[chet everett]

I have several friends with ties to SW Michigan. Some do live there year round. In particular I know one couple with school aged children that live in Chicago during the school year and basically spend all summer in NB. Dad grew up in NB, mom in Chicago. Mom works in a faily business based on SW side of Chicago, dad has seasonal business based in "Harbor Country", when it is the busy for dad he puts in 60+ hr weeks. Mom has rather irregular demands on her time due to unique nature of family business. It is pretty uncommon occurance.

I know other folks that do not need to be "in an office" for 8+ hrs a day that can 'commute' to a primary work location in Chicago from SW Michigan / Indiana's shore too. People in writing /academic fields can and do make out fine writing from home and heading to classes or meetings with editors off-peak, occasional late night snarls are offset by pretty pleasant lifestyle of collecting rocks and watching beautiful sunsets. Increased use of high speed internet and things skype really makes it much easier to forgo many trivial meetings.

In contrast trying to do this DAILY for a job that requires 40+ hours in office (or hospital or court room...) would quickly become both maddening and insanely costly with even a real fuel sipping hybrid not being the ideal vehicle to go toe-to-toe with the WALLS of 18 wheelers that clog the 80-94 junction at the most unexpected of times...

[darstar]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I have several friends with ties to SW Michigan. Some do live there year round. In particular I know one couple with school aged children that live in Chicago during the school year and basically spend all summer in NB. Dad grew up in NB, mom in Chicago. Mom works in a faily business based on SW side of Chicago, dad has seasonal business based in "Harbor Country", when it is the busy for dad he puts in 60+ hr weeks. Mom has rather irregular demands on her time due to unique nature of family business. It is pretty uncommon occurance.

I know other folks that do not need to be "in an office" for 8+ hrs a day that can 'commute' to a primary work location in Chicago from SW Michigan / Indiana's shore too. People in writing /academic fields can and do make out fine writing from home and heading to classes or meetings with editors off-peak, occasional late night snarls are offset by pretty pleasant lifestyle of collecting rocks and watching beautiful sunsets. Increased use of high speed internet and things skype really makes it much easier to forgo many trivial meetings.

In contrast trying to do this DAILY for a job that requires 40+ hours in office (or hospital or court room...) would quickly become both maddening and insanely costly with even a real fuel sipping hybrid not being the ideal vehicle to go toe-to-toe with the WALLS of 18 wheelers that clog the 80-94 junction at the most unexpected of times...

O' those times on the Chicago expressways can be expected almost perfectly . My brother in law commutes from lake Forest, but he leaves at 5;00 am for downtown, works well for him. I do agree, the 80-94-90 squeeze is one of the worst places to be at any hour it seems, even for those who work the night shift.