14.10.98 - Bargain bucket career development

I haven't really been in the mood to write a journal entry and I didn't think I was tonight but I have just been playing around with my copy of Macromedia Fireworks and it's kind of got me in the mood now. It's not like I have a real lot to say but the words are just flowing, so there you go.

I spent almost an hour and a half on the phone to my old school friend Sri. We have times where we don't speak for months (almost made it a year once) and then we go out a few times and talk on the phone a lot... then it trails off again. I haven't spoken to him for about three months this time and so we had a fair bit to catch up on. It was really nice just to talk and laugh about nothing in particular and this time around I found we had more to share about our lives. We've made plans to meet up and go into London clubbing at the end of October. I'm really looking forward to it now (like I am my holiday! Yippee!) and it seems too far away. He suggested meeting up this weekend but I had set in my mind that I needed this weekend "off". I have to save a bit of money (and going out doesn't help that cause) and I have loads of things I need to sort out before my holiday in just over 4 weeks time. He was fine with it and seemed really excited about meeting up at the end of October anyway. It should be good as I will have just been paid so I will be less conscious of how much money I am spending (is that a good thing I wonder?). I might contact Kevin and ask if he wants to meet up with us too. The more the merrier, eh?

Work was ok today and even though I am still VERY pissed off with them about my promotion situation I am finding that as time goes on it is bothering me less and less. Maybe a prolonged sense of apathy has settled in? More likely is the fact that my resolution to leave that dump is becoming stronger and stronger and as a result I have stopped trying so hard. The SQL course that they were looking into sending me on was a big bonus for me. When my boss said that he would pay for any course that I needed to go on I was pretty much "wow-ed" by it. I mean here they were actually investing in my career development! Amazing! I should have known better.... My project manager came to me today and said that she had found this course that was only a day long and cost only £195 for which the IT manager had some discount vouchers (the original one was 4 days long and cost over £1,500). She felt that it would probably "do" for what knowledge we needed. I couldn't really argue as neither of us is really sure what content we need the course to cover until we actually do the thing but I was so deflated. They'll never invest in my career development, they're only interested in getting their "pound of flesh" for as little money as possible and I need an employer that is willing to assist in my development or at least go some way to giving me the opportunity to do it for myself. That place I work for is beginning to suffocate me. Bastards!

I got a note from Gary, the journalist guy who has written an article on online journals/internet diaries for ".net" magazine. The magazine is out now and there is a small mention of my site and the answer to one of his questions that he sent me. It isn't what I was expecting but its ok and how many people can say their website features in a magazine eh? Well, ok.... thousands, but thats not the point! Anyway if you're interested go check it out. There is only one thing wrong with the article. He got my name wrong. Hehehe. Its a common mistake people make from looking at my e-mail address which is "Rich_Ayles@email.msn.com" but my name is not actually Richard Ayles. If you look at the bottom of this screen you'll see that it is in fact Richard Hull (or Rich Hull as my online shortened name). At least I retain some anonymity in this magazine article as a result!

Now I have a graphics program and I've been doing this journal for a while now I feel the urge to change something. I originally called this site "Project 98" but then realised the 98 was a bit restricting so I sub headed it "The Next Step" and created that super graphic for the entrance page (which is perhaps a bit too slow loading for an entrance image?). Now I feel like I need to make some kind of decision. Do I get rid of the Project 98 and just call it The Next Step? Perhaps I should rename it altogether but that would mean loads of people changing their links on their websites that they have linked me to? I'm not sure about the design. I feel like I need to standardise the design across the website somehow and I have gone a long way towards doing this with the consistent colour schemes and the matching graphics. What do you think? E-mail me with any suggestions, comments or ideas to Rich_Ayles@email.msn.com and help me figure this one out.

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Website created by Rich Hull,1998.