Money

My Christmas wish for you is that in these festive times you can see past pain, hurts and troubles to reach out your hand. I pray that your hand will give hope to another as you reach out to help.

My Christmas wish for you is that all that you do, albeit the same as any other day, that it will be done with appreciation for all that you have that others may not. I pray that you are enveloped in joy as you serve others.

My Christmas wish for you is that you take the time to love someone else that you find hard to love. I pray that in doing so that you feel loved for just being yourself too.

My Christmas wish for you is that you can consider others with a higher regard than yourself. Then, when you arrive home safely after your celebrations, I pray that you can bring thanks to God that no one lost their life at your hands that same night.

My Christmas wish for you is that you can share the spirit of Christmas in special ways with those who see you in a faceted way. I pray that your life is a testimony of love to work colleagues and clients, to playgroup mums and to the barrista at your local coffee bar.

My Christmas wish for you is that as you contemplate the year ahead that your already laid plans clearly seen as wise or unwise. I pray that all fear, angst and stress be replaced with empowerment, encouragement and, above all, peace.

With love at Christmas

Perhaps I am suffering from too much time in the business sector. I am amazed at the pressure exuded now on small business owners to 'blog their way to success' using their blog to demonstrate their prowess to potential customers and win them over as clients.

It is amazing though how hard core the people who take up their gauntlet are. They make bold claims about their success from this and many ply the pressure onto their clients and readership to take up and do the same. These past few months I have felt this pressure immensely.

Yes, we made the decision with the refresh of our web sites to actively choose not to blog. Life is too busy at the moment to face the maintenance of blogs and to be blunt, I am over the self-serving nature of most corporate blogging I see out there. If it potentially detracts from adding value to the customer and increasing perceived value to the potential customer then it is simple - don't do it!

I originally started blogging in 2006 (elsewhere) and it was not for any business interest at all - rather a way of just sharing my daily egg splatter with someone, anyone or no-one as I dealt with what life was throwing at me. It was those early days of blogging that were enjoyable where there was no pressure for a professional fascade to be maintained or to blog only on topics that are in the industry buzz or will create media buzz.

There is, of course, a point when you are an 'all out there' with business, marriage or parenthood as well as adult life blogs where you find that you get chopped down as any tall poppy is expected to be. Not because you are a tall poppy but rather that you a brave enough to share the truths of your life in spite of ridicule and judgement from others.

It is then that your blog entries like those here on Egg Splatter sport comments criticising everything from parenting practises, having your ego likened to that of your belly in 'pre-weight loss' photo and being told by people who have never met you how inadequate you truly are. For our contributors here it can be a tough thing to face some times. This is why we now have an 'about' page that reads the way that it does.

So, in spite of what every business blogger may say, I stand firm in my resolve for not blogging with our sites, especially when most of our own work is under non-disclosure and our newsletter is perfectly adequate for our clients. Unless our client needs change we will not require a blog.

Neither, will the Egg Splatter team bow to any pressure to stop sharing any aspect of their daily lives that they choose - irrespective of the trail. Forget your classy blog titles and cliche images with it to catch the eye - this blog is take it or leave it - and that is the way it stays.

I received this in an email from another business associate this past week. It was a letter with the employers name scrubbed. No one seems to be sure if it was a letter that was actually sent or the thoughts of a manager who would have liked to have sent it but did not.

CAUTION:I must caution to say that there is a harsh reference to the stimulus package going to 'welfare mums'. I know that this is far from being the full truth and am certain that it was not written to inflame anyone who may have been eligible for the additional payment but rather a frustration towards our new government for making ill-thought-out decisions.

If you do know who the author is then please let me know. There is a little bit of media scouting going on to find the author already. James Thomson from Smart Company has published this also and is one of several people seeking to know who the author was.

A week passed since settlement on our home in Canberra last Friday and we still had not had the proceeds from settlement deposited into our nominated account by the bank holding our loan (who took the entire proceeds as they were too inept to do the math for the day). We had rung our broker on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and the bank themselves on the two latter days.

Finally, on Friday, we discovered that they had deposited the money, not into our nominated account as requested, but into an account we had 'linked' to the loan. Okay so we had the money. The problem was that it was our account with HSBC. Why is this a problem? Well, firstly, we haven't used the accounts in years so we have no clue what the pins are on the cards, but secondly, and more importantly, there was no bank branch in Canberra through which we could get a bank cheque drawn to pass required funds to our South Australian conveyancer for our settlement this coming Friday. So, I tried a bank transfer which I quickly discovered was limited to $5,000 per day (so even doing transfers every day until settlement wouldn't cut the mustard). I then lodged a contact request and walked away frustrated.

First thing Monday morning, whilst still in Hay, I received a call back from HSBC's Customer Care centre. I explained the situation and, after putting me through their electronic system for authentication, they processed a transfer for the full amount we needed to go to our conveyancer in preparation for Friday. They were the lifesavers who cleaned up this other banks stuff up very effectively.

Thank you HSBC!