I Am Soooooo Glad I Don't Have to Deal with that CR*P Any More!

[scrabbler1]

For those of you who are not aware, there was a derailment in one of the railway tunnels under New York City's East River last Sunday. An Amtrak train derailed and it took a while to rerail the cars in the tight space and get them out. Now, Amtrak has to repair the damaged 1/4 mile of track before the tunnel can be used again, maybe by Friday.

This has greatly impacted the Long Island Rail Road, the nation's busiest commuter railroad which uses that tunnel to bring trains into Manhattan's Penn Station. About 1/4 of the trains during the rush hours have been either canceled, terminated before Penn Station, or rerouted. [For the record, my former AM train was not affected other than delays or overcrowding, but my former PM train was canceled.]

In my working days, I used the LIRR to get to my office which was in lower Manhattan until 2001, then in Jersey City, New Jersey starting in May (11th, exactly, 10 years ago today!). In its former location, I could take a rerouted train and still get to work. But after my company moved, I had to go into Penn Station and suffer with more of the delays and overcrowding on the trains which were still going into Penn Station.

But since I ERed in 2008, the biggest reason being this damned commute, I can take some pride and joy when I see another news report about the LIRR's problems. I do not know if it is just me, but the LIRR has had more than its shares of problems in the last 2 1/2 years. Whether it is the snowy weather in the last several winters or the fire in a major switching tower last summer which screwed up the LIRR for a few weeks, those thousands of people who ride the LIRR every day have to put with this stuff I was able to rid myself of in 2008. And that doesn't include the fare increases and service cutbacks since I left this commute behind.

For those of you here who still use the LIRR every day, you have my sympathies. Otherwise, as the subject line of this thread suggests...

"I Am Soooooo Glad I Don't Have to Deal with that CR*P Any More!"

 

[arebelspy]

Delight in the little things.

 

[OrcasIslandBound]

My commute is 12 minutes.

But the CR*P is still there anyway... just comes in a different form called STRESS and a few weird "coworkers".

Hoping to FIRE in Jan 2014.

 

[Walt34]

We understand completely. I know it's not nice to gloat, but DW and I still smirk when we see TV reports of some gigunda traffic jam/wreck/snowstorm on the DC Beltway or I-270.

My commute is 3.4 miles and if both traffic lights are red it takes eight minutes. On the way back there's only one traffic light but if the weather's decent and I'm on the motorcycle I'll take a 20-mile detour home.

We are sooooo glad we moved from the DC area!

 

[scrabbler1]

I should add that my commute (to Jersey City) was about 75 exhausting minutes each way and on two different train systems, the LIRR and PATH trains (and PATH had its own accident over the weekend but was quickly straightened out and would not have affected me much anyway). It also cost me $20 per round-trip so I was spending as much in 2008 for commuting 100 days per year as I was in 2000 commuting 5 days per week (~230 days per year).

 

[bulletbiter]

Thank goodness that I can literally walk to work, here in the outer boroughs. It's a nightmare to commute across NYC - particularly from Long Island to New Jersey. When I used to work in Manhattan, it seems there was always a delay on the subways for one reason or another. And on most mornings, I ended up on the train with the "sick passenger".

 

[flyfishnevada]

I used to commute an hour. I commuted mainly through rural areas on two lane highways at 65 MPH. Snowstorms would turn that hour into two. There was always some jerk that would drive 25 MPH if he even thought he saw a snow flake. I used to get rerouted or stopped regularly for brush fires, accidents, road construction, you name it. Sometimes I could be rerouted, sometimes not and I just had to wait. It was usually in an area with no cell coverage, so I couldn't even let my wife know. Yuck!

Not to mention all the CR*P I had to deal with once I actually got to work. Thanks for reminding my why I LOVE retirement!

