A quick blog post to wish one and all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
This year is a little different for me; I am in the South of France for the holiday. The first time I leave Ireland for the holiday, and guess what, it is a WHITE Christmas at home for the first time in 20 or so years! I am by the Pyrenees and no snow L Go figure.
As I type this from Château de Whittome, I can smell the Turkey, I have just been handed a beer and Bolero is playing on the vinyl turntable. I have not been this relaxed in ages.
This is when I turn on the only English Channel on the TV, Sky News, to be told that apparently Christmas is too Christian and that it is now to be known as “The Winter Holiday”. Hahaha… I am no religious person, but that is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in ages. Surely the holiday can be called whatever anyone wants to call it and the important thing is being with your family right?
Anyway… enjoy yourselves people… I know you are all geeks, but try to pull yourself away from the computer for a few hours to have a game of Monopoly with the family…. That is what I am about to do.
Nollaig Shona Daoibh agus Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Daoibh
Slán
Nick Whittome
Oh, and for the aircraft fans, I think this is a Ryanair, but I may be wrong..
Microsoft have released a new technical article on how to manually remove Flight Simulator 2004 from your computer if required:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=888846
There is one feature of XP SP2 that I love, and that is the Pop-up blocker. I am sad to see that today, apparently, someone posted a way to break it. I do hope that Microsoft do not stand around and wait to fix this. I was just used to not having these damn things....
Here is the example site:
http://www.malware.com/flopup.html
For the past two months we have been busy… very busy. As well as more installation work, we have nearly tripled our Dell hardware sales.
My account manager in Dell, Gordon, is an exceptionally nice bloke, but he and I have a problem. Because Dell accounts treat my business just like they do any other, they do not consider that small businesses operate differently than large businesses.
NTES owe nothing… nada… to no one. We own everything, and therefore have no debt. The problem with that is that our audited accounts to the Company Registration Office show that the company has no credit “rating” because of this.
Most small businesses that I know do not leave money in the company at the end of a year, they pay the directors, the employees, purchase assets. It is not worth it to leave money in the company. In my case, I am not trying to build an empire to sell to someone. Sure, if I sold the company, it would not be the client base that the interested party would be purchasing, it would be me.
Anyway… over the past two months with Dell, I have been hitting the credit limit that they give us, and we have been requesting a larger credit limit with them. They will not even consider the idea. I have offered them audited accounts information, asset listings and even my soul to get this situation resolved. We have been dealing with Dell for over 5 years now, and have not once in that time failed to pay our account at the end of the month. (Unless there was a difference between a PO and an Invoice). You would think that this would count for something, but apparently not…
The situation was only overcome today after 3 days. It took your site manager in Bray to make a call to your accounts department. I am sure he did not want the hassle, and I am certain that I didn’t.
Anyway, Michael Dell, if you are reading this, please feel free to contact me directly. I am a VERY good customer of yours and promote your products on every client site we have. I love the product, the service and the sales teams, but I do not appreciate the amateur way your accounts department(s) has dealt with our company, and I do not want this horrible situation to keep occurring.
Sincerely,
Nick Whittome