Getting2Work

Haven’t been writing for a couple of weeks.  I had signed up for a class which started a couple of weeks ago.  So between the long commute, working 4 days and trying to get a head start with the class, I’ve just been a bit too tired.  I really feel that I have no right to complain or miss any writing.  My husband brings home the bacon and fries them up too.   My kids are old enough that if we need to ask them to fend for themselves they could.  So my life is not that difficult.  I can’t image how any single parent can do it all him/herself.  If they are lucky and have a good support network of family or friends, they can get a break sometimes.  Still … I am tired just thinking about it!

Anyway, this is my first online class at a university and I am really excited.  It really gives me the flexibility that I need and let me think and do my homework properly.  I don’t feel the pressure of being in class.  It still has all the weekly reading assignments and homework but I can pace myself.  Except my pacing is really trying to stay ahead by cramping everything on Fridays and a bit on the weekends.  This class will benefit at work and if I do well I hope this will give me the confidence to pursue more classes.  Who knows maybe I can work up to getting another degree.

Now I just have to keep up with the class and get a good grade.  I do not want to have to pay my company back.  This class is not cheap!

Yesterday was my Friday, so the mood driving home was relaxed.  Left work after 4:30pm and traffic had it’s usual late drive slowness at Western Ave.  But no big deal because I was expecting it.  Speed picked up a bit again until we got to LAX area.  Everyone jogged into place and eventually settled down.  After the traffic settled down, I switch from blasting songs to my audio book and time to kick back.  As I listened, I like looking around at my fellow drivers.  You could see the driver behind pretty clearly since we were going so slow (crawling really).  OMG … it’s Tom Cruise!!!! NOT!!!  Of course not … what’s the chance.  Besides he was driving an old red car where most of it had faded to more of a grey than red.  But I swear … that guy looked A LOT like Tom Cruise.  So I got to drive most of the way with good looking Tom behind me.  Another plus … he was not tail gating!!!!

I have been working 4/10 weeks since summer.  But last Friday I had a 4 hours class at work from 8:00am till noon.  So I could have slept in but I really didn’t want to hit any traffic so I went into work at my regular hour.  Ride was easy like most early mornings.  Since I was one of the few that got there early before most people were in and my office was at the end of the ailse, I got time to send out a few emails (work emails not personal stuff) and read up for the class.  It was a virtual class and this was a class taken on my own time.   Our computers (well, most of our computers) were setup that our IM was signed on when we logged in.  Some people at work knew that I would be in on my own time for the class but since I showed up as being there, all is fair game.  I got a few work questions and discussions.  But I really didn’t mind.  I kinda like that virtual class because I could multi-task.

By mid-morning I was feeling pretty crappy.  I think I was just getting too tired.  Class was pretty good … learned a few new things.  But I was ready to head home when the class was over.  I signed off and packed up and got out by 12:30pm.  Since it was a Friday, a lot of people went out for lunch.  Those who went out were already at wherever they were stuffing their faces and most Friday lunches were longer.  So the surface road was pretty empty, which was great!  Freeway was pretty smooth riding too.  Had a few slow downs but no biggie.

I was able to make it all the way pass the LAX, the Sepulveda Pass and onto the 101 in 1 hour.  That was so great!  Unfortunately spoke too soon and the free ride was over.  There they were … those endless lines of cars … AGAIN!  Man … had the same thing just Wednesday.  It was crawling and whatever was causing the traffic jam was too far ahead to see.  Funny how the mind tried to evaluate the situation … : )  Well, I could get off the freeway at the next exit and take the surface road.  But it was still too far away and with the traffic lights, it will still take me 25 minutes to get home.  So I decided to keep going on the freeway till I get closer before getting off the freeway and take surface road the rest of the way.

So it still took me 1.5 hours to get home last Friday.  Hey, I guess for a Friday afternoon commute, that was pretty good time compared to 2+ hour.  Well, I had to think that way to keep myself from going nuts.  I got home and crashed flopped on the courch and was out.

Thursday commute ended up on an annoying note!

