I never realized I would gain a considerable followership (while a humble number, it’s the connections that matter, I must say). But then, one thing turned into another, and I found myself writing—blogging—for a living. And the pressure and constraints took me away from using blogging as a platform for truly expressing ideas and ideals. There have been so many “me too” posts, one-liners and link lists. There’s the pressure to earn. There’s the pressure to stand out.

Racoma.net is, in a way, the contradiction of those “me too,” one liner and link posts, in its every relaunch. You see, everytime racoma.net has been relaunched, it’s often been at a point in my life I’m trying to reach new heights (and that, perhaps because of hitting lows). And it’s a way of recreating and reinventing myself. The last time I relaunched racoma.net, it was in 2006. Now I find myself relaunching once more.

For some time, I have let racoma.net languish in obscurity, ever since I switched to this .com.ph version of my blog. Even with this most recent relaunch, it has been about 10 months since my first post. But now that is changing. I’ve been trying to be more consistent with updating the site with what I hope are thought-provoking, interesting, funny, or at the very least grammatically-correct posts.

And this is a discipline I intend to maintain.

And so, folks, I give you racoma.net. Redesigned. Relaunched. Reloaded. Re-impassioned. Re-infused with goodness and warm, fuzzy feelings.

Feel free to drop by at www.racoma.net. I have, so far, discussed Twitter, social media and, yes, even Rick Astley.

Image credit: flickr/jurvetson

Would you withhold information to help save a life?

No. Print media is not dead. Perhaps print media as a business is a declining trade. It’s a sunset industry. But print media as tangible objects … It’s something we keep alive.

Read here why I think print media is not dead.

Willing to work full time. Initially, might be asked to telecommute. But the job entails working full time at our office.

Please send me your application and resume at jangelo (at) gmail.com. I will be conducting interviews via email, phone, chat or in person.

My mother has been banking on the Virtual Assistance business for some time now, having helped set up a VA outfit for about a year, and then setting out on her own. And so I’ve decided to graciously turn over my prized WorkSmartr brand for a ridiculously discounted price of $10,000. And so after laughing myself all the way to the bank, I assigned the fix-up of the site to my own VA (whom I pay a paltry $20 per hour), and so WorkSmartr.com has been reborn.

Mum offers various services, like administrative assistance, telephone support, research, transcription, data processing, and even the infamous outbound call assistance from our friendly Elbonian telemarketers.

So if you are in need of virtual assistants, do pay them a visit. Oh, I do sometimes consult with them, when it comes to the more technical stuff.

I’ll try to post an online version of the interview when I get my hands on a copy.

Update: I was told the interview would be airing next week. Instead, I’ll be uploading a copy of the QTUBE interview with Peter Juan, who was featured for his online-based work. I used to work with Peter back at dotPH and numerous other ventures (in which, unfortunately, we didn’t earn our millions, but we got much experience from).

But when I read something that I find interesting, it really does captivate me, and my whole world would then revolve around that piece of literature, at least for a moment. Sometimes it feels like a lifetime. I suppose it depends on the material, in that it has to appeal to me before I get hooked. I’m not one who would just haphazardly get enticed into reading something because I’m intrigued, or because of what other people say, or because of reviews.

I do recall buying Hard Boys books every few weeks or so, with my meager allowance. When I ran out of cases, I sifted through my sister’s Sweet Valley collection quite quickly. Girly stuff, yes, but fast forward a decade or so after, one would get an appreciation of the female perspective on a lot of things (much like how I still read fashion magazines when I get the chance).

I never got to encounter Narnia, the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings until later in life, though. Poor me.

In the recent weeks I’ve found myself to have rekindled an interest in reading juvenile and young adult literature. I paid my folks’ place a visit and picked up copies of books I had once read in high school like Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Lowry’s The Giver, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, among others. As my own copies of some titles have been lost into oblivion through the past 15 years or so, some of these I borrowed from siblings who, at one time or another, perhaps enjoyed leafing through the frayed and yellowed pages, too.

