Green Living Challenge #4: Driving Sucks.

I was going to come up with some flowery title like, "Why I Wouldn't Drive to Work Even If They Let Me Park for Free," which is true, but why say all that when you can sum it up in two words:

Driving sucks.

Which is why my fourth task in the Green Living Challenge was easy:

Don’t drive one day a week (use public transportation, bike, carpool, or telecommute)

I already Metro to work every day and 90% of the time it's smooth as silk. There are infrequent days when there are delays and trains are crowded, but then again, if I was driving there would be backups a lot more than 10% of the time.

Just this morning, I got a reminder of what life would be like if I drove to work every day. I'm heading up to Pennsylvania right after work to visit a friend, so The Green Girlfriend, a coworker, and I carpooled from Ballston to McPherson Square. After slogging through the rain-slowed traffic to the point of a simmering low-level road rage, we found a parking lot under my office building. There we were greeted by the Parking Nazi, an attendant who demanded I re-park my car three times to within inches of his specifications, a problem that was exacerbated because he:

1) Didn't give instructions or speak English very well
2) Insisted he gave clear instructions and spoke perfectly fine English and it was all three of us who couldn't understand him

So I went to another parking lot and ended up 5 minutes late for work. Needless to say, I won't be giving up my SmarTrip card anytime soon.

And why would I? My commute only takes 30 minutes door-to-door, including a walk through Oakland Park past some blossoming trees. I've read more books in the last year of Metroing than I had in the previous five years (which is sorta sad but true). I'm guaranteed exercise every day, with 20 minutes of walking round-trip. And since we both go to work at the same time, I'm also guaranteed daily time with The Green Girlfriend.

Points for this action: 15
Total points to date: 60
Points needed to complete Green Living Challenge: 100