I arrived home to a snowy scene after my Wednesday evening commute. For once I was glad to be a VRE passenger because I heard nightmares of eight-hour commutes (and more) on the snow- and ice-slicked roads. Some people stayed in hotels for the night rather than brave the nightmare traffic.

It was a mild storm compared with the blizzards of December 2009 and February 2010 in the Washington, D.C., region but still bad enough to make the next morning’s commute a challenge.

I did not rise to the challenge. Instead, I opted for telecommuting. I could have taken VRE, but it was running on a limited schedule and wasn’t worth the hassle. Plus who wants to walk through piles of unshoveled snow on D.C. sidewalks to get to work?