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I only just started listening to this on my way to work.

I absolutely love it!

I have had it up to here with the shit reception I have been having over the past few years.

I was with 3 Mobile, switched to Virgin 10 months ago hoping for an improvement. Still shit. So maybe its time I give in to my hate for Tel$tra so I can finally get the reception & coverage that I deserve.

As a result of my pent up frustrations, It is time, again, to contact my “service” provider & hope they give in to my wishes. If not, then it’s off to the TIO for a second time around to get out of my contract.

Bonus is that I may get an update to an iPhone 4S out of it…

My email to Virgin Mobile

In December 2010, I moved from 3 Mobile to Virgin mobile after issues with cellular connectivity & the lack of reception I was having at home & abroad.
Currently I am still having the same issues with your network. At home I have zero reception, if not worse than what it was with 3 mobile.
To put it in perspective, in order to receive phone calls at home I have a Telstra prepaid mobile that I use to divert calls to. That way I can actually carry a conversation longer than 30 seconds without it dropping out and having to call my friend back.
Even when I am at work on St Kilda road in Melbourne’s CBD I have trouble hearing my friends & subsequently end up calling them back from my works land line.
In almost 10 months, I have not seen any improvement.
I have already contacted the TIO to seek advice on this matter, hence my email to you.
I have an iPhone 4, iOS 5, non-jailbreak (not that it makes a difference)

The only reason I chose Virgin back in December was because you had the best offer at the time. In addition, being that you are on the Optus network, I was under the impression that the coverage would improve. This is not the case, and now I am stuck with a provider that is failing to provide me with the service that I require.

I wish to move my service over to Telstra where I know I will get the coverage that I deserve.

A friend of mine & her family are currently fighting a battle to raise funds for her son in-law who requires urgent surgery for a brain tumour. Unfortunately they are having issues with insurance & need to raise the funds themselves.

They need to raise $60,000 & are holding a Gala fundraising night on Friday the 16th of September at the Lakeside Banquet & Convention Centre
Tickets to the event are $120 & include a 3 Course Dinner, Beer, Wine & Soft Drink. There will also be a Silent Auction on the night (details below)

*UPDATE*
This event has now SOLD OUT!! However if you wish to continue your support please donate using the details below!

If you wish to donate, you can simply deposit any amount into the nominated Bendigo Bank Account.
BSB 630000
ACC 143858074 

I myself will be helping Anna by campaigning on twitter using the #PrayForMatt tag, and on facebook by creating a page.

Below is the Donation Letter that Anna Schembri is circulating to campaign for charity fundraising for the operation.

Some of you may have also caught the article in the Herald Sun on Thursday the 11th August on page 17. If not here is a link to the article on heraldsun.com.au. I have also included the article at the bottom.

Storms Make Trees Grow Deeper Roots

The Matthew Busuttil Appeal

Surgery is required immediately but funds need to be raised before this is possible…………

We are trying to raise funds to assist 26 year old Matthew Busuttil to pay for an operation to remove a brain tumor that is affecting his sight and motor skills (see article in Herald- Sun attached).
We have been advised that this tumor will eventually turn into cancer and the diagnosis for that outcome is terminal.

Matthew urgently requires surgery to remove this tumor and Dr Charlie Teo who is situated at The Prince of Wales Hospital, in Randwick, Sydney (Matthew is Melbourne based) is the only surgeon willing to undertake this procedure. Dr Teo has quoted $60,000 as a ball park figure for the surgery, which of course doesn’t include any follow up procedures depending on what he finds and the resulting treatment if any. As the surgery is in NSW, Matthew’s health care fund will not cover this. Flights and accommodation to and from Sydney also need to be taken into account for his appointments and assessments.

Matthew was self employed as a carpenter before the accident therefore he has no income coming in as his income protection hasn’t commenced paying. He has been unable to work for a few months now and doesn’t look like working for at least till the end of the year even if all goes well with his surgery. Matthew is also on daily medication which settles the seizures caused by the tumor.

Your help would be greatly appreciated. We are asking for donations in the way of goods to auction on the Gala Fund raising night planned for Friday the 16th of September @ the Lakeside Banquet and Convention Centre. Tickets are also available for this night @ $120.00 each (3 course dinner, beer, wine & soft drink provided).
If this form of donation is not suitable for you and instead wish to make a financial contribution, you can make it by transferring funds to Bendigo Bank account # 633000 143858074 set up for this purpose.
Every little bit helps……

Please consider any of the above as a young life is on hold waiting for the kindness of others and we believe that there is an ocean of good people out there willing to help.

