I'd like to take the time to give some promotion on an organization that I have recently discovered - it's called the Trevor Project.

Although it's based in the US, it still paves the way for organizations similar to this around the world.

What is the Trevor Project, may I ask? The Trevor Project is an organization that has upkeeps support services for those on the brink, especially those close to suicide. They are actually catering for Gay Bi Lesbian Transgender teens, but they do help any teen of any sexual orientation. I also support this organization because as a teen who suffers from depression I know it's very, very hard and you really need to talk to someone when the situation arises, and if you're having troubles about your sexuality it must be even harder, hence my support.

I'd like to tell you in advance right now that I'm not gay (quite straight in fact), but as a close, close friend to a few gay/bi friends I am willing to support this organization.

The Trevor Project started out as the output of a short film named "Trevor". You can watch it by clicking on my "Got 15 minutes?" link below. The creators of Trevor knew that showing this movie would trigger those who might be experiencing the same problems as the main character, so they created a helpline, and then in the advent of the internet they expanded on to create "Dear Trevor", a Q&A answering service for GBLT teens close to suicide.

The short film Trevor is about a 13-year-old American kid who had found out he was gay. He came out to his best friend, but he wasn't really a friend at all - he made Trevor into a gossip topic for the whole school. On top of that, his parents arn't accepting of his sexuality, who doesn't even give him enough attention in the first place.

Ultimately, it leads to the climax on where Trevor tries to commit suicide. You can find out the rest by watching it.

Please do support the project - lives count on it. If you live in America, please support it generously. If you go on a forum, please consider to change your signature into something like I did  for Australian-Media - get other people to spend 15 minutes to watch the short film and then to make an evaluation on to support the project from there. It's 15 minutes - it's better then the crap on what Channel Seven/Nine/Ten produce. 15 minutes to save lives.

I will be supporting them, regardless that they are out of my geographical reigon - as one who was close to suicide, the best I can do is support those who support people like me. What comes around goes around.

You can find out more about the Trevor Project at thetrevorproject.org.

You can watch the short film by clicking below:

Image link not working? Click here.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog post. It's not a rant, but it's much, much more important than a rant.

Fucking 3 Customer Service.

Posted this on the Whirlpool boards...

Hi
I'm a 2-week old customer on the 3 Network as a pre-paid customer.
I've signed up for the CNN "unlimited" monthly pack, and the X-Series 5 package
(the only choice when you're a Prepaid customer).

I recently topped up with a $29 cap. To my understanding, and after asking several people who use Mobile TV on 3, when I watch a channel on my mobile (when
signed up to an "unlimited" monthly pack), I can watch the channel for as
long as I want and I will not be billed for the bandwidth I use to stream that channel.

A couple of nights ago, I had let CNN accidentally run
overnight, and I woke up to be shocked that my $300 or so remaining credit from the cap had shrivelled up to $4.
Checking on My3, I had found out that I had spent $285+ on "Mobile Internet"charges, assuming it's from
leaving CNN running overnight, on top of my X-Series usage eaten away also.

I called up 3 Care, and after being dumped from person to person, I was finally told by a rude call centre guy that it was "my fault" and that I was instead accessing Mobile Internet all night, and that CNN was only uncapped when I go on the link on CNN from Planet 3, despite the only way to get a valid channel feed is by going from Planet 3, which I obviously did. (You can't even bookmark the channel feed as the feeds only work one time!) He refused to give me any kind of refund or compensation, even though I tried to argue with him that the only way I could rack up a bill like that is from the stream of CNN! But, no, this bloody rude guy had to shove into my face the fact that "I'm more sure than you/I'm 200% sure/etc. that you will only have the charges when you access Mobile Internet".

Well, obviously not, 3, and you blame your incomptency on your customers? That is not on! Something went wrong in your systems, and you have to take the easy road out by blaming your customers? Absolutely appaling!

I am really, really angry on not just how this can occur but how I was treated. The call centre representative I found was rude and would not listen to me at all. I kept my calm during the call, but I am planning to call again to try to explain again and if I have to shout, I will.

I will be leaving the network shortly as I will be unlocking my handset, but I am really not happy about this – should I take this matter to a watchdog? Call up 3Care and try again? Or simply ignore the matter (it's only $29 wasted anyway)?
Regards

(http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1105512)

Will be taking this far. I now endeavour to put 3 to shame - I fucking hate snotty OS customer service that are truly inadequate.

I can not believe this crap!

As I said earlier, I watch Mobile TV on my mobile. Well, when I meant Mobile TV, it was mainly CNN. Three has a weird system where you've got "day passes" at $1 a day, and "monthly passes" at $4 month. Well, at first, I signed up for the day pass, and I got billed $1 a day as it stated. Fair deal. But when I decided that $30/31/28/29 doesn't seem as nice as $4, I signed up for the monthly.

