Phileas Mann Is Not Suitable For Consumption

Moved!

2009-04-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

Phileas Mann Is Not Suitable For Consumption

has moved to Phileas' new site @

phileasmann.net.

Is this a rant, or a whine?

2009-04-06T05:10:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a while. Been really, really busy - I'm alternating on work (employment & schoolwork) that I've missed while I've been on bed rest, working on my new pet project (42 Wallaby Way, which is looking quite good), and throwing up a myriad of new medicine I have to take.

I hate it. Today, I've seen so many types of doctors over the past 2 weeks, and they've put me on the following:

A vitamin suppliment (I'm actually not really sure what it is!), in form of a drop, where I have to add like 25 drops to my daily cup of coffee. Doesn't look good when at Starbucks - something akin to spiking drinks in clubs.
Anti-deps. Bit reserved about this... heard they turn you into zombies. But, I guess it helps.
Stress-reducing herb formula. Thank God it's a capsule - if it was in any other form, I'd stop all this treatment altogether.

Anyways, enough about me feeling like a complete zombie/drug addict - rant time. Royal Easter Show - yea or nay? I can get cheap tickets. They cost like $30 normally, but I can get one for $12. But then, that's not it. You've got the overpriced food, the rides to pay for, and, fucking hell, the bloody overpriced showbags. I mean, who pays $35 for a bag of lollies that you can get for $3?

I remember the days when the Easter Show was good. Those were the days - where the attractions were somewhat, if not, barely, interesting, there was a lot for the kids to do and the parents to see, and the showbags were good. 2 words: Coke Showbag. That was the ultimate! For $15-20, you get a really nice Coke messenger bag, a few 600 mL Coke-affiliated various drinks, some nice speakers/headphones, and some other Coke-branded crap. The total value was definitely worth the $20. It was bloody awesome.

Fast forward to 2008's Easter Show. You get a hat. Wow! A hat! Sooooooo awesome! I pay (now) $30 for a hat! And, what's this? Ohhhh! Sunglasses! Wow!!!!!!!!!!1 [/sarcasm]

The only reason I want to go is for the Pixar showbag. More specifically, the Wall-E showbag. The only other reason I will be going for if there's some special show, like where a true re-enactment of Animal Farm is played by real animals. Or something as remotely interesting as that. But, at this current state, it's a piece of shit.

But, the Wall-E showbag! It's driving me nuts!

I'm a confused man.

Cross-Promotion!

2009-03-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Well, being virtually chained to my bed, I've worked on my pet project for the past couple of days - 42wallabyway.net.

I'm a die-hard Pixar fan, and I decided to join Pixar Planet. And it provided me the inspiration to make a (noncompeting!) blog about Pixar.

Kinda finished with the web design, check it out: http://www.42wallabyway.net/site. Bought the code as the base for the theme, and made my own graphics.

... who's to blame for suddenly making a site about my love for Pixar? The AM forums. Discussion has officially dried up there, and I've decided to "move on". Will still go to Aust Media, so don't worry :P

EDIT: Yep, got new hosting. No, I won't transfer PMINSFC to Wordpress, as I'm really content with Blogger ATM.

Bed rest. Bleeeeeeeh.

2009-03-26T17:16:00.001-07:00

So, I'm on bed rest on doctors' orders. And I hate it.

No school. No work. All I've been doing for the past couple of days is just feeling like crap, sleeping all day on the couch while Sky News runs in the background.

I am dead bored. I've already completed 50+ games of Solitare, made my Sims have sex 20 billion times already, killed a whole lot of pedestrians in GTA SA, and, proving that I am sooooo bored, finished reorganizing my documents in all of my laptops.

I want to go play a set of tennis. Maybe go biking. Or go spluging my money at DFO. But, fucking hell, I'm too fatigued to do those stuff. Just sitting here, and watching these sons of bitches on TV ranting on about the financial crisis. Maybe it's time to change the channel...

But, heh, I've got to endure 5 more days like this. I'm BORRRRRREED!

What a whore-ibble thing.

