Back to work

Once again it's time for me to be a respectable, productive citizen of the world: last Tuesday I began a new job. And though five days is too soon to tell for sure, I think I've signed on with a great company. I'll be writing software—of course!—and the one-sentence summary of what I'm working on is that the company makes autopilots for farm tractors.

I don't divulge much information here at Just Enough Craig about career work, instead focusing on stuff such as bicycling, so the bigger news about the new job is the commute. The one-sentence summary is that it's super tough—that's not to be confused with merely tough, as was my previous commute. For the new job, the shortest legal route from Laura's and my apartment to the office is about nineteen miles. But at least they're good miles; I've got three different, viable routes to take, and many of the paths and roads are the same quiet, low-traffic roads I bike on for fun in my spare time. Through those nineteen miles I pass through only eleven traffic signals, compared to about thirty-five signals for the twelve miles of my previous commute. This is to say that the new commute is physically challenging but mentally relaxing, which is exactly what bike-commuting is supposed to be about.

However, only a crazier person than me would try to keep this up indefinitely. The commute takes me 60-80 minutes each way, and an ideal commute is no more than 30 minutes. Fortunately, for my entire adult life I've thrown my money away by renting, and one of the perks of doing so is that I can easily pack up and move to adapt to new circumstances. Consequently, Laura and I will be moving eastward soon. We're now trying to find the best place that evenly splits our commutes and at the same time is walkable, like our current place. These are exciting times!