Being back in DC, for me at least means one thing, commuting to Virginia every day. When I first moved to DC, Virginia was my home base, I lived and worked there for the first 3 years and as I became gayer and gayer (now gayer than gay) I moved into the city and never looked back. Now I would not move to Virginia, mostly because of its politics and because there is no swim practice there (ha,ha,ha, bad joke). Any how, so my problem is that most of the places that I work in are in Virginia that is where my company has contacts and where engagements are. This time I am repeating, working for a non-governmental yet non-private entity that has 2 locations, one Downtown (where I am typing this) and one in Ashburn, where the IT department is located. Unfortunately for me my job is in Ashburn. I tell people that I am semi local, since I drive 35 miles each way to get to work.
The drive is not bad; it is across some beautiful parkways, the GW and Georgetown Pike, which are meandering roads that cross the very northern tip of Virginia, alongside the Potomac. The scenery is beautiful, the problem is the roads, if there is one accident or problem, it will take me 2 hours to get back home. It is the nature of the business, or as a former boss of mine says “It is what it is”. Obviously, I try to make people aware I live in DC, and since most of them know me, they believe me and let me come in early and leave early. The key to coming into the city is getting here before 6, because at 6 for some reason only known to the traffic Gods, the entry points to Rock Creek get drowned in traffic and it just takes another 30 minutes to reach Mount Pleasant. The good thing is I managed to get a new working arrangement where I work in Ashburn 3 days and I am in town 2. It is not bad; it means I only drive 210 miles every week. The bad news for you is that with all that time in the car, I will be getting plenty of inspiration from NPR again.
1 comment:
Another problem is that such commuting gives your "carbon footprint" elephantitis! Driving 35 miles each way is dramatically better than commuting by jet twice a week (by a factor of about 300, literally). Still, you got some serious carbon to offset.
I don't know what to do in your situation, since, on one level your coworker is correct, It is what it is. By telecommuting, you improve it, good job. (It's in your interest and the planet's--a win-win!) But what else can be done to reduce the carbon footprints of you nomadic consultants?
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