2009-03-19T01:43:00.000-07:00

That's right, kids. The word of the day today is whores.

Context, you ask? I'll give you context. Today is the last straw for me for crappy customer service. I know, I know, the economic crisis is affecting us all, and I am happy to pay a bit more than "better financial times" (or if need be, much more, hint hint nudge nudge all those companies I suck up to), but the economic crisis does not give a free pass for crap customer service. I should be getting, and I expect, the same service as I was. Morals are still up. People can still afford to go out and shit. It's not like we're in a depression kiddos.

So, I don't understand why I waited 30 minutes (yeah, no exaggeration) to be served at McDonalds on Friday. Those number paper pre-order thingies - they just slow the line down! And when I do finally get in front of the line, when I do finally get served, this whore (word of the day!) screws up the whole thing ("NO! I ASKED FOR A DELICHOICES CHICKEN ROLL! WHY DID YOU GIVE ME A McCHICKEN?!"), and I have to wait. Again.

I have a line of temperament. I'm that (pompous) guy that gets pissed off at people getting pissed off at store employees. And that line is set pretty high. But these days, customer service, anywhere you go, even up in the air (shitty service 30,000 feet is not pleasant), is just soooooooooo bad.

Many businesses undervalue what customer service can do. My parents, God love them, went car-shopping a few years ago. (I've never bought a car BTW, it's called nabbing an old car from your parents.) And they went to Toyota. They had a pretty modest budget, and they wanted something decent, not too small yet not too big, so they wanted a Kluger. Even though they don't need the space. And, mind you, they're as modest as you can get (quite the opposite of me :P). Apparently, when they asked questions, asked prices, extras, and even asked for a test drive, this son-of-a-bitch salesman was really, really snobby and did everything out of hesitation and a sigh. When you're spending $40,000, a hesitating sigh is not what you want. And, naturally, my parents took their business somewhere else - and that's the way it's supposed to be.

Now they have contempt for Toyota drivers. Now I have contempt for Toyota drivers. I also have contempt for McDonalds diners, US Airways passengers (terrrrrrible!), 3 Mobile users, Costco shoppers (long story, I'll tell you later, if I ever get bored), GoDaddy domain name owners.... you get the point.

If I could find one store that is consistent, and provides good customer service, I'll be their #1 customer. While I buy for the use of the product, a majority of my decisions also come from customer service.

Consumer Power! USE IT!

(Footnote: Parents eventally got a Subaru 4x4. They're happy with it. And, you guessed it, it was a friendly salesperson that made them bought it. Waiting to nab that one off them :) )

A $850 iPod touch on my desk.

2009-03-16T03:22:00.000-07:00

Shit.

I've got a brand-spanking new white iPhone 3G 16GB just sitting on my desk. Without any applications. Without any contacts. Just full of Queen - Greatest Hits and the Incredibles. A freggin' $850 iPod touch.

One of my best friends sold it to me, unboxed but unused, for only $350. She didn't want it in the first place, so I was the first one to snatch it up. It was a Optus Prepaid pack, and she took the SIM that came with it. I'm a Vodafone guy, and I have no Optus account. Plus, I need to jailbreak my iPhn for tethering reasons.

And, so, when I got it, the worst was inevitable - it came as 2.2.1!!!!!!!!!

This meant that it came with a 2.30 baseband, and, everyone knows you can't PwnageTool that, so, sigh.

So, now, I am refreshing the Dev Team blog every 20 minutes, waiting, waiting...

Anyways, I have a lot of more important crap to sort out before the iPhone, i.e. finding a new psychologist. I find this guy getting more unprofessional as the sessions go by. I don't pay $200 a session for nothing. The last session he did was effectively just insult me about my weight (I'm no fat shit, but I'm no macho hulk either)... and I can't take it anymore. Quite frankly, I could pay someone else $200 to do a better job. I could even save myself $200 by doing the fucking DASS 21 by myself. Hmph.

.... you know how hard it is to find a good psychologist/therapist around in Sydney...?

