Andre's Thoughts: Comings and goings

The honour of His Name website will no longer be updated.

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:56:45 GMT

I have already explained that I do not feel to pursue my nearly 7-year campaign to have the Name of Jesus Christ honoured in the television media as at this point I do not reside in Australia.

As I am no longer a Bigpond subscriber, I have asked Bigpond on several occasions to close my website down, without results. I have supplied all the adequate details of my former account, address and phonenumber as requested. As such, I will just have to leave things up in the air. The website will therefore not be updated.

Maybe someone else would be willing to take up the cause from this point on.

Andre

It is a small world!

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:25:43 GMT

Talked to my son in Melbourne for over one hour tonight. We started off on Skype to make the telephone appointment and then I rang him on my Telecom Talk-it-up-downunder $25 per month program. These inexpensive modes of international communication are really quite amazing.

In the past they would have been far more expensive and complex. I also communicate with my children and even grandchildren on MSN Messenger on a regular basis. I am more familiar with MSN Messenger.

My son is a good counsellor and a very committed believer. He helped me think through some issues extremely perceptively and well. It seems that this 35-year old son has now reversed the roles and was able to be of great assistance to me, his father. For this I thank the Lord.

Family members help each other when there is a need. The family bonds of love cannot be broken by distance or by time.

Cooking with gas!!

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:11:12 GMT

I received this story by email from a friend today. Only the title is mine.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS ?

What a world? (country NSW, Australia)...
On Thursday, 24 January 2002, Derek Guille broadcast this story on his afternoon program on ABC radio.
In March, 1999, a man living in Kandos (near Mudgee in NSW received a bill for his as yet unused gas line stating that he owed $0.00. He ignored it and threw it away. In April he received another bill and threw that one away too
The following month the gas company sent him a very nasty note
stating they were going to cancel his gas line if he didn't send them $0.00 by return mail. He called them, talked to them, and they said it was a computer error and they would take care of it.
The following month he decided that it was about time that he tried
out the troublesome gas line figuring that if there was usage on the
account it would put an end to this ridiculous predicament. However, when he went to use the gas, it had been cut off.
He called the gas company who apologised for the computer error once again and said that they would take care of it. The next day he got a bill for $0 00 stating that payment was now overdue. Assuming that having spoken to them the previous day the latest bill was yet
another mistake, so he ignored it, trusting that the company would be as good as their word and sort the problem out.
The next month he got a bill for $0.00. This bill also stated that he
had 10 days to pay his account or the company would have to take
steps to recover the debt. Finally, giving in, he thought he would beat the company at their own game and mailed them a cheque [check] for $0.00.
The computer duly processed his account and returned a statement to the effect that he now owed the gas company nothing at all.
A week later, the manager of the Mudgee branch of the Westpac Banking Corporation called our hapless friend and asked him what he was doing writing cheque for $0.00. After a lengthy explanation the bank manager replied that the $0.00 cheque had caused their cheque processing software to fail. The bank could therefore not process ANY cheques they had received from ANY of their customers that day because the cheque for $0.00 had caused the computer to crash.
The following month the man received a letter from the gas company claiming that his cheque has bounced and that he now owed them $0.00 and unless he sent a cheque by return mail they would take immediate steps to recover the debt.
At this point, the man decided to file a debt harassment claim
against the gas company. It took him nearly 2 hours to convince the clerks at the local courthouse that he was not joking. They subsequently assisted him in the drafting of statements which were considered substantive evidence of the aggravation and difficulties he had been forced to endure during this debacle.
The matter was heard in the Magistrate's Court in Mudgee and the
outcome was this:
The gas company was ordered to:
[1] Immediately rectify their computerised accounts system or show cause, within 10 days, why the matter should not be referred to a higher court for consideration under Company Law.
[2] Pay the bank dishonour fees incurred by the man.
[3] Pay the bank dishonour fees incurred by all the Westpac clients
whose cheques had been bounced on the day our friend's had been.
[4] Pay the claimant's court costs; and
[5] Pay the claimant a total of $1500 per month for the 5 month
period March to July inclusive as compensation for the aggravation they had caused their client to suffer.
And all this over $0.00.
This story can also be viewed on the ABC website.
Who employed these idiots??

This last week

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 22:33:43 GMT

This last week has been extremely busy preparing and painting the West wall of our residence. I have had to replace weatherboards, do some running repairs, scrape the old paint and commence painting. This has taken me most of my time and has not yet been completed. My wife has been helping. She is a very good painter.

I will also have to paint some more of our various roofs. It is already beginning to look so much better. The extreme heat, for this time of the year, has not been helpful.

While I was on the roof a passer-by commented that I had gone up in the world.

On Saturday last we had a powersurge which ruined my wife's BENQ 19inch monitor. It has now been replaced by an LCD. The power company wants a repair quote before they will pay up.

This reminds me of our house in Belgrave Heights when all its electrical wiring was ruined a few years ago. A tree had fallen across the powerlines in another street and we had the blowout. Even some powerpoints had melted and needed replacing. Some $2,800 later, all was repaired and I had to wait for the power company to refund the money. As usual, this company took its time.

Apart from writing a bookreview I have not had time for much else this last week.

All in all, the week has been quite productive.