I also picked up stories that are new to me, like Lowry’s Gathering Blue, Messenger, Sachar’s Holes, L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, among others. Basically Newberry award stuff, mostly. The stuff they make you read in grade school (through which the author and publisher probably earn millions in the process, considering the number of kids who read their stuff every year).

It started when I chanced upon a late showing of Bridge to Terabithia on cable, after which i bought a DVD and a copy of Katherine Paterson’s book. Breezing through the story in one sitting, I found it an easy read. The book was meant for fifth grade kids, after all. To the eyes, at least, it was an easy read. But to a scarred soul, the story hits a nerve and finishing the 150 or so pages, you somehow feel wounded for life. If you haven’t read it, pick up a copy. Or at least watch the movie on DVD. You’ll know what I mean.

To a twenty-something father of three (and counting), I find myself reading through children’s literature with a different perspective, and with a different depth of understanding. Somehow ten, twelve, fifteen years or so after you first read something, the words re-read stir up in you memories of younger days. Better days, perhaps? Or maybe simply that—fond memories of days before when the world was younger, and so were you.

Again, in hindsight, I feel as if there was part of my childhood that I just seemed to breeze through with nary a recollection. I could remember a lot of things—up to the most minute detail—from when I was 13, which was the time I first met a great, treasured friend, who would later on became my wife. But prior to that, it’s a bit hazy. Bits and pieces come up here and there, but things are not so clear.

And so that’s perhaps the reason I have grown fond of reading literature aimed at children. I need to feel young again. Then maybe—just maybe—these feelings evoked by double-spaced black and white ink on paperbacks would conjure up thoughts and memories buried deep in my subconscious. And maybe I can get to relive those moments again—those innocent moments, undisturbed by the worries of the world that one such as I encounter on a daily basis. Things like money, death, people, society and, at times, work.

I’ve started the habit of reading a few chapters to my kids at bedtime. Charlotte’s Web and even Terabithia seem to be their liking (they loved the movie!), as these seem light and fluffy enough for them. I also picked up a copy of Gaiman’s Coraline at the bookstore last week, which I also started reading to the kids aloud. Maybe someday, someday, my two girls will elatedly recall those frightening moments as we leaf through the pages of suspenseful hanging over the edge, conjuring up memories of other mother and poor ghosts in their own subconscious. Buttons, perhaps?

Probably buttons.

Since then I’ve had two other netbooks. One was an EeePC 900, the “upgrade” of the 701. And the other was an HP Mini note 2133. Both the 701 and the Mini note have since been sold, with only the EeePC 900 left with me. I actually sold the Mini note to finance my planned purchase of the newer HP Mini 1000 (only a couple thousand pesos to add to the price I sold the Mini note for). But after much thought, I decided to postpone the purchase. For some reason, netbooks have lost their novelty, at least to my eye.

While I still carry the EeePC in a small neoprene tote bag, I rarely bring it along when I step out of the car, unless I expect to be doing some heavy typing while on the run. I do have other, smaller, gadgets with me I can use to email when the need arises, including my Nokie E series phone and the Xperia that was generously given to me by SonyEricsson. But at my home and home office, I’ve found it more comfortable to work on my relatively bigger laptop, which is actually still small by today’s laptop standards, at 12 inches.

I’m not discouraging anyone from buying and using netbooks. They’re great pieces of work. Five years ago, a ten-inch notebook computer would cost an arm and a leg. These days, these ultraportables are getting cheaper and cheaper (unless you count the Sony Vaio P). They’re making portable computing more accessible to the masses. And they’re saving the backs of folks like me who like to bring around the Internet wherever we go.

But for really really serious stuff, I don’t think I can rely on a netbook 100%, particularly during those times when I’m not very mobile anyway. Sure, portability is great, but when you’re just working at your desk, you’d rather have a more comfortable keyboard so your fingers would work at a more natural position. You’d rather have a bigger screen, so you don’t have to squint just to see things clearly.

