My Flights of Fancy

Not Something I Get Everyday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:11:00 +0000

"Globe Advisory: In the interest of national security, please be informed that mobile subscribers of all telcos in select areas of Manila will experience temporary loss of signal due to security measures being conducted by the government in line with the feast of the Black Nazarene. Thank you."

Ovarian Cyst and Laparotomy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Had a laparotomy in early September to remove an ovarian cyst that turned out to be benign (thank God!). Here's what I learned from the experience.

Detection

Ovarian cysts can be discovered during a routine visit to the OB-GYN via a quick, fairly painless (though occasionally uncomfortable) ultrasound. Since the human ovary is roughly the size of a large olive, ovarian cysts that are more than a few cm in size are easily detected.

Diagnosis

Without looking at actual tissue samples, it's not possible to conclude with 100% certainty as to the nature of the cyst. However, there are a few outpatient tests that can be done that may help determine if the cysts are benign.

CA-125 (Cancer Antigen 125). Done via simple blood test. Note that this figure is usually higher during the woman's period so wait until your period is over before taking this test.
HE-4 (Human Epididymal Protein 4). Also done via simple blood test. On its own, this test is found to be a better predictor than CA-125.

The results of both blood tests above can be combined to obtain a ROMA (Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm) score that can classify an individual as either being at low risk or high risk for ovarian cancer. At least one study, however, found it more accurate with post-menopausal women.

Aside from the two blood tests above, a separate test can be done via ultrasound to assess the flow of blood to the cyst.

Color Doppler Flow Imaging. Generally speaking, high resistance flows are good, low resistance flows are bad. Several measurements are taken which collectively determine the Sassone Score. The higher the score, the more likely it is that the cyst is malignant. A score of 8 or higher has a very high chance of malignancy.

Deciding What to Do

If the cyst is still fairly small and if the results of the three tests above point strongly to the cyst being benign, it may be possible to remove the cyst via a laparoscopic procedure. Your OB-GYN may have sufficient experience to perform this procedure.

However, if the cyst is large, or if there is a risk of malignancy, it can be more prudent to have a laparotomy done so that the cyst can be removed intact, and a frozen section can be done while the patient is still in the Operating Room.

If the cyst is found to be malignant, the ovary itself as well as adjacent lymph nodes may have to be removed, and a laparotomy gives the surgeon a clear field with which to work. In such cases, you may be better off consulting a gyne-oncologist who has had experience doing this type of work.

Hospitalization

What follows below is my own experience. Your mileage may vary.

Day before surgery

Arrived at hospital admission department at 3pm with the admitting orders from the surgeon. Signed admission paperwork, was escorted to hospital room (which had been reserved by the surgeon beforehand). Settled in.
Blood drawn for routine blood test
Interviewed extensively by nurse for my medical history (it helps if you've got that all info written down beforehand so you can just hand it to the nurse).
Tag with my name, patient number, and my doctor's name was attached to my left wrist for identification purposes.
Was advised that I can eat whatever I want for dinner, but that I should not eat or drink anything after midnight. Surgery was scheduled for 11am the next day
Given a Fleet Enema after dinner to empty the bowel since it may be a couple of days before I can comfortably go to the bathroom. Side note: these things work fast!
Was visited by the anesthesiologist, who explained what the procedure will be like on the day of the surgery. If you routinely take any medication, now would be a good time to ask if you should continue taking them or not.
Was visited by the surgeon, who talked us through the planned approach and obtained my consent for the course of action she would take if the frozen section came back malignant.
Signed consent forms for the surgery. Signed "risks have been explained to me" waiver for the general anesthesia.

Day of Surgery

Took a shower per the anesthesiologist's recommendation soon after waking
Was given a sedative via intramuscular injection
Given a pair of compression stockings to wear (these reduce the chances of blood clots forming in the legs)
Asked to change into hospital gown
IV line attached to back of left hand (they let me choose which hand)
Additional tag was attached to my left ankle.
Bronchodilators administered via inhalation to open up the airways so the anesthesiologist will have an easier time intubating
Felt sleepy from the sedative within half an hour.
Half an hour before the surgery, a gurney arrived to take me down to the OR
Walked to the gurney with my IV line, got on, and was wheeled down with family. Said our goodbyes at the OR door.
Was wheeled to the side of the OR reception where I was shown the consent forms I had signed and asked to confirm that the signature is mine. Was asked what procedure I was there for, and my answer was compared against the consent form. Tags on both left wrist and left ankle were checked twice, by two different people
After all the checks, was wheeled into the actual operating theatre. Was transferred to the table. Got settled in when surgeon arrived. Anesthesiologist arrived soon after.
Last thing I remember is the anesthesiologist injecting something into my IV line and my abdomen being swabbed.
Woke up 2.5 hours later in the recovery room to find the anesthesiologist and my Dad hovering over me. They showed me the cyst that had been removed -- it was in a glass vial. Was told that frozen section came back benign. Fell asleep again.
Woke up some time later as they wheeled me back into my hospital room. Following the anesthesiologist's advice from the night before, I didn't try to help the staff when they transferred me from the gurney to the bed -- just let myself be a dead weight. They tucked me in then left.
Slept for most of the next 7 hours, waking only when the nurses came in every hour to check my oxygen saturation and my blood pressure.
Woke at 10pm and realized I didn't feel any pain at all if I didn't move. Learned that painkillers were being administered via the IV. Also realized they had attached a Foley catheter so I wouldn't have to get up to pee.
Tag on my ankle had also been removed.

