Wife and I used to live between about an hour away (in opposite directions) from our respective workplaces. Thankfully, we bought our house right before gas prices really started ramping up. It's now about ten minutes to get into the office for me, and she's working literally down the street, maybe a quarter-mile. Now, she's going to start commuting back to school for her doctorate in the fall, so that's an hour each way, but only two or three times a week.
What I like about living so close is that if I need to get back to the office on the weekend (to get stuff caught up, or just get away for a bit), it doesn't kill the whole day. I can run in for a couple hours in the morning, or after I'm done brewing, or whatever. So, yeah, it's definately a lifestyle choice; I mean, I listen to NPR and the Jamil Show and stuff in the car, but that's not where I want to be spending my time.