Life Tell me about your commute. - Page 4

**Rain Man** · 12-08-2011, 12:06 PM

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.

**DaFace** · 12-08-2011, 05:40 PM

My commute can be divided into three parts, which vary slightly depending on what bus I catch:

1. Leave home and drive about 2.5 miles to the Park n Ride. It's your typical drive through suburbia, and takes 7-10 minutes depending on whether school's in session. I typically listen to NPR or try and catch the news on my normal music station if the timing's right.
2. Hop on a bus to downtown. I pretty much zone out to the world on the bus and either read a book, catch up on blogs on my phone, or check in with the happenings on ChiefsPlanet. Bus ride's about 15 minutes.
3. Get from the bus to the office. Depending on which bus I catch, I then either take the shuttle on the 16th Street Mall down to the office, or I walk about 3 blocks. Either way, it takes about 5 minutes. If I'm on the shuttle, whatever activity I started on the bus typically continues. If I'm walking, I usually think about whatever will be waiting for me once I hit the office.

That's about it. If I catch the buses right, it's about a 30 minute commute, but I only drive 10 minutes of it, so it's a pretty pleasant commute most of the time.

**The Franchise** · 12-08-2011, 05:45 PM

My commute takes roughly about an hour.

The first 15-20 minutes is spent driving from my house to the daycare facility. I then spend another 10-15 minutes dropping my kids off and getting them situated. Then another 15-20 minutes driving to work.

**cdcox** · 12-08-2011, 06:50 PM

I hop in my yellow Ford F-150 usually by 8:30. I'm not a morning person, but I don't like to arrive after 9:00. I eat my Dark Chocolate and Almonds Fiber Plus Antioxidants bar during the first 4 minutes which are on hilly, windy suburban roads, except the last 40 seconds which are on a boulevard. By then I'm at the convenience store, where I stop and fill my insulated mug for $0.97 including tax. I try to pay with $1.02 when possible so I get a nickel in change. I glance at the headlines in the news paper out the door.

The next 3 minutes are another boulevard in a mad dash to get to the interstate. Once on the interstate I work to get into the far left lane. I don't have a radio in my truck, and tend to focus heavily on driving. 12 minutes later I'm pulling off the interstate. From the interstate it is another 5 minute drive either through or on the edge of an old urban neighborhood to my parking spot, then another 4-7 minute walk to one of my two offices.

Going home is usually between 6:30 and 8:00, after the traffic has died down. Again, no radio, and obsessing over the details of the drive home. Often will stop at the grocery store on the way home.

Frazod · 12-08-2011, 07:05 PM

Five minutes to the train station. 45 minute train ride to Union Station. Bus or walk to the office. Adds up to about an hour and 25 minutes.

**Bugeater** · 12-08-2011, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

I hop in my yellow Ford F-150 usually by 8:30. I'm not a morning person, but I don't like to arrive after 9:00. I eat my Dark Chocolate and Almonds Fiber Plus Antioxidants bar during the first 4 minutes which are on hilly, windy suburban roads, except the last 40 seconds which are on a boulevard. By then I'm at the convenience store, where I stop and fill my insulated mug for $0.97 including tax. I try to pay with $1.02 when possible so I get a nickel in change. I glance at the headlines in the news paper out the door.

The next 3 minutes are another boulevard in a mad dash to get to the interstate. Once on the interstate I work to get into the far left lane. I don't have a radio in my truck, and tend to focus heavily on driving. 12 minutes later I'm pulling off the interstate. From the interstate it is another 5 minute drive either through or on the edge of an old urban neighborhood to my parking spot, then another 4-7 minute walk to one of my two offices.

Going home is usually between 6:30 and 8:00, after the traffic has died down. Again, no radio, and obsessing over the details of the drive home. Often will stop at the grocery store on the way home.

WTF kind of truck has no radio in it?

**cdcox** · 12-08-2011, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bugeater

WTF kind of truck has no radio in it?

Loss leader.

Ugly yellow w ruby red vynil interior.
No ac
Manual trans
no carpet
I had to add my own cup holder.

**Bugeater** · 12-08-2011, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

Loss leader.

Ugly yellow w ruby red vynil interior.
No ac
Manual trans
no carpet
I had to add my own cup holder.