Post-Op Day 1

Was visited by the surgeon and the anesthesiologist separately. Surgeon listened for bowel sounds and seemed pleased with what she heard. Also checked my urine output. Advised me to not try to get out of bed until the next day to give the anesthesia time to wear off completely.
Did not experience any of the side effects that people warned I might have: no dizziness, no nausea, no sore throat.
Was given a sponge bath and a fresh hospital gown.
Followed the anesthesiologist's advice and took a lot of deep breaths to get the lungs fully expanded again. Also followed his advice about raising my knees every now and then to keep the blood pumping through my legs. Turns out it's possible to do that without hurting the incision site at all.
Not allowed to eat anything in the morning, but allowed a small sip of water together with a dose of Losec, which inhibits the production of stomach acids. I continued to take Losec twice a day until I was discharged from the hospital.
Realized that my vision had become quite blurred -- a side effect of the anesthesia which apparently affects people who have astigmatism. Didn't panic since this was not unexpected and would correct itself once the anesthesia wore off completely.
There was some concern about my low urine output despite the constant IV infusion from the day before, though it's not unusual due to post-operative SIADH (Syndrome of Inappropriate Anti-Diuretic Hormone). A dose of Lasix got the plumbing working and I managed to produce 900cc of output in two hours.
Had clear chicken broth for lunch. Tolerated it well.
By evening, it was clear that I could handle food so I was allowed to have chicken noodle soup for dinner.
Before dinner, IV was removed since I could eat on my own now. Hep-lock was left on the back of my left hand just in case they need to administer anything intravenously at a later time.
After dinner, was able to get up from bed (with assistance) and walked around for 20 minutes carrying my Foley bag with me. Felt tired soon after so returned to bed.
Wore an abdominal binder before getting out of bed, and also before retiring for the night because it makes turning on my side a lot easier.
Abdomen felt distended / bloated, which was expected.
Continued to be given bronchodilators via inhalation twice a day.
Continued my breathing exercises. Continued my knee raises.
By 10pm, I started passing gas -- a sign that the intestines are working again. Never thought I'd be so happy over something so silly. I really think walking around even for such a short time helped get things working again.

Post-op Day 2

Woke up feeling quite good. Had toast, ham, and eggs for breakfast.
Painkillers (Voltaren) now administered twice a day via suppository since the IV is out. They feel icky but they work amazingly well, and allowed me to sit up in bed and get up without assistance.
Was on my feet for a full two hours in the morning -- ate my breakfast standing up next to the Mayo table. Felt good to be on my feet again, even with the Foley bag still with me.
Surgeon visited and showed us photos of the cysts that had been removed -- turns out there were two. Subsequent tests on the cysts confirmed the initial benign finding.
Was advised to drink a lot more fluids and told I was progressing well enough that the "accessories" could be removed. So by mid-afternoon, the Hep-lock was out, as was the Foley.
Dressing on the incision was changed to a waterproof one so I could take a much needed shower, which I managed to do on my own.
Saw the incision for the first time before they applied the waterproof dressing: roughly six inches long, running down the abdomen, supported by 16 staples.
Compression stockings removed before shower and no longer needed.
Vision back to normal.
Hit the showers at last. Ah, bliss!
Urine output continued to be monitored.
Abdomen continued to feel distended, which I had already known to expect from reading other accounts online. Made me glad I had bought really loose pajamas and pants with me, otherwise I would have had to resort to wearing a hospital gown again after the shower.
Back to regular diet.
Received my last dose of painkillers before bedtime.

Post-Op Day 3

Visited by surgeon and given approval to be discharged.
Had scrambled eggs, ham, toast with strawberry jam for breakfast.
Was given all the hospital paperwork (including copies of my tests prior to the surgery) by the nurse.
Was given four more days supply of Losec, which I was to take twice a day for two more days, then take once a day for another two days.
Was told to return for an outpatient visit with the surgeon on Post-Op Day 7 for the staples to be removed from my incision.
Settled the bill. Got the hospital seal on paperwork that had to be filed to claim social security benefits.
Nurse cut the patient tag on my wrist -- free at last!
Was wheeled out of the hospital by a nurse who watched attentively to make sure I was okay getting in the car.
Can feel a warm sensation along the incision and get an occasional sharp twinge when I move or flex the abdominal muscles, but it's pretty mild.
No twisting, bending, heavy lifting for the next four to six weeks

Post-Op Days 4 to 7

Started walking a lot to build my stamina.
Walked 10 minutes every hour for three hours on Post-Op Day 4.
Walked 10 minutes every hour for five hours on Post-Op Day 5.
Walked 15 minutes every two hours for three hours on Post-Op Day 6.
Ate regular meals.
Stopped using the abdominal binder during my walks on Post-Op Day 5.
Normal diet, but a lot less in quantity since the abdomen still felt bloated.

Post-Op Day 7

Went to see surgeon for outpatient appointment.
Waterproof dressing removed. Incision checked. No redness, no infection. Looks good.
Staples were removed.
Incision was cleaned, steri-strips were applied, new Tegaderm dressing applied.
Advised to leave the dressing on until Post-Op Day 12. After that it can be removed permanently.

