Disqus - Latest Comments for nicknich3

Re: Systems Loss - My View

nicknich3 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:26:19 -0000

Rene - thanks for weighing in on the discussion.

We need MORE of the sector's knowledgeable people to weigh in on this so we can move toward some meaningful practices in the area of loss analysis and reduction. The analysis of losses is still a HUGE problem for the DUs; well, at least for the cooperatives.

Re: The Powerful Play Goes On

nicknich3 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:01:28 -0000

Yeah. I remember the day I wrote that. I was filled with emotion and was able to capture it in words - unusual for me, frankly. Tears still well up every single time I re-read it.

I'm still at the same, unsatisfying place in my life. Which, in a way, is good, perhaps.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/07/proxifeed-delivers-automated-twitter.html

joshchandler — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:00:52 -0000

Personally, I wouldn't be overly concerned about companies having your Twitter password after all it's very simple to change it should they gain access. On the other hand, it surprises me that this company haven't implemented OAuth, much more secure way to gain access to user's Twitter accounts!

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/07/proxifeed-delivers-automated-twitter.html

Peter — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:47:48 -0000

Of course - how else would it tweet into your account?

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/07/proxifeed-delivers-automated-twitter.html

nicknich3 — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:19:13 -0000

Gah. It's asking for my Twitter password. Not recommended.

Re: BPI Remittance Department

She-Ann — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:09:44 -0000

I have other experience with BPI customer service. It really piss me off whenever I see their advertisement for convenience banking.

Yesterday, since sa galleria kami napunta ng friend ko at nung sister nya, we decided to open a bank account for her sister.
Her sister is studying sa U.S. and we are thinking of a business and since me and my friend we already have a BPI account (which is tied to our payroll) sabi namin BPI na lang din para easier yung fund transfer.

So eto na, since biglaan and nandito lang din sila for a vacation and dala nya lang is yung student ID nya sa US. So sabi namin if pwede yung ID na yun.
Ang sabi di daw pwede kasi dapat philippines issued IDs lang ang tinatanggap nila. Nakipag argument kami na bakit di pwede mag open ng account eh syempre wala pa nman siya ibang ID na issued dito since sa US nga siya nakabase for her studies. So kami pa nag suggest na if mabigay namin passport eh pwede. Mejo naiirita na kami kasi napaka unfriendly, di man lang magbigay ng help or ideas pano kami matulungan para makapag open ng account. Sabi pa nung bank officer, "ah student pala siya", "a o sige yung passport", mga ganun lang sinsabi. Next namin sinabi, since na nandito na lang din nman kami baka nman na pwede iaccept yung yung student ID nya pra makpag open na siya tapos isunod na lang namin yung passport next visit and pag bigay na lang nung passport saka n lng namin kunin yung atm. Di daw talaga pwede ang reply nila. So mejo naiirita na kami kasi parang sobra naman kami pinahihirapan mag open ng account, naisip nga namin siguro dahil naka slippers lang kami kaya ganun trato nila sa amin.

Pakiusap pa din kami. Sabi namin na isang ID na lang nman kailangan na ibibigay naman agad namin. Ang next scene, bigla lapit si manager ang sabi with matching iritadong voice. [i]Pag walang passport di ko din iapprove[/i] so sabi namin wag mo nga iapprove release ng atm unless we provide the passport copy and if babalik kami eh taga san pedro laguna pa kami. Nung narinig ni manager na taga san pedro laguna kami, ang reply nya "taga san pedro kayo?, eh bakit kayo dito nag oopen." nag init talaga ulo ko. Sabi ko, bakit dito ko gusto dahil near sa work at open pag weekend. pagkasabi ko nun, biglang nag walkout at tumalikod. Super bastos talaga.

I mean I know there are rules, pero di ba nila kya maging accomodating and at least help us kung pano maayos na magkaron ng bank account dito yung sister ng friend ko. Sabi nga namin, kala namin convenience banking pag BPI eh puro uncoveniences ang binibigay nyo. And the way they talked. Sobrang proud na ang dating eh wala kayong magagwa kasi di ko din iapproved yan. hay....

May mali ba sa point namin?

Ang sabi pa nga nila kya ayaw nila kasi pano daw pag naging dormant ang account tapos nandun sa US eh macharge daw ng 200pesos yung account. Sabi namin, we understand yung point na yun kaya nga mag proceed pa din kami because we know our responsibility sa part na yun and umuuwi nman sila every year. But ayaw pa din nila. :(

Re: A Bad Idea from Nasecore

nicknich3 — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:22:48 -0000

I absolutely agree.

Re: BPI Remittance Department

nicknich3 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:13:30 -0000

My last four wires in a row, from U.S. to BPI account in Manila, have executed overnight (i.e. within 12 hours). BPI has modified something in their process. It's faster. It's been more reliable.

Re: DOE List of Philippines Power Plants

nicknich3 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:49:38 -0000

Unfortunately I don't have such a list. Try the ERC site http://www.erc.gov.ph They should have a list of power plants/companies that have been issued a COC - Certificate of Compliance.

Re: DOE List of Philippines Power Plants

nicknich3 — Mon, 18 May 2009 05:23:24 -0000

Joe: What's the company? What's your 'connection'? What's your name?

Re: Exploring the 2010 Web

nicknich3 — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:55:28 -0000

Honestly, I'm trying not to be a curmudgeon, but I also find that the Google Fiend Connect bar distractingly takes up real estate w/o adding any value.

Re: Exploring the 2010 Web

Nick Nichols — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:55:28 -0000

Honestly, I'm trying not to be a curmudgeon, but I also find that the Google Fiend Connect bar distractingly takes up real estate w/o adding any value.