With a 4/10 schedule, my Thursday is like others’ Friday.  So I was really ready to mentally wind down.  Morning commute was pretty uneventful.  The work day was going along it’s usual pace … trying to get things done … ran into problems … solved problems (myself and/or with others) … and the cycle goes on.  Since I was not planning on going into work today, I stayed a little longer than usual to get things going and send out emails so other team members can continue on tomorrow so we won’t lose as much time.

Since I left late, I expected to run into more traffic.  I reminded myself not to get anxious of the time.  After all it was the end of the work week for me.  Sure enough, there were more spots where traffic slowed, and the LAX dead stop started way before we actually got to LAX.  But no problem, I was mentally prepared and I have my audio books that I subscribe to at Freebooks.com (see it on my list of “Commuters’ Boredom Busters”).  After we reached to persistent slow stretch, I called my daughter to relay the message to rest of the family not to be alarmed that I was getting home late.

It was getting dark half way through the Sepulveda Pass.  I had to join the rest of the commuters and turned my head lights on.  That’s one of the reasons why I might go back to driving 5 days.  I don’t think I want to drive both ways in the dark.  It just has this negative psychological effort on me!

It had been a long day and I was feeling it.  After 2 hours on the freeway, I finally reached my exit and got off the freeway.  It’s either the change of speed or knowing that I was almost home gave me a feeling as if a heavy load was lifted off my shoulders. But I still had a stretch on the surface road before actually reaching home.

Somewhere on one of the surface roads, a big pick up was waiting to turn left onto the road.  This was one of the samll streets and there was one car in front of me close by.  The pick up thought it had time to pull out in front of the car ahead of me.  But instead of going straight,  the car in front of me moved over for a left turn.  The pick up couldn’t make it and stopped in our right lane.  But It did managed to stop in time without hitting the car that was ahead of me.  Unfortunately instead of waiting till I passed, he decided to make the rest of his left turn in front of me.  I can understand that sitting in lane is not a good thing for him.  But there is no one else coming and it’s wasn’t like I had stopped in the middle of my lane either.  I hadn’t expected him to go.  I had to brake hard and pulled right to avoid it.  I swear it was just like in the movie as I watched the side of the pick up zooming up to me.  I just missed the left tail corner of his pick up.  I was very lucky that there were no other cars to my right or close behind.

My heart was pounding.  Good thing I only had a few more blocks to go and the rest of the way traffic was light and uneventful.  Freeway driving can be bad, but I swear surface road can be as bad if not worse.

My driving this week was relatively uneventful.  I am still doing 4/10 week so hubby had arranged to have his car taken in for servicing Friday morning.  He kept his normal routine of dropping the kids off at school before he dropped his car off.  I met him at the car servicing area to give him a ride to work.  Then I was off to some “me” time with my new toy.  I just got a Wacom Intuos3 6×8 pen tablet.  Am I a graphics designer or artist?  No!  So this is yet another expensive toy?  Yes!  But that sucker is so cool and it came with Adobe Photoshop Element 6 (ok mine is just Element 6 and not 7) and Corel Painter Essential 4 (The Corel Painter X is suppose to be the professional version.  Oh, and check out the Corel Painter and Wacom bundle options … the price!!!!!  Ouch!!).  I have not played with the Photoshop program yet but the Corel Painter is absolutely amazing!  And this is just the beginner’s version!!!!  “Time flies when you are having fun” was so true because before I knew it, it was time to pick up the kids.  So I picked up four kids, two of them mine and two classmates.  I dropped them off at home and headed to pick hubby up to get his car.  On the way down on De Soto, we had to slow down and pulled over twice to let some fire trucks and police cars with veiling sirens go by.  Fire trucks and police cars are not unusual sights.  So we didn’t think much about it and went on with our own business.

After I got home, I sat down at my computer to do whatever I do on my computer.  News is always on my home page, and the one of the headlines, Deadly Metrolink Crash (this links is not the first report but the updated report) caught my attention.  I looked at the time of that report and realized that that’s when the fire trucks and police cars crossed us. The reported location was just north of the train station where my husband and I used to take me son every day after his daycare to watch the Metrolink made its stop.  I remembered my husband used to tell my son to watch the lights next to the tracks.  He would explain to him how the change in the lights indicated when the train was coming and when the train could leave the station.  I could hardly believe what I was reading.  This was so awful!

