The increasing stress of driving

Other than leaving hours earlier to go anywhere and taking

You could do what I did, and move closer to work.

I used to drive 30-45 minutes of hair raising, adrenaline pumping commute each way to cover 13 miles or so to my job from my house.

Now, I live less than 1 mile from work, and can walk, bike, motorcycle, or commuting beats the poo out of 90 minutes a day. And I'm alot calmer when I get home every day. Not to mention my gasoline use is less than half of what it was. With prices going up (and up and up) that factor alone will become more significant. My rent went up $100 a month (sold my house) but my quality of life has gone up a great deal not having to deal with what you so eloquently described in your post.

Of course, not everyone can do it. But if you can, I highly recommend it.'

Oil is finite and we're using it 3-6 times faster than we're discovering it. (depending on which source you look at). Genius level thought processes aren't necessary to see where that will eventually lead.

Even Chevron has jumped on the oil depletion bandwagon with their new site www.willyoujoinus.com .

Reducing dependence on cars and gasoline now keeps you ahead of the curve IMO.

My 2¢ worth.

Roy