I was called by a recruiter today. The job sounded really interesting and full of potential. I thought about it, even though I am already in a great position working virtually from home.
It was an opportunity to get out of my virtual office at home and to be with people again. But then came the deal breaker, the job was on the west side. I did that a few years back and promised never to do that again.
Four Years Ago: The Dog
On a typical morning in the car on the way to Santa Monica, my usual speed was 15 mph on the 10 freeway. At that speed you get to know your surroundings really well. I had my favorite Call Box, the almost dead palm tree, the graffitti that got covered up everyday and then tagged again; I had many distractions to keep me awake. One day I saw a poor dog that was hit by a car the previous evening. It was a large dog. The first day it was spread out about 10 feet. The next day it got spread another 20 feet. By the end of the week, it went from Western to La Brea. It was morbid watching it move bit by bit everyday, but it was the beat down banality of driving on the 10 freeeway that made me immune to the tragedy of the poor dog's death.
I Am Never Going to Get That Back
One day, while sitting in traffic, I worked out the time I had spent in the car.
5 days a week x 1.5 hours = 7.5 hours x 4 (weeks in a month) = 30 hours x 12 months = 360 hours x 4 years = 1440 total hours spent in the car
1440 hours ÷ 24 hours = 60 days that I will never get back.
Now I work virtually from my home office, and if a job ever came up, my only requirement would be the shortest commute possible. There are more reasons not to drive to work and you know most of them; my greatest hope is that with a bigger bandwidth we will all be able to be carbon neutral and stay at home to work. One can only hope.
Image: Ophelia Chong / Traffic
Four Years Ago: The Dog
On a typical morning in the car on the way to Santa Monica, my usual speed was 15 mph on the 10 freeway. At that speed you get to know your surroundings really well. I had my favorite Call Box, the almost dead palm tree, the graffitti that got covered up everyday and then tagged again; I had many distractions to keep me awake. One day I saw a poor dog that was hit by a car the previous evening. It was a large dog. The first day it was spread out about 10 feet. The next day it got spread another 20 feet. By the end of the week, it went from Western to La Brea. It was morbid watching it move bit by bit everyday, but it was the beat down banality of driving on the 10 freeeway that made me immune to the tragedy of the poor dog's death.
I Am Never Going to Get That Back
One day, while sitting in traffic, I worked out the time I had spent in the car.
5 days a week x 1.5 hours = 7.5 hours x 4 (weeks in a month) = 30 hours x 12 months = 360 hours x 4 years = 1440 total hours spent in the car
1440 hours ÷ 24 hours = 60 days that I will never get back.
Now I work virtually from my home office, and if a job ever came up, my only requirement would be the shortest commute possible. There are more reasons not to drive to work and you know most of them; my greatest hope is that with a bigger bandwidth we will all be able to be carbon neutral and stay at home to work. One can only hope.
Image: Ophelia Chong / Traffic
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Danh Hoang says :
I stay at home. You're in a perfect situation. If you want to be around people go to a coffee house and chill out. Then you will remind yourself why you are at home ;)