A runner's rant

This morning, I got a bit of a later start to my run. I run on a street that goes north/south and it’s really busy, so I run on the sidewalks. This morning, I got to an intersection with stop signs for the east/west street and I could see a car just flying up the hill toward the stop sign. I was very cautious as I entered the intersection, which is a very good thing because she didn’t stop at that stop sign. She may have tapped her brakes but she hardly slowed down so forget about stopping. She also clearly didn’t see me – I had definitely seen her though, and you’d better believe I stopped. I also reached my arm out slightly and smacked her car as she sped past. That’s how close she was to me.

As you might imagine, I had a huge adrenaline dump – writing the events has taken way longer than the events themselves – so I had to walk briefly until everything calmed down again.

I will say that I am a safe runner. I wear reflective gear, I pay attention, I never listen to music or the radio when I run, and I always check traffic. I don’t want to play tag with a car – I’d lose for sure. But in return I sure wish that drivers would follow the rules of the road and pay attention to their surroundings.

This morning’s run confirmed two things for me: it’s safer for me when I run in the dark (because there's so much less traffic that early) and I miss Boston drivers who at least paid attention to runners and pedestrians.

March is a worthless month

Dedicated to Jeanne, who hates February more than anyone I know.

I don’t mind February. It’s short month, even in leap year. Plus it’s got my birthday, a silly holiday (Groundhog’s Day), a federal holiday (Presidents’ Day) and a sappy commercial holiday (Valentine’s Day). February makes no promises about warmer weather, or sunnier days, you’ll hear no talk of plants starting to grow, or at least not usually. February deals you a straight hand—it’s winter, you’ll get snow or sleet or ice, or maybe cold, dreary rain. You won’t get false promises about spring coming in, or warmer weather or even very many sunny days. February plays it straight.

March is a different story. March is supposed to roar in like a lion and go out like a lamb thus leading to lovelier spring weather. Nonsense. What we get is more cold, dreary rainy weather and maybe snow too. Tiny little plants that may have finally poked through the ground run a real risk of getting blasted by frost here in New England or covered by a blanket of snow. And we have to put up with this month for thirty-one days. Then it’s April, where we’ll get slightly less cold dreary weather for another 30 days. Spring doesn’t show up around here until May, if we’re lucky.

Yes, yes, both my children were born in March and those are very good events to celebrate. They do help ease the pain (and honestly when they were born, I was too distracted by being a new mother to feel the full misery of March), but now that they are grown, it’s not like I can even really throw them a fun birthday party or anything. Nope, I get to suffer through the endless dreary month of March with no distractions. And don’t offer up St. Patrick’s Day either. That’s no holiday, it’s just an excuse for people to drink to numb the pain of this month.

It's raining today (of course), although the rain is supposed to turn to snow by 10 AM and we may get between one and four inches. Whatever, it's March and the weather is just going to stink. I'll be over sitting on the couch with a blanket and a book. Let me know when it's nice outside. 

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(Interesting useless bit of knowledge I found while tracking down the poem linked above: lamb used to be called spring lamb because you could only get it in the spring.)

Why doesn’t Johnny read?

Or maybe it should be Why won’t Johnny read?

First you need some necessary information. My resume, which goes back to 1997, could be outlined like this:

Most recent job: manager of training and development

Next job: highly technical consulting job for a company that needed their learning management and content management systems evaluated and possibly changed.

Next job: highly technical training development and delivery position with a consulting firm working with clients’ IT departments.

Next job: highly technical training development and delivery positions that also included project management on highly technical training development and delivery projects.

Catch the theme? Recruiters don’t. No, I’m serious. Last month I submitted my resume to a recruiting firm that was looking for a technical instructional designer/instructor. I got an email back saying the recruiter didn’t see where I had technical experience.

Yesterday I finally got a call from a company for a technical training position. The only reason I got a phone call was because I have a solid connection to the company (Kent). The utter lack of enthusiasm in the recruiter’s voice was obvious as he told me that the position really needed someone with a technical background who also had training experience. It was pretty clear he didn’t think I had that experience. When I pointed out that with the exception of my most recent job, my experience was exactly what he needed and that I had been doing that work since 1997, he got really excited. I almost asked him if he'd actually read my resume.

What’s worse, later when he called Kent to clear up something regarding relocation (which sort of irritated me that he would call my husband about a job I'm apply for but I’ll set that aside for now), he flat out told Kent he had rejected my application. Holy crap, no wonder people can’t get jobs. The recruiters aren’t even reading the applications.

I’m in the running for two positions right now. Should neither of them pan out, it’s clear to me I will need to reformat my resume into a functional rather than chronological resume, one that spells out my experience using simple, first-grade level language. That way even recruiters with poor reading skills should be able to recognize what kind of experience I have.

A rant

Some New Hampshire cars have bumper stickers that say Massholes go home. I like to think I’m not one, I just live there. But this rant is aimed at them:

Please for the love of God, when you pass me on the interstate and we are both going at least 70 MPH, do not cut back in my lane within a foot of my bumper and then stomp your brakes because you’ve just noticed the state police speed trap. I’m likely to crawl up your bumper with a great deal of force.

Also, Masshole drivers, try using your CRUISE CONTROL when driving on the interstate. You pass me and slow down and then get cranky when I go past you again. Come ON, your car isn’t old nor is it a stripped down version so use the cruise.

And let's not forget pedestrians in Boston. I’ve mentioned before that Boston truly is the walking city and unlike other East Coast cities, pedestrians rule. So if a pedestrian steps into a pedestrian walkway that’s not controlled by a traffic light, cars must stop. And I do. Every. Single. Time. But not if I have the light and the pedestrians do not. And I certainly don't stop if someone decides the middle of the freaking street is the best place to cross.

So dear, dear pedestrians, please do not yell at me when you choose to cross the street 10 yards away from your very own crosswalk OR when you try to cross and I have the light.

Specifically, stupid cow people who amble across Exeter Street at both Boylston and Newbury when you don’t have the light, I will not cry when some other driver ends up hitting your oblivious self. I’ll ruin my own brakes trying not to hit you and I’ll use my horn, but you may encounter a MASShole drive at some point who will do neither.