In my ’spare’ time I have been geeking a little and have been able to upgrade the JLSNet site forum. The new forum runs using on the phpBB package and replaces my previous noddy attempt at a forum (for history’s sake, I have imported all comments from my old forum to the new). I have crafted the forum with the JLSNet look and feel by editing templates and styles to integrate it fully with the rest of the website. It is hoped that this forum would become a useful tool to help the simpler Cisco users get a little help, discuss problems, provide tips, and express ideas. I have also cleaned up some of the sites images.

“Cats can’t taste sweets” –PLoS Genetics Journal

This time last month, I thought things may start to settle down a little. This was NOT the case! My new job totally drained me down, to one point of tears! It turned out that Xxxxx-Xxxx do not care in the slightest. It was an evil company to work for, they work their engineers to the bone, making them drive ludicrous distances (I drove 4890 miles in one month!), work unsociable and ungodly hours, the only communication that went on in the business were moaning, swearing, ‘do it, or else!’ emails. I was supposed to be a ‘junior’ Cisco engineer, but they offered me no support whatsoever, they broke the law and ignored health and safety guidelines. When I did finally pluck up the courage to tell them what I thought and that I was finding things hard, they sacked me straight away without warning, telling me “they do not need people like me!”, and told me to drive to Crewe to drop off the car and equipment and leave the next day! If anyone in the IT industry crosses paths with Xxxxx-Xxxx, do NOT do business with them, they are immoral! Never the less… things turned out for the better, as, within one week of leaving Xxxxx-Xxxx I had a great interview with NTL, and am about to start a new job with them this Wednesday, based in Hook. I am very excited about this job, it may not have a car, but it looks to value its employees! It is a job which I have dreamt of doing for a long time, and has a bonus of having over twice as much pay as what I was earning at Xxxxx-Xxxx!

“The more I learn the more I realize how little I know” –Skip William

Claire and I are now engaged! On August 31st, I popped the question…. and Claire said “Yes!”. The surprise proposal happened at my favorite beauty spot on Beachy Head overlooking Eastbourne. To stop Claire guessing where we were going I blindfolded her for the entire journey from Portsmouth to the spot were I uncovered her eyes and asked her to marry me!

We plan to get married May-time next year; hopefully at Langstone Church in Portsmouth. For the past few weeks we have both been slightly daunted but very excited at the thought of being Mr and Mrs Saunders. We now need to get our act together (while also dealing with motherly ‘help’!) to get this event organised. Claire is so amazing and I love her so much! Yay!

“Yes!” –Claire Hayward, Beachy Head, 31st August 2005