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EricTheRed

How much do you hate your commute?

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Moving is out of the question. I love where I live too much.

I just have to play this one out, without burning any bridges. (which, incidentally, if there were a few more bridges over the Columbia river, I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.)

Beats the hell out of where I was a few years ago, laid off and wondering if I was going to find anything anywhere.
illegible usually

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I hate commuting, particularly when I'm doing the driving (otherwise, I love driving). It's like I'm giving time away for nothing.

So I hated my commute enough not to have one as soon as that was possible. I'm about 3 miles from work, and when I was offered a 30% pay raise a few years ago that would have involved a significant commute and less flexibility, I turned it down.

If you can vanpool and read or do something for yourself during the commute, fine. But if it's just you and cussing at the morons in the other cars, consider your sanity :o

Wendy W.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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>If I walked, skated or rode to work any time from March through late
>November, I'd arrive a sweaty disgusting mess.

http://www.breakcamp.com/Shopping/products/prod_638.asp

This one would get you to work in about 5 minutes with no sweating. Cheaper than most bikes and much smaller.

http://www.greenspeed.us/currie_i-zip_scooter.htm

About 3 minutes. Does not come with woman attached.

http://www.greenspeed.us/lashout_electric_bicycle.htm

About 4 minutes. You can pedal if you like.

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In Jeffery's defense:
I used to ride my bike everywhere when I lived in Chicago as it was my primary mode of transportation. When I moved to South Florida, the sheer amount of decrepit old people driving around and oppressive heat made me fear dearly for my life over a two-mile commute. It's just not a fun place to ride...



Thank you for the defense. :)
It's not just the decrepit, half-blind, half-senseless old people you have to worry about.

There are the "homeys" who have their seats so far reclined, their windows so darkly tinted, who sit way to the corner of the seat to look like they're "chillin'...

There are the illegal hispanic immigrants who have no driver's license, and forty kids romping around the back and front seats of the car...

There are the 15-year-old teenyboppers who should never have been given a learner's permit -- or access to Daddy's 330i...

There are the young stoners drugged out of their minds because Florida is such a damned boring state for non-skydivers...


-Jeffrey
-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

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There are the young stoners drugged out of their minds because Florida is such a damned boring state for non-skydivers..



Actually there's a fair bit of research that says that you drive better when your stoned due to your increased concentration. Oh, and one of my "drugged out of his mind" mates who smokes a hell of alot of pot just got his Phd in physics after getting a 1st class honours degree in physics too.

Bloody useless stoners. :S

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May Contain Nut traces......

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My commute is great. 37.2 miles door to door in 35 minutes through beautiful countryside.

I live where people go to vacation. Uncrowded beaches, great wineries, and little traffic. I am very lucky.

Of course, I make half what I used to when I lived in a major metropolitan area. It is worth every cent...

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What a way to generalize the population....


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There are the illegal hispanic immigrants



Did you check to verify this or are you just a bigot?




Let me let you in on a little secret...

Florida has LOT of illegal immigrants living here!

Observing that no more makes me a bigot than observing that Sweden has a lot of blond people.


-Jeffrey
-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

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If I walk it takes just a little over two minutes. If I drive it actually takes longer, maybe three minutes. This is because of the time to start the truck and then get in and out. I only go 400ft accrost the road. It sounds dumb but I normally do drive so I don't have to walk back to the house when I need to go somewhere.

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There are the young stoners drugged out of their minds because Florida is such a damned boring state for non-skydivers..



Actually there's a fair bit of research that says that you drive better when your stoned due to your increased concentration. Oh, and one of my "drugged out of his mind" mates who smokes a hell of alot of pot just got his Phd in physics after getting a 1st class honours degree in physics too.

Bloody useless stoners. :S



Exceptions prove the rule.

One of my stoned-out druggie friends just lost his wife due to his prescription drug habit -- and his job, and most of the custody of his daughter, and his right to keep and bear arms... But he was an A /B student in high school and college, and one of the most intelligent people I know.

A stoned-out druggie kid got his friend killed right at the corner of my street a few years ago. He was stoned and drunk, and reaching under his seat for a CD player, and asked his friend to hold the wheel.

His friend veered to the right and they struck a concrete light pole and spun around. The right side of the car was mashed real good, and so was the kid. I arrived home to my block that night (around 2 a.m.) as they were loading the boy's body into the ambulance.

Just recently, the driver pleaded guilty to something related to it -- maybe it was vehicular manslaughter or something. Not sure. I just remember thinking, "Wow, the kid 'manned-up' and copped to a guilty plea!" At least he can be responsible now, if not then.

Or the hispanic woman who was driving without a license and pulled into traffic (also about a block from my house) on U.S. 1. She got in the way of a motorcycle cop -- husband and father -- and he was killed in the accident.

She was given a slap on the wrist -- no prison, just something like community service.

