Nicole, I'm glad to hear you're still thinking of ways to commute on your bike. I'll add my 2 cents.

I don't line up behind cars, because around here I am not at all confident that all the cell-phone-talking, McDonalds-eating, makeup-applying idiots are paying enough attention to see me, and I don't want to get crushed between two cars. So I just ride up alongside them on the right and wait at a light to make sure the first car is going straight, or wait for them if they're turning. I've never seen anyone on a bike wait behind the line of traffic at a light, now that I think of it.

I think what annoys car drivers most is bikers riding in the traffic lane but not going the speed of traffic, so I always stay as far to the right as I safely can. I know there are many people who say "take the lane," but each of us has to evaluate our own traffic situation and do what is safe.

At a complicated intersection, I seldom dismount and walk across, but I do ride across one way and wait for the light to change and then cross the other street, because it just doesn't feel safe to be in the left turn lane with impatient drivers.

Hope you can find a way to make it work.