Ah, commuting.

Commuting is one of those things many of us live with - and abhor. When I first started working at Google I drove back and forth from San Francisco to Mountain View every single day. City to Silicon Valley. Down and up. Up and down. 101 or 280. Pick your poison.

I'd wake up, drive, work, drive, sleep. It was work-work balance. Or drive-work-drive balance, I should say.

My little Honda Civic Hybrid got to drive in the carpool lane, which helped. But not by much.

After about a year, Google started running shuttles. Well, "a" shuttle. It picked us up at Civic Center and was the ricketiest bus you've ever seen. Bucket seats even. I think someone picked it up from Sanford & Son.

This show was so good I thought these two actually lived in a salvage yard.

Same with "Alice". Kiss my grits. I thought those ladies were really old school waitresses. Where have all the good shows gone?

At that time an engineer had started the shuttle program as a 20% project (those famous projects only engineers get at Google). And I'd take the N-Judah to Civic Center, hop on the shuttle and be driven, happily, to Mountain View. It didn't even bother me that I was taking two forms of public transportation. I was in heaven.

The good ol' N - ran by my house for almost 7 years. I got so used to the train that I'd hit the pause button on the TiVo, wait for the train to pass and then resume TiVo without even realizing what I'd done. (God, I miss TiVo.)

Over time, these shuttles evolved to "limo" buses (Google had gone public, apparently). Large, slick black buses with leather seats, cup holders, tables and even wireless Internet. They ran on corn or something. Ethanol, I think they call it. ;)

You could even take your dog on the shuttle. And I did. Rose came with me to work. She had a friend, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who also rode.

His name was Seamus. And he was super chill. Just like Rose.

Rose sat happily in her own leather seat, looking out the window. Watching the cars go by. Laying her head in her Mommy's lap. I thought - this is pretty cush. But the round trip was 3 hours. And no matter how much People Magazine you read, personal email you peruse or hushed phone conversations you have, 3 hours on a bus is just KILLER. So I fell out of love with the shuttle.

Sorry, shuttle. You made my heart sing for a while. You did.

When the San Francisco office of Google opened up (and I won a coveted seat), my heart BURST with joy. Holy shit - I can get to work in FIFTEEN MINUTES. My life is BEAUTIFUL.

And oh, it was. I'd take the N-Judah from my house and it would drop me right in front of Google. I'd drive my car and 15 minutes later, I was walking into the office, grabbing a quick breakfast and opening my laptop.

And I thought - it CAN NOT get better than this. I mean, it just can't. The office is right on the Embarcadero. Overlooking the Bay Bridge. I mean c'mon. And I even had a window seat.

Ah, downtown San Francisco

Bay Bridge (the "ugly" San Francisco bridge)

Along the Embarcadero

This is a symbol for peace. A giant bow & arrow, with the arrow going into the ground.

I have no idea what this is. Art, apparently.

Looks pretty cool in the sunlight.

But now - living in Sydney - I think I've topped it. My commute is fabulous. I walk.

I walk out of my house in Rozelle, over the ANZAC Bridge and right over to Pyrmont. It takes about 40 -50 minutes, depending on how spry I'm feeling that day. And I get my ~1 hour 30 minutes of low-impact exercise. To ward off all the chocolate milk lattes I've been making myself in the office.

One of my new favorite Aussie treats.

So here's my commute over the ANZAC Bridge. The Bridge itself takes about 25-30 minutes on its own. And there's a nice little foot path where bikes come at you full speed and almost take your arm off, but cars are safely situated on the other side of a very large concrete wall.


And oh, there's the sunset. Did I forget to mention the sunset?

The ANZAC Bridge (Australia New Zealand Army Corps)

Pretty clouds

More clouds

Mr. ANZAC

With sunset behind

Heaven calling.

Depending on how late I stay at work, I can grab food on my way out and catch a nice sunset before walking into my house, collapsing on the bed and opening up my laptop for another 3 hours of work (which is what I'm procrastinating right now).

Oh, Google. How you spoil me.