.

De-Stressing (or is it supposed to be “distressing”?)

Hmm. What else happened? Oh, I tried out the Shiatsu massage at newly-opened Blessings spa along E. Abada street (parallel to Katipunan Avenue here in Quezon City). It’s great, especially since they have a 50% discount from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until end-December. Feels pretty great to de-stress every once in a while, especially if you spend almost most of your waking hours in front of keyboard and screen and behind the wheel. Can I write a review? Probably as soon as my scheule clears up.

So there you have it, folks. Three weeks worth of posts in a few paragraphs. My life’s interesting, ain’t it?

The post title says it all. But before you shoot me an email or respond to the comment thread, here are a few must-haves:

* Good command of written English
* Perfect manners (okay, _good enough manners_ will do)
* Knowledge in vB scripting and/or templating would be a big plus.

Why would you need crisp English and good manners? Well, we live in a connected world, and working on a telecommute basis, you would need to talk to people online via email, IM, and sometimes even VoIP. You would also be writing articles/blog posts on vBulletin skins/themes. It gives people headaches having to translate across nuances among different “Englishes”.

As for manners, it would sure make everyone’s lives easier if everyone just got along well.

Interested? You know how to get in touch with me.

Working on two laptops simultaneously with one having an extended display (guess which one)!

One for writing email and articles, one for blog feeds and IM chat windows, one for reference. Sweet!

Hey, I have designer friends with display set-ups that are even more kick-ass!

Now why do I need both Windows and Mac? That’s an interesting question.

Here’s a sneak peek into what I’ve been up to the past few weeks. My home office.

I’m on the lookout for game writers again–either writers who play MMORPGs (that’s Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games to the uninitiated) or gamers who can write well. Either way, you would have to be a good writer and you would have to have some experience with games. If you’re a really good gamer and a really good writer, then that’s even better!