Tell me about your commute.

[Rain Man]

Not just the length. What do you do? Where is your mind? Do you listen to the radio? Do you make a stop along the way? Do you carpool, take kids to school, drop off a spouse? Do you pick up hitchhikers? Or hitchhike? Do you walk? Bus? Drive? Take a ferry? Are you thinking about work or football? Do you curse at other commuters? How's the traffic? What landmarks do you see? Do you eat or drink along the way?

I walk to work 95 percent of the time. Occasionally I'll take a bus or drive if I have something going on at work. It's 1.85 miles each way and I walk slow, so it's about 35 minutes. Occasionally I'll listen to my iPod, and sometimes I use the time to call my parents or my sister.

On the way in, I'm thinking a lot about work and how I'll organize my day, and on the way home I'm usually thinking about random things. I walk a generally different route each day because the streets are a grid, so I randomly walk up streets depending on how I hit the stop lights. It's a relatively busy urban area, so I have to keep an eye out for traffic a lot.

I have three phases of my walk. First, there's a residential neighborhood (8 to 15 blocks, depending on route) that tends to be young and safe. It's mostly old circa-1900 houses that have been converted to apartments or 30-unit brick apartments that went up in the 60s or later. It's the most densely populated neighborhood in Colorado. Second, there's a commercial/park area (4 to 15 blocks, depending on route) where you have some low-rent people wandering around looking suspicious, but who are generally harmless unless their drug deal goes bad. Third, there's the downtown area (maybe a dozen blocks) which is a lot of tourists and office workers and is reasonably upscale. The downtown area is pedestrian only on the main drag and has lots of walkers, though cars cross it at each intersection.

I walk by the state capitol every day, often cutting across the parking lot, and I see the big scrolling LED light of the newspaper building that tells me today's news headlines. There's a really big fountain and some really small fountains that I walk by in the summer, all in the downtown part, and the pedestrian area is lined with trees that get lots of Christmas lights this time of year. I also walk by the tallest building in Colorado, which apparently has 56 floors, and sometimes by the main cathedral of Colorado. The cathedral has two spires, one of which got hit by lightning a few years back and fell onto the busy street, miraculously not killing anyone, but if you look close you can now see where one of the spires is a slightly different color of stone.

In good weather there's a beggar guy who hangs out outside the door to my office building and he rattles his cup of change at me. We think he likes our office building because it gets a lot of traffic from the five story health club at the top. I also have to dodge people selling the "homeless newspaper" on at least two corners that I pass, and the occasional mobile panhandler. My office is in the convention part of downtown with the convention center and several massive hotels, so I also see lots of convention-goers with their little name tag necklace thingies.

In the morning, the restaurants are all closed, but in the evening they're open. In good weather several of them have outside seating so I get to see what they're all ordering. I also walk by the Hard Rock Cafe, which pipes classic rock out onto the pedestrian mall.

I never eat or drink on my commute. Maybe once every couple of months I'll buy a bagel on my way in (cranberry, no cream cheese, not sliced, not toasted, just give it to me out of the basket, please) at a bagel shop a couple of blocks from my house.

That's my commute. Tell me about yours.

[Dayze]

I'm usually a zombie driving into working; thinking "Man...I can't wait until 4:30"

[Bugeater]

I have to drive downtown every morning. I drink coffee and smoke a couple of cigarettes on the way, and listen to Mike & Mike in between cussing at other drivers.

[Pants]

Takes me about 10 minutes to drive to work and I listen to sports radio on the way there and back. No stops, no hitchhikers, no coffee, no cigarettes. I take my breakfast to work and eat it at my desk.

[ChiefsD]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

I have to drive downtown every morning. I drink coffee and smoke a couple of cigarettes on the way, and listen to Mike & Mike in between cussing at other drivers.

you smoke on top of the massive amounts of alcohol you drink?

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

1 mile, 4 minutes, 5am, 2 stoplights, maybe 2 other cars I see, dark

[HemiEd]

Mine is .7 of a mile.

Most of my thoughts lately, are about whether the seat belt buzzer will drive me nuts, or should I go ahead and fasten it.

Usually it is not an issue, but my right rotator cuff is torn, so it causes some pain.

[blaise]

Mine is zero. I work out of the house. My favorite though was when I lived in DC and commuted to VA. Every day I saw the Capitol, the Lincoln Monument, drive in front of the Watergate, past Georgetown, in front of Arlington and by the Pentagon. Every angle you would look at would be scenic.
Then I lived like 2 blocks from the National Cathedral and could see it as I walked to my building.

[Gonzo]

A lot of hippies and sister-wives. They all wear jean-dresses and southwest print shirts.

We like kool-aid and peyote.

Oh wait, I thought it said "Commune" not "Commute."
Sorry.

[Renegade]

6 miles to work takes 10 minutes. One stoplight to contend with. I don't drink coffee or smoke so I just listen to Bob and Tom laughing most of the way to work.

[Bump]

I once had to commute from Lawrence to KC for about 2 months, was the worst.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by Bump

I once had to commute from Lawrence to KC for about 2 months, was the worst.

I did that for like a year. You get used to it and it's not like K10 has heavy traffic. The way to KC in the morning was a good way to get yourself mentally ready for work. The way back kind of sucked because you just wanted to get home already. I smoked back then, so I would have 2 cigarettes on the way there (one as soon as I got into my car and the 2nd when I rolled into KC), kind of gross thinking back upon it.

[seclark]

drive 20 to work. all is either county rock, or state blacktop. traffic is mostly deer, quail, phesant and amish buggy. driving home from work is often longer, because i like to take more county rock roads to look for wildlife and kind of unwind.

in the morning, i stop once every couple days to pick up a can of chew. in the evening i stop every once every couple days to pick up some beer to take home. both ways, i start listening to sports talk radio(kc or stl) until i get pissed, then plug in a cd.

going to work, i think about how much crap i'll have to deal w/that day. going home, i think about how much crap i had to deal w/that day.

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[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by seclark

drive 20 to work. all is either county rock, or state blacktop. traffic is mostly deer, quail, phesant and amish buggy. driving home from work is often longer, because i like to take more county rock roads to look for wildlife and kind of unwind.

in the morning, i stop once every couple days to pick up a can of chew. in the evening i stop every once every couple days to pick up some beer to take home. both ways, i start listening to sports talk radio(kc or stl) until i get pissed, then plug in a cd.

going to work, i think about how much crap i'll have to deal w/that day. going home, i think about how much crap i had to deal w/that day.

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Nice, that sounds like an enjoyable drive. What kind of chew? I tried that once and it triggered my gag reflex.

[seclark]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

Nice, that sounds like an enjoyable drive. What kind of chew? I tried that once and it triggered my gag reflex.

cope long cut...nasty habit. you're lucky.
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