As previously noted in this blog I found two olde business cards from my former Reader's Digest boss and "good bloke" Bill Hooker while turfing out some old stuff. I sent a letter to his home address (rather than the Express Bookkeeping - Windsor Franchise). Bill replied this morning with an email and a Word attachment letter which I have printed. It seems that despite the fact there is an Express Bookkeeping - Windsor franchise website he doesn't work there and it is his belief that they keep it going merely to make it appear larger than it actually is.
Bill notes that he off to China presumably for a holiday. He replied on his business organisation's letterhead.
I'm doing two days training at the National Institute of Accountants Tuesday and Wednesday with additional attendances at the NIA Parramatta Discussion Group on Tuesday evening and the Australian Computer Society Business Intelligence Special Interest Group on Wednesday evening making it a long two days.
I am expecting a call from the Acer computer maintenance people regarding the failed wireless connection on their Acer machine noted by the service technician who did some on-site warranty service to the (business) machine on Wednesday. I understand it will be the same technician. It should be noted that all business data and programs were lost due to a failure of the machine on Saturday morning and finally diagnosed as a hardware fault. I have backups of nearly all the important data but it takes time after initialising the machine to "factory condition" given that Windows goes through it's complete cycle of updates - such as Internet Explorer 7 and Windows XP Service Pack 3.
I have had a few (more) problems with VOIP and have sent a letter of complaint the Managing Director of Freshtel regarding their appalling customer service with regards to the Linksys/Sipura SPA3102 device. I believe the service Freshtel offers is good so will hang in with them. The device is marked by Linksys as "to be installed by the customer" and "configured by the Service Provider". I paid for it to be configured but it wasn't done correctly (to put it mildly). Engin (a rival company) sell the device locked and configured but they also offer a "Bring your own" device which can include the SPA3102 and configuration instructions are provided to the customer via email. Following displays of complete ignorance by Freshtel support staff I invoked the "factory reset" configuration for the device and it is now an unlocked SPA3102 device suitable for any VOIP provider including Freshtel or Engin or those who support the device.
I have two SPA3102 devices. I called Trevor yesterday evening on the one that works and configured myself - despite having paid Freshtel to do so which they did ignoring the fact that this is Australia and NOT Japan !
posted to blog via email Monday 22nd. September 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Saturday morning
I have received an MYOB upgrade disk (the latest release of MYOB - Version 18 for Premier which is the version I am using as an MYOB partner). I rang MYOB two days ago to determine the problems I may experience in migrating from their ODBC 7 Driver to their new ODBC 8 driver as MYOB ODBC forms the basis of the business formed with the help of NEIS.
I also rang the Australian Tax Office to determine the GST status of prepaid mobile phone vouchers. It seems there is considerable variation of how this is dealt with by various providers - for example with Vodafone it's possible to claim a GST credit if you pay by credit card but not if you purchase a voucher. Vouchers issued by "3" do not show a GST component. According to the ATO this means the supply is a "GST free" supply despite the fact I believed that GST free supplies only apply to food and some financial items.
I cleared out some drawers this morning and discovered a Business Card from my old boss (Finance Manager) at the Digest and note that his franchise Express Bookkeeping - Windsor is still in operation.
This is partly a reminder to myself to contact Bill as we haven't been in touch for several years.
I also rang the Australian Tax Office to determine the GST status of prepaid mobile phone vouchers. It seems there is considerable variation of how this is dealt with by various providers - for example with Vodafone it's possible to claim a GST credit if you pay by credit card but not if you purchase a voucher. Vouchers issued by "3" do not show a GST component. According to the ATO this means the supply is a "GST free" supply despite the fact I believed that GST free supplies only apply to food and some financial items.
I cleared out some drawers this morning and discovered a Business Card from my old boss (Finance Manager) at the Digest and note that his franchise Express Bookkeeping - Windsor is still in operation.