Post-Op Day 14

The dressing is off, the incision is fully closed and healing well.
I hardly use the abdominal binder except when I ride in cars, and recovery is progressing smoothly.
There's some residual numbness around the incision, but it's expected. It will take a couple of months for the nerves to grow back enough for the numbness to dissipate, although it's apparently not unusual for some spots to be permanently numb.
The left side of my abdomen continues to be bloated and I still have trouble fitting in the jeans that I wore to the hospital before the surgery. Again, that will take a few weeks to subside completely.

Overall, it's been a good experience and recovery was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Walking early and often has clearly been beneficial, as was my very good tolerance of the anesthesia.

Have been really amazed by the outpouring of support from friends and family the world over throughout the entire process. Makes me wish everyone can experience this kind of positive emotional buzz at least once in their life -- preferably without having to go through surgery. ;-P

Very thankful for all the people who prayed for a good result. And thankful that God graciously listened and answered these prayers.

Make Every Single Detail Perfect. Limit the Number of Details. That's it.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 09:46:00 +0000

Link to the YouTube video

Jack Dorsey: "I think it makes managing a growing company and a fast-paced movement very very easy. Because there's basically one thing that you have to do -- you have to make every single detail perfect, and you have to limit the number of details. That's it.

If you can do that well, no matter where you are in the org structure, no matter where you are in the company or the organization, you're going to succeed. Because you're paying attention to the smallest things. And if you pay attention to the smallest things, while knowing what's important, then everything else takes care of itself."

Yes, He Can

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 05:29:00 +0000

First Presidential Live Tweet

President Obama sends this tweet in the first Twitter @townhall meeting at the White House.

Paper.li + Instapaper + Kindle = Personalized Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 07:28:00 +0000

How I Use Paper.Li

I follow quite a lot of people on my Twitter account, so it's inevitable that I end up not seeing every tweet posted by every user. I do, however, have a pretty good idea of what links the people I follow are tweeting thanks to a third-party service called Paper.li.

Paper.li crunches through all the tweets that were posted by the people you follow in 24-hour chunks, and prepares a "paper" or online magazine for you to read the articles that your followings linked to.

For example: the Scientist Artist Collaborations
(a paper.li paper that I found by randomly performing a Twitter search)

What makes paper.li interesting is that it ranks the articles from what it feels is most relevant to least relevant, and it makes the list of articles available in list view aside from "paper" view.

For example: the Scientist Artist Collaborations paper in list view
(which you can get to by clicking the "see all articles" link in the upper right corner of the "paper view")

So whenever I have some down time and want to get caught up on the most interesting articles that my followings have been tweeting about, I head to my own paper in its list view and start clicking through links that I find interesting.

How I use Instapaper

Now that I've got my own private news feed of interesting links, I make a point of reading the first paragraph of every article that I become curious about. If after reading that paragraph I find myself wanting to read more, I add the article to my Instapaper account (whether it's via web or on my iPod).

I've also set up my Instapaper account so that it has my Kindle settings (login required). It's configured to send any new items I've added in the past 24 hours to my Kindle. It gets to me at no cost because I've opted for free delivery via wifi rather than using the not-free-if-you're-not-in-the-US 3G delivery option.

On the Kindle

Every time Amazon receives the daily feed from Instapaper, they send me an email to let me know that it's available for download.

When I get that email, I turn on my Kindle's wireless setting and select the Sync to Download Items option. I typically leave the wireless off the rest of the time to save on battery.

Nothing beats the experience of leisurely reading articles that you've personally curated on the Kindle's gorgeous and eye-friendly screen.

How to Create an account for the US iTunes Store

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 03:36:00 +0000

This information is no doubt recorded elsewhere on the web, but I might as well write about my own experience.

Background
I don't live in the US and I don't have a US-based credit card. My PayPal account is linked to my non-US credit card, and therefore is not recognized by iTunes as a valid US-based payment method. For this reason, iTunes refuses to let me download anything from the iTunes US Store -- not even the free apps.

Solution
The easiest way to create a US iTunes Store account is to buy an iTunes Gift Card and use that as the primary payment mechanism for your iTunes account. Since I was in the US recently, I picked up a handful of gift cards at the nearest brick-and-mortar retailer and used that.

Note: This process assumes you already have an existing iTunes account that's valid for a different country.

Steps

Launch iTunes and login using your existing Apple ID.
Click "iTunes Store" in the left sidebar
Look for your Apple Id in the upper right corner. Click that.
In the pop-up that appears, enter your existing password and click the "View Account" button
In the new screen that appears, look for the "Change Country or Region" button. Click that and choose the USA
To successfully create an iTunes account for the US Store, you need to enter a valid payment method. The initial set of options allow you to add a credit card or a Paypal account. Select "None"
The second section on the screen lets you redeem an iTunes Gift Card. Click the "redeem" link and enter the code on the back of your gift card.
You'll be required to enter a valid US-based address, which will be the basis for calculating Sales Tax for your iTunes Store purchases. I used the address of family who live in the US. If you're really interested in keeping your sales tax low, you may want to review this sortable table of tax rates for various US States.
Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Done. You now have a new account for the US iTunes Store, using the same email address and password as your non-US iTunes account.
Test that you've done this correctly by downloading an app that's only available in the iTunes US Store. My test app was the free Scrabble App from Hasbro/EA.
Sync your device (an iPod in my case) with your iTunes account to confirm that the newly downloaded app is successfully transferred to your device. Note: All your previously downloaded apps will still remain in iTunes and on your device.
Now attempt to download or update an app that's already existing on your device by going to the App Store app on the device itself. You'll be prompted to switch from your current country to the US iTunes Store. Just say yes, enter your Apple ID password, and you'll be switched over.