But I'm still getting billed for Daily! It's BS! When I go and try to "cancel it", it does not appear - only the monthly pass! But, me being oh-so-laidback, I kept my cool, and didn't worry - my Planet 3 (the service provider of the mobile TV) is capped to $10 being on a cap.

But, the following is making my blood boil, and if I had been on a plan, this would have killed me.

This Mobile TV pricing page states that it's UNLIMITED usage, and many of us would interpret that as UNLIMITED usage without billing you for the data. A quick Whirlpool search makes me more sure that's true.

BUT WHY THE FUCK HAVE I SPENT 280+ FUCKING DOLLARS ON THE SHITTY DATA GETTING CNN?

OK, wait, let me back up here. Last night, I was watching CNN in bed, and I think I was getting too sleepy and left it on...

So, the next morning (today) I have woken up and found that my phone was off. So, I turned it on, and it booted up, and I got one message. It said my credit was low. But I only recharged yesterday! So, I checked it again (out of the uncertainness of being too sleepy), and, sure thing, it said my credit was low!

How could that be? I just recharged $300 on a $29 cap! So, I logged into my web interface for 3, and look what happened:

... I am left with $4 until I get another recharge! Why should I be spending $29 every 4 days to fix up 3's incompetency?

This is truly unacceptable on Three and this is a blatent rip-off, not to mention the shitty reception that I get in some parts of Sydney (it goes to roaming in a metropolitan area! We're not talking about Armadale here - this is a busy north-west reigon for God's sake!) Now I'm going to need to waste my fucking Saturday morning talking to some off-shore call centre pieces of shits to rectify both problems. And then when I go over to Asia I'm going to unlock my phone and I'm going to get out of this shitty network! God!

EDIT:

You might not be able to see the photo well. Here it is:

13/12/2008 02:48:34 Data Usage 26.315  MB $26.32 

13/12/2008 01:48:33 Data Usage 54.294  MB $54.29 

13/12/2008 00:48:32 Data Usage 949248:00  minutes $54.32 

12/12/2008 23:48:31 Data Usage 56909824 $54.27 

12/12/2008 22:48:30 Data Usage 56784896 $54.15 

12/12/2008 21:48:29 Data Usage 51198590 $41.64     

I have a bunch of computers running at Phileas Mann Central, with an even mix of Macs & WinTel desktops and laptops. Surprisingly, my main computer is a Windows, despite me rambling on how Windows is the devil, and that if you want to be as cool as me (*cough cough* bullshit! *cough cough*) you have to own a Mac.

But, don't make presumptions yet! My main computer, a Toshiba Satellite, running (cover you eyes ppl!) Windows Vista, replaced my MBP for a while because of a myriad of hardware faults. But, this week, it has been repaired, and it's ready to roll again. And, finally!, I can stop using the worst operating system of all time!

Everything went smoothly at first - my top apps for the Mac installed fine (Growl, Statoo, Fireworks, InDesign, Final Cut Pro, iWork, and Quicksilver), and all of my important documents loaded fine. Bought myself a new USB HD for Time Machine, first backup went fine. And, then, my smile went away.

My iTunes library.

I don't know what's up with iTunes. While it's a great application, and I use it daily, when it comes to transferring songs it doesn't follow the Apple motto of "it just works". I first copied my music to a HD, transferred it to my Mac, opened the XML file already made, change the directory links in the file, then tried to open the itl file, because it worked flawlessly when I did it earlier (from Mac to PC). It didn't work. Bloody iTunes 8...

Then I tried exporting the XML file on the Windows computer. Yes, it worked, no, it didn't.

EH?!

Yes, it worked. My songs did end up on my iTunes. Playlists remained intact, except for my Smart Playlists, noticably "Recently Added" (guess why).

No, it didn't. About 50 songs were missing, despite me consolidating my library earlier, and not even touching the damn thing during the transfer! I have to find covers for the songs I didn't purchase on iTunes, I've lost my Top 25 playlist because the Play Count went missing, and it didn't transfer my iPod Games & iPhone applications! ARGH!

So, Apple, why do you have to treat your loyal customer like shit? Why does this simple little thing have to let down the whole concept of the Mac - "it just works"?

Today I'll just be sitting down in front of my MBP fixing, fixing, fixing...

I'm sitting here, on my bed, with the laptop on my breakfast-in-bed table, staring hopelessly on this screen, supposed to be doing work but I just don't feel like it. I'm been feeling miserable again lately - bracing myself for another bout of depression. But, life goes on, and a new rant to rant about.

