second day - finding my way

So the conclusion of my second day at my new jobs is *slowly* approaching. The first few days of work are usually filled with things you'll never be doing on a day-to-day basis, so making judgments at this point is premature in terms of my workload and job duties. But I must say so far I'm really liking all my coworkers, bosses and the atmosphere of the association. Everyone has been welcoming and kind and genuinely seem to want to help me learn as much as possible!

I've spent the past two days filling out an endless pile of paperwork (I'm finally writing our new apartment's address without thinking!), reading tons of information about the association and professionals we serve, and just organizing my office (I have a door and everything!). I can personalize my office if I want, so I'm wondering how silly I'll look on the metro with large pictures in frames... ;)

Speaking of the metro, I've been in "experiment" mode in terms of the commute. The office is exactly 37 miles from our front door but the only way to get there is by the dreaded I-270. It is dreaded because of the ungodly amount of people commuting to and from the same place in the same direction at the same time. Driving the 37 miles is an option, but with the plethora of public transit at my fingertips, I cannot resist. Plus, I must do my eco-conscious duty!

Here are a few of the many options I have:

1. Drive to the first Metro station (via 270) and park take the rail in and exit metro station with my office literally across the street. The drive is 20 miles. I did this Tuesday and it took me an hour and 15 minutes total on the way there and about an hour on the way home. Not too shabby.
2. Take the Commuter Bus from Frederick (drive and park for free at the bus station, it's close to our apt. but not walking close) to the first metro station, take the metro in. Did this today and the traffic on 270 was horrid, but I wasn't driving, I was reading a book, which was so nice! Today's morning commute was 1 hour 30 minutes.
   
3. MARC Train - the station is literally two blocks from the apt. Ride the train to Rockville, get on the metro from there. I haven't tried this yet, it's next on the "to do" list. The only problem I have with it is the very restrictive time schedule. The train has tons of times, but only stops at certain places at certain times. So there's little flexibility. The main positive is that it's not dependent on interstate traffic.
4. Drive into Montgomery County (closest city in their county to Frederick) and get on a local bus that will take me either all the way to work or to the metro station. I need to do way more research on this one, and it has not been a pleasant feat thus far. I'll keep you posted.

Regardless of the option I choose this is going to cost money. My company pays for $40 of commuting a month, and then I can pay pretax most of the rest of it, which is a perk. But if I drove every day (80 miles a day/1,600 miles a month) I'd be filling up at least four times, which would cost around $200 and would not be paid pretax or get the $40 credit.

To be honest, I'm just ecstatic that I live in a place where there's more than one option of getting to work (in your car!). I read a ton of pages in my book today and look forward to flying through lots of books during this time! It's so relaxing.