August 17, 2016

Two weeks ago, I wrote letters to the presidents of three companies asking them to hire me. Two of the letters were specific business proposals and the third was just a traditional cover letter. I don't expect any of them to reply. This week, I registered with six job boards and I applied for several jobs. One already dinged me, and I am grateful for the response. I think three of the sites are too entry-level for me, but the aggregator sites pick up their listings so I created accounts as a CYA. I also updated my LinkedIn profile is spite of the fact that I hate LinkedIn. I REALLY hate the endorsement module because anyone can endorse anyone for anything. I've been endorsed for skills by relatives and friends, neither of whom have been professional colleagues. To me, LinkedIn is FaceBook for self-promoters: the more contacts the person has, the more important the person is. Right.

​The job search process has become so personless, if not humiliating. I particularly hate the "salary expectation" requirement. What is this, an auction? Does the job go to the lowest bidder? When recruiters ask me what I'm looking for in a compensation package, I always reply, "I would like to be compensated similarly to my peers. I do not need to be the highest paid, but I do not want to be the lowest paid.”

This morning I took my dogs for a walk on a bike path paralleling I-80 eastbound. I set the timer for 20 minutes so that we'd turn around at one mile. I found the experience to be unpleasant in many ways: primarily, the I-80 traffic whizzing by me 20-30 feet away at 80 miles an hour, but the dead deer, the dead mouse, and the prospect of encountering a pit viper lessened what little joy there was. I made up my mind to buy a bike so that I could get "faster" exercise than walking - which I don't seem to do. When I got back to BOB I googled "Trek" to pick out a bike and then the problem arose: you can find your "perfect" bike on Trek’s website but then you can't buy it anywhere because it’s out of stock.

If I buy a bike, I will have to transport it outside BOB which means I need to buy a cargo carrier. If I buy a cargo carrier, what am I going to do with it if/when I tow my Jetta? If I wait until October to buy a bike, I can buy a bike adapter for the Thule rack on my Jetta: that way, I don't need a cargo carrier. Can I tow my Jetta with BOB? How much does my Jetta weigh? It is front-wheel drive, isn't it (as opposed to all-wheel drive)? I Googled my VIN and neither question was answered. I downloaded my owners' manual in an app from VW and neither question was answered. Then, I Googled, "Is my 2014 Jetta Sportwagen front-wheel drive?" and I got a tech sheet which said that it is and that it weighs 3,200 pounds. I can tow 3,500 pounds. How much does a dolly weigh? And, "Should I tow it on a dolly AT the weight limit?" That, is a question for Coachmen.