Recommended Podcasts: Miscellaneous

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In my post about the Microsoft Silicon Valley vanpool I mentioned how podcasts saved my sanity while driving in the heavy traffic.  One of the other vanpoolers mentioned that I should blog the podcasts I listen to (Thanks Yvonne).  So here I am on my ride blogging again.  This could get to be a habit. :)

Having more time to write can be a bad thing. ;)  I started writing this post and before I knew it it had become a 2000 word mega-post. :O  That’s not exactly what I had in mind.  Personally I prefer to read posts that are short and sweet.  So with that in mind I’m going to split this into a series of posts on the subject.  In this series, I’ll try to put some structure around the podcasts I listen to regularly.

I guess I’ve just subscribed to too many of these.  That’s no big deal.  There’s no law that says you have to watch all of these.  At first I did feel guilty if I fell behind in a series but I’m so over that.  There’s just so much out there to watch or listen to that all you can do is pull together the stuff that interest you and see what happens.

Today’s post is about some of the other podcasts I listen to.  These don’t fit into a particular category so I just lumped them all together here.  See my other posts about Technology, Entertainment, Startup and Video podcasts.

 

Miscellaneous Podcasts

  • Learn French by Podcast
    • french9 I’m originally from Montreal.  I used to be able to speak fluently in French.  Since having moved to the US 10 years or so ago, I find very few opportunities to speak French.  I keep this podcast around as a way to help me practice. I don’t do it often enough but occasionally on a long drive I’ll fire it up and play along.  This is an amazing free resource if you’re looking to learn French.  Of course, if French is not a language you care about, I am amazed at how many free foreign language instruction podcasts there are.  If you’ve always wanted to learn a new language there’s really no excuse any more.

 

  • Get-It-Done Guy’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More
    • Folder78Getting Things Done is a podcast about personal productivity.  It seems to be loosely modeled on David Allen’s Getting Things Done process so if you’re into that you’ll probably like this podcast.  It’s a common sense approach to individual workflow and productivity.  I’m not a complete convert yet but there are some things I take from this to help me get stuff done.  This podcast is another random one I keep around for the odd time when I have just a few minutes to listen.  Stever Robbins, who hosts this show, provides some good short tips on a wide variety of work related topics.  I like that they are really short.  I usually listen to just a couple at a time.

 

  • Phedippidations
    • FdipIcon150x1508 Steve Runner is a runner.  He’s not an elite runner winning races the world over.  He’s just out running for fun and for his health.  Like me he’s a middle-of-the-pack runner.  I think that’s why I enjoy listening this podcast.  It’s great as a motivator.  Last weekend while pulling weeds and mowing the lawn I was listening to Steve.  When I was done pulling weeds I went for a run.  It’s an odd format; he records parts of the podcasts while he’s running so the sound quality for those parts is not the greatest.  He more than makes up for that in the quality of the content.  A nice one if you’re a runner.

 

  • NPR Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
    • Folder88This show is great.  It’s a fake quiz show where panelists are quizzed about the past weeks news.  The interesting part is that the panelist are comedians/humorists and both the questions and answers can be hilarious.  It’s an entertaining way to catch up on the weeks news.  It’s sort of NPR’s equivalent to Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.  I listen to this one on the weekend with my kids when we’re driving around.  At first they kept asking me to turn it off but recently I’ve noticed them listening and occasionally laughing.  Strange but true; kids do listen to NPR. :)

 

So what do you think?  Do you like these?  Are there others that you recommend?  Leave your comments in the area provided below.

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