So, why the new job?

My current job, the one I'm leaving, is a pretty good one. I've only got the usual amount of headaches from clueless managers (including the one who attaches a sermon to the staff meeting agenda each week). So why am I leaving?

I live in Ashburn, VA - ten minutes west of Dulles Airport. Ashburn is in Loudoun County, the fastest-growing county in the country. I work in Merrifield, just inside the Beltway. If I worked Saturdays I could get to work in 25 minutes.

But I don't work Saturdays. I work weekdays and so does everyone else in this part of the world (our region has been consistantly in the top three worst-traffic regions for the last 5 years). My commute can take anywhere from 35 minutes on an exceptionally good day to 2 hours on an exceptionally bad day. Most days it takes about an hour each way.

My new job is just south of the Dulles Airport. I see the building I'll be working at out the passenger-side window of my car on my commute each morning. The morning of my interview with them it took me 15 minutes in rush-hour to get there. I arrived 45 minutes early (I wasn't taking any chances!).

My worst commuting days will probably never take as long as my best commuting days do now.

I can't begin to describe how much stress I've let go of since agreeing to take the job. Since I'll be hourly for the first 6 months, I could work an hour of PAID over-time every day and still get home earlier than I do now!