Hi everyone! Big apologies for the delay in this Team Australia update post. My laptop charger died, and before I could order a new one, the power went out one night and drained my battery to zero percent while I slept. 

So I was without a laptop for seven days. 

It sucked a lot. 

I could not do anything (including work). I was restricted to my phone and kindle fire for all things internet related—both of which are poor substitutes for a laptop.

Then Dell has one of those new-fangled business models where they won't actually sell you anything. I spent over an hour on the phone one day trying to give them money to send me a new charger. After getting the runaround and speaking to at least 15 different people, they refused to sell me one on the grounds that I didn’t have a US phone number. I find this so ridiculous—it was a $50 charger. I wasn’t trying to buy a house!

Source

Anyway, my girl @kubbyelizabeth came through for me, and I sent her $50, and she ordered it on my behalf. Of course, it then got stuck in Miami for several days since Dell didn’t put my mail forwarding ID on the shipping label like they were asked.

So Dell, you are rubbish! You get big thumbs down for customer service.

And before all you Apple lovers tell me to get a Mac, that won’t be happening. I hate Macs even more.

Ok, so, because I’ve been out of action for over a week, I now have a big backlog of recruits to get through. I have gone back through my comments etc. and tried to capture everyone that’s reached out to me. However, if you’re not in this update or the next one, please contact me again, cos it probably means I’ve missed you. Sorry in advance for that.

A word from our sponsors

You should follow @mrsquiggle, who is doing a great job recognising and rewarding creativity within Team Australia. He will also submit the most worthy posts to @curie, which would result in a massive upvote if you can tap that gravy train.

You can support Team Australia members by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions on how to do that are here.

Don't forget that @centerlink is busy putting Aussie-battler tax dollars to work in the form of dole payments for posts, as well as showcasing Australia's most worthy dole recipients.

Steemit witness and our very own Minister for Welfare @ausbitbank has created the @discordia bot, which you can use to increase your upvote moolah. Some of the proceeds will support @centerlink so give it a try.

Of course, also check out the awesome Minnow Support Project (MSP). Details on how to join are are here and here. Come say hi in the Team Australia chat room in PAL-Discord. It's fun and you will make new friends. You should also consider voting for the other MSP witnesses, including @aggroed who has a done a great job in getting this project off the ground.

And lastly, if you're feeling generous, you can delegate SP to the Team Australia upvote bots @centerlink and/or @mrsquiggle (or any other bot you like) using Vessel. You can delegate to any of the MSP bots using this link.   

Candidate 1

Name and bio

@family.life is the wife of Team Australia original member and our favourite Discord chat lurker @tomekkk! She grew up in small country town in Poland and came to Melbourne in 2005 as a student. During her early days, she struggled as a new immigrant with limited English skills, little money and few friends. However, things got better, and she did find regular employment after she completed her hospitality training. @family.life then met @tomekkk, and they married after nine months of dating because her visa was about to expire. That was eight years and two children ago.

@family.life enjoys cooking, camping, travelling and art projects. Her blog contains a mix of yummy looking recipes and cool art/craft ideas.

Fun fact

“I can eat whole chocolate in one go.”

Depending on the size of the block, me too. Although maybe not a 250g "family sized" block…

Candidate 2

Name and bio

moderator@kubbyelizabeth is one of my favourite people on steemit (and not just cos she helped me out with the charger situation). If you’ve ever had the pleasure of interacting with her, you’ll understand why. She's one of the most helpful, bubbly and fun people on here. Hailing from Boca Raton, Florida, @kubbyelizabeth is a worthy Team Australia ambassador given how much time spends supporting the Aussies in the Minnow Support Project (MSP) through her role as a and champion of all things MSP. Her latest project involves educating minnows about the MSP witnesses, which includes our very own @ausbitbank.

The story of the name @kubbyelizabeth is an interesting one. She and her friend were playing a game that involved words starting “R” that rhymed with Kubby. She couldn’t think of anything, and thus the nickname Kubby stuck. Elizabeth is her 2nd favourite name. She wishes her parents had called her that, at least as part of her middle name.

