Do we have a lot of commuters ... or even super commuters ... on this site? What do you do to stay sane and stay productive during your commute?

I commute a minimum of 45 minutes one-way every day, and upwards of two hours one-way on bad traffic days. Thank god I can work from home a couple of days a week. Here are a few things I do in the car to stay sane:

1) Record verbal notes for work and a to-do list on my iphone
2) Catch up on phone calls (via hands-free) to family members
3) Isometric exercises to work out my legs, arms and abs
4) Listen to talk radio (Dr. Radio on Sirius XM is a fav) ... and occasionally call in to talk with the experts/radio talent just to kill time
5) Listen to Spanish language CDs to try to improve my Spanish skills
6) Listen to NPR's Marketplace in the evening

How do you make your commute tolerable? Any tips/tricks to share with the rest of teedub?

[Edited on November 3, 2011 at 5:00 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2011 4:50:44 PM

Listen to NPR and a local radio station in the morning on the way to work. (Around 7 am)

On the way back home (Around 6:30/7:00 PM), listen to music, think about solutions for technical problems at work, talk on phone with the wife, etc.

11/3/2011 4:55:30 PM

i listened to a particular morning show that is hilarious

keeps me somewhat sane.

11/3/2011 4:56:25 PM

I give people the finger, cuss at them, and occasionally cut them off during my 3 mile commute to work. This is all because those who drive on Duraleigh Road/Blue Ridge Road are slow assholes who don't know how to drive.

11/3/2011 5:01:58 PM

podcasts and sports talk radio.

also, the hardest thing i've found is avoiding complacency when driving to or from work.

the fact that that drive is so familiar, you can easily zone out and not be paying attention. at highway speeds, poor reaction times can be a pretty big deal. being somewhat involved in npr, sports talk radio or podcasts tends to keep my brain away from going on auto-pilot. there are few things more disturbing than realizing you've just driven the entire way home and have no real recollection of doing so. clearly you're mind is on task.

like, 60% of my 15 mile commute is under construction. half way to work, i pass by a container ship port, so it's ~45% semis on the road beyond that. i'm posting in here because that 15 miles normally takes between 40-60 minutes. there's also a boardwalky touristy spot that gets jacked up traffic during the summer.

as i get older i'm already turning into the cranky old safety first guy (although this doesn't keep me anywhere near the speed limit).

11/3/2011 5:01:59 PM

Financial & political news podcasts, and audio books when I'm traveling 2+ hours

11/3/2011 5:12:35 PM

2.5 hours a day minimum driving time. I work 65 miles from home with a normal drive time of 1:15. With bad traffic it has taken up to three hours.
I live in east Charlotte and drive to statesville.
I listen to talk radio in the morning and top 40 at night on the way home.
I run the second shift of a manufacturing plant, so my commute is mostly during off-traffic times.

I just enjoy driving, so the 36,000 miles per year for work doesn't bother me.

11/3/2011 6:28:08 PM

Quote :

"Listen to NPR's Marketplace in the evening"

YES!!!!! Marketplace is my crack addiction!

11/3/2011 6:30:35 PM

To stay sanealive and productive during my 8 minute bike into work I watch out for idiots trying to run me over and pedal really hard.

11/3/2011 6:56:54 PM

kegels

11/3/2011 7:11:24 PM

My commute is about 30 minutes one way, an hour on really bad days. Usually I just listen to NPR or WKNC. I've had people recommend Rosetta Stone but I don't know if I can justify the money required for it.

Back when I used to ride the train/bus to work I used to get all sorts of shit done. It was great. I've considered taking the bus to Durham even if it takes more time so I can use that time.

11/3/2011 7:12:48 PM

Haha, I don't even consider 30 min a commute.
What kills menus when I figure out how much I am spending on gas every month.

I have deffinately fallen victim to zoning out on the drive. Some nights when I get out late, my drive home starts at 11pm.

11/3/2011 8:04:09 PM

It's weird. When I commuted on the train, my commute was usually an hour, sometimes 1.5 hours and it was no big deal. Only days it sucked is when some guy decided to commit suicide by train and it was delayed by 3+ hours. But having to drive for 30 minutes and dealing with morons on 40 is mentally exhausting and annoying. I'd almost rather go back to the hour train commute.

11/3/2011 8:35:06 PM

4^ I do kegels too. "isometrics" lol


And HockeyRoman, Kai Ryssdal is my celeb crush. LOVE that show!

[Edited on November 3, 2011 at 8:44 PM. Reason : N]

11/3/2011 8:35:40 PM

Quote :

"2.5 hours a day minimum driving time. I work 65 miles from home with a normal drive time of 1:15. With bad traffic it has taken up to three hours. "

Why not move closer to work. For short term i could do but it would drive me crazy driving that far for 10 years.