Please contact me if you would like donated goods picked up, tickets to the Gala night and/or if an official receipt is required for financial donations (we are in the process of applying for endorsement as a Deductible Gift Recipient).

Thank you for your support.
Kind Regards

Anna Schembri
0411 887 915
petalsoflove@iprimus.com.au

Herald Sun Article

THE family of a young man stricken with a life-threatening brain tumour have embarked on a crusade to help save his life.

Doctors discovered the tumour in Matthew Busuttil’s brain last month after he blacked out and collapsed while driving home.

The carpenter, 25, was told by Melbourne doctors the benign tumour should be left and operated on only if it became malignant.

But neurosurgeon Charlie Teo has insisted the tumour be removed immediately.

The procedure is set to cost Mr Busuttil, who is self-employed, about $60,000.

And, while he cannot afford it, he knows without the operation his life could be cut short.

“Dr Teo told me once it turns to cancer you’re gone … it’s that simple,” he said.

“He said, you have to get it out and the only treatment is surgery. And that surgery has to come now because once it turns to cancer then it’s 10 times harder and the body is not as strong.”

Mr Busuttil said he would go to Sydney to meet Dr Teo this month.

“I’m going to have the operation, definitely, I have to. I want the tumour out of my head,” he said.

“I didn’t think about the cost when I started researching things and when I found out I thought, ‘Oh … that’s a lot of money’.”

Mr Busuttil said he had private health insurance but it did not cover the surgery.

He said despite having income insurance, he had used all his savings because he had been unable to work since the diagnosis.

“There’s been a problem with the insurance and they’re not paying yet,” Mr Busuttil said.

“The savings are gone. I’m supporting me and my girlfriend. We were supposed to be building a house, that money’s gone.”

He said his family had started planning a series of fundraisers to pay for the surgery.

Dr Teo said Mr Busuttil’s surgery could not wait.

“Matthew has a brain tumour and needs urgent surgery to remove it before it becomes malignant,” Dr Teo said.

He said the $60,000 fee would cover the hospital, the surgeon, the anaesthetists, pathology, radiology, ICU bed and ward stay.

deerys@heraldsun.com.au

Stef managed to win us two tickets to go and see The Living End perform at Melbourne’s Precinct Hotel for Triple M’s Hot Breakfast!

It was amazing, totally worth getting up at 4:30am to get there by 6am.

Was great to see the show itself broadcast live! Then to put the icing on the cake, The Living End hit the stage just after 7am and opened with their top selling single Second Solution. They also played several tracks from their latest album The Ending Is Just The Beginning Repeating.

I won a few prizes too! Got a Living End poster & a Triple M Signed Guernsey.

I took my State of Emergency guitar tab book & the From Here On In DVD cover to get signed. I managed to get those two & the poster I won signed!! So happy!!!

To ensure that the poster stayed safe & undamaged whilst on our trip to Sydney I went to a post office, got a mailing tube, and sent it home to myself!!

Cannot wait to go to their gig at The Palace in September with my cousin Jarrod for his 21st Birthday. Meanwhile, here is their latest single, live from The Precinct Hotel for Triple M’s Hot Breakfast.

Thank You Stef for getting me the tickets! Thank You Triple M Hot Breakfast & The Precinct Hotel for an awesome morning!! And of course, Thank You to Chris, Scott & Andy from The Living End for, as always, putting on an amazing show!! See you in September!!!

So today Stef and I went to Supanova. I had never been to a SciFi/Anime/Gamer/etc convention before. I had quite high expectations of what to expect. Sadly, I was severely disappointed. Not at the content or exhibitions they had, but at the event management itself. I suppose it’s what you get for having volunteers as people and event control.

It wasn’t all that bad really! Stef, myself and her friend Coral went to the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost Q&A panel. Those two are hilarious and I hope they make many more movies together. They mainly talked about their new movie “Paul” which is in cinemas April 14.
Stef convinced me to join the public question line. We put it out to twitter with what to ask, got a few obscure replies so we decided to stick with Stef’s original thought “out of all your roles, either together or separate, which would be your favorite?”
Luckily one of the events people came to me whilst I was waiting to ask said question and said, “you’re the last one”. I was stoked!! And quite nervous!! I asked away and Nick replied with some drama movie that hit close to home personally. Where as Simon rattled off a few movies and said “I couldn’t pick one, it’s like choosing a favorite child” Nick replied, “now I feel like a jerk for picking a favorite” this was the only highlight of the day for me.

