California Commuting

Ah, the joys and trials of commuting in California. Northern California, really, from the Central Valley to the "East Bay" and back again. Twice daily. We join hundreds of thousands of others as we crawl across the valley, over "the hill" and into the world of high tech.

As we roll along in bumper-to-bumper traffic we feel a sense of family with the other commuters out there in the dark. It's the kind of family where we don't talk, or make eye contact in any way. It's really "us" and "them". WE ride the bus and sleep on the way to work. THEY are sitting all by themselves in their car or SUV and have to pay atention. They wouldn't have it any other way and neither would we. They fight for position with all the other cars out there, while we search for just the right position in our seats where sleep comes sweetly and quickly.

I've been riding the bus for something like 8 years now. IMHO I'm an expert. I've slept for thousands of commute miles. Consider this: 50 miles each way, 100 round trip, 500 per week, for about 50 weeks a year. That's about 25 THOUSAND miles a year. Times that by 8 and you come up with 200,000 miles sitting in Seat 2B while someone else drives. And THAT makes me an expert.

This Blog is about those 200,000 miles and the drama that unfolds as we travel, or sometimes as we WAIT to travel. Most of the other riders have been riding as long or longer than me, so we're really a tight knit family of sorts, each in their own little semi-vertical, semi-horizontal world. We watch out for each other. We bother each other. Sadly, we even have to smell each other. More later on that...sorry.

This Blog is also for my Brother. Without whom I would be living out in the country, hoeing weeds and kicking dirt clods, and trying to make a living out of dirt, rain, seed and sweat. But thanks to his advice I'm in the computer business. He thinks I'm a nerd. Maybe he's right. Don't tell him. Anyway, whenever he calls the first words I hear are "How ya doin' nerd? How's Seat 2B or 3A or whatever it is?". And I say "It's Seat 2B and it's the same as it always is.", which is a lie, because it's absolutely NEVER the same. If it was the same, why would I be Blogging about it? That would be boring. You be the judge.