Wordpress now 2.6!

Wordpress is now 2.6! I was tinkering with my local copy of Wordpress for the office site and saw a nice little update. More info on the official blog here.

I like the ability to preview the templates on your site without really applying them. I used to dump a database backup to preview new themes or do a quick upload and ’see live’ the template effects. It did take a while to generate the preview on my local copy, I’ll do a few more tests on the server later, might just be the machine specs. This laptop sure is getting old, but it works fine for light work.

Anyhoo, here’s a video of the changes from 2.5.1 to 2.6:

Question/Problem: Take two similar phones, call the same customer service number, get instant answers (or rather live cusomter support representatives) on one phone and then be put on hold for 30 minutes on the other (yeah, I timed it). What’s the difference?

A simple fact. I was using a postpaid line on the phone which got instant access to a live customer support representative, the other one was on a prepaid line. I’ve tried calling on my postpaid line to access customer service, but they say they have limited access to the prepaid numbers.

Now, I really have a hard time understanding this. Try to compute how mcuh they earn from me:

1. The minimum monthly charge I get for my postpaid line is Php 500 (~$10). This rises to a high of Php 1,000 on months when I am involved in projects where the team might be in diffrent locations. While a friend of mine on postapid and on the same network spends roughly 4x the amount I do.
2. Every two years, I get a new low end mobile phone which costs around Php 3,800 to as high as Php 4,500 as a customer retention plan.
3. I sometime login to yahoo messenger using my mobile but always as an alternative to the net, so they do not charge me.
4. On occasion, I use the surfing capabilities of my phone to check mail, message a few buddies, and obtain short bits of information, but this does not go over Php 100 per month.

Tell me again how prepaid customers are more likely to contribute to churn? I’m tied to this operator for the next 25 months because of the new phone (which I’ve already sold), but I’m still pretty happy with their service. It is only during those times that I have to call the prepaid hotline that I get the loooooong wait.

I’ve been trying to put off writing until I’ve finished school stuff. With comprehenesive exams coming up soon, I have to manage and juggle a lot of things, but I feel that this has to be posted.

I haven’t felt the pinch of the gas prices up until recently when I noticed more and more cabbies are tinkering with their meters. In my previous post, I mentioned how to read the meters for taxi cabs here in the Philippines, so I can pretty much estimate how much a cab ride should cost. My regular cab ride costs an average of Php 100. Now, it ranges from Php 140 - Php 170 and that is only with the meter running. Some cabbies even ask for fixed prices when or additional fare on top of the meter charge.

I just got news that they might be raising the flagdown rates to Php 40. Well, tomorrow is another work day so I’ll find out then.

I was having lunch with a couple of friends yesterday and one of them mentioned that there were prophecies for the China quake. She said that there’s also one for the Philippines soon, no definite location yet. Did a quick google for ‘earthquake philippines prophecy’ and found this:

JULY 18, 2008 - PHILIPPINES WILL GET 8.1 EARTHQUAKE, thousands of people will die.

Please let us be alert and mark this date July 18, 2008, Friday, let’s be prepared and let us all PRAY that this will not happen to us. If possible: Please don’t go to work especially those with office located in high places, buildings, condos and malls.

A couple of other sites list more details on what he has predicted so far. Give the fact that we live in the Ring of Fire, and that we have not experienced a major quake in the last few years, there really is a high possiblity. I take all of them with a grain of salt, but I would also like to give this warning: be prepared at all times.

I live in a condominium and I just felt two quakes within this hour so they must be way off with their prophecies.

As a regular cab rider, I thought that I had mastered the art of estimating the taxi fare from point A to point B. I have managed to estimate a ceiling price for a certain destination. To be more accurate, I tried scouring the net for tutorials or how to or what nots, but I got . For a country that is proud to be a tourist destination, we must make sure that these taxi cab meters be routinely checked.

First, a few tips to remember once you get on a cab.

1. Make sure the driver flags down the meter. There are some cab drivers that will negotiate a price with you or ask you to add a tip. I’d rather tip if and when I feel like the driver deserves it (no haphazard driving and braking). I usually tip by rounding up the fare or adding Php 10-15 to the bill.
2. Make sure you have small bills and coins. There are times when unscupulous drivers will tell you they do not have change. Do not ride a cab with a Php500 bill and expect change. I make sure I have several Php 20 and even coins to pay as close to the metered fare as possible. See Tip #1.
3. Do not sleep while in transit. I’ve seen some cab riders sleep while riding. This makes you prone to a fast meter or even holdups. Your taxi driver might even take advantage of you while you are asleep.

Second, the rates:

1. Flag down rate. As of writing this, the current flag down is Php 30. This shouldn’t change for the first 500 meters.
2. Regular travel. Php 2.50 for each succeeding 300 meters.
3. Full stop/Waiting. Php 2.50 for every two minutes of waiting.

Parts of the meter. (I’ll get pictures some other day)

1. Idle/waiting timer (upper left corner) - the taxi must be at full stop for this to increment. The standard rate addition is approximately Php 2.50 every 2 minutes.
2. Odometer reading - the cab must run approximately 300 meters for this to increment by Php 2.50
3. Total Fare - the middle part where the largest numbers are. Your fare must be in Php 2.50 increments regardless of the distance.

Any other tips you’d like to add? Feel free to post them.