Another headline, Woman killed after being hit by vehicle on the 101 got my attention.  This is not the stretch of 101 that I take.  But the fact that it was on 101 got me.  There is no update to this story but the report said that “she was seen sitting down in one of the lanes before being struck”.  So I am not sure if the woman intend to commit suicide or what.  It must be hard for the woman’s family and friends.  But I can’t help but wonder what the driver that struck the woman must be going through.

Friday was a bad … bad day!

While doing my Saturday morning news surfing on MSN.com, one of the headlines “Stick shift means fuel savings, Consumer Reports says” caught my eyes because I used to drive a stick shift.

Positive things about driving a stick shift that’s mentioned in the articles:

1. Better mpg (= less carbon dioxide emissions)
2. Cheaper
3. Less likely to be stolen (most car thieves can’t drive with a stick shift) LOL!
4. Fun to drive

Definitely agree with it being fun to drive.  I was driving a stick shift Honda CRV when I started my long commute.

I remembered one day while wandering at the Honda show room killing time as I waited for my car to be delivered after a service.  A salesman tried to convince me to trade up to the latest model.  One of the questions I asked him was what were some of the complains owners had with the CRV with my year of CRV.  He said that some owners complained that it wasn’t powerful enough.  I was pretty surprised by the answer because I had always felt that my CRV had plenty of power.  It was more than able to keep up with the rest of the cars and with plenty to spare if you know what I mean.  Maybe the manual transmission had something to do with it feeling like there is enough power.  Beside driving a stick shift made me feel like I was driving a “real” car and not just a go-cart (that has speed).  At first he wasn’t going to give me very good money for the trade off since it was a stick shift becaues he said that he would have a harder time turning it around.  Eventually he gave me a great deal.  I would walk away with a brand new car and no money out of my pocket.  Well, it didn’t matter because I winded up not trading it in.  I was attached to my stick shift and I didn’t like the way the new model looked.

I drove my manual CRV for another 2 years before I finally gave in and traded for a Honda Hybrid.  Obviously the hybrid is an automatic transmission (actually it has a continuously variable transmission (CVT) to be precise), and it has a smaller engine than my old CRV so it does not have the same power.  On the car’s sticky it said, EPA-estimated 40 city/45 hwy mpg.  But I had tried this out and found that if I drove more like a “sane” or conservative driver (however way you like to label it) I could actually get better mpg.  If I stayed around 70mph or just below, I was able to get 47 to 49 mpg.  If I stick with 75 or higher (and I won’t say how high), it definitely dropped down to their estimate of 45 mpg or even a bit less.

But I am okay with all that (driving a go-cart) because it is more green for our planet AND more green in my pocket book!

Four days off … it made going to work that much harder this morning.  But thank goodness traffic was pretty good.   So that made up for it.  As a matter of fact most drivers were driving a bit slower than most early mornings.  I was a bit tired and feeling no rush either.  So I went along with the slower flow and still made it into work right at 6:00am.

Mid-afternoon I remembered to email my daughter to make sure she finished her summer homework today.  First day of school is tomorrow.  It never fails … kids wait till the last minute.  (Don’t even dare ask if I had reminded them!!!)  Good thing I emailed her.  She asked me what time I was coming home and that reminded me that even though Monday was a holiday.  It was only good for 8 hours.  I have to make up the 2 hours since I have been doing 4/10 this summer.  2 hours do seem much.  I figured I’ll work one hour extra today.  Do my usual 10 hours tomorrow and another 11 hours on Thursday.  I know some people work a lot longer hours per day.  Unfortunately the commute gets worse every minute you delay.  I swear the amount of traffic increases exponentially.

Maybe a lot of people took extra day off or just good old Tuesday traffic.  Even though I left at five, it only took me one and a half hour to get home.  Not too bad!  I know some of you think that I am crazy to say that an hour and a half commute time is not bad.  But trust me … it is not bad for an LA commute!

I try to get out of work a bit earlier Wednesdays because I have an evening class at 6:00pm. I like to make it home with a bit of time to spare. There no surprises on the road yesterday other than the usual slow spots. Then the loooong drag of sloooow spot from the airport and all the way through the Sepulveda Pass and onto the 101 freeway. But made it home in one piece … yipee!