Yes, netbooks are still great. But in a way, the novelty of cheap, ultraportable computing is beginning to wear off.

Or perhaps that’s only the case until my next netbook purchase!

According to news sources, we do have enough supply, but it’s in the distribution chains that the supply is being limited. And so there is an apparent shortage.

We got worried since it was more than two months since we last bought LPG, and we were due to buy a new (refilled) tank soon. So it happened that this morning, we did run out, and when it was noontime, I loaded the empty Gasul tank into the car’s trunk, and we planned to visit nearby Gasul resellers and even Petron service stations (Gasul is a Petron brand).

Llamas Gas Kalayaan Ave. was closed. And so was Llamas Gas along Kamias Ave. (we usually phone these folks for delivery, but with today’s busy schedules, one cannot sit at home and wait forever). Petron V. Luna was out of Gasul. So was the Kalayaan corner Kamias Petron.

The other Petron stations were not as close by, so we had to plan our trip if we wanted to get lunch any time soon. It was almost 2:00 p.m.

And so we planned to pass Xavierville avenue on the way to the new Petron Katipunan station. But along the way, there was this small LPG distributor with a tank-full delivery truck parked in front. I didn’t waste any time calling the attendant’s attention and ordering my tank.

And so there you have it folks. Supply side economics. I got to wonder why the 11 Kg LPG’s price was at PhP 408, when our last purchase a few months back was at PhP 650 plus. Sure, LPG is now cheap, but it seems suppliers are not so happy with the low price.

What do they do? I would only speculate. But from what you would learn in any economics class, lower supply or higher demand (or both!) would increase the price of a commodity.

There is usually a natural point where supply and demand meet, and this is usually at the optimal price and quantity levels. X units of LPG will be bought and sold at Y pesos. And everyone is happy.

But if sellers think that the price is too low (for instance, they might have had stocked old supplies, which cost them more to import than the current prices), they could create an artificial shortage. This would lessen supply, and therefore sellers would place a premium on their products.

Buyers, meanwhile, sensing that the product may not be readily available, are willing to pay more for the same commodity.

In effect, this jacks up prices.

But for now, LPG price is still stable. Government vows to get to the bottom of this, but every day that the people involved don’t get to solve this problem contributes to the increasing headaches of regular folks like us. Fleets of LPG-powered taxi cabs are being put on standby. People are starting to look into other means to power their cooking ware, such as electric stoves and even coal.

They say the biggest problem facing the incoming Administration in the US will be energy. I think a looming energy crisis is everyone’s problem these days, in one way or another.

Sadly, most think that blogging is easy money. But that is not the case. Blogging is hard work—or at least it involves a big amount of effort in writing, marketing, planning and even socializing. Most people would not get that, and think that the fact that you’ve opened a blog, put in some ad units, and posted a few posts would already make you rich.

But I’ve come to think that the age of monetizing blogging purely for the content may not exactly be the best business model (or at least the one that earns the big bucks). It’s not that publishing as a business, per se, is no longer good. For me, blogging is just what it is: a medium. Blogging is not the ends, but rather it is a means.

That’s why it’s a medium.

There are several ways of earning from blogging, and it will be very fruitful if you get it right. But the big money could be somewhere aside from directly earning from one’s blog. Think of marketing. Think of networking. These days, people are able to generate sales, business leads, consultancy jobs, and other such opportunities because of their blogs.

Think of it this way. You can build up your profile online through your blog. Show people how good you are at what you do, whether it’s a skill, profession, or other business that you do. And the opportunities will come. Be a Joel Spolsky. Be a Jeff Atwood.

An example: a blog network can earn more from blog-related consultancy services, or from selling books, or from selling software than from ad revenues. Besides, writers are expensive. But if you’ve built a good product (software, etc.) or service, then they will pay for themselves, and will give you good money down the road.

Blogging is a medium, and not the end-all be-all of things.