 

[haha]

I should add that my commute (to Jersey City) was about 75 exhausting minutes each way and on two different train systems, the LIRR and PATH trains (and PATH had its own accident over the weekend but was quickly straightened out and would not have affected me much anyway). It also cost me $20 per round-trip so I was spending as much in 2008 for commuting 100 days per year as I was in 2000 commuting 5 days per week (~230 days per year).

What I don't understand is why you decided to work in one place and live in another, with two rivers and Manhatten in between. Could it have been that much worse to live in Jersey than on Long Island?


Ha

 

[MasterBlaster]

What I don't understand is why you decided to work in one place and live in another, with two rivers and Manhatten in between. Could it have been that much worse to live in Jersey than on Long Island?


Ha

Are you suggesting that Long Island is superior to Jersey ?

 

[T-bird]

Have a 37 mile commute each way which consists of 4 stop signs, 1 traffic light and one blinking yellow light so not quite the stress level on the drive. All that being taken into account I am still looking forward to my FIRE date of April Fool's day of 2013. No fool here just want to smell the roses esp. when the DW finishes in 1 year. DINK and soon to be DRNK (Double Retired No Kids). One never wants to wish their life away but it can move just a bit faster till 2013.

Ty

 

[ziggy29]

Are you suggesting that Long Island is superior to Jersey ?

You misspelled "Lawn Guyland."

 

[MasterBlaster]

You misspelled "Lawn Guyland."

Or "Lawn-Guy land"

 

[arebelspy]

Are you suggesting that Long Island is superior to Jersey ?

Yes.

And you can replace "Long Island" with just about anything, and it'd still be true.

(Just teasin' )

 

[lemming]

I delight everyday in missing a 28 mile 1-2 hour commute. On the beltway for half.
I was a fool to do it for so long, I should have bought a different house or found a different job.
Even when I picked up slugs in am the drive was over an hour. Would never do it again.
Now I fill up the tank once a month and still haven't met my 3k mile oil change in a year(yes I'm going to change oil anyway)

Disruption like that can cost huge amounts of people time/money. Hope they resolve it quickly.

 

[scrabbler1]

What I don't understand is why you decided to work in one place and live in another, with two rivers and Manhatten in between. Could it have been that much worse to live in Jersey than on Long Island?


Ha

In my OP, I indicated that my company was originally in lower Manhattan before relocating to Jersey City, New Jersey in May of 2001. Therefore, my commute consisted of crossing only one river, not two. When my company announced this relocation in the summer of 1999, it made me very sad because a barely tolerable commute would now become even worse.

When I first began working in the mid-1980s, I was actually living in Manhattan so I had a fairly short subway ride to my office. But I did not like the lack of mobility (i.e. not being able to own a car) so I moved back to LI where I am from, where many of my friends and family lived. This lengthened my commute but I soon shortened the LIRR ride by moving a little closer to NYC.

To uproot myself and move to NJ after the company relocated there would have meant selling my co-op apartment, not an easy task, and leaving the roots I had put down here since the mid-1980s. Therefore, the answer to your question is, "YES."

I had already been in the beginning stages of planning an ER so as we got closer to the actual move date (May 11th, 2001), I was already negotiating with my bosses the part-time, mostly telecommute deal I would enjoy for 27 months following a terrible 11-week stretch of working full-time in NJ until the end of July.

One more thing about the best part about losing the commute is this: No more having to listen to other commuters yakking loudly on their cell phones every damned trip!

 

[Khan]

The last 5 Years of work, the commute was ~2 miles (used to walk, but they took out the street & gate). I must admit turning over and going back to sleep when hail or sleet or freezing fog... is a good thing.

 

[Beryl]

That 90-120 minute commute from Boulder to the DTC was painful. I mostly worked from home for the last couple of years but the company started forcing people back to offices/cubes. Yes, I'm glad to be done with that.

I empathize with those who are still doing it but it does feel good to look at the bad weather, grab a cup of tea and get under a blanket with a good book.

 

[neihn]

I work from home most of the time - no complain but that cr*p, but the other cra*ps are still there.