Oy Vay

Okay, a little bit late posting today, but hey I had work to do.

Overall I suppose my commute last night wasn't terrible, but it contained rather bad news. I took my car in to get looked at. Turns out that rattling sound is not due to the place knocking anything loose after they changed the oil...what we think it is confirms a theory that I've had the past few days but hoped it wasn't true. The Catalytic Converter could be going bad due to the age of the car. That's gonna cost more money. *sigh*

Oh, I also had an ass tailgate me, then tell me off as he was driving past me b/c I was apparently going to slow for him in the fast lane. I'm sorry but when I'm approaching the stretch of town where there are cops, and people to watch out for I'm not going any faster just to accommodate you. Maybe you should think about slowing down and driving less aggressively, after all we were already passing many of the ppl in the right hand lane who were going under the speed limit. Did I mention I was also slowing down because we were approaching a red light? What were you going to do buddy, blow right through it?

Last Night's Commute - I got to drive home since I was graced with sleeping on the train that morning

Start Time: 5:23

End Time: 7:35

Total time: Doesn't really count since I had to stop in to get my car looked at.

This morning, despite my extreme fatigue, the first part of the commute started out as decently pleasant. Other than the fact that once again I encountered a nasty driver on the way to work who wanted to speed past everyone, but then get mad at people who passed him when he slowed down. However, once I got past where 95 branches off of 50 traffic kicked in full force. I would have been early to work, about 20 minute early. But that just wasn't in the cards I guess.

This Morning's Commute - I also drove since I normally drive the morning part of the trip

Start Time: 7:25 am (yes, yes I know, we have a hard time getting on the road on time)

End Time: 9:05 am

Total Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

I Could Get Used to This

So once again I was able to experience a wonderfully painless commute on the MARC train to Baltimore last night, then back to D.C. this morning. I think the worst thing that occurred was the difficulty of hauling my luggage around and the light rain that arrived in D.C. as soon as I did.

Last night - Express Train, all the way!

Start Time: 5:03 pm

End Time: 6:08 pm

Total Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes - NO TRAFFIC - All time used to leisurely find a place to sit on the train and read

This Morning -

Start Time: 7:34 am

End Time: 8:50 am

Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes - NO TRAFFIC - All time used to leisurely find a place to sit on the train, get luggage secured, check smart phone, and nap

Tonight I have to do the trip back to the shore again, AND stop in to get the car checked out at the place that changed its oil. After analyzing it over the weekend, the rattling noise really sounds like the guys hit the heat shield, hopefully that's all it is. *crosses fingers*

I know the "this commute wasn't that bad" posts can't be too interesting. Perhaps next time I have a great journey into and out of work I'll post about the Route 50 fight b/c a hauling truck and an SUV that I once witnessed. It was madness, the people involved had clearly lost their minds. There, now you have a teaser story to look forward to.

Not a Bad Way to Start a Monday

Okay so Friday night's commute can't really count as good or bad. I had to drive my father to Annapolis to meet up with my mother so they could leave on a weekend trip, then I jetted up to Baltimore to spend the weekend with friends. And all-in-all the actual commute times of those drives were 100% reasonable. But you better believe if I had tried to cross that Severn River Bridge and then the Bay Bridge there would have been time added on to my commute.

As it is I went to the shore on Sunday then drove back, and, well driving back with the beach traffic was terrible. What should have been a 30 minute ride just to the Bay Bridge became more like a 52 minute ride with everyone coming back from Ocean City because of Bike Week. Oh yay! SUCK! I actually stopped keeping track of how long it took because I was so frustrated with the entire ordeal.

This morning's commute also will not fit the theme of this blog as I took the MARC train from Baltimore. And enough though I've heard horror stories about the MARC train, thus far, I've had pleasant experiences with it.

Start Time: 7:30am

End Time: 8:50 am

Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Love the 5 minute bolt to the station, the 8 minute pd of which to find a seat, the 40-some minute train ride nap, and the 5 minute stroll to work. Wish that could be my commute everyday. *sigh*

It's Just One More Thing to Worry About

And once again I have lovely horrid things to post about my commute out of and into D.C. Oh Joy!

Last night I had to basically drag my commuting partner out of work just to get to the scheduled oil change I had at 6pm on the shore. The car was overdue for one, and since I'll be driving it around a lot in Western/Central MD this weekend it needed done. I was assured we could leave a bit before 5, which would give me about an hour and 10 minutes leeway to arrive on time. We didn't leave until almost a quarter after the work day had ended. This tardiness was definitely not my doing.