Fun fact

"I don't share my birthday cake. I buy two to avoid people eating my cake. I really love cake."

Haha. That's a lot of cake. But your logic is sound.

Candidate 3

Name and bio

@user0103283 is an American expat (now Aussie permanent resident) living in rural Victoria, surrounded by sheep and canola farms. He has been in Australia for four years and is married to an Australian woman.

@user0103283 loves UFOs and the paranormal, music, animals and gummy teeth (see photo). He has played the guitar on and off for most of his life, and he enjoys thinking outside the box. By his own admission, he is a jack of some trades but a master of few.

Fun fact 

"I used to live in Tampa, Florida but moved when I found that special Aussie girl who won my heart." 

Aw, sweet. She must be something if you moved to the middle of nowhere on the other side of the world to be with her! 

Candidate 4

Name and bio

@miriamaendres and her partner are long time Darwinian residents, who're currently in the process of moving to Bundaberg. They want to become self-sufficient, and the climate around Bundaberg is much more amenable to that goal, given it’s one of Australia’s premier horticultural areas.

Since she grew up on a farm, @miriamaendres is into supporting local farmers. She does this by purchasing speciality food items online from them rather than buying things from supermarkets, where possible. She also cooks from scratch and claims her muffins contain 18 different ingredients. @miriamaendres is also into riding her bike, which occurs mostly on Sunday mornings before sunrise.

Fun fact

“I've been a human lamington. After a lamington drive/fundraiser, the left over chocolate mix and coconut was poured over me.”

Yum. I wish I were a human lamington! 

Candidate 5

Name and bio

Those of you who’ve been around a couple of months will probably remember steemwars. @gniksivart was a participant for TeamUSA, which kinda fell apart after that was over. However, he continued to follow several of the TeamAustralia members and now wants in as our second US ambassador for the week. (There's definitely US and cake/chocolate-theme going on today!)

@gniksivart is a mechanical engineer working in a steel mill in Northwest Indiana. He has a wife and son and at least one dog from what I can tell. @gniksivart is really into Pokemon Go, as well as watching sports (especially soccer), writing, photography, and learning about crypto. At the moment, he’s also trying to start a steemit book club, so go check out his blog if that interests you.

Fun fact

“I took tap and jazz until I graduated from high school.”

Interesting. I watched that video you posted and you were litterally the 'token guy' among about 20 girls. At least, I’m assuming that was you?

@teamaustralia, please add these new members to the group.

 

The rules for joining Team Australia

If you’re not yet a member and want to be, this is what you need to do:

1. Vote here for our resident steemit witness @ausbitbank.
2. Regularly check the  Team Australia and Australia tags and upvote the content you like. 
3. Follow and upvote existing members of @teamaustralia who you share a common interest with. Alternatively, you can show your support by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions are listed here.
4. Comment below or DM me on steemit chat or Discord that you want to join.
5. Link your introduction post so I can find out a bit about you. If you’re new to steemit you'll have to write one so use the introduceyourself tag to help boost your following. You can also follow this handy guide written by @teamsteem.
6. If it’s not mentioned in your introductory post, tell me which city and country you’re in, cos let's face it, a lot of us live in Australia's fourth largest city—London.  
7. If you’re not Aussie tell me why you should be a Team Australia ambassador. 
8. Tell me a fun fact about yourself. This can be anything. For example, maybe you run a successful business, or you have eight kids and three dogs, or you rode your bike across America, or you won the blue ribbon for javelin throwing at sports day back in high school, or Toadie came into the pub you work at one day and you served him a beer, or, maybe you can fit 55 maltesers in your mouth like Ed Sheeran can. It doesn’t matter what it is, I want a fun fact about you!

Once I receive this information I will try my best to write a good introductory paragraph about you for the official Team Australia membership updates. So the better your information is, the better I can make you sound. Where relevant, please use the teamaustralia and australia tags to promote your work. I will try and post weekly updates unless there is a lot of interest, in which case I will try and post sooner.   

Gif by @justcallmemyth 

Team Australia banner by @bearone

Page dividers by @kristyglas