I don’t work the Friday of Memorial Day = weekend. Let me tell you why.

Back in 2000, I was working on Long Island, living in Queens, and dating a girl from New = Jersey, who, of course, liked to spend the Memorial Day weekend with her friends = on the Jersey = Shore. SO of course, being the = great boyfriend that I was, I committed to getting to her house on Friday night to go to = the shore.

First, it took two hours for me to get home from = work, thanks to a trucking expert who was able to jack-knife a tractor trailer = truck right in the middle of the Long Island Expressway. My usually trip home = was about 30 minutes.

Second, the normal one hour trip to New Jersey became a three hour = stand still. At the time I had no cell phone, so it was a most unproductive three hours. = This was also before GPS systems were popular, so at least I didn’t = have to

After arriving in New = Jersey, I became the passenger for a two hour ride to the Jersey Shore. At least I wasn’t diving for that part and I wasn’t = alone.

Total car time – seven hours. = Yuck.

Since that year, I’ve taken the Friday of = Memorial Day weekend off from work. I live in New = Jersey, and I make the trip to the Jersey Shore long = before the rest of the world. Total trip time 2009 – one hour. Yes, = it’s with the same girl. Things change, but they stay the same. =

Enjoy, and stay safe this weekend. =