Saturday, January 05, 2008

Two Point Five!

I've been at my new job for nearly two months, now.

One of my big concerns going into this new gig was that my commute was going to increase from seven to about 45 miles, each way.

Like water running over a rock the commute has been polished.

Initially, the google map had me taking a very annoying route that ran through endless small towns with their traffic lights, strip malls, school buses and the like.

During my first interview, the plant manager suggested an alternate route that took me down a long two-lane country road. Yeah, baby! This made for thirty miles of two-line, 55-mph cruising with only one stop sign in sight. This cut the commute down to 43.5 miles and made for a much mellower driving experience.

This week I figured out a way to lop a further 2.5 miles off the drive.

Yeah, baby! We're talking about a forty-one mile commute, now.

That's five fewer miles a day.

Twenty-five fewer miles a week.

Twelve hundred and fifty fewer miles a year!

And with gasoline prices going the way they have been, well, do the math.

Ah, one of life's little satisfactions...

13 Comments:

Blogger furiousBall said...

I did the math, I think this will save you $73698 a year. I might have to check that tho.

January 05, 2008 9:08 AM  
Blogger RED MOJO said...

I checked it, furiousball is right about that! That's amazing, your net worth just went up.

January 05, 2008 1:00 PM  
Blogger whimsical brainpan said...

I'm with you Craig! There is nothing better than finding the fastest easiest route to somewhere. Congrats!

January 05, 2008 4:05 PM  
Blogger DirkStar said...

Thank god, maybe now you'll have some free time...

I'll be expecting an updated chart a.s.a.p.

January 05, 2008 5:07 PM  
Blogger Pink Icing said...

UK fuel prices are obscene, over $4 a litre. Costs $80 a tank on a small sized car......

But fear not, we are all very British about it. You know, queuing, 'How much? Gosh surely not. I think that's jolly unfair. I'll speak to my MP about this. Oh sorry, yes of course, here's my credit card.....'

January 06, 2008 6:51 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

You should take a look at the short story by Stephen King, "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut if you haven't already. You can find it in his "Skeleton Crew" collection of short stories.

January 06, 2008 9:18 AM  
Blogger RED MOJO said...

Now try to find the shortest route over to my blog to pick up your "You Make My Day" award, that is waiting for you there.

January 06, 2008 11:18 AM  
Blogger Judy said...

Now can you apply this same principle to the number of hours you have to work in a day? The goal is to cut it enough so that you meet yourself coming back, thereby shaving even more time off the commute!

Of course it reminds me in a way of the guy who tried saving money by mixing sawdust with his horse's grain. He started with 10% and the horse didn't seem to notice any difference and he was saving money, so he kept increasing the percentage of sawdust. It was working great and he was saving a bundle until he got up to 75% sawdust, but then the damned horse went and died. Gee, this maybe isn't the best analogy.

January 06, 2008 2:48 PM  
Blogger CS said...

I read this just before I had to run some errands, which take me right by my office. So I clocked it - my house to my work is exactly 1.3 miles. Oh yeah, I'm gloating!

January 06, 2008 5:20 PM  
Blogger whimsical brainpan said...

Hey Craig. I just wanted to say thanks for the comment you left today. I think it qualifies as the funniest comment ever. I got a good giggle out of it.

January 07, 2008 4:48 PM  
Blogger Allan said...

The world is shrinking.

January 07, 2008 7:14 PM  
Blogger Craig D said...

allan: ...and the sky is falling.

whim: I shoulda wrote "Spray that funky..."

cs: Tsk. Your jealousy over my much longer commute is so transparent.

wiz: You'd think that sawdust experiment would me more successful on sheep, wooden ewe?

mojo: Wel that made my day. Thanks!

jeff: I think I have heard of this Stephen King fellow. I'll see if any of his books are still in print.

tanie: Wow! A new visitor. OK, everybody - let's be on our best behavior, now!

dirk: As Led Zeppelin once said, The Graff Remains The Same!"

furiousball: Will you do my taxes for me this year?

January 08, 2008 9:18 AM  
Blogger CS said...

You got me. I so wish I could spend more of my day in traffic.

January 14, 2008 9:01 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home