Phileas' Dreadful Choice of Music - Whitley

2009-03-10T00:42:00.000-07:00

Music is getting pretty terrible these days. Shizz In My Pants? Shit in my pants is more like it. I can't believe crap like that is getting airtime than other artists who actually have a proper story in their lyrics, let alone a better melody. And so you can realise that good artists are becoming harder to come by. At least there's a few artists still out there putting out songs with at least a hint of a melody, and one of them's Whitley.

I've actually heard Whitley in an ad, more specifically, the Foxtel HD+ ads (hint hint, nudge nudge at the Marketing dept.: it's working. You've got a customer partially due to those ads).

Don't let the whistling and the dialouge fool you - beneath the commotion, you've got a good, catchy song underneath that compliments the whole ad very, very well. Ad at the jump.

Here's the full song. There wasn't an official music video, so credits to Julia Mahoney for creating the "unofficial" video, which could be mistaken for the real deal.

The song has that pure folk-y feel, yet not pop-pish, yet catchy. It's one of those songs that you rarely find, like Croatia as a tourist destination. Maybe the wannabe-teens of today may troll my blog and spam: "WhAt A N00B JiZZ in my PANTS is 133t... and I can troll forums and think I'm soooooo cooool!" And until record companies stop giving all their money to fufil the void of trashy songs (and DRM research, bleh), we will be swamped with crap to our ears and good, hearty songs like these will be lost forever.

More about Whitley - he's a musician who has released his first album, The Submarine, in 2007. He's finally getting recognition these days, and one of his songs, Shot to the Stars, which is as good as Lost in Time, has finally gotten playtime on TV. It's featured on an episode of Army Wives, a television series made and being played in the United States. So that's a biggie for him.

But, besides that, he's one of those small artists, performing in various places around Australia, etc. But I see potential in him and Lost in Time is now in my coveted Top 25 Played Songs list, which comes in at 35 times played.

Next time on PDCM: "Hey, show some love, you ain't so tough, come fill my little world right up, right up..."

Happy snaps from HK Disneyland!

2009-03-08T04:10:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I could be assed to upload them!

But here's a sample of my trip to HK, mainly Disneyland. It's just me indulging in feeding my inner child. But, meh.

Here's the flickr album! (link)

Oh, yeah, if you're a flickr user, add me as a contact! Will be uploading more photos soon (hopefully).

PC Authority - A piece of shit.

2009-03-07T21:28:00.000-08:00

I was trolling the internet today and I stumbled on an article by PC Authority complaining about the build of the 17" Macbook Pro (link) because they were able to reveal the non-user-servicable battery. But I'm not talking about the actual article, but the way they've (or, specifically, Stewart Meagher) written this article.

Let's take the first line, shall we?

Apple fanboys will be crying into their non-fat soya Lattes today if they wander over to Ifixit as the hooligans who run the joint have managed to get their paws on a brand spanking new 17-inch Apple Macbook Pro...

Huh?, you may be going. Well even dumbasses can see this is a rant to Apple without even reading the damn article. And thus kicks off the start of my post today - PC Authority is the pinnacle of shoddy technology journalism.

And I am entitled to say that, being a previous PC Authority subscriber back in 2005-2006. Why "previous"? Because they are Microsoft fanboys, sucking up to the folks at Redmond, to keep their measly little jobs by rolling in the Microsoft advertising.

Yes, I hear you guys saying what a Apple fanboy son-of-a-bitch I am. But let me say this - I am being neutral here. Yes, I own and praise Apple products. No, I am not a fanboy. In fact, I am typing this from a PC, and I praise and own Microsoft-affiliated products the same way I do with Apple. So don't be a retard and point your finger at me and say, "Apple Fanboy!".

Notice I said "previous" subscriber. You know why? Because their Microsoft fanboy-isms had affected their competence in journalism. My last issue I had recieved was August 2006, and the last blow for me was a side-by-side comparison of Vista vs OS X Leopard (link) in that issue. This was blatant ass-wiping sucking-uppery by the so-called "Authority", where Vista won 68 to 55, and is apparently "better" in terms of Entertainment, Business, Ecosystems (whatever that meant), Gaming, Bundled Applicationd, Usability (bullshit!), and Mobility. And there goes Microsoft fanboys with their Xboxes (with pizza crumbs all over it) triumphing at that "big, fair, honest" knock-out.