Whilst at the Q&A Stef was on twitter and a stall holder wanted a coffee and offered free Lego to who ever brought her one. We said why not and found her, she got a coffee but gave Stef the Lego anyway.

As the day went on, it got worse and worse, long queues, no air circulation, and lack of people management. I was cracking the shits bad. I really wanted the Lego thing Stef got! I LOVE LEGO!!! She was going to give it to her brother Edward whom also loves Lego! However after winging about it and the event itself, Stef gave it to me :)
It’s awesome, it’s Lego, it’s Star Wars and you can make eight things!! That’s eight things!!!!

We saw a snippet of the ‘One Man Lord Of The Rings’ show at one of the stages and I’m glad I did, because now I don’t want to see the show. I saw his star wars one 2 years ago, but this was not doing it for me. You just saved me some cash!

After Stef wanted to get her photo with Tom Felton, Draco Malfoy. The lines again were ridiculous!! We waited for almost two hours and then I found out the printer was broken. This was the reason for the delay.
Stef and I decided that it would be better if I waited in the photo pickup queue whist she got her photo done.
About another hour later and she was out!! I decided to go grab the car, and it was fucking pissing down with rain!! I got drenched!!!

Stef finally got her photo!! Now time to head home, shower, grab pizza beer and a movie.

Supanova was a waste of time and effort. Although I did like a few things, overall I felt that it was a waste. Others will say they liked it, loved it, and think it’s the best thing ever.

Stef only really went for Tom Felton and the Simon Pegg & Nick Frost panel. She got a photo with Tom and it turned out great!!

Whilst I was at a gig on Thursday night with Stef, Coral and June a twitter friend of ours, Tamz @QueenOfJunkFood drew a picture of Stef and myself on her iPhone!!!
It is awesome!!! See the pic below!!

It had captured every part of the two of us! From Stef’s purple dress, red hair and bow to my curly hair and space invaders scarf!!

I just finished updating my Gallery and have added four new albums

Instagram - Photos taken using the iPhone Application Instagram. This album will constantly update
iPhone 3G – Photos from my old iPhone
iPhone 3G S – Photos from my other old iPhone
iPhone 4 – Photos from my new iPhone 4. This album will constantly update

I finally got around to uploading a bunch of photos from our Vietnam tour!

You can see them here, it is just a small selection. They are the same photos that my dad put into a photo album to show people

Ok, so apologies for the EPIC title!! Well nah not really!

On March 14 1985 I entered this world as a bouncing baby boy, and it was that time of year again to celebrate such a momentous occasion!

Although the actual birthday gift receiving part of the day was rather non eventful. Except for Stef who got me tickets to the MSO on the previous Saturday evening and was treating me to Moomba. My brother didn’t really get me anything, but then again we have an agreement that if I don’t get him anything for his birthday (24-feb) then I would not expect anything in return. My parents didn’t get me anything either, this came as quite a disappointing surprise. In saying that, they have been absolutely amazing in assisting me get back on track with life so I guess that’s their present.

Stef and I were going to meet several people at federation square to explore the Moomba Festival. I can honestly say that I cannot recall the last time I went to Moomba, it was most likely as a child.

On the way to the city, we picked up Stef’s friend June. Stef & June have not seen each other in almost 15 years!! It was great to see that they still get along, a true friend ship has no distance or time limit and this was one of them. We made our way to the closest train station and headed to Federation Square to meet up with Stef’s other friend Coral and my mate Ash.

It took some time for everyone to arrive, but before we knew it we were on our way exploring the rides and making our way through the crowds. We stumbled upon dodgem cars! Now the last time I was on dodgem cars was way back in 2005 when I worked at the Melbourne Show doing catering! So it was a ‘no brainer’ that dodgem car action had to be had! Ash got into one car, June & Coral in another and then myself in the third car. Stef decided it would be wise of her to video the event (youtube) however I think she was silently scared! hehe
It was great fun!! Going around and around and around in circles trying as hard as I can to HIT the other cars as hard as I can!!