Anyways, I got a new phone a few days before since I did something terrible to my iPhone (don't ask :P). I wasn't supposed to get a new phone - I told myself that I've got email, SkypeOut & a landline, and that I can survive without a mobile. Oh, how I was wrong. I survived only a month without a mobile (the last straw when I forgot my sheet music for a major performance, and there was no payphone to be seen).

So, I thought, maybe I should lay off the Apple products for a while, so I didn't get an iPhn. Then I was considering a Blackberry. Then I moved on to a Nokia N-series phone. But then, the money-stingy side of Phileas Mann argued to the cash-evaporating side of Phileas Mann that Phileas Mann will be doing a big overseas trip in a month.

So 30 minutes later, I bought a nice, cheap Nokia 6288 for $200. Modest spend. It's great - video calling's awesome, I love the Mobile TV (and now I can watch CNN & BBC on the go), and I saved $500 in the long run by not getting a contract.

What it didn't come with, though, is a MiniSD card. The phone has 8MB of space itself, leaving enough space for a few ringtones. So, when I bought it, I thought that you can just stick some ol' card into it.

Oh, how I was so wrong. I went to my local DSE and asked for a MiniSD card. They handed me one. I asked, "Will this fit a Nokia?", and they immediately said, "Yes, yes, yes, so just hand up the money now".

And, to my complete disappointment, it did not fit. Bastards, the whole lot of them. I was able to return it, but finding an MiniSD card that will fit my phone was harder than I thought.

Upon further investigation, I found that the card would not fit because the card was not specifically "Nokia-approved", and the size was completely different than a standard MiniSD card! So, I looked up "Nokia MiniSD card", found a 1GB, and, you know how much it was? $200! 200 buckaroos for a $6 piece of plastic?

So, the hunt is on for a compatible MiniSD card.

The name-and-shame of retailers that do not have compatible MiniSD cards:

• Dick Smith Electronics
• David Jones
• Myer
• Crazy Johns (A PHONE SPECIALIST!)
• Harvey Norman
• The local phone retailer

Meh. I'm back. And, there you are, you little slimy bastards, booing away. I know my words arn't enjoyed by everyone, and I like taking the pleasure of making those particular group of people suffer.

OK, so that may not be the real reason Shouting Is Fun v2.0 was started. It's really because I'm going over to the good ol' Asia, and I've decided to actually use the trip to the fullest and start a travelog.

And the adventure starts today, as I was booking away. So, I've decided to take my niece to Hong Kong Disneyworld. Ahhhhhhh.... the shittest Disney theme park of them all. And that's a big call - Disneyland Paris wouldn't be second-worst had it not been the kiddies getting confused with the garden snails for escargot. (Kids are growing up faster these days. They now know what's gourmet!)

... and just because Norton was screwing with me, I decided to make the booking over the phone. And, it was as funny, as you'd expect for someone that doesn't speak fluent English.

So, when it came to spell my name, it was the whole "P for Photo (I actually don't know the airplane words), H for Harry"... the whole Wheel of Fortune shebangabang, the rep insisted on making the whole booking process "Disney-like" by replacing the typical airplane words with Disney characters...

"Yep, so that's M for Mickey / B for Buzz / C for Cinderella...."

For fucks sake, I'm going to be enduring the whole damn thing over there for $300 a day!

And, well, not to bag out the Chinese/be rasist/become a BNP member, the whole accent was soooooo hard to interpret, yet sooooooo funny to listen to! (I'm just gonna shut up here so I don't get caned by "the activists", you get the idea.)

... and they insisted on booking breakfast for me. Dialouge:

PM: Phileas
R: Rep

R: ... and would you like to have breakfast at Chef Mickey, or at (insert some Disney name for an eatery here)?
PM: No, no, we're going to go out to the main island for breakfast, then come back for the park.
R: ... OK, so would you like to reserve a table at Chef Mickey?
PM: No, no, no, we're not going to have breakfast there.
R: So you want to reserve a table for the breakfast?
PM: What? We're not having breakfast there!
R: Yes, but breakfast was part of your package.
PM: I know, I know, but we're not having breakfast there.
R: But you need a reservation, so I'll make it at Chef Mickey?

... after 3 more minutes of this type of dialouge, and a promise that I could "cancel" my "obligations" of having breakfast in HKDL Hotel, I made a booking at Chef Mickey. Fucking hell.

... I don't care if someone intercepts my credit card details. I don't care if I have to "report to the back for a scam". Going through a heavy-headed bank is much easier than booking a hotel in a Disney theme park. I should have done it online.

God.