The circuit you've liked to makes sense.
Ever thought of getting a PIC programmer so you can program your own? That's all the IC is and the chances are you're paying a premium for having it preprogrammed to do a specific task.
I assembled a programmer a couple of years ago but I never got round to using it, partly due to the lack of a spare parallel port on my PC. I've ordered a new parallel card from China but it'll take ages to be delivered. Hopefully when it finally turns up, I can play with my programmer and get a simple LED flasher and timer working.