We finally get on the road and dealt with the normal D.C. local traffic (which can be a nightmare in itself), arrived on Route 50 and were met with backed up traffic from an accident on 95. I called the place and said I'd be a bit late, no problem. That is until we smacked into a massive amount of traffic because people for some reason don't understand how to properly drive across the Severn River Bridge.

Seriously, I don't know why, but no one understands that you should (unless there are poor weather conditions such as rain, heavy wind, ice, or snow) keep your speed up as you are crossing this bridge. BUT NO ONE DOES! For the life of me I can't figure out why. Maybe because the bridge is built with a pretty drastic curve in the road, and that blocks some visibility thus making people nervous. I have no idea, but it is extremely annoying to me.

So I was about 43 minutes late for my oil change. However, the guys managed to fit me in, which I thought was pretty nice of them.

Commute home, last night

Start Time: 5:13pm

Arrival at shop: 6:43pm

Arrival at home: 8:47pm

Now this morning I hop in the car and yep, smacked with traffic - however it wasn't too bad today. Until I realized that my car was making an odd tinny noise when it accelerated to lower speeds after a complete stop. And the noise wasn't always there when I accelerated.

Of course this doesn't happen until I'm actually over the D.C. line. So I pulled into the parking garage at work and thought "could this be my muffler?" Whelp, after gently tapping it with my foot (I couldn't actually touch the thing, it's hot from the long commute) it seems that for some reason the muffler is loose. And I could replicate the sound, which means if my foot rocking it can make that noise, I'm sure the car bouncing along on the road will as well. Can we say "I think the mechanic hit it during the oil change and the rest of the commute shook it loose?" That's my working theory for now at least. I'm just thankful that it does not seem to be bent or crushed. But I'll have to take a better look at it this weekend. Really, that's the last thing I need to worry about right now.

Start Time: 7:32am (another late morning, I know)

Arrival Time: 9:08am

I've had it!

The creation of this particular blog occurred because of snapping point that I reached earlier this week. You see, I work in Washington, D.C. It's a pretty cool city to work in, and I clinched the job opportunity of a lifetime. That's NOT the problem here. The problem is that I currently LIVE on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

This means that EACH WAY with NO traffic the drive takes an hour and a half, that's right 90 minutes. (You could make it in 75-80 if you speed and there is no one on the road.) It works out to be about 70 miles each way. That's a total of three hours in the car (IF there is NO traffic) and a 140 miles a day, 5 days a week. Let's be honest, that's a lot. It's not a fun commute.

Now, consider if there was traffic. Tons of other crappy, rude, and jerkish (yes I know that's not a word) drivers out there to add to the time and frustration of the commute. That would really make things worse, right? Well guess what, it's Washington, D.C. a city ranked with one of the worse commute times in the nation. There's almost ALWAYS traffic and terrible drivers.

In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2009 "American Community Survey" D.C. ranked in the number 2 spot for highest percentage of commuters who spend 45 minutes or more traveling to work. (Number one was NYC, and still is according to the 2010 survey.) The 2010 survey reflected that workers who lived Prince George's County, MD and other suburban counties around the D.C. metro area had some of the longest commute times in the country. Please note, I have to drive an hour just to GET to these counties, and then deal with their commute times as well.

So what exactly was my breaking point? I've been doing this drive for 8 and a half months, why snap now? Well, for a combination of reasons.

1) I am trying to close on a house located in a city nearby that would give me a 15 minute walk to a train station, with a 45 minute ride into D.C. Not too bad in my opinion, especially considering the alternative is to continue with a minimum of 3 HOURS in a car almost everyday. However, it is taking forever for the deal to go through since it's a short sale. I was supposed to have closed on the house in June, it's now September.
2) Earlier this week it took me 2 and a half hours to get into work, 2 AND A HALF HOURS! Maybe I should add that I also commute into D.C. with a family member, thus allowing us to utilize the HOV lane. IT STILL TOOK US 2 AND A HALF HOURS! Then there was a full day of work and a 100 minute ride home.

3) The amount of miles that I am putting on my poor Honda Civic is insane. The cost of gas, and almost monthly oil changes could be worse, but it ISN'T good.

In short, this commute sucks.

I've started this blog to keep track of exactly how much time is being sucked out of my life and how insanely frustrating this drive really is. Perhaps I just want to keep a record, so that when I'm on the news as that crazy driver who just pulled off on the side of the highway and started screaming at all the passing cars while throwing her commuting supply of breakfast bars at peoples' windshields, someone will know why.

While this mornings was not terrible for the first part, the amount of traffic that I hit while trying to cross over the D.C. line from MD was insane. Granted we got a late start, but this was still nuts.
Start Time: 7:30am
End Time: 9:13 am
Total Time: 1 hour, 43 minutes