Before we knew it, the fun was over and we decided to venture deeper into the festival to track down some decent carnie noms. Whilst we were wandering and dodging people that were not paying attention, Stef suddenly decided she wanted me to win a plushie for her. But not just any plushie, a giant cuddly bear. This thought continued on and on throughput the day with Stef saying “IWANNABEAR” it was totes cute, however neither of us wanted to waste the money on trying to win one, then fail, so we gave it a pass. However still continuing to say IWANNABEAR all day haha.

We found a spot to eat and got ourselves some cheese kransky snags, they were mighty delicious and mighty expensive!! Two snags and some drinks cost me close to 25bux!!! That is REDICULOUS!!!
Whilst we were eating Stef called her other friend Ioanna to see where she was so she could meet up with us. Not long and she was here and we ventured down the river and then across to the other side.

Apart from Stef and Myself, it was the first time that each of the people on my birthday adventure had met. To our delight everyone was getting along just fine! No awkwardness or getting singled out, it was great!

We wondered around to the other side of the river where there were yet more carnie attractions and rides and yes… bears… IWANNABEAR!!!
June pointed out the giant drop ride and said “lets do that!”. I basically said, fat chance in getting me on that ride, Ash had done it before and was not up for it again and with Stef’s fear of heights, it was highly unlikely for her to go on it! However, June pulled the “I have not seen you in 15yrs” card and dragged Stef onto the ride along with Ioanna and Coral. There really is not much to this ride, it goes up in the air, waits, then drops. I could hear Stef’s loud high pitched scream as the ride fell to the bottom. You may just be able to hear it on this video (youtube) Ioanna left not long after this ride, she had to get home and prepare for her trip to China!!

After that we meandered our way through the crowds again and found ourselves at the live stage. The music was really strange, but also groovy. I forget the name but it was basically bollywood music live in concert. Ash decided that it was getting chilly, and as he lives opposite Flinder St Station, he decided to make a quick trip home for a jacket. I asked him for one as I did not listen to my mother in the morning “Take a jacket, it will get cold tonight” “Nah mum, she’ll be right” YEAH!? Famous last words they were!!! Ash returned after about half hour and was empty handed, oh well looks like I have learnt my lesson!

We decided it was time for a drink or two. So we made our way back around and accross the river again to Transport Bar. We grabbed a table, some brews, and chatted away. June told us that she was a doctor, we all thought this was awesome! None of us had ever known a doctor before!! June had studied overseas pretty much her entire life and got her Doctorate overseas too. She had awesome pics of injuries etc. It was rather a interesting conversation!! IWANNABEAR

The time was ticking closer and closer to 9:15 and that meant FIREWORKS!!! We hot footed it down to the river, then looked to the opposite side and saw all this empty space in front of the rowing sheds. So we hot footed it again across the bridge to the other side and managed to grab a nice spot on the grass. We parked our arses and waited, waited, waited then BANG!! the fireworks had started!
THIS WAS SOO AWESOME!!!! I had NEVER had fireworks on my BIRTHDAY before! and to spend it with friends and my amazing girlfriend Stef was even better! Fireworks NEVER dissapoint and this was no exception! it was a truly beautiful spectacle!! but as always, it came to and end…

As Ash’s apartment is so close by, he suggested we chill at his for a bit after. He broke out the Rock Band, and we got to rocking it out! I was cracking the shits hard core because I was not able to get the timing right. Apparently it is a lot more sensitive than guitar hero… We all had our shots at singing, guitar, bass and drums and it was getting late. June, Stef and I had to make sure we caught the train before they stopped service for the night. So we said farewell and made our way to the station and discovered that we had some time to kill. I said to Stef lets do that photo booth thing!! The first booth stole my money!! So we tried the second one and managed to get three photo’s taken. you can see them here one, two, three.

Before we knew it we were on our way back to drop June off then on our way home. I asked Stef “Have you ever had a kebab before?” She replied “what’s that?!”
I think you know what happend next, we stopped and got some kebab late night noms and then chilled watching half of Finding Nemo and then crashed.

I would have to say that it would be one of my best birthdays yet. You don’t need to get crunk or “fucked up” to have a great birthday! This was truly special and AWESOME!!

Thanks June, Ash, Coral and Ioanna for joining me and helping me celebrate!
And OF COURSE Stef!!! xoxo

IWANNABEAR!!!!!!!