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12 Responses to At least I am not singing. …
Anonymous :
January 28th, 2005 at 9:25 AM
Dawn,
MOVE!
Seriously. It is not worth it. That is complete torture. Can you move to MD?
I mean, I would kill myself if I had to drive even just half an hour every day.
Another possibility: take Metro? (Is that a possibility?) If you can get where you need to go on trains only (no buses), I think it’s totally worth it. You may have to stand up for the 30 minutes or whatever, but you just bust out your mp3 player and zone out and you’re good, you know?
Consider these ideas!!!
Love Isabel
Anonymous :
January 28th, 2005 at 11:38 AM
Dawn: Without getting into too many details workwise, it sounds like you’re coming up 395 to the GW Parkway to 270 and on from there. That pretty much guarantees you hit all the trouble spots along the way. Have you tried going around the Beltway? Can’t be any worse. E-mail me if you want at dh19622000@yahoo.com and I can try to puzzle out a better driving plan – got to get you off of 395 North in the morning. Oh, and loving the voice postings – the Pittsburgh accent makes me a little homesick!
Dan
Anonymous :
January 28th, 2005 at 1:03 PM
How I love audioblogs. It gives me a chance to get the real voice to have in my head when I read your writing. Sorry about your traffic trauman. Sounds like a nightmare! groovebunny
Is there any way you can adjust your hours so that you work earlier? I know it’s a bitch to get up early, but I take River Road/495 West/GW Parkway/27 to get from Bethesda to work in Arlington, and since I am usually on the road by 7:10 a.m., it only takes about 30-45 minutes. I tried coming in later, in an effort to get more sleep, but I just could NOT tolerate the hour-plus commute.
I may have suggestions to help you avoid 270, depending on how far up 270 you’re traveling.
Also, downtown Bethesda is a very nice place to live, if you are thinking of moving…
Moving isn’t an option. I owe so many people so much money that I won’t be able to sock away enough to move for probably 18 months. Besides, I don’t want to become a Mary-lander any more than I want to use a PC over a Mac! *twitch*
I am not even sure if/where the Metro stops near my destination. I suspect I’d fare better in the car time-wise, and I am thrilled to not have to be body-to-body with anyone I don’t choose to be body-to-body with. 😉
I am hoping to get into an adjusted schedule once I find my groove and have proven myself … I foresee it being a later start/finish time, which is fine with me. I am not getting enough sleep and would revel in the chance to wake up after 5:40 a.m.! (Natural beauty takes 90 minutes on the low end for me to achieve.)
I’ve done the Beltway. Problem with that has been getting TO to the Beltway. That, for me, means sitting on 236 west for a ridiculous amount of time. Then the beltway is slow, but it’s not bad in comparison. I’d rather go slower on the Beltway anyway.
As is, average commute time is an hour in the a.m. and an hour and 15 in the evening. I just post on the days when it gets near the two-hour mark, but thankfully, it’s never been more than that. I am, however, ready to get an ass donut for the car because it’s numb as all hell when I finally stand up!
Dear Federal Highway Administration: Please place Starbucks vendors every half-mile. Dawn is a Bitch on Wheels when her coffee runs out before she gets to work!!!!!!!!!
Sounds like you’re going to have to invest in a carafe or a thermos or something. Either that or on the days when traffic is literally not moving they should have vendors on roller skates.
Erica, you’re a genius! Someone just gave me a travel thermos as a new-job gift. OMG, I had NO idea that I would be in the car long enough to go through that much coffee, but until we see Starbucks employees rollerblading up the Interstate, that will be the solution. Thanks for that!!!
Anonymous :
January 29th, 2005 at 8:00 PM
I took 395 to GW to Beltway to 270 every day for a year and a half to get to Rockville. It really isn’t that bad. The GW is usually clear headed north once you get past the Key Bridge. Between GW and 270, you’re really only on the Beltway for a short distance, and 270 headed away from town is easy in the morning. The whole trip took me, on average, 45 minutes to go 20 miles, and that was with average traffic. With light traffic, I could do it in 25.
Dawn’s issue is that she’s got more distance on 395 to travel, which is really the hard part. But we’ve both tried the Beltway-all-the-way method, and let me tell you how it sucks. Each and every day.