This is partly a reminder to myself to contact Bill as we haven't been in touch for several years.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Sunday evening
Not a great deal to report. I have a new decal from the National Institute of Accountants who have apologised for the muddle in getting my business listed in their "Find an Accountant" section. I spent some time on the phone to their IT guy in Melbourne regarding what was meant by various emails that kept bouncing around. It's all sorted out now.
I have changed my Nokia N95 from a Vodafone prepaid SIM to a 3 (Hutchison Communications) prepaid SIM porting the Vodafone number to the 3 SIM card. This is to keep three phones ( used for different purposes) with very similar numbers.
I have turned off the 3G capabilities of the Nokia E65 phones but have left the 3G capabilities on the Nokia N95.. The "3" Network won't accept people who don't have an unlocked 3G (not NextG) capable handset. The difference between 3G and NextG used by Telstra appears to be the frequency on which it operates. In a nutshell 3G is for cities and NextG is for the the bush and farmers who have had the CDMA network turned off. 3G and NextG appear to be a form of CDMA anyway.
Although the 3 network stressed I only needed one form of identification their on-line verification process insisted on 3 including a driver's licence, a passport (I don't have a current one) and a Medicare number. They also insisted on an applicants previous address which I had forgotten given that it's over 10 years that I lived there. I eventually found it in some olde olde correspondence between myself and various persons in the legal profession.
On Tuesday I am attending an all day session at the National Institute of Accountants regarding "Rolling Forecasts" and later in the month some advanced Excel modeling. I have also enrolled in an October session which includes strategic management.
I thank Trevor for observations regarding religious tolerance.
I have changed my Nokia N95 from a Vodafone prepaid SIM to a 3 (Hutchison Communications) prepaid SIM porting the Vodafone number to the 3 SIM card. This is to keep three phones ( used for different purposes) with very similar numbers.
I have turned off the 3G capabilities of the Nokia E65 phones but have left the 3G capabilities on the Nokia N95.. The "3" Network won't accept people who don't have an unlocked 3G (not NextG) capable handset. The difference between 3G and NextG used by Telstra appears to be the frequency on which it operates. In a nutshell 3G is for cities and NextG is for the the bush and farmers who have had the CDMA network turned off. 3G and NextG appear to be a form of CDMA anyway.
Although the 3 network stressed I only needed one form of identification their on-line verification process insisted on 3 including a driver's licence, a passport (I don't have a current one) and a Medicare number. They also insisted on an applicants previous address which I had forgotten given that it's over 10 years that I lived there. I eventually found it in some olde olde correspondence between myself and various persons in the legal profession.
On Tuesday I am attending an all day session at the National Institute of Accountants regarding "Rolling Forecasts" and later in the month some advanced Excel modeling. I have also enrolled in an October session which includes strategic management.
I thank Trevor for observations regarding religious tolerance.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Testing via gmail (NIA link)
Testing NIA link. It should open in a new window.
National Institute of Accountants
"Find an Accountant" (postcode 2747)
Bob
goodnight
Monday evening..
The end of another day. I completed a NEIS form which took me until 1 pm and was then advised by the National Institute of Accountants that they have finally listed my business on the "Find an Accountant" section of the National Institute of Accountants website.
This is being posted with Thunderbird email client (free) which is easy to set up for GMail. Simply enter your GMail address in the new account section and it automatically sets up the inbound and outbound servers which use non standard ports.
I have purchased three bags of lollies for three bucks !
I looked at the clock and thought it was tomorrow morning. It isn't tomorrow morning. It's this evening. Tomorrow will bring tomorrow morning.
I wonder if the URL above works.
Bob
This is being posted with Thunderbird email client (free) which is easy to set up for GMail. Simply enter your GMail address in the new account section and it automatically sets up the inbound and outbound servers which use non standard ports.
I have purchased three bags of lollies for three bucks !
I looked at the clock and thought it was tomorrow morning. It isn't tomorrow morning. It's this evening. Tomorrow will bring tomorrow morning.
I wonder if the URL above works.
Bob
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