And that's it. You now have a US Store iTunes account with a small usable balance. If you need to replenish it, you'll just need to buy new iTunes Gift Cards.

Testing Blogbooster

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 13:44:00 +0000

Was just thinking to myself today that I'd probably be more inclined to resume blogging if I could find an app that lets me create blog entries on the iPod.

A quick search turned up Blogbooster, which has both free and paid versions. This post is my first attempt to actually use the free version.

Whoever coined the phrase "there's an app for that" sure knew what they were talking about.

How credit card companies should handle waived annual fees

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 03:35:00 +0000

Dear credit card companies,

If you have pre-set criteria for determining when an existing customer is eligible for having their annual credit card fees waived, please don't wait for them to call your customer service line before waiving the fee.

Just waive the darned fee straight away!

If you'd like to score PR and goodwill points, it's easy enough -- go ahead and charge the annual fee so it appears on the credit card statement, then tack on a reversal of the charge immediately after, preferably with a transaction description like: "Annual fee waived for valued client."

There are very real benefits to this:

You make the client feel special because you recognize their value
Your make your company look good, because it seems you Know Your Customers
You spare your client the annoyance of wasting 10 minutes getting on the phone, traversing your irritating IVRS call tree, and waiting in queue to speak to a customer service representative
You eliminate work for your already overloaded customer service representatives
You don't look cheap for trying to "sneak" an annual fee past your customers when you know very well the fee should have been waived in the first place

Sure, you may take a short-term revenue hit from the annual fees that would not have been waived because some percentage of your customers can't be bothered to call, but imagine the positive word-of-mouth and customer loyalty you'd get by doing something that's totally awesome for your clients... instead of leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth after you've made me jump through all your hoops.

And yes, BPI, I'm looking at you.

Zag's Performance Dashboard

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 10:16:00 +0000

From This Week in Venture Capital Episode 12 with Scott Painter

Embedded video begins playing at 43m 11sec.

Dashboard shows classic Sales Pipeline, what-if analysis based on performance indicators, and is made available to the board and external stakeholders such as VCs.

Via Mark Suster aka @msuster.

Diplomacy on Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:45:00 +0000

Dear sureseats.com

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 07:55:00 +0000

I was so thrilled when I realized yesterday that I could purchase movie tickets online for any of the Ayala theatres via http://sureseats.com.

Ordinarily, I would simply visit ClicktheCity.com's Movies section to check screening schedules at the various theaters I frequent, then purchase the tickets at the theatre itself.

But yesterday was different; it was a holiday and the thought of having to join the crush of people lining up to purchase tickets led me to Google search, and eventually to sureseats.com, where I had my first encounter with their horrible, horrible payment process.

The only way to pay for tickets on their site is to purchase Multi-Pass credits, their own "prepaid service that allows you to pay for movie credits ahead of time, so the next time you use SureSeats, you can charge your tickets to your M-Pass credit or load."

There are only three ways to purchase M-Pass credits: at kiosks in Ayala malls, via credit card, or via GCash.

Since it was 8am and I wanted to purchase my tickets as early as possible (I wanted to get decent seats), I didn't want to wait until the malls opened to go to a kiosk.

So I tried to purchase M-Pass credits via credit card... only to learn that:

I had to use another site that I'd never heard of (myRegalo.com) to purchase my credits
I can only purchase M-Pass credits in P1000 increments
As a first-time user, I had to fax or email a copy of my most recent credit card billing statement after placing my order online so they could verify my credit card
Their business hours are Mondays to Fridays 8am to 6pm
I had to give them "24 hours to process the purchase"

In other words, there was no way I could buy M-Pass credits via credit card and use them today even if I wanted to.

So the final fall back was to try G-Cash, which is Globe Telecom's eCash offering. I was able to create a GCash account with my phone via sms within a matter of minutes, and a quick check of my balance revealed that I had P0.00 in my eWallet. So naturally I wanted to load money into my GCash account.

Unfortunately, there are only a few ways to add money to your GCash balance, all of which require some form of offline interaction:

Go to a Globe business center and give them cash
Go to an accredited GCash Partner and give them cash
Go to a Bancnet ATM to authorize the transfer of money from your bank account to your GCash account for a P25.00 fee
Use the BPI Express Mobile menu options which come with your Globe SIMcard to transfer money from your bank account to your GCash account

That last option actually sounded promising, especially when a quick check revealed that my SIM card had Bank to GCash Transfer as an option in the sim services menu. Unfortunately, I can't just initiate a transfer right away. I first have to enroll my mobile phone number with the bank and link it to my bank account -- a process that requires a visit to the bank's ATM -- before I can transact on my phone.

So after more than an hour of trial and error, I was still unable to purchase tickets because sureseats.com made it too difficult for me to give them my money.