Whenever we go anywhere, hubby drives! My excuse … 120 miles a day is enough. Got to draw the line somewhere. Well, he doesn’t like to be in the passenger seat anyway. That works out between us. But I did drive to class yesterday evening because his keys and wallet were upstairs and he didn’t feel like going up to get it and neither did I. It was only a few miles, so I drove. The class lasted 1.5 hours and by the time we say goodbyes and got out to the car, it was starting to get dark. It was too dark yet, but I was tired. So I opened my purse and reached for my glasses. I really only need them when I drive at night. To my horror, it wasn’t there. Not that I can’t drive home without my glasses. But I’ll need it in the morning when I do drive in the dark at 5:00am!
When we got home hubby suggested that I search around the house in case I took it out and had left it somewhere. I never have any reason to use my glasses at home. Like I said I only need them when I drive in the dark. I don’t even need them for the drive on the way home because it’s still light out. Well, except for the times when I had worked till 8:00, 9:00 pm …
Well, okay there is another occasion that I use my glasses. When I go to meetings I have to read whatever stupid power point, spreadsheet, or whatever crap gets projected in case there’s something I should be know about. Then I remembered that I had a meeting right before I left (Another meeting you said! Yes, story of my life!). I know I need my glasses every morning when I drive, I always put my glasses back into my purse as soon as I got back to my office. Well, the meeting was like a continuation of the last one that was dotted with unpleasant surprises. As soon as I got back to my office and even before I set my stuff down, my team mate, the same one asked if we can talk in private. He wanted to make sure he was understanding the implications of what went on in the meeting and he also had other things he needed to relay to me. I know he’s caught in the middle and have been a bit stressed out. So I set my note book, pencil and glasses (in it’s case) next to my keyboard and went off to the conference room with him. Since I wanted to get out “on time”, we had a short recap of events, then I hurried back to my office and grabbed my purse and lunch box and quickly got out. Well, I guess I should have stuck with my routine of putting my glasses away immediately like I always do and don’t rush even if you are in the hurry!
Well, I thought I could either leave later till it’s light out and have both ways of horrible drive. Or (a pleasant thought) I would have to call in sick. Oh so clever … then what am I going to do the next morning … hmmm … Of course I wasn’t going to call in sick for something like that! Good grief, boss! I was just kidding!
A while back I had asked the kids to gather all the old glasses (prescription and sun glasses) that were laying around the house so we could donate them to a charity called New Eyes for the Needy. See, I’ve read all about being organized … I know that if there are things that you have not used for six months to a year, you probably won’t use it. Or throw away the old one (whatever it may be that you are replacing) as soon as you buy a new one. But when it comes to practice, I am not as good about it! Mind you, I do have my moments. Every so often I would be very annoyed with all that old or extra stuff. I would swoop around the house like a hurricane, gathering and throwing all kinds of stuff out without giving it much thought. In this case I am glad I am a person with good intention but move like molasses. Lucky me, I found my old glasses and the prescription was still good enough. Makes me wonder why did I need a new pair of glasses. Those things are expensive!!!! Well, okay … good enough does not make them the correct prescription.
Needless to say, I made it into work and back home safely! I’ll still donate all the old glasses minus one pair. I guess having a spare pair of glasses is a good thing.

Got back to regular routine started yesterday. Monday’s drive was very easy. No problem on the way down (usually no problem in such early hour - 5 am) and no problem on the way home either. But then it was Monday. And Monday traffic is usually the best.

Tuesday is usually not bad either. But this morning there were quite a few maniacs on the road. Three times I had to break or slow down because some car/truck had to speed up on my right side (no, I was not driving in lane one) and cut in front of me or hit the car on his/her lane. Good thing I do pay attention while I drive so I could see and hear them zoom up. Knowing that between the choice of breaking hard to avoid rear ending the car in his own lane or cut in front of me, I know they always choose to cut in into my lane. I am not a mean driver either (remember the objective of being on the road - get to my destination without causing an accident or being in one) so I always let them in. Well, got to work in the usual time, so no big!

