i know i'm making a little less now than i was at my old job, and it's even more dead-end, but it's a great experience, amazing exercise. i've probably improved the quality of my life a million times over, healthwise. i wasn't really athletic at all before i started riding. now i never want to stop. also, while having your life threatened several times a day can be really frustrating and does tend to make people more quick to anger, focusing on moment to moment survival and getting from one place to the next safely is a very different way of using your brain than indoor people are used to. unless you're fooled into thinking you're invincible (it's easier than it should be to be lulled into that false sense of security) you do appreciate life as you're living it a little more, because you're so much more aware of how easily it could suddenly be over. at work there's really no time for abstract thought because you'll miss one little thing out of the corner of your eye or not see something about to happen ahead of you, and then be hurt or dead. people in offices basically spend all day with their brains running the opposite way. i feel like i've been rewired, and i am a little worried that it will take work to reverse someday when i'm not in traffic over 40 hours a week, but at least now i'm less likely to end up frail and weak when i'm an old fogey. ...that is, assuming i live long enough to be one.