I miss the metro.

I love taking the bus.
In the winter, I don't have to scrape, shovel, push or worry about my icy-road skills. In the spring, summer and fall, I just have to get on and sit down, and I get to read or daydream until I get dropped off a few blocks from my destination. Also, memorizing the routes is kind of fun, and it has helped me learn all about the city.

Last summer, before I got my bus pass, I rode my bike everywhere! My roommates were great at taking me on long bike rides when I first moved in, and I felt really good to be a little more fit and self-reliant and emission-free.

Now, because of the type of job I have, I am in the car allllll day. Every morning I drive from my house in NE Minneapolis to Richfield. Then I go from Richfield to Bloomington. Then back to Richfield. Then to Uptown, Minneapolis. Then home-- if I'm lucky. Sometimes I go from NE to Chaska to Bloomington to Uptown to home. (I get reimbursed 40 cents per mile, but I'm too afraid to calculate what kind of deal that is.)

Today I went from NE Minneapolis to Richfield to Bloomington to St. Paul, then back to Richfield, then to Uptown, and then home (where I had less than 10 minutes to get ready for class).

Now, imagine that every single exit I wanted to take today was closed, due to highway construction. Imagine that it was 93 degrees outside and very humid, and I was in a car that looks like THIS , with a dark maroon interior and nothing even close to air conditioning.

Can you imagine how drenched with sweat I was? Can you imagine how angry and miserable I was? Can you imagine how much I wanted to just get out of the car?!

I just kept saying, "At least I have a job, at least I have a job, at least I have a job..."