Re: Exploring the 2010 Web

nicknich3 — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:50:22 -0000

I find the site too busy. Seriously. I find all of the sidebar stuff a distraction - except for the simple links.

Re: Exploring the 2010 Web

Nick Nichols — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:50:22 -0000

I find the site too busy. Seriously. I find all of the sidebar stuff a distraction - except for the simple links.

Re: I’m Off to Kabul This Week

nicknich3 — Sat, 09 May 2009 21:19:35 -0000

BongV: I'm not extremely close to the solar activities here. Here's a link to an older Businessweek article on solar manufacturing in Philippines. http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/o...

Since the Philippines has a significant (or had, before the economic crisis) electronic fabrication industry, there are support facilities for manufacturing solar cells, I would think.

I presume SunPower is still manufacturing here - they made a significant investment and had an initial capacity of about 25 MW per year, I believe.

Aid agencies continue to fund significant amounts of rural roof top systems in poor, off-grid areas. There is at least one (probably more) private operators selling rooftop systems to upscale homes.

Re: An ERC “No Brainer”?

nicknich3 — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:50:08 -0000

I have a hunch that the Commissioners, as a whole, perceive that it is not in their personal best interest for quick and full public promulgation of ALL of their Decisions, Orders, and Announcements. I think that is misguided, because the web allows us to talk about that in a way we could not do before. The sooner they move to timely disclosure, the better off for them (as well as us).

Certainly using Twitter won't make the rate setting process transparent. But it will open the door to, or put pressure on, increased transparency. At least we could get timely notifications of publicly released Announcements and Decisions. It won't prevent the Commissioner's from delaying posting certain Decisions to the web. And it won't make the Decisions themselves any more transparent than they choose to write up.

Re: BPI Remittance Department

John H — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:20:30 -0000

We gave them tracking numbers several times I don't remember how many now at least 4. The first within a week of the problem. No dice. I can't see it as anything but a scam.

Re: BPI Remittance Department

nicknich3 — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:07:04 -0000

Well, personally, I've never had them keep my money from an international wire transfer for more than a week or so while they go look for it. But even that I didn't like. If I give them a transaction number from remitting bank, they should act within 24 hours. My fear was that it was intentional to scrape off the interest earnings while I waited.

I understand your point scamming women. Especially undereducated, provincial women. They are such easy targets for corporate (and government agency) bullying. My wife gets this at the BPI branch in Malaybalay, Bukidnon if the ATM fails to deliver the cash yet our bank account gets docked. Their position is always: not our problem. So my wife tends to just eat the P1000 or whatever. THIS is highly likely a scam - albeit at the local level.

Re: BPI Remittance Department

nicknich3 — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 03:01:46 -0000

This is astounding. I can't believe the number of people that are having BPI keep their money. I expect only a fraction come through this comment list.

Part of the problem is that this is not publicly transparent. BPI knows how many customers are complaining of this - but we have no way of aggregating complainants. The internet will, one day, solve that problem. Corporations won't be able to hide from important problems.

It may be a scam. Or it may just be incompetence. How do we know? One thing seems apparent - BPI doesn't seem to show that it cares and are willing to sacrifice peoples savings just because they haven't been proven legally liable. How's that for customer service? If they would just re-direct some of their annual advertising expenditures to covering some of these questionable lost transfers, the ROI returns to their image would be hugely higher, I would think.

Re: My Presentation Slide Decks

nicknich3 — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:47:43 -0000

Ha ha! It was an April Fool's Joke by SlideShare. They inserted two zero's in the numbers. I wasn't "totally" taken in, but then again, I guess I was.

At least I erred on the side of more marketing, not less.

Re: The Asian Energy Dance Hall Society

nicknich3 — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:40:51 -0000

Re-reading one of my favorite posts from 2006 today makes me want to reconsider the name for this group. Maybe "The One Percenters."

Re: This Is a Blog. It’s Always Been a Blog.

nicknich3 — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:47:12 -0000

Well in this case I feel it's totally my fault. I'm not the best marketer in the world. Heh heh.

Re: The Book Market Stares At Ubiquity

fredwilson — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:21:11 -0000

There's going to be on open version of kindle that people can build stuff on
top of

Think iPhone, or the twitter api

Re: The Book Market Stares At Ubiquity

nicknich3 — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:50:51 -0000

" ... reblog to tumblr option." Oh my goodness! THAT would potentially double, triple, 10x a book's sales. Think the old school will catch on to that? ... in our lifetime.

Re: We Have Complex Work To Do

nicknich3 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:37:32 -0000

MrGam - Thanks for the comments and for the update of what happened at the Cebu Hearings. That's very helpful

I'm totally stumped by what Commissioner Reyes meant by "non-adversarial approach" but having the parties conference among themselves and then come back to subsequently continue the Hearing process is a common regulatory technique for reaching solutions.

The "peanut butter" approach to the rate design is precisely what the Napocor filing requested. In fact, their filing used that term, specifically. So it sounds as if the ERC staff is supporting the NPC approach. But I'm not sure why they would support that. And frankly it doesn't matter what the staff thinks. The Commission is perfectly capable of disagreeing with their own staff and in fact that happens surprisingly often in the U.S.

Well, I suppose this is already the start of crowdsourcing the ERC case. It may seem as if this is a conversation between two people, but I can promise you many others are reading it and already putting it to use.

There are a number of ways to better facilitate a wider exchange of ideas. We could try some. Let me think a bit. I'll propose something. Others can suggest here also. Maybe it's not too late to get something going on this case.