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September 16, 2005

Whack Upside The Head

I occurred to me as I sat in the midst of a mile-long traffic jam yesterday - I really haven't done a lot of commuting lately.

I live in the Midway, halfway between the two downtowns. Which is great, except that for years, most of the high-tech (non-defense-industry) jobs were growing up in the western suburbs. So for years after I left radio and went into software, I commuted. And commuted. And commuted some more.

From 2003 on, my various commutes - with the number of miles/major chokepoints included - were:

  • Eden Prairie (22/2)
  • Eagan (10/0), for all of six months
  • Golden Valley (15/2)
  • Bloomington (12/1)
  • Farmington (30/0)
  • Eden Prairie (24/2)
  • Minnetonka (20/3)
  • Plymouth (16/2)
  • Eden Prairie (23/3)
  • Minnetonka (20/3)
  • Maple Grove (23/0)
  • Minnetonka (18/2)
  • Chanhassen (40/4)
That all ended at the beginning of '03, when I spent four months out of work; after that, my next three gigs were on the East Side of Saint Paul (seven miles, going to opposite direction of the rush hour), in Downtown Minneapolis (five miles) and, for the past year, the Saint Paul riverfront (probably three miles, about a seven minute drive). It's been almost three years since I've done any serious commuting.

So yowsa, I'm out of shape! I've forgotten the shortcuts, and I've really forgotten the patience needed to survive as I slug through my drive to the northwest suburbs; half an hour if I'm lucky, and hour if I'm not.

Like yesterday.

You know who you are, woman in the Bronco. All I can say is, I suspect you must be guilty of some horrid crime in your past, which is why you have abandoned as irrelevant the concepts and strictures of conventional morality.

I have no better explanation.

Note to Governor Pawlenty: You need to build a toll skyway from, say, 55 and 100, directly to 94 and 280. You will once again be my hero.

Posted by Mitch at September 16, 2005 12:44 PM | TrackBack
Comments

I like books on CD. SOmehow it's better than the radio.

Posted by: dwb at September 16, 2005 03:01 PM

Mitch, Welcome to my life. 3 years straight of gridlock. On the plus side that is how I found Hugh Hewitt. Bumper to bumper became a lot easier after that.

Posted by: Uncle Ben at September 17, 2005 01:34 AM

Since the Northern Alliance still doesn't offer the show in downloadable MP3s, I have acquired a taste for listening to commercial-free Coast to Coast AM shows that I download and burn to CDs. Of course, I would MUCH prefer to listen to NARN. ;-)

Posted by: Michael at September 17, 2005 09:50 AM
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