(Yes, I made up the word "commution," but it works!) Where have I been post-wedding? Figuring out my new job, remembering names and faces and exploring how to find the New World that is Bellevue - just like Christopher Columbus did! Like his trip, there have been casualties and other people have made the trip to the New World before me, but I'm taking credit for it.
My previous commute was a straight shot from Tacoma to Bellevue on the Sounder train. Yes, it took an hour, but I had all of the amenties of the train, including comfortable, spacious seating, tables with electrical outlets and (usually) WiFi. It was nice. Here's what it looked like:
When I started at Eddie Bauer, I had to hop off the train early at Kent to catch a bus from Kent up 167, through downtown Renton and up 405 to get to Bellevue. This basically sucked. Because of the not-always-perfect bus and train times, I was looking at 1 hour, 20 minutes at best and 1 hour, 50 minutes at worst - EACH WAY. Further, the bus doesn't have WiFi, so there goes your blog posts.
Alas, who could save me from this commute dilemma? My wife, of course.
Amanda scored a job with her former employers again in Seattle, so now we drive together and she drops me off in South Seattle to catch a bus across the pond to Bellevue, and we reverse the route on the way back. The drive is a lot faster than the train because we have the carpool lane, and we're getting back nearly two hours to spend together during the commute each day. It's especially nice to catch up in the evenings at 5:30 p.m. compared to 6:30 or 7 p.m. Amanda drives in the mornings and I drive in the afternoon, which REALLY works for my need to zone out in the morning, like I did on the train. We've only seen one major accident so far, which happened the first day we started commuting together. Amanda cried, but once we got past that it's been smooth sailing.
So there you have it, the commution solution. Regardless of how I was getting to work and back home, I have two moments each day that made it all worth it - when I get to my new job, which is just fantastic and exciting. The lunch options around Bellevue ain't bad either. That other moment is when I got home. I love my house and family. It's not much more complicated than that. This must be adulthood.