Did they have to pay you to drive it off the lot?

Caseyguyrr · 12-08-2011, 08:43 PM

37 miles around 40 minutes with a stop to get coffee at quiktrip every night

DaveNull · 12-08-2011, 08:54 PM

Typically between 20 and 30 minutes.

I'll listen either to a number of 5by5 podcasts off my phone via Instacast (one of my favorite iOS apps) or will rock one of my smart playlists. The best for the commute is called Power Hour which is made up of songs rated 3 stars or above; that haven't been fully played in the last 3 weeks; that haven't been skipped in the last 2 weeks. The playlist is limited to one hour selected at random. Every night when I plug my phone in to listen to some George Noory it refreshes all the play counts and grabs new tunes.

**luv** · 12-08-2011, 09:03 PM

My commute takes 5-10 minutes depending on how many of the three lights between here and there I hit red. My office is on the same street that the cul de sac I live on is off of. I drive past a hospital, and a few other medical office buildings.

On the way home, there is a point just past the hospital (between two stop lights) where the road goes from two lanes one way to one. People will get in the lane that ends with the expectation that they will be able to cut in front of someone before they reach the next light where that lane ends (that lane becomes a right turn lane). I don't people in front of me, even if they signal. I hope they end up having to stop and wait to get back into the correct lane. More times than not, whoever I am behind does not feel the same way, so that other driver is usually able to cut them off. Irritates the crap out of me, and I have no clue why.

Anyway, I usually get to listen to about two whole songs on the radio each way, as long as I catch a spot where they don't go to commercial. In the summer, I was going to ride my bike to work, but I never know when my attorney might have me running errands, so I drive.

-King- · 12-08-2011, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luv

On the way home, there is a point just past the hospital (between two stop lights) where the road goes from two lanes one way to one. People will get in the lane that ends with the expectation that they will be able to cut in front of someone before they reach the next light where that lane ends (that lane becomes a right turn lane). I don't people in front of me, even if they signal. I hope they end up having to stop and wait to get back into the correct lane. More times than not, whoever I am behind does not feel the same way, so that other driver is usually able to cut them off. Irritates the crap out of me, and I have no clue why.

I hate you.
Posted via Mobile Device

**rockymtnchief** · 12-08-2011, 09:29 PM

Walk out the backdoor at 7:50, smile at the cute gal working the bank drive-thru, walk into the grocery store for a Powerade, say hello to the cute deli girl, walk across the street, enter my office door at 7:55.

MOhillbilly · 12-08-2011, 09:43 PM

Walk. Takes seconds. Listen to classical music. I think about everything and nothing. Drink coffee and chat with the dogs.

trndobrd · 12-08-2011, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain Man

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.

Why even go to work the other 95% of the time?

-King- · 12-08-2011, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trndobrd

Why even go to work the other 95% of the time?

Posted via Mobile Device

12-08-2011, 12:06 PM
Rain Man Seize life. Be an ermine. Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $-682449 VARSITY	Tell me about your commute. 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.
Posts: 145,512

12-08-2011, 05:40 PM	#46
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-1883101	My commute can be divided into three parts, which vary slightly depending on what bus I catch: 1. Leave home and drive about 2.5 miles to the Park n Ride. It's your typical drive through suburbia, and takes 7-10 minutes depending on whether school's in session. I typically listen to NPR or try and catch the news on my normal music station if the timing's right. 2. Hop on a bus to downtown. I pretty much zone out to the world on the bus and either read a book, catch up on blogs on my phone, or check in with the happenings on ChiefsPlanet. Bus ride's about 15 minutes. 3. Get from the bus to the office. Depending on which bus I catch, I then either take the shuttle on the 16th Street Mall down to the office, or I walk about 3 blocks. Either way, it takes about 5 minutes. If I'm on the shuttle, whatever activity I started on the bus typically continues. If I'm walking, I usually think about whatever will be waiting for me once I hit the office. That's about it. If I catch the buses right, it's about a 30 minute commute, but I only drive 10 minutes of it, so it's a pretty pleasant commute most of the time.
Posts: 53,154