And as I bumped into each new brick wall in this process, I couldn't help but repeatedly wonder why they didn't simply:

Do away with this silly M-Pass credit system
Accept credit card payments directly
Accept Paypal payments directly
Allow me to charge my purchase to my mobile phone bill (especially since it's still well below my mobile account's credit limit)?

Surely the people who designed this site have actually experienced purchasing items online at Amazon or Etsy or Ebay?

In the end, I had to content myself with just reserving the seats that I wanted and paying a P20.00 reservation fee for each ticket because buying them was simply too difficult.

Must Watch: The Last Journey of Ninoy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:35:00 +0000

If you are a Filipino and you have not yet seen The Last Journey of Ninoy, you absolutely have to watch it asap.

I missed the first 15 minutes of the program when it aired last Sunday (Aug 23) on ABS-CBN. Thankfully, the entire 55-minute docu-drama is also available for viewing through ABS-CBN's TFC Now service.

A $2.00 subscription to the News On Demand service allowed me to download and watch the film at my leisure over a period of 4 days.

The film's teaser is available on YouTube.

Embeddable YouTube Playlists: the Workaround for 10min Video Limits

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:15:00 +0000

I spent a few hours this weekend trying to figure out how to upload a 48-minute video to YouTube so it can be embedded into a web page for viewing.

The challenge comes from the fact that YouTube now only accepts videos that are at most 10 minutes long.

Turns out the solution is fairly simple:

use your favorite video editor to chop the video up into chunks of 10 minutes or less
upload the videos individually to YouTube (this was the time-consuming part for me, since my connection is slow)
create a YouTube playlist and add all the videos to that single playlist, taking care to ensure that they're in the right order
copy the embed code for the playlist and paste it into your webpage (tweak the height and width of the embedded object as needed)

And that's all there is to it!

The playlist will take care of switching from one video to the next automatically, so the viewer doesn't need to do anything from the time he starts viewing the first clip.

As an added bonus, viewers can easily resume viewing from any of the videos in the playlist if their viewing session is interrupted. No need to load the entire video from the very beginning.

Dear Symantec, you just lost a customer

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 06:18:00 +0000

The gist

A couple of weeks ago, the Norton Internet Security software installed on my laptop started warning me that my subscription was expiring in a matter of weeks.

Since I've been a long-time Symantec customer, I didn't think twice; I clicked through the links provided then tried to renew my subscription... and failed.

Over the course of two weeks, I tried no less than eight times to renew my subscription. Each attempt failed miserably because Symantec's online store refused to let me complete my purchase; the website kept rejecting my (valid and correct) billing address.

So instead of generating some recurring revenue from a long-term returning customer, the Symantec online store only managed to drive me away.

The gory details

The renewal process seemed simple enough. I clicked the "fix" button on the Norton Internet Security screen and it opened a window that announced I was about to begin the subscription renewal process.

The renewal window then launched a browser that took me to a renewal page on the Symantec website. The page correctly reflected the name of the product that needed renewing, and it recognized that I was in the Philippines and expected to be billed in US dollars. So far so good.

Clicking the "renew" button, unfortunately, took me to the Australian Symantec online store.

I hesitated for a moment, but I figured... why not? The last time I had purchased a Symantec product, I had completed the purchase at the Hong Kong online store. As long as it works, I didn't really care which online store I buy from.

A quick review of the screen showed that I was still going to be billed in US dollars, which was fine. I took one last look to see if there was a way for me to change the country, but the only thing I could change was the currency.

So I click the yellow continue button and hit my first road block: a form that requires me to provide my email address, a password, my customer data, and my address.

Frankly, I wasn't too thrilled about getting this form because I'm a returning customer and the site should know this because I had hit the "Renew" button to get here. I already have a Norton account and had already provided my personal information to Symantec before. So why am I being asked to provide this info all over again as if they had no idea who I was? Shouldn't I just be asked to log in to my Norton account?

Despite this road block, I plod on, determined to renew my subscription. So I fill in all the required fields, only to hit the second and now impassable roadblock: the form believes my address is invalid.

The form kept requiring me to choose one of the Australian states despite the fact that I had explicitly chosen the Philippines as my country (and the Philippines was one of the valid values for country). Choosing "N/A" for state didn't work and all the other options for State didn't match any Philippine state (we have none).

Attempts to submit my data would cause the form to reload with the same error: State value was invalid. And the postcode that I entered was also rejected since it wasn't an Australian postcode.

So despite persevering through multiple clicks and jumping around from site to site, I still had not managed to renew my subscription.

It gets worse

Despite all these road blocks, I (foolishly) wasn't quite ready to give up yet, so I tried a different tack. Rather than going through the generic subscription renewal process, I thought I might have better luck if I start from my Norton Account.

So I head over to https://www.mynortonaccount.com and login in successfully with my Norton account credentials.

Once I was logged in, I could see clearly that I had an expiring Internet Security subscription as well as older subscriptions that had already expired.

Unfortunately, there is no "Renew" button next to the expiring subscription. The only action I could take was to view the product, which I did. The "View Product" link took me to yet another page which shows more data about that specific subscription.

Again, there is no renew button, but there is now another button that reads "Protect Additional PCs."

Since there was no other visible action available to me, I click the "Protect Additional PCs" button to give it a try... and find myself on a screen for Norton Antivirus, which is a completely different product!

