Hey, I am in Austin, TX as well. The first thing that comes up for me reading your post is that there are probably some issues with fit. A poorly fitting bike is going to cause some body pains that shouldn't still be with you after a year of riding.

As far as whether or not the bike is a good bike for commuting-it could be-but any bike that doesn't fit right is going to be the wrong bike for anything.

I have been going to Performance on Anderson for a couple of years. They are great guys, tell them Brian with the Surly LHT sent you. They will do a bike fit for you for about 60.00 bucks, and it might be well worth it to have them do it. If it's a real bad fit then they probably won't even go that far.

Is there a 2 finger gap between the top tube and your privates when you stand over the top tube? If you can't even stand over the top tube the bike is to big. If it is way more than that then the bike is too small. Have them recommend a bike that fits you and ride it just to see how it feels-either choose a commuter specific back or a drop handlebar bike-doesn't matter-just so you know how good a correctly fitted bike feels.

Good luck!