12-08-2011, 05:45 PM	#47
The Franchise Most Valuable Villain Join Date: Dec 2006 Casino cash: $2065047	My commute takes roughly about an hour. The first 15-20 minutes is spent driving from my house to the daycare facility. I then spend another 10-15 minutes dropping my kids off and getting them situated. Then another 15-20 minutes driving to work.
Posts: 92,316

12-08-2011, 06:50 PM	#48
cdcox www.nfl-forecast.com Join Date: Sep 2000 Casino cash: $-588231	I hop in my yellow Ford F-150 usually by 8:30. I'm not a morning person, but I don't like to arrive after 9:00. I eat my Dark Chocolate and Almonds Fiber Plus Antioxidants bar during the first 4 minutes which are on hilly, windy suburban roads, except the last 40 seconds which are on a boulevard. By then I'm at the convenience store, where I stop and fill my insulated mug for $0.97 including tax. I try to pay with $1.02 when possible so I get a nickel in change. I glance at the headlines in the news paper out the door. The next 3 minutes are another boulevard in a mad dash to get to the interstate. Once on the interstate I work to get into the far left lane. I don't have a radio in my truck, and tend to focus heavily on driving. 12 minutes later I'm pulling off the interstate. From the interstate it is another 5 minute drive either through or on the edge of an old urban neighborhood to my parking spot, then another 4-7 minute walk to one of my two offices. Going home is usually between 6:30 and 8:00, after the traffic has died down. Again, no radio, and obsessing over the details of the drive home. Often will stop at the grocery store on the way home.
Posts: 46,032

12-08-2011, 07:05 PM	#49
Frazod Did you hear what I said? Join Date: Aug 2000 Casino cash: $-786615	Five minutes to the train station. 45 minute train ride to Union Station. Bus or walk to the office. Adds up to about an hour and 25 minutes.
Posts: 121,774

12-08-2011, 08:43 PM	#53
Caseyguyrr I believe in Smith Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Platte City, MO Casino cash: $9947374	37 miles around 40 minutes with a stop to get coffee at quiktrip every night __________________ We suck.
Posts: 1,553

12-08-2011, 08:54 PM	#54
DaveNull Veteran Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Villa Straylight Casino cash: $9975610	Typically between 20 and 30 minutes. I'll listen either to a number of 5by5 podcasts off my phone via Instacast (one of my favorite iOS apps) or will rock one of my smart playlists. The best for the commute is called Power Hour which is made up of songs rated 3 stars or above; that haven't been fully played in the last 3 weeks; that haven't been skipped in the last 2 weeks. The playlist is limited to one hour selected at random. Every night when I plug my phone in to listen to some George Noory it refreshes all the play counts and grabs new tunes.
Posts: 2,367

12-08-2011, 09:03 PM	#55
luv You think you can get by this? Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Springfield, MO Casino cash: $-1250000	My commute takes 5-10 minutes depending on how many of the three lights between here and there I hit red. My office is on the same street that the cul de sac I live on is off of. I drive past a hospital, and a few other medical office buildings. On the way home, there is a point just past the hospital (between two stop lights) where the road goes from two lanes one way to one. People will get in the lane that ends with the expectation that they will be able to cut in front of someone before they reach the next light where that lane ends (that lane becomes a right turn lane). I don't people in front of me, even if they signal. I hope they end up having to stop and wait to get back into the correct lane. More times than not, whoever I am behind does not feel the same way, so that other driver is usually able to cut them off. Irritates the crap out of me, and I have no clue why. Anyway, I usually get to listen to about two whole songs on the radio each way, as long as I catch a spot where they don't go to commercial. In the summer, I was going to ride my bike to work, but I never know when my attorney might have me running errands, so I drive.
Posts: 63,567

12-08-2011, 09:29 PM	#57
rockymtnchief Supporter Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: The Crazys of Montana Casino cash: $10018968 VARSITY	Walk out the backdoor at 7:50, smile at the cute gal working the bank drive-thru, walk into the grocery store for a Powerade, say hello to the cute deli girl, walk across the street, enter my office door at 7:55.
Posts: 5,740

12-08-2011, 09:43 PM	#58
MOhillbilly Mama Tried Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Missouri Casino cash: $9949903	Walk. Takes seconds. Listen to classical music. I think about everything and nothing. Drink coffee and chat with the dogs. __________________ True Son of Liberty
Posts: 23,371