So I've made a decision about this summer - I'm going to renew my fellowship at NIH and stay until the end of July. It's going to be a hellatious commute, and I'm really not looking forward to it! Actually, it's not the commute that I'm dreading... it's how early I'm going to have to leave to make my commute manageable. The shortest route from White Marsh to Bethesda is 95 to 495 to 355 - three truly horrendous roads during rush hour. I mapped out a "back roads" way to cut over from 95 to Bethesda without touching 495 (the DC beltway for those of you who don't live around here... as in the beltway surrounding the city with the 2nd worst traffic in the United States). You just don't mess with 495 anytime between about 6:30 and 10am, or between 2 and 7pm. Without traffic, the commute on my back roads route will take an hour and 20 minutes - not too bad, since it takes me an hour and a half to get from my driveway to my desk as it is. And I won't be riding the metro, I'll just be driving straight to campus. It'll suck to be driving myself all that way though (I currently ride about an hour with my mom and 15 mins on the metro and 15 mins walking/waiting on either end of the metro). But I'm relatively certain that I WILL hit traffic even on this route (I'm not the only one who knows how to use Google Maps), so I'll need to go in pretty early to keep from losing my mind on the road. My supervisor suggested that I could work four 10-hour days to cut out one day of commuting, but I'd have to work like 6am til 4pm (leaving home at like 4:30!) and I'd hit evening rush hour every day. Of course, I could probably get away with leaving early most days ;) If I work a regular schedule, I can work like 6:30 til 2:30 - I think I could avoid the worst of it on both ends with that schedule. And Ben will be leaving for work around 4:30 too, so we might as well get on the same schedule so we can maximize the amount of time we're spending together.
That's why I say "the best worst summer of my life" - it's gonna suck commuting that far all summer, but it's going to be our first summer as a married couple! I'm hoping that all the newness and excitement will overshadow the inconvenience of the commute and the lack of sleep :) Actually we've already decided that we're going up to bed at like 8:00 every night, turning on the TV or a movie or something and cuddling til we fall asleep, in hopes that we'll actually get a reasonable amount of sleep! And there are other benefits to staying where I am, even if I could get another job (which I'm beginning to think is a hopeless pursuit in this economy anyway). For one thing, I'll get a raise for those two months. I'd almost certainly take a pay cut to go anywhere else. I'll also have a TON more flexibility with time off and my schedule. If I started a new job right after my honeymoon, I'd have like 9 weeks to work. Anyone crazy enough to give me a job for that amount of time wouldn't be too keen on giving me much time off, and I'd have to work from the day after the honeymoon right up to the day before I started school. If I keep my current job, I could probably take extra time off after the honeymoon to unpack and settle in and put away all our presents :) and I can take a few days off for our 4th of July trip with no problems, and I can choose to stop working a few weeks before school starts to give myself a little break. I'm planning on working through the end of July - that'll give me about 2 weeks off before school starts, to rest my brain! All very good things - very worthwhile. Most importantly though, I'll be making several hundred dollars more per month for those two months than our post-wedding budget requires, and Ben will still be pulling in lots of overtime over the summer, so we'll be able to put away some extra money quickly. Very nice :)
So, it's probably gonna suck, and I'm probably gonna hate it, but it'll all be SO worth it. And it's so much easier than hunting for a new job! I should just feel incredibly blessed to have the option of staying and to have a very nice-paying job (nice-paying for this stage of life, anyway) in this economy. The important thing is that I'll be coming home to my HUSBAND at the end of the day, and that'll be my light at the end of the long, long tunnel that is my commute.
OH, one more exciting thing... we're going to check out a few apartment complexes in White Marsh on Sunday! I'm so excited! We decided to start looking around over the next few weekends so that we get a good idea of which apartment complex(es) we'd actually consider living in, so when the time comes to sign a lease (late April) we'll know where to call to check availability and get the ball rolling. It's going to be painful though, seeing available apartments that we'd love to take but have to walk away from for now. And so many complexes are having great move-in specials right now - first month's rent free, reduced monthly rent... and we can't capitalize on them because we can't start a lease til May 1st! Oh well, they'll probably have some specials when we're moving too. They just put a time limit on them to encourage people to hurry up and move in, thinking that this deal will be gone soon. Anyway, I'll be sure to update you all on that next week (hopefully with pictures).
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