This product mismatch was totally unexpected given that I had come from a Norton Internet Security page. If I had not paid attention and had simply purchased the license, I would have ended up paying for the license key of a product that I don't even use.

By this time, I was fed up. I had wasted enough time on this and had tried enough times to renew my subscription. Heck, I wanted to renew my subscription. I was willing to keep giving them money year after year. But that site has made it impossible for me to buy what Symantec was selling.

So, shame on you, Symantec! You just turned a loyal, paying customer away.

As I type this, I'm downloading AVG.

Using Summize to Create Filtered Group Views

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:45:00 +0000

In a recent post at the GetSatisfaction Twitter forum, @sorenj asked if there was a way to create filtered views of the people that he is following.

Specifically, he said:

I'm interested in limiting what posts I see from time to time, topically. For example, if I'm having a conversation with fellow bloggers, I might want to filter my view (via tag) at that time to just the bloggers I follow. If I want to see what my family and friends have said in the past couple of hours, I'd rather just filter by family and view those posts. etc.

I think this is a great idea for a Twitter third-party application to implement. Perhaps if we're lucky, the folks at Twhirl or Twitterific will see fit to add this functionality to their respective apps.

Until that happy day comes, however, we can use the Summize Twitter Search to create filtered group views.

It's a bit of a pain at the start since we have to explicitly enter the names of the people we want to see together in the same group, but once we've got the search parameters the way we want them, we can bookmark the URLs and visit them any time.

Also, there's the added bonus that Summize notifies us in real time of new search results that have come in which match our search parameters.

So, for example, if I wanted to see recent updates from @paisano, @pistachio, and @skalik as a group, I can enter this search string in Summize:

paisano OR pistachio OR skalik
(Click the link to see search results)

As you'll no doubt see, our search parameter is too open-ended. It also return @replies that other people have sent to our three friends. Fortunately, we can use the minus operator to tell Summize to filter out tweets that are @replies to our friends by using this search string.

paisano OR pistachio OR skalik -@paisano -@pistachio -@skalik
(click the link to see the difference)

You can use the advanced search page to enter people's names under "any of these words" and enter the @username versions of their names under "none of these words"

The method is crude, but it works, and can be easily used over and over again once the URLs have been bookmarked. 8-)

------

Edited to add:

Thanks to the first comment below from diego, I just realized that there's a simpler and more accurate way to achieve the desired search results using Summize: use the FROM operator with the OR operator.

For example: from:paisano OR from:skalik OR from:sorenj

Also, this exact same search capability is supported by the Flaptor Twitter Search. In their case, the operators are AUTHOR and OR.

For example: author:paisano OR author:skalik OR author:sorenj.

Future-Dated Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:35:00 +0000

Blogger now supports future-dated posts.

Of course I had to make a post just to see if it really works. If you see this (10 minutes from now), it worked!

How I Use Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:00:00 +0000

I decided it was high time that I sat down and described in detail how I use Twitter, i.e., how I keep track of Twitter without spending all day on it.

The techniques described below may not be helpful to everyone, but they serve me extremely well right now, and there's a good chance that other people will benefit from using these tricks too.

The tips below assume that the reader has a reasonable understanding of Twitter terms, such as direct messages, user names, and @replies.

Choose a distinct and short user name. Many of the tips below will work only if you have a fairly distinct user name. The best names are words or names that you would not normally use in regular conversation. You'll also want to keep your user name fairly short, out of courtesy to the people who will need to type it in to send you public replies or direct messages.
Create a Twittermail account to get @Replies by email. Although the Twittermail service was originally created so you could use email messages to post updates to your Twitter account, I use it almost exclusively to receive a complete copy of the @Replies that people have sent me. The email is in digest format, so all the replies that have come in over a span of time are batched together in one email.
Use Tweetscan to search for and email you tweets that contain your user name and keywords of interest. Tweetscan lets you enter up to five search terms, and emails you a complete list of all tweets that contain those terms on a daily or weekly basis. Make sure one of those terms is your user name. This helps you find tweets that talk about you, even if they're not @replies addressed to you. Obviously, the usefulness of such a service deteriorates if you have a user name that's used in regular conversation.
Use Terraminds Twitter Search to look for users that have similar interests as you. Terraminds offers two types of search -- you can search in updates and you can search in user profiles. Since most people include their interests and their location in their profile, you can find like-minded Twitter-ers as well as Twitter-ers who are nearby using Terraminds.
Use Twitter Track Alert for your username and for keywords of interest. Twitter offers its own Track service. After you've specified the keywords that you'd like to track, Twitter will send you (via SMS or IM) copies of all tweets that contain those keywords. Note that these include tweets from people that you're not following. As noted above, it's not that useful to track your user name if it's a commonly used word. Consider also creating Twitter track alerts for your company, your competitors, and topics of interest.
Use LoudTwitter to create archives of your updates. If you're the type of person whose uncomfortable with the idea that the only copy of all your tweets is on a server that you don't control, then you'll like LoudTwitter. It's a service that takes all the tweets that you've posted in the past day, and creates a blog entry that serves as a daily digest of your tweets. As of this writing, LoudTwitter is compatible with Typepad, Vox, Movable Type, Blogger, LiveJournal, and Wordpress.
If you're online often, add your IM account to your Twitter profile. Since track alerts are only sent to SMS or IM, you'll get the most value out of track if you're online on IM for extended periods. I typically leave my IM account logged in overnight to receive tweets, and I skim those when I wake up in the morning.
International users can work-around SMS limits by creating a separate Twitter account for mobile notifications. International (non-US) users can only receive up to 250 sms messages per week. This limitation is especially detrimental to non-US users because Twitter does not let us specify which notifications and alerts should go to IM and which should go to SMS. I've worked around this limitation by using only IM in my main Twitter account. I then created a second account (which is linked to my mobile phone) that only follows people that I want to get mobile updates from. I also created a track alert on my username in this second account. This set-up means I can't use standard sms to post Twitter updates into my first account, but that's not a problem for me since the cost of international sms is prohibitive to start with. I therefore rely more on IM, Twitter Mobile, and mobile applications to post my updates.
Find a mobile application that lets you post updates via WAP, GPRS, or 3G. Since I use a Treo Smartphone and my mobile service provider bills GPRS charges by the kilobyte, I use a Palm-OS mobile application called TreoTwit to post my updates.

