I have a rather annoying pal who I managed to find an excuse to dump after he tried to invite himself to use our hotel facilities with access 24hours.

What was annoying was his over inflated self image, and his outright bitchiness with mates. His ego got carried away with itself many times but i humoured him because of the links to my better half.

Of course now there comes the flagrant boasting arena of the web and his CV appears for all to see. Also he advertises his services to young ladies via the web. All failry blatant and it wouldn't take a minute to track him down and have him bumped off if you were that kind and knew a cheap and very nasty polak.

His use of the web is unashamed- he even boasts his own name site "dot com" , lucky to get the name. It makes a few of the right noises while still looking like a student project from 1998 with it's landing page and cringing use of 'business people' from the photo libraries. His CV is a download as a pdf, oh yes, he knows a thing or to about interactivity don't you know!

Now on his linked in he goes a little further with the fibbing and smnoke screens than his CV. Probably because he can at the flick of a button, remove the offending items or explain them away. In two jobs I know for a fact that he knew he was leaving, and used a postponement in cesation to get a temporary promotion. He worked in finance sales to the trade, B2B, yet he cleverly avoids any mention of by what value he actually increased the business. Also mysteriously he actually worked for the same company but this was paved over by mergers and a 'secdondment' rather sweetly to avoid the whole issue of 'sticking in the mud' . In fact he makes it look like he didn't bumble along in a crappy sales job for 6 years at all!

I caught him in a sales call once when coincidentally I worked near one of his customers ...they had an all glass, open cieling show room and there he was in the middle of the gold fish bowl, giving it the hard sell like the current idiot of a tory party leader. Forhead forward eyes beady and staring locked on the target ( who was supposedly a mate!) , head tilted " this is important and I am patronising you". In fact I think the whole venture probably came to an end. No doubt he would have stats to support his great rise in the company, but no doubt 50% would be a little stretched of that which is not pork pies.

It's kind of interesting that bloggin began as a psuedonym, anonymous oft fantasy or real meanings/ attitudes outlet( names changed to protect the guilty) . People were afraid of stalkers and afraid of just standing out and being taken at their published word. I took the bait and also the hook of vanity publishing...you do hope that people read the blogg and get some fun or some inspiration out of it.

But blogging is quickly becoming the new personal PR of the ultra yuppie and MBA super manager world. Like music clubs, entry is cheap but only those who give a shit about the turn go in and spend some time hanging out. The magical, what have they got, what do they know, how can I assail their dizzy heights?? all this leads to an ego fantasy which is far less restricted than the go between press. In fact the press probably hate it---full and unbiased story on the blogg a couple of hours after the crafty journalist spun their exclusive article. It's important not for the job they are in but to be headhunted to the next...and the content is probably like watching paint dry...it's not hte content which is talked about, it's the presence...... they just dare to do it and they are known, or should be a 'name' amongst the first tuesday folk and the failed rack of MBAs out in shitty SME land or on the farm at county crappy operational division. All the wankers who want to be in "strategy" rather than getting on with the job at the coal face.

Anyway, it's a place for rampant egoism backed up by the narcisisstic vanity publishing aspect - just as much- as the web is a place for any other freedom of personal expression. $30 per month, ADSL - assymetric digital shite line......the assymetric part being that you feel you are more important than you actually are


I've decided not to Down Size ( see the "dampers are on" blogg ), but to Right Size myself. On the web this means maybe the use of Linked in on a bit of a teaser basis. Keep my career focus and be ready for a stepping stone job. Otherwise I'll leave "super size me" to mr Hosea...