But, oh wait, there was a tiiiiiny, little issue. Vista turned out to be the worst edition of Windows (who can not deny that?), and Leopard was the defining factor for new PC-to-Mac migrators.

I cancelled my subscription upon reading that article. As a teenager back then, I had better things to spend my money on.

But, with the whole "online journalism" thing happening these days, it's hard to ignore the idiotic imbecillic comments of that shitty magazine. One was in 2007 claiming 32 reasons why PCs are better than Macs (link). Even Mac fanboys can't be that bias in writing.

Just because they're sad that they can't rise up to the fact there's competition by Microsoft (and you could say that too vice versa, BTW, so don't shout, PC Authority, I've heard enough of your annoying voices as it is already), this does not mean that this should affect their journalist integrity and writing skills.

So us non-Microsoft fanboys who "drink non-fat soya Lattes" spit these hypothetical drinks in your face, because you deserve it, PC Authority. Authority, my ass.

If you have a current PC Authority subscription, protest with action - cancel your subscription, because quite frankly there are (link) better magazines (link) to subscribe to (link).

Phileas' Dreadful Choice of Music time!

2009-03-03T02:47:00.000-08:00

As a previous Something Corporate fan (not a huge one, but a few songs made it to my iPod), I was ever so pleased to learn (just recently!) Andrew McMahon had gone solo. And, boy, does he sound brilliant.

Okay, that was a lie. I don't exactly find all of Jack's Mannequin's songs (name a la Whitley) the best, but one song did stand out and is now stuck in my incredibly small brain. "The Resolution" would be remenicent of an American Rai Thistlethwayte - great melody, good pop/rock beat, etc.

Song at the jump.

The music video was directed by Stephanie Meyer (bleeeeeeeh - sorry, I just threw up in my mouth), but don't let the completely shit theatrics of the music video fool you - I am keeping my eye on McMahon for quite some time. That said, I have a lazy eye...

Next time on Phileas' Dreadful Choice of Music: the artist behind the success of the Foxtel HD ads!

There's a reason why I get -4 hits.

2009-02-25T00:08:00.000-08:00

Plus Tris's visits :P

3 reasons:

1. It doesn't help that I can't publicise this blog enough, because my friends and co. doesn't even know me as Phileas. They know me as [censored] and Phileas is an alias. For good reason because [censored].

2. So that leaves me with the only option of leaving my link on bottom of fourm addresses and those who believe my real name was Phileas Mann, that I'm a 17-year-old white male, and I'm one with a lot of free time on my hands. The thing is, all of those facts arn't true. But's it's nice having an alter ego that has a totally different personality than what I really am. (Gasp!)

3 (and my post topic of the day). I don't get political. Disregarding number two, there's something that comes from my real personality: I am a moderate. A freggin moderate. Not left-wing loony (oh, where did I hear that from?), but I can't stand red-necks either. A freggin M.O.D.E.R.A.T.E.

I don't run this blog for hits - this is merely a, well, secret diary with it's chain unlocked, and where my best buddy found it stashed with a bunch of (well, you know what's underneath boy's beds), and where he had then photocopied all the rants and posted all around the school - well, a school's a metaphor for the WWW, and you get the drift...

So you know that I'm a moderate. So what does a moderate do when he/she's dragged along a political conversation? I shut up. Yep, ears open and mouth closed. No words. But I have a few friends (who are real... oh, shit, this alter-ego crap is gonna stuff up this post sooo much) who are either passionately left-or-right wing that it drives me nuts.

I wasn't born into money (and for those who say they are: you're full of shit!), I had a pretty comfortable upbringing, definitely not rich, but my family travelled quite a bit and I, well, not to brag or anything, got spoilt alot.