When used together, these different technologies keep me plugged into my Twitter community with manageable interruptions and minimal investment in time and effort. I'm sure there are more ways to squeeze value out of Twitter. If you have your own suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

8 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Me

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:35:00 +0000

My sincere apologies to Bryan Person for taking absolutely FOREVER before responding to the Eight Things You Probably Didn't Know About Me meme that he had tagged me with last month.

I hope late is better than never, because here goes:

College Major. While I was in high school, my dad came home one day with a brand-new Apple computer and I immediately loved it. I decided soon after to major in Computer Engineering and was accepted at the university of my choice when it came time to go to college. Last minute parental intervention caused me to change my major just prior to enrollment, and I ended up with a Computer Science degree instead. I have zero regrets.
Games. I love the old Infocom text-based interactive fiction games; games like the Collossal Cave Adventure, Zork, and Wishbringer. Soon after, I got hooked on RPGs like Wizardry, The Bard's Tale, and Ultima. (Anyone remember: "Lie with passion and be forever damned?") These days, my tastes run towards Real-Time Strategy games like Emperor and Age of Empires. I almost always lose with RTS games, but I still enjoy them.
Star Trek and Star Wars. I love nearly every incarnation of Star Trek except the original series. I know that statement borders on blasphemy for most Trek fans, but there it is. And if you think that's strange, here's something stranger: I haven't seen any of the Star Wars movies, and I don't feel any urgent need to watch them either.
Cooking. I love watching cooking shows but I don't cook. I prefer doing the dishes by hand to cooking, which works out well when there's a need to divvy-up chores since most people seem to prefer cooking to doing the dishes. If I were left to my own devices, I'd most probably subsist on canned corned beef (I never seem to tire of the stuff).
Money. I'm a cheapskate. Case in point: I've been thinking of replacing my computer for over 8 months, and I've so far managed to put it off because I can't bring myself to spend unless I really need to. Natural corollary: I usually don't enjoy shopping, with the exception of books.
Junk Food. When I'm in the right mood, I can eat an entire full-size can of Pringles potato chips in one sitting. Come to think of it, I can polish off entire bags of practically any salty snack food in one sitting: Cheetos, Tortilla Chips, BBQ-flavored popcorn... well, you get the idea.
Travel. I just turned down a free vacation in Macau because I'm currently so sick of travel. I hope to one day regain that bit of wanderlust that I've somehow inexplicably lost.
Faith. I'm an evangelical Christian.

Whew. That was harder than I thought it would be. Which is why I'm going to have to take some time to think of who to tag before I pass this on...

My Week in Media

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Just got tagged by UK-based technology PR consultant Drew Benvie to participate in a My Week in Media meme, where we all talk about what we read, watch, listen to, and surf.

I noticed that all four of the categories talk about our consumption of media, but none really deal with our participation as media creators. So I've added a 5th category which (for lack of a better term), I'm calling 'Where I Participate.'

Where I Surf

Twitter. I usually start the day by catching up on overnight tweets. Due to the number of people I follow (currently 628), it's impractical for me to keep up via SMS, so I usually leave my computer logged in to Gmail overnight and it collects the tweets via Twitter IM. I skim that in the morning, and make a note of links I want to visit later.
Inquirer.net. One of our many local news sites. I track the headlines via Philnews on Twitter, and I click through to read the full article when a headline catches my eye.

What I’ve Watched

Strangely enough, I rarely watch news on TV. And lately I've not been watching TV shows on their original airdates. Instead, I've been catching up via DVDs, and recent viewings have included Dexter, Commander-in-Chief, and Heroes.

Have also been trying, but not quite succeeding, to catch more movies in the theaters (my favorite movie-mate recently gave birth).

Online, I've started watching more videos on the web now that my home internet connection has gotten a bit more stable. Recent viewings include videos from Le Web 3 and TED.com. Have also taken to watching Seesmic videos, but haven't had as much time to do this as I would like.

What I Listen To

On my daily commute, I listen to podcasts. I can't read since I get dizzy if I read in a moving vehicle. There's also the fact that I drive to work. hehe!