And a year or so later she was re-arrested for... guess what...
AGAIN driving without a license! :o


-Jeffrey
-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

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OK I got all of you beat! 40 miles each way. I leave my house at 3:30pm, hop on the BQE just in time for rush hour. Sometimes I take the BQE down to the Verrazano bridge ($9) through Staten Island to Woodbridge NJ. Reverse this at 6am to get home just in time for rush hour. To save money, and if the traffic looks ok, i'll drive through Manhattan through the Holland tunnel (free) to NJ turnpike to Woodbridge.

Any way I look at it, its anywhere from 1 hour (when i'm lucky) to 2-3 hours. One time it took over 4 hours to get to work.

I'M IN HELL!!!!!

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I don't mind my commute. It's about five miles to the train (sorry, Bill, but it's definitely not the best area to ride a bike! :D) and then about 40 minutes on the train. I love it! I can sleep, read, or meet strange people on the train!

With my last job, I had no real public transportation options. My stress level of having to sit in traffic was just a tad high. I'm a much happier person now that I can take public transportation.
There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning

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my commute sucks ass. i have it worse than anyone here.

i have to roll out of bed, put boxers on, go downstairs to my office and start working. the traffic jam of kids in the play room or kitchen is the worst.

and when I have to go to the airport to fly out, crazy! it's like 10 minutes away!!!! how do they expect me to control my road rage in such a long commute as that? dead bodies everywhere after I roll through, I can tell ya that much.

I miss Lee.
And JP.
And Chris. And...

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I probably wouldn't mind a commute that involved riding a train - that would definitely be more fun than sitting in traffic. But I have never lived anywhere where a train was an option for getting to work. I did have to take the bus to work for a couple of weeks once when I had totalled my car, and that was sort of entertaining (though a bit too time-consuming to be a long-term option). Luckily, I rarely have to sit in traffic with my current schedule, so I don't hate my commute... except for one 4-way stop that sometimes annoys me, but mostly I try to laugh about how many people don't do it right... Of course, it was nice when I lived where I could walk to work, but that is a situation that seems to be rather difficult to arrange...

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my commute sucks ass. i have it worse than anyone here.

i have to roll out of bed, put boxers on, go downstairs to my office and start working. the traffic jam of kids in the play room or kitchen is the worst.



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You do have it worse than me...

I don't have to go downstairs, my office is right off the bedroom!:P

The spousal unit on the other hand....has to go 1200 miles ONE WAY to GET to work!
.....Then starts working!!:o












~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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I have the best and worst of it all I think.

Either struggle up 93N (although I do that at 5.00am so I dont have to sit in traffic) OR....lean over and pick up the laptop which is sat happily next to the bed waiting for me to touch it.

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.

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One thing I have always wondered amongst the stoners I know that just sit around doing naff all with themselves is whether or not they would do any better if they never started smoking pot, from all the people like that that I know, I believe they would still be the same. I think it's less about the pot and more about their personalities and their drive to make better of themselves.

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One of my stoned-out druggie friends just lost his wife due to his prescription drug habit -- and his job, and most of the custody of his daughter, and his right to keep and bear arms... But he was an A /B student in high school and college, and one of the most intelligent people I know.



Sad to hear that but intelligence isn't neccessarily reflective of character.


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A stoned-out druggie kid got his friend killed right at the corner of my street a few years ago. He was stoned and DRUNK, and reaching under his seat for a CD player, and asked his friend to hold the wheel.



Bingo, I think the drink might have a fair bit to do with that one. Obviously we'll never know if it wouldn't have happened had he just been stoned. Alchohol definately impairs your judgement alot more than pot.


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Or the hispanic woman who was driving without a license and pulled into traffic (also about a block from my house) on U.S. 1. She got in the way of a motorcycle cop -- husband and father -- and he was killed in the accident.

She was given a slap on the wrist -- no prison, just something like community service.

And a year or so later she was re-arrested for... guess what...
AGAIN driving without a license!



Did that have anything to do with pot or just the fact that she's an idiot?

I think i'll stop their before we completely hijack the thread! :D

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May Contain Nut traces......

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> It's about five miles to the train . . .

When I worked in NYC I had about 60 miles to go. I'd drive to the station (about 10 miles) take the train to Flatbush, get on a subway, go under the river into Manhattan, then walk about 10 blocks. Took about 100 minutes on a good day. It wasn't bad; I could sleep/read most of the way on the train, and there was an express that worked out for me. But it made for some very long days.

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Geez....I guess it just depends on the circles you run in....:o

Where do you find these *friends* anyway? :S

linz




The only one of those who was a friend (IS a friend) is the first one, whose addiction to prescription painkillers cost him his marriage.

Before you go judging me for the friends I keep, need I remind you that we have dz.commers with friends who've killed themselves with heroin overdoses? Why not come down on them like you've come down on me? Oh, that wouldn't be polite, right?


-Jeffrey
-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

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