Not yet a hypocrite

Well, I've managed to stave off my hypocrisy for at least one more week. Why do I say that? Because for the longest time, I've been loudly proclaiming that I wouldn't pay $4 a gallon for a tank of gas . . . but with gas prices skyrocketing and price records broken every single day, I'm nearing the point where I either have to stick to my guns and switch to Metro for my daily commute (not exactly an option I relish), or I embrace my hypocrisy head-on and gas up at $4 or more a gallon.

And like I said, tonight I managed to stave off that hypocrisy for at least one more week, because I gassed up for $3.97 a gallon on the corner of Glebe Road and Columbia Pike in Arlington. It's one of only two stations I know of in Arlington County that's selling at less than $4 a gallon (the other being further up Columbia Pike, right next to the Bob & Edith's), and in the interests of conserving money, I've already reduced my vehicular travel as much as possible. I almost never travel up to PA anymore, and whenever I have to drive anywhere, I combine trips (e.g., shopping trips). And if something is within 2 miles of my apartment (like Giant), I'll walk there and back—and get great exercise in the process.

It's the commute into work that gets me, though, because taking the Metro from Pentagon City up to Bethesda is a real bear.

I don't think I need to explain to anyone who lives in the DC region how insane the Red Line is during rush hour, and how crammed those rail cars can get with harried, impatient commuters. Door to door, it takes me an hour if I ride Metro, maybe a little more. If I drive, it's actually a much smoother ride, because all I need to do is ride up GW Parkway to the Beltway, and catch a few back roads into Bethesda, with little to no traffic holdups at all (except for around the Pentagon and Key Bridge). Door to door, 35-40 minutes of smooth sailing on a clear day. Really, it's probably the easiest driving commute I'll ever have living in this region—short of ever getting a job that's within walking distance of my home.

So there are my options: take the nerve-wracking Metro commute and save greatly on gas money (as I'll have essentially eliminated all driving from my routine, thus giving a proud "fuck you" to the oil companies), or continue to drive the easygoing commute and use up overpriced gas.

All things considered, this is not an easy choice to make.