Dawn’s other issue is that her previous job was about 3 miles from her apartment, so she’s spoiled. 😉
Tiff nailed it. I expect 395 to be wall-to-wall traffic, and that’s my shortest distance on the whole trip yet it takes the longest. After I see Rosslyn (from the GW), it’s usually smooth sailing. I have a ways to go on 270, but I jump in the local lanes and I adore them so. 🙂
My question, I guess, is how hideous would the GW be if I got on in Old Town or Arlington? I like taking 10C from 395 because it’s a direct route, but I’d rather be moving. I just lurrrve how the electronic signs say “Traffic slow into D.C.” — um, no shit if you’re sitting there reading the sign!!!
Oh well. I’m burning some CDs as I type this, so I should be OK for the week, traffic and all. 😀
Anonymous :
January 30th, 2005 at 8:55 PM
No no no, don’t take exit 10C from 395… that leaves you on 395 a lot longer than necessary. Take 8B- the one after the Clarendon exit. You’ll go past the Pentagon (which can be heavy, but you aren’t there for long), and then you sort of merge left and go under the bridge, and then stay in the right lane, which immediately runs into the GW, right before Rosslyn. The only problem is that there’s no merge area there, so you sometimes get stuck waiting for traffic to pass.
–Tiff
Anonymous :
January 31st, 2005 at 2:32 PM
Don’t try to get on the GW in Old Town and go north from there. I do it every day, and it is a total crapshoot. One day you zip up to the bridge in 5 minutes, and the next it’s backed up all the way to south of the airport. You’re better off slugging it out up 395 than getting on the Parkway northbound in the morning from Old Town. Plus getting IN to Old Town to pick up the Parkway is a suicide mission. Sorry, guess I’m not helping very much. I keep telling you what NOT to do instead of what to do. Let me think on it some more.
I tried 8B today. Other than getting completely confused and ending up on Constitution Ave., I still had the least painful commute yet. 😀
Dan, thanks for the tip on Old Town being a suicide mission. 🙂 I kinda figured as much but was desperate. Once I found the GW again (from D.C.) it was easy-breezy. Yee haw!!!
January 28th, 2005 at 9:25 AM
Dawn,
MOVE!
Seriously. It is not worth it. That is complete torture. Can you move to MD?
I mean, I would kill myself if I had to drive even just half an hour every day.
Another possibility: take Metro? (Is that a possibility?) If you can get where you need to go on trains only (no buses), I think it’s totally worth it. You may have to stand up for the 30 minutes or whatever, but you just bust out your mp3 player and zone out and you’re good, you know?
Consider these ideas!!!
Love
Isabel
January 28th, 2005 at 11:38 AM
Dawn:
Without getting into too many details workwise, it sounds like you’re coming up 395 to the GW Parkway to 270 and on from there. That pretty much guarantees you hit all the trouble spots along the way. Have you tried going around the Beltway? Can’t be any worse.
E-mail me if you want at dh19622000@yahoo.com and I can try to puzzle out a better driving plan – got to get you off of 395 North in the morning.
Oh, and loving the voice postings – the Pittsburgh accent makes me a little homesick!
Dan
January 28th, 2005 at 1:03 PM
How I love audioblogs. It gives me a chance to get the real voice to have in my head when I read your writing. Sorry about your traffic trauman. Sounds like a nightmare! groovebunny
January 28th, 2005 at 11:47 PM
Is there any way you can adjust your hours so that you work earlier? I know it’s a bitch to get up early, but I take River Road/495 West/GW Parkway/27 to get from Bethesda to work in Arlington, and since I am usually on the road by 7:10 a.m., it only takes about 30-45 minutes. I tried coming in later, in an effort to get more sleep, but I just could NOT tolerate the hour-plus commute.
I may have suggestions to help you avoid 270, depending on how far up 270 you’re traveling.
Also, downtown Bethesda is a very nice place to live, if you are thinking of moving…
January 29th, 2005 at 10:29 AM
Moving isn’t an option. I owe so many people so much money that I won’t be able to sock away enough to move for probably 18 months. Besides, I don’t want to become a Mary-lander any more than I want to use a PC over a Mac! *twitch*
I am not even sure if/where the Metro stops near my destination. I suspect I’d fare better in the car time-wise, and I am thrilled to not have to be body-to-body with anyone I don’t choose to be body-to-body with. 😉
I am hoping to get into an adjusted schedule once I find my groove and have proven myself … I foresee it being a later start/finish time, which is fine with me. I am not getting enough sleep and would revel in the chance to wake up after 5:40 a.m.! (Natural beauty takes 90 minutes on the low end for me to achieve.)