11/3/2011 9:08:40 PM

Wasn't there a story of a dude that did a daily commute from Atlanta to DC or something equally as crazy? I'm not sure anyone could pay me enough to do that without a bullet train.

11/3/2011 9:11:27 PM

One guy I work with lives in Tampa and one lives in Charlotte.

The Tampa guy flys up Monday morning and flys home Friday night. The Charlotte guy stays in a hotel m-thur.

11/3/2011 9:14:36 PM

Yeah no way I could see myself doing something like that. Not unless there was mad money involved.

11/3/2011 9:15:30 PM

Im not exactly sure what the deal is but they are on loan from one of our business partners. Yet they have been onsite for at least 18 months.

11/3/2011 9:42:12 PM

I drive an hour to/from every day but with a gas card and company vehicle so I don't really mind it. Also lucky enough to work from home/hotel/wherever and commute time is more or less built into my "schedule".

pilgrimshoes is spot on though. Any change in traffic such as road construction and im like THE F IS THIS?! ALMOST REAR ENDED YOU FOOL LEARN TO DRIVE! And then I realize I'd been zoned out the last 15 miles and there's like some traffic redirect. whoops.

I listen to talk radio/top40/audiobooks as well. Tried a language CD a couple of times, but couldn't really get into it.

11/3/2011 9:50:31 PM

I know a lot of consultants who fly across the country to work each week. Orlando to Seattle and such. They live at a Marriott and rack up frequent traveler rewards each week, fly home each wknd. They make insane money and the company pays for everything. Rough on marriages and sleep schedules though.

In my office, the guy who sits beside me lives in new york with his fam on weekends, but works in Florida during the week. Another guy drives 400 miles round-trip 3 days a week. Ick!

11/3/2011 9:52:57 PM

Quote :

"Why not move closer to work. For short term i could do but it would drive me crazy driving that far for 10 years."

When I moved to charlotte from raleigh, my wife and I bought our house based on her work location.
When I found a job, it was 8 miles away and 15 minutes away. That job was great and all, but I found a much better job that fit my ambitions, and gave me a $14k raise.
I can deal with the hour extra each way for the increased pay. I work equal hours, including driving time, so it was well worth it.

I ended up buying a new car, that gets better gas mileage and will save me about 2k each year. It also is a nicer ride that my hatch back/rocket ship.

11/3/2011 11:37:12 PM

My commute is about 2 miles and almost 10 minutes. It's annoying. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes if uptown Charlotte traffic is bad. Wouldn't mind living closer but I love my neighborhood!

11/3/2011 11:45:32 PM

i used to commute around an hour both ways about 6 years ago... I'd often take naps. The rumble strips usually woke me up in time.

11/4/2011 7:22:11 AM

My commute is from my bed about 10ft to my desk. It's AWFUL. Sometimes there is a herd of dust bunnies in the hallway that make me take a detour, and that's another 15-20ft. The upside to the detour is that it takes me by the kitchen where I can get some coffee and breakfast, which adds about 2-3 minutes to my commute.

Shit is out of control.

11/4/2011 8:16:43 AM

We have some people at my office that brag about their commutes... I never understood that. Somehow by explaining to us how long and grueling their commute is, it's suppose to convince me that they are somehow a more motivated worker. Have fun blowing extra cash on fuel, I guess...

My commute is pretty consistently 30 minutes both ways (giggidy), but I live in a town surrounded by rural Virginia. My base is 30 minutes from me, 30 minutes from the nearest city, and there arn't any good housing communities between the base and the city so it is what it is. On the ride in, I have my morning show (Elliot In The Morning... 102.1 FM when I'm closer to home and 101.1 when I'm closer to my base), and on the ride out, I listen to ESPN radio out of DC (the signal goes all the way back to my home).

As far as being productive, the best I do is look at some work notes prior to my commute, then on my way in I'll go ahead and develop a plan for how to tackle whatever I'm working on throughout the day. That way, I hit the office, log into my computer, and can start immediately on something.

11/4/2011 8:45:20 AM

Quote :

"In my office, the guy who sits beside me lives in new york with his fam on weekends, but works in Florida during the week. Another guy drives 400 miles round-trip 3 days a week. Ick!"

Fuck that noise.

Quote :

"We have some people at my office that brag about their commutes... I never understood that. Somehow by explaining to us how long and grueling their commute is, it's suppose to convince me that they are somehow a more motivated worker. Have fun blowing extra cash on fuel, I guess..."

