How do you handle the commute?

I have a short commute for Silicon Valley standards.  It averages 25 minutes, one-way.  I get on one freeway and it is a straight shot.  I'm lucky that work is close to the freeway and so is our house.  But that is all about to change.  We are moving.  I'm thrilled to finally own a home of our own (even it is a fixer-upper for almost a million bucks); however, my commute is about to double.  I am going to spend almost an hour on the road each way; for the four days a week that I work in the office. 

When we bought our home we decided that being closer to our extended family (a great support system for us) and being in excellent public schools was more important than the commute.  Besides, I figured that if I didn't like the commute, I could find a job closer to home.  We haven't moved out to the sticks.  On a map, I am only 20 miles from my work.   Twenty miles that will take an hour to cover since the Bay Area has the worst freeway infrastructure.  The Bay Area holds the honor of the second worst traffic in the entire United States.

On The Juggle, a working parents blog by the Wall Street Journal, there was recently a post about the Long Commute.  There are certainly trade-offs for buying our house where we did.  I am aware of them.  Hell, I made the decision.   But I wonder.... how long will I be able to commute that long?  What are the health, mind, and body trade-offs that I didn't factor into our decision to move to South San Jose?  Will I use that time between work and home to de-stress and change gears at day’s end?  Or will I come home even more irritable after sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic?

I’d like to hear from readers on how long a commute you’re dealing with and how that affects your "juggle."