At this point it seems to live again, so why not continue?

A bit of description of your route profile.

A mix of city and suburban, paved and gravel MUP, 4 lane divided highway and city traffic, and some residential streets. toughest climb is about a 15-18% grade for about 1/4 mile, on a residential street and MUP, with several less severe climbs on residential streets (which lets me avoid a narrow, busy and dangerous street) following. I ride one 2 mile section of 4 lane divided highway on the shoulder.

What kind of bike you ride. (photos would be cool)

Kona Dew Drop with Topeak Explorer rack, cheap-ish Avenir panniers, and a small toolkit/underseat bag.

How you carry your gear and what or how much (volume) stuff you bring on the ride.

Change of clothes, lunch, phone, PDA, etc... go in the left pannier. Spare u-lock, topeak Road Morph, roll of duct tape, inclement weather gear, spare riding glasses, spare blinky and spare tube #2 are in the right pannier. multi-tools, spare tube #1, patch kit, spare headlight, and masterlink are in the tool bag.

Distance & time (average speed if you care to share)

Ride in: about 11.5 miles in around 55 minutes. My GPS documented speed is just under 12 MPH most days (including all stops for traffic lights, etc...)
Ride home: about 12.5 miles, about 65 minutes, average speed of 11.5 ish. Of course, the speed varies considerably based on terrain and conditions. My MUP Miles usually average 15-18 MPH, while my urban (and climbing) miles fall way down around 10 MPH. I do this 3-4 times a week, depending on circumstances. Oh, I should mention: I drive the first and last 10 miles of what would otherwise be a 40 mile plus round trip -- I drive because I need to get my teenage daughter to school, and the location isn't accessible by public transit. My other alternative is to ride to transit, which is what I usually do when go straight to work from home.

How long you've been doing this and any thoughts you have toward the future of your commuting.

My current commute is less than 8 weeks old. I started riding less than 3 miles a day about 7 months ago, and started riding further about 5 months ago, ramping up over time. My plan is to stick with it, as I really enjoy it. Time will tell how dedicated a winter biker I am, though I spent many years as a year round motorcyclist, so I think I'll stick. I don't voluntarily ride in snow or cold rain at this point, though.