When I was working for a biotech company out in RTP we had a lot of people who did that. One idiot commuted from High Point to RTP every day and was constantly bitching about the price of gas and the wear and tear on his car. Finally one day our team lead was like, "Then why the fuck don't you buy a house closer to RTP?" "Oh well, I like living in the country."

11/4/2011 8:54:15 AM

Quote :

"We have some people at my office that brag about their commutes... I never understood that. Somehow by explaining to us how long and grueling their commute is, it's suppose to convince me that they are somehow a more motivated worker. Have fun blowing extra cash on fuel, I guess..."

i mean... are they bragging or just discussing? just because someone is talking about how long their drive is doesn't mean they are "bragging" about it (what is there to brag about?)

11/4/2011 8:54:20 AM

It's some sort of badge of honor bullshit for some people.

You know the type. "Oh my god my day was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo awful yesterday. Let me tell you in painful, exaggerated detail how awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwful my day was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Every big office seems to have at least one of those guys.

In the office I'm in now I have the 2nd longest commute, but the chick with the longest commute and I never talk about it. Who the fuck cares about your commute other than you?

11/4/2011 8:58:08 AM

I had the longest commute in my office (1 hour, 20 minutes, one way) for the first two months of working in this new place. Then we moved, and now it's down to 35 minutes. It's still the longest commute, but it's definitely tolerable. We can't do much better than that, because my husband and I split the difference in our location, so now we're both driving distances.

When it was the seriously long commute I would:
1) Listen to audio books.
2) Make my family catch up phone calls with parents/siblings/grandmother.
3) If the drive got too terrible, or if one week, I was just tired of being in the car, I would stop at a store half way and just browse for a few minutes, or hit up a B&N for another audio book.

11/4/2011 9:02:04 AM

I used to work with someone who was thankful for his commute (about 30-45 minutes).

He left early enough in the morning not to get caught up in traffic, and used the time to get focused for the day, plan out his meetings in his head, and basically get ready to tackle his day.

On the way home, the drive gave him time to decompress, destress, and put work up in the back of his mind so that by the time he got home, all his attention was on his family.

11/4/2011 9:07:30 AM

Smath74, Yeah, pretty much what wolfpackgrrr identified. It's not that people discuss their commutes or even complain about their commutes. No, I'm talking about the dick that when comes into the office after everyone has had to wait in line 20 minutes just to enter the fucking security gate and when anyone utters the comment "man, that sure made the commute long today..." they magically appear and do this douchy little laugh and say "Well, you guys just don't KNOW what a REAL commute is."

This is the same guy that will scout around for people having conversations about a trip they look last weekend and explain how a few years ago, he did the exact same thing except it was bigger, better, and more expensive. Yeah, if you ever work in a big office, I'm sure there will be one around.

EDIT: Nice contrast between the tone of ^'s post versus mine. I tend to agree, though... having a 30-45 minutes commute is actually kind of a nice thing.

[Edited on November 4, 2011 at 9:09 AM. Reason : ...]

11/4/2011 9:08:44 AM

Quote :

"No, I'm talking about the dick that when comes into the office after everyone has had to wait in line 20 minutes just to enter the fucking security gate and when anyone utters the comment "man, that sure made the commute long today..." they magically appear and do this douchy little laugh and say "Well, you guys just don't KNOW what a REAL commute is.""

Yes how do they do that?!?!?! It's like they got some sort of sixth spidey braggart sense

Quote :

"If the drive got too terrible, or if one week, I was just tired of being in the car, I would stop at a store half way and just browse for a few minutes, or hit up a B&N for another audio book."

I do that on days the traffic report is like "40 in RTP is fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked." I say, "Screw that, I'm stopping in Brier Creek to get errands done."

11/4/2011 9:11:26 AM

Quote :

"This is the same guy that will scout around for people having conversations about a trip they look last weekend and explain how a few years ago, he did the exact same thing except it was bigger, better, and more expensive. Yeah, if you ever work in a big office, I'm sure there will be one around."

what a douche. i know people who do this for EVERYTHING, no matter what the topic is... they have always done what you have, except bigger and better - They always have to green mushroom you.

11/4/2011 9:25:05 AM

My trick was to open up my own office a mile from my house. Fool proof tip/trick.

11/4/2011 9:29:44 AM

^^ I kind of feel bad for people like that. How crappy is your life when constantly one-upping people is what brings you happiness.

11/4/2011 9:34:48 AM

Today is my last day of working from home. I've been working for a small company based in Texas since the beginning of the year. Start a new job on Tuesday which will have me commuting from Cary to RTP again (~30 minutes). I'm not really looking forward to it but it could be worse...