I had a mid-afternoon meeting and there were a few unpleasant surprises but it still ended around 4pm. So I wrapped things up and signed out right after the meeting. On my way out one of my team mates caught up with me and needed to talk. He wasn’t leaving yet, so he walked me out to my car while we talked. I totally understand his need to talk because a lot of the unpleasant surprises was directed to him as if it was his fault. It wasn’t! Anyway, I finally got on the road and it was traffic was moving ok. Then hit the usual slow down by the LAX airport but still inching along. As I go through the Sepulveda Pass, I make my move to the right lane right before we get to the down hill transition to the 101 freeway. There were a line of cars driving kind of close together that I wasn’t able to get over to the furthest right lane. I stayed in lane 5 as we crest and saw nothing but red tail lights. Not a good sign! Then I looked up and saw three helicopters above. Definitely not a good sign! Thought we were going slow by the airport, we were crwaling. Fire and paramedic trucks passed by the packed cars on the right shoulder. Luckily there is shoulder on this stretch of road. I couldn’t see what was ahead and didn’t know how far ahead the accident was. Finally saw the police and the flares. 4 right lanes were blocked off and I was on the 3rd lane from the right. So along with all the cars to my right I had to move one lane over. I was trying to merge carefully, so all I could see was a motorcycle down. The rest was blocked by some toll truck. I hate seeing motorcycles down because they had no protection. I reminded myself not to rubber neck and pay attention to traffic. As soon as the road is freed up, people goes crazy trying to catch up with loss time or something.
Since I didn’t see how bad the accident was, I logged on and hit Sigalert.com … The following was posted at the Sigalert site.

Mc in Lanes-Fell Under Truck 5:33 PM
Message/Item Delivered to LA Fire Department 5:34 PM
4 Vehicles to Right Shoulder 5:37 PM
Off Duty LASO On Scene, not Involved D, But Advise G Possible Fatality 5:43 PM
404-1, 2, 3, 4 Lanes Blocked Per 404 5:43 PM
North 405 Just South of Ventura Believes Possible Fatality Per Fsp} 5:43 PM
Sigalert Issued on the Blue 5:48 PM
404-1, 2, 3, 4 Lanes Blocked for Unknown Duration-Please Issue Sigalert

I am so glad I was being patient and didn’t swear under my breath about some idiot holding up the traffic. “Possible Fatality” … what’s an extra 45 minutes of being in traffic.

Driving is a unique activity and it’s interesting how a whole different person seems to emerged when he/she gets behind the wheel. I love George Carlin and this is one of his sayings:

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

Can you relate to the following? I stayed at work longer than I really wanted to but there was always something at the last minute. It was a short distance of surface road driving to get to the freeway, so no problem there. I had to stop at the freeway on ramp because at 3:00pm the signal is on to regulate the rate of additional cars that get poured onto the freeway and it’s way passed that hour. Only a few cars in line (well, a few cars times two since every green light two cars are allowed to merge onto the freeway), and I can see that the traffic was moving. I was feeling soooo ready to get home, kick back, relax and leave work at work. So moving right along … nothing unusual! Just the expected slow downs as various freeways merge and split.
But now here’s the section of the drive where traffic usually flow smoothly. The cars in the lane to my right is passing me! And passing me! What the …? So who’s the idiot holding everyone up? Checking my rear view mirror and my right side mirror … got room … moving over to the lane to my right … where was the big gap in front of the car that was ahead of me. Instead I saw a whole lot of cars in line moving along the same speed in my old lane. Now this lane is moving the same speed as the one I was in. Crap … some idiot just moved in front of me and there was no room to move back to my old lane. One car, two car, three car … as I counted the number of cars from my old lane passed me! I could go one more lane to the right and zoom pass and around them all! Finally there was an opening in my old lane and I moved back into it! All that and I winded up loosing three cars length!!!!! I could just hear those drivers that passed me saying, “What an idiot!” Ghrrrr … I know … no one really cared except me!

Luckily most of the time I do not drive like an idiot or a maniac. It really depends on the road and the size of the car in front of you. A lot of times you really can’t see pass the car right in front of you. That’s another good reason not to follow too closely. What I talked about happens all the time. How frustrated do we want to be while we drive? What situation do we allow to frustrate us? I do notice how I drive does depend on my state of mind when I get in the car or by the time I get onto the freeway. Some days it takes a little reminder that my goal is to get home without causing an accident or be involved in one.