I’ve done the Beltway. Problem with that has been getting TO to the Beltway. That, for me, means sitting on 236 west for a ridiculous amount of time. Then the beltway is slow, but it’s not bad in comparison. I’d rather go slower on the Beltway anyway.
As is, average commute time is an hour in the a.m. and an hour and 15 in the evening. I just post on the days when it gets near the two-hour mark, but thankfully, it’s never been more than that. I am, however, ready to get an ass donut for the car because it’s numb as all hell when I finally stand up!
Dear Federal Highway Administration: Please place Starbucks vendors every half-mile. Dawn is a Bitch on Wheels when her coffee runs out before she gets to work!!!!!!!!!
January 29th, 2005 at 1:57 PM
Sounds like you’re going to have to invest in a carafe or a thermos or something. Either that or on the days when traffic is literally not moving they should have vendors on roller skates.
January 29th, 2005 at 3:40 PM
Erica, you’re a genius! Someone just gave me a travel thermos as a new-job gift. OMG, I had NO idea that I would be in the car long enough to go through that much coffee, but until we see Starbucks employees rollerblading up the Interstate, that will be the solution. Thanks for that!!!
January 29th, 2005 at 8:00 PM
I took 395 to GW to Beltway to 270 every day for a year and a half to get to Rockville. It really isn’t that bad. The GW is usually clear headed north once you get past the Key Bridge. Between GW and 270, you’re really only on the Beltway for a short distance, and 270 headed away from town is easy in the morning. The whole trip took me, on average, 45 minutes to go 20 miles, and that was with average traffic. With light traffic, I could do it in 25.
Dawn’s issue is that she’s got more distance on 395 to travel, which is really the hard part. But we’ve both tried the Beltway-all-the-way method, and let me tell you how it sucks. Each and every day.
Dawn’s other issue is that her previous job was about 3 miles from her apartment, so she’s spoiled. 😉
–Tiff
January 30th, 2005 at 7:15 PM
Tiff nailed it. I expect 395 to be wall-to-wall traffic, and that’s my shortest distance on the whole trip yet it takes the longest. After I see Rosslyn (from the GW), it’s usually smooth sailing. I have a ways to go on 270, but I jump in the local lanes and I adore them so. 🙂
My question, I guess, is how hideous would the GW be if I got on in Old Town or Arlington? I like taking 10C from 395 because it’s a direct route, but I’d rather be moving. I just lurrrve how the electronic signs say “Traffic slow into D.C.” — um, no shit if you’re sitting there reading the sign!!!
Oh well. I’m burning some CDs as I type this, so I should be OK for the week, traffic and all. 😀
January 30th, 2005 at 8:55 PM
No no no, don’t take exit 10C from 395… that leaves you on 395 a lot longer than necessary. Take 8B- the one after the Clarendon exit. You’ll go past the Pentagon (which can be heavy, but you aren’t there for long), and then you sort of merge left and go under the bridge, and then stay in the right lane, which immediately runs into the GW, right before Rosslyn. The only problem is that there’s no merge area there, so you sometimes get stuck waiting for traffic to pass.
–Tiff
January 31st, 2005 at 2:32 PM
Don’t try to get on the GW in Old Town and go north from there. I do it every day, and it is a total crapshoot. One day you zip up to the bridge in 5 minutes, and the next it’s backed up all the way to south of the airport. You’re better off slugging it out up 395 than getting on the Parkway northbound in the morning from Old Town. Plus getting IN to Old Town to pick up the Parkway is a suicide mission.
Sorry, guess I’m not helping very much. I keep telling you what NOT to do instead of what to do. Let me think on it some more.
Dan
January 31st, 2005 at 2:55 PM
I tried 8B today. Other than getting completely confused and ending up on Constitution Ave., I still had the least painful commute yet. 😀
Dan, thanks for the tip on Old Town being a suicide mission. 🙂 I kinda figured as much but was desperate. Once I found the GW again (from D.C.) it was easy-breezy. Yee haw!!!
Thanks, everyone, for your help!