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Career and Kids

Killer commutes to work

by elizabeth on March 12th, 2008

It’s not your imagination, killer commutes to work can affect your health and wellbeing.

I don’t spend nearly as much time in the car as some people do, but, I know my whole day or evening can be affected by the trip into work. I can’t imagine driving for hours every day to go to and from work.

Do you have an extra long commute to work? Do you find that it affects your health and sense of well-being?

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MJ
Mar 13, 2008 at 5:53 am

You may want to spend some time over on the Grammar Girl web site, your usage of extraneous commas makes your post difficult to read.

Try this for starters:

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/comma-splice.aspx
elizabeth
Mar 13, 2008 at 7:07 am

Thanks for your input.
Liz
Mar 13, 2008 at 7:38 am

Perhaps the headline should read: killer comments.

You, might, want, to, remind, your, readers, that, you’ve, been, doing, this, a, long, time, and, perhaps, to, review, some, blogging, etiquettes, why don’t they!?!?
ben
Mar 13, 2008 at 7:38 am

I used to live 45 miles from work, when I lived in the D/FW area.

On a bad weather day (rain, snow, what have you) it could take three hours to get to the office. At the time, I was working a job where I was expected to be there - even if it took three hours.

To say that it affected me is an understatement.

I now live elsewhere, and I’m about two miles from work. I can drive with a smile and take my time, even on a really crappy commute it’s maybe twenty minutes. That’s if I hit all the lights red, get stopped by a train, and maybe have to buy gas.

And no, I don’t miss buying gas every other day like I used to.

(did I use too many commas? What about parenthesis?)
Lindsey
Mar 13, 2008 at 7:38 am

MJ: I have a friend named Semicolon who is dying to meet you. If you and he don’t hit it off, Period is more than willing to be your rebound dude.
Lin
Mar 13, 2008 at 7:42 am

Hi Elizabeth,

Fortunately, I don’t have a long commute to work but my husband does and it creates all sorts of problems for him.

By the time he arrives home after work, after being stuck in traffic jams day after day, he manages to have a late dinner and usually heads to bed shortly thereafter to get up the next day to do it all over again.

Interesting how MJ chose to simply criticize your use of commas, but didn’t include a url link. Hit and run troll perhaps?
Wendy Piersall
Mar 13, 2008 at 7:46 am

Elizabeth - I found that I could handle reading the 3 paragraphs with all of *three* commas just fine. ;)
Tamara Wilson
Mar 13, 2008 at 7:50 am

I personally do not commute, However DH drives an hour and half to work and back so 3 hours in the car every day. I have noticed his health not so hot since he started. He isnt sick as much but he is run down and has headaches. I didn’t really think of the connection between the two but now that I think about it, things are making more sense.

Thanks for sharing this Ill have to talk to him about it and figure out what we can do.
Karen Sugarpants
Mar 13, 2008 at 7:55 am

Killer spam! Oh Elizabeth - those 3 commas were a walk in the park. :)
Shawna R. B. Atteberry
Mar 13, 2008 at 7:58 am

The only comma I see that shouldn’t be there is the comma after the “but.” The other two are fine.

PastorShawna from twitter
Shawna R. B. Atteberry
Mar 13, 2008 at 8:01 am

And now a comment on the actual post. My husband and I are fortunate. We don’t have long commutes. He works a couple of miles from where we live and takes the bus. I’m self-employed, which means I work in whatever coffee shop strikes my fancy that day. :)
Lin
Mar 13, 2008 at 8:06 am

Liz and Lindsey, you two are cracking me up! :)

Head, meet, nail. tsk tsk.
becky
Mar 13, 2008 at 8:18 am

I used to. It would only take about 10 minutes to get to work, but well over an hour to get home. Now, my commute is 10 minutes both ways, 20 or more if traffic is really bad.

And that’s when I actually go into the office. I telecommute for now, while my baby’s little. Dad & I split babysitting so we won’t have to use daycare.

I think my health is better. I’m much less stressed, I get fewer IBS problems and migraines. I would do a LOT to reduce my commute in any way possible.
becky
Mar 13, 2008 at 8:19 am

Oh, and when I read the title the first time, I was thinking killer, as in murderer. It totally didn’t make sense for a moment. LOL!
JayMonster
Mar 13, 2008 at 8:26 am

I guess it depends on the type of commute. I used to drive a bit over an hour everyday. But it was against the flow of traffic (I could see people creeping along in the other direction, where that hour commute was probably taking them 2 or more).

That wasn’t so bad. But when that hour was spent trying to get seven miles from my house (at the time) through the tunnel into Manhattan, then yes, (comma added for conversational sounding pause, because I am not a grammar nazi) that trip was killing me with stress.

Of course, it really also has a lot to do with how high strung a person is. The laid back personality can probably take in stride, enjoy the time with their music in the car, and just “go with the flow, ” whereas the the a person that is so filled with their own self worth that they feel the need to give surf by grammar corrections over a single comma, complaining that it makes everything “hard to read”… well that person would probably be more likely to have an artery burst during rush hour. But that is just a working theory.
Paul Chenoweth
Mar 13, 2008 at 9:14 am

The three comma limit. Why am I always the last one to know.
Charlie
Mar 13, 2008 at 9:36 am

Lindsey beat me to it.

“You may want to spend some time over on the Grammar Girl web site, your usage of extraneous commas makes your post difficult to read.”

This is two sentences, not one.
Jeanette
Mar 13, 2008 at 1:19 pm

It’s always amusing when people like MJ attack others for their grammer/punctuation and yet screw up themselves.

My husband commutes an hour each way to and from work (which is not as long as some people I know). If we make the same drive in off-peak times, it takes us thirty minutes. I know he’s often stressed when he comes home in the evenings from the commute.
Jenn
Mar 14, 2008 at 7:31 am

My, commute, is, much, easier. (For me.) Because, I, only, have, to, go, from, the, bed, to, the, home, office. (In my house.) (Because that is where I work.) (In case you wondered.) (You might not have known that.)

Not, sure, why, commas, bother, people. (As opposed to the excessive use of parenthetical phrases.) Me? I, can, deal, with, both. (As if you didn’t know that.) (But some people may not know that.)

Have, a, great, day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Don’t you hate too many exclamation marks?!!!!!!)