The podcasts that I consistently listen to (in no particular order):

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
IT Conversations (which is part of the Conversations Network)
Marketing Over Coffee with Christopher Penn and John Wall
New Comm Road by Bryan Person (though it's been a while since his last episode)
On Point, with Tom Ashbrook because they intelligently cover things I know so little about
PRobecast from Topaz Partners
Mitch Joel's Six Pixels of Separation podcast
This Week in Tech by Leo Laporte

Lately, though, my podcast listening has fallen a bit behind because I've been using my commute time to listen to lectures I've downloaded from Open Yale Courses.

When I'm online and I don't feel like listening to anything long, I log in to Utterz and catch up on what people have been talking about. (I've placed this under the 'Listen' category because I haven't created an utter of my own yet).

What I Read

I'm dependent on Google Reader and have also described in detail how I use it. And while I'm hopelessly behind on my feed-reading, I don't let that fact bother me so much.

I also have a bad habit of subscribing to every interesting online email newsletter I can think of, so I find a lot of reading material that way.

Offline, I subscribe to and consistently read Fortune Magazine. I've got a multi-year subscription, and I find it to be a great way to balance out all the Web 2.0, new media, social media content that I imbibe via the web.

For general enjoyment, I read a lot of fantasy, science-fiction, and chick-lit.

I also read a number of trade journals that are specific to my work (which I won't go into here since they're too targeted for general consumption anyway).

Where I Participate

Aside from the obvious (Twitter), I post photos on Flickr, use Facebook mainly to play Scrabulous, and have lately been answering questions on Get Satisfaction.

Who's Next

And now, the hard part. Who do I tag to continue this meme?

How about: online acquaintances Manuel Viloria, Chette Soriano (sorry, Chette!), and Connie Reece.

Le Web 3 Videos Now Online

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 16:45:00 +0000

Have started watching the Le Web 3 videos online.

They're extremely well-edited, are of fantastic video and audio quality, and the speakers are only given very limited time to deliver their talk.

Here's one that I just finished watching: Evan Williams of Obvious and Twitter talks about creating new products by taking away features from an existing product.

Using Skype to Record Interviews

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 01:50:00 +0000

I've always wondered how people use Skype to record their podcasts and interviews.

Doug Kaye and Paul Figgiani of the Conversations Network answer the question, and more!

Turn on your speakers and click Play.

| View | Upload your own

Good or Bad, Black or White

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:20:00 +0000

Found this 3 minute video through one of Jeremiah Owyang's tweets tonight.

Watched it. Was saddened by it. Felt compelled to blog it.

The part that really got to me was the question 1 min and 26 seconds into the video clip: Can you give me the doll that looks like you?

If I were the child's parent, I think I'd weep.

Wireless@SG

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:45:00 +0000

Had an unexpected surprise today while sitting at a Starbucks in Singapore waiting for a friend. My laptop found an open public wi-fi network called Wireless@SG.

Out of curiosity, I connected to it and learned that it's a service whereby three of Singapore's wireless operators have agreed to blanket Singapore with wireless hotspots in public areas, and make wireless internet access available for free for a period of three years.

The best part: you don't have to be a Singapore resident to use it. Just register online, provide your cellphone number, and receive an SMS message with the password (they sent the password to my Globe phone which was on roaming). My account was activated literally within minutes of my receiving the SMS.

For more details: SingTel's Wireless@SG home

Twitter on CSI

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:17:00 +0000

Video excerpt from CSI Season 8, Episode 7: Goodbye and Good Luck.
YouTube video courtesy of jonathanfh.

Wonder if that scene will lead to an increase in sign-ups. 8-)

Searching for Answers on Terraminds

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:55:00 +0000

Have been having fun the past couple of days using the Terraminds Twitter Search to look for people who have not been receiving Twitter messages via SMS.

I first noticed the problem three nights ago. I'd gotten so used to receiving a couple of tweets every few minutes, so it was a bit unnerving to suddenly have my phone fall silent. Marvlove's tweet expresses the feeling best, I think:

Twitter! Why hath thou screweth me??... (not getting tweets feels weird.. like the first day of a nuclear winter.. and im the only survivor..) 01:45 PM November 01, 2007 from txt

I felt much better knowing that some else was experiencing the same problem, but I still had no way of tell if the problem was limited to just the Philippines.

Terraminds quickly became invaluable because it almost instantaneously let me see that that folks in other countries were experiencing the same problem.

India. Tamil: am not getng sms updates 4 twtr posts over two days. something wrong with twtr or my mobile?
London. mbites: Are Twitter SMS updates down? They are for me...
Malaysia. arsyan: it seems that i havent been receiving any updates on my twitter thru sms. sth is going on. not just me a few others as well.
Syria. cold0zero: i have same problem no SMS
France. LeFoUvErT: Seems that SMS notifications aren't sent anymore there too.
Australia. trib: @jagath - yes, I meant "no twitter SMS". Sucks.
Qatar. mbaa: @yraffah I have the same maxer's problem , no sms received.
Saudi Arabia. TheMaXeR: @mbaa yeah .. i have .. no sms received today
South Africa. IrcMaidon: I'm not getting sms tweets...
Israel. rotemboten: Yeah, I didn't recieve any sms as well.. do I need to do the follow thingy again from the phone?
Beijing. zyicestar: I can't receive sms from twitter and why ?

Misery must really love company, because it's good to know folks the world over are experiencing the same thing. haha!