How does that relate to politics? I go to a private school, and with any private school, you've got the snobbish kids. And there was one snobbish kid who thinks he's so rich and this guy always bugs me about being a moderate, and when he asked me on a two-party-preffered basis what would I hypothetically vote for and I said Labor, he always tries to mock me as though I'm a saving-the-whale hippy left-wing loony.

Enough backstory. One day, he said, "A question: are you rich?" Naturally, I said no, but he continued on, "Well, if you were rich, you'd vote Liberal, like me.". And that just did it for me - I hate any form of party affiliation.

Naturally, as it's a private school, it was very conservative, and you'd get hammered if you were for anything else besides right-wing, so I had it coming. But, besides the obvious snobbishness, I found it really fucked up that there was a mindset that you were only rich if you were for the right! This is absolute bullshit! Unlike those S.O.Bs, I had a concience, and I knew that blue-collar Australians were putting their fucking dinner on the table, and they deserve some rights, so I was appalled at that comment! (This was during the Howard years BTW. Does it make sense now?)

But, then said, don't accuse me as being all mushy for Labor. Rudd's done some wacky stuff to Australia - i.e. let's take the stupid internet filter that doesn't come much to anything. I'm not saying Labor is perfect, but it sure is better than having a fucking mindsets of today's generation of conservatives (from my view anyways).

So, I'm a moderate. So shut the fuck up, and go voice your views elsewhere. I think I'm getting a chronic migrane from political idiots...

So, I got Foxtel.

2009-02-12T01:44:00.000-08:00

And it's so far, so good, then so bad.

I wasn't home for the installation, but when I got home, that glorious set top box sitting on where my (failing HD) DVB-T STB was sitting previously, yelling, "Watch Me! Watch Me! WATCH ME!"

And I did. I got the "newer" boxes (they look different, and they've got a totally new-looking firmare, possibly the same manufacturers of the IQ2 box?) and the quality, considering it's SD, was brilliant.

There's a reason I got it - I saw too many of those Foxtel ads on FTA, and every time I saw it, my craving for overpriced, ad-riddled subscription television got even deeper. And, so, after some teadious budgeting (yeah, I admit, the financial crisis is hitting me too), I was able to fork out ~$70 for Basic + My World + Disney for the little 'un. At least the this month is free.

And, anyways, I turned on the box, and it was brill. I'm having trouble remembering all the channel numbers, but I've got some stuck in my head: 601 for Sky News, 605 for CNN, erh, Arena's 118?

And, while I am familar to the Active Service, I got a bit too excited with the Weather Channel Active showing detailed weather for my suburb. And, after more channel surfing, I got a bit of a surprise - MTV's got it's own Active channel (although unaccessable for some reason at some time).

But now I'm getting pretty pissed at it. Not at the channels themselves, but the freggin' hardware. So I was watching Jeopardy on W (why is it on W? Men watch it too!), and the show was up the last Jeopardy question thing, then it went to an ad break, so I pressed the Power button on the remote (as a force of habit), and so it went to sleep. Went to get a drink, pressed the Power button, and it wouldn't turn on. Turned it on via the STB and it turned on. I turned it back off, pulled out the cord, and plugged it in, thinking it would solve the problem. It didn't, and furthermore, it was downloading the guides... and when it finished after a minute, it ended up on 999 Help, and I was furiously flicking through to W on my knees, using the STB because the remote was still bloody stubburn, and when I did get to W, it was already in the credits!

And, you know what pisses me off? The remote turned off the STB on command when I got pissed at it shortly after.

And, so, meh. Foxtel channels: Brilliant. Foxtel Hardware: Disasterous. Seriously, if I get more problems with this POS hardware...

The Trevor Project

2008-12-20T17:54:00.000-08:00

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.

It just gets worse...

2008-12-14T21:34:00.000-08:00

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.

ABSOLUTE FUCKING BULLSHIT!

2008-12-12T12:15:00.001-08:00

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

iTunes woes

2008-12-11T13:46:00.000-08:00

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...

Shove the card up your ass!

2008-12-09T17:25:00.000-08:00

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

Here we go again...

2008-12-07T03:13:00.000-08:00

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.