11/4/2011 9:53:37 AM

My dad used to commute from Charlotte to Columbia, SC.
My family ended up buying a condo down there and he would stay there during the week and come home for the weekends.
When my family lived in CA, my dad drove 1:30 each way... But it was only 30 miles, stupid LA
I guess commuting just runs in my family.

11/4/2011 10:02:30 AM

Just decided to look up the park and ride near my house to Durham. Almost 2 hours to commute by bus. wtf

11/4/2011 10:07:58 AM

The DoD has gotten big on people vanpooling. If you are a part of a carpool, you can let your command know how many people all ride with you, fill out some paperwork, and they effectively reimburse almost all your travel costs. It's quicker than a bus and obviously much cheaper.

...not a lot of people in my town work at my base or I'd probably consider it.

11/4/2011 10:22:40 AM

I used to drive from Greensboro to Duke, for 10 months, and listened to NPR in the morning, and tried to remember all the news stories (kind of like the telephone game) because I would totally zone out on 40 because I knew it so well. Then on the way home, I put my iPod on shuffle and just drove. I also wasted time after passing the powerball jackpot signs (that you see in Mebane) and would figure out how much would lump sum versus 20 yr. pay out, then after taxes, and how far that would get me.

11/4/2011 10:23:03 AM

It is my strong belief that one of the biggest problems with America is how much everyone drives. I think it's completely ridiculous to live more than 5-10 miles from where you work. I complain about having to sit in a car for 20-25 minutes a day. I can't imagine 2 hours or more. That's almost 10% of your day. I guess you have to do what you have to do though.

11/4/2011 10:25:08 AM

^Yeah, I think it's usually because people have no choice. Either I drive, my husband drives, we split the distance, or one of us quits our job. Beggars can't be choosers in this economy. I would have prefered to stay in the same geographic area as my husband, but I prefer getting a pay check more. Before the move, the drive was really shitty, just from a time of day standpoint. I would leave the house at 7am and get home at 9:30pm (gym on the way home). That's rough, but it was necessary.

[Edited on November 4, 2011 at 10:31 AM. Reason : ]

11/4/2011 10:30:42 AM

^^ Agreed. I really wish there were better regional public transportation options available, so even if you did have to commute for an hour, it's an hour you can spend doing things other than paying attention to the road.

11/4/2011 10:35:32 AM

Agreed although I'm more concerned with suburbanization and how cheap gas has been in the last few decades and the flux of populations out of urban areas and into rural areas because of how cheap the cost of living is outside a city. The 90's were horrible. Thankfully gas is rising again and hopefully won't go back down so people will stop living so far out. It's great how urban areas are thriving again. Uptown Charlotte now compared to the 90's has changed so much.

11/4/2011 10:39:29 AM

Quote :

"It is my strong belief that one of the biggest problems with America is how much everyone drives. I think it's completely ridiculous to live more than 5-10 miles from where you work."

This message is brought to you by suburbia, USA.

Quote :

"Thankfully gas is rising again and hopefully won't go back down so people will stop living so far out."

You do know that the government highly encourages rural sprawl, right? I got my house on a "rural development" subsidized mortgage.

[Edited on November 4, 2011 at 10:45 AM. Reason : .]

11/4/2011 10:43:29 AM

I lived in GSO with my parents, because it still came out cheaper by spending more on gas and oil changes, and paying no rent. But when I lived further away, I was never late to work (usually arrived early), but now that I'm down the street, I'm finding that I barely make it on time. I did get the GoPass through Duke, so I want to start taking the bus more, because parking here sucks.

11/4/2011 10:43:53 AM

Yeah parking does blow on Duke's campus. I doubt I will ever use that GoPass they gave us though since the bus schedule sucks between Cary and Durham.

11/4/2011 10:49:09 AM

Quote :

" You do know that the government highly encourages rural sprawl, right? I got my house on a "rural development" subsidized mortgage."

I don't know about that. Even if you can make that argument I don't think it's right. If you live in a rural area work in a rural area. If you live in an urban area work in the same urban area. I just think it's fundamentally wrong how much Americans commute and how much they drive.

11/4/2011 10:52:29 AM

I think it's retarded to live more than 30 - 40 minutes from where you work. It's a waste of time and money. Maybe my views will change when I'm married and have kids but for most people a 3000 sq ft house closer to work is better than a 4000 sq ft house an hour away.

Right now its a 20 minute commute for me without traffic, and I hate that I'm putting at least 30 miles per day on my car. Ugh

11/4/2011 10:54:30 AM