I travel one hour just to get to work everyday, and oddly enough it takes longer to get home with the extra traffic.  I used to own a truck when I started the horrifying field passing commute, but since I was filling up with gas three times a week, sometimes four, I couldn't afford to drive around an eight cylinder dodge gas hog.  So I traded it in for a Kia Rio.  I had to suck up my pride, since I have always been a "truck guy", but I love my wife and I had to make a sacrifice.  Well that should give you a good idea how much I travel every week.  Traveling all that time, I have tried almost everything I could think of to make the time go a little faster in my commute.

I started just listening to music.  This would work if you had a short commute, but if you have a big long fun commute time like me, you will quickly get tired of the same music all the time.  No matter what stations you listen to, you will get tired of listening to the same radio guys talk about the same non-interesting crap with no remorse.  I have not tried satellite radio because I am cheap and don't want to fork over subscription fees just for more radio stations.

One little spree I went through for a month or two, was very dangerous, and I do not condone doing this ever.  I read.  I sat a book/magazine on the steering wheel, and just made my way home.  I was fortunate that nothing every happened to me.  I got lucky that I never was pulled over by a cop, or worse yet, cause an accident due to my negligence.  That did waste time, but during the winter when it is dark on my to, and from work, it was difficult to read in the dark, and drive.  So I got audio books.

Audio books work for a little while, but anyone who has listened to these could probably agree with me that it gets boring.  Not only that but if you are traveling two hours a day like me, it could get expensive if you go through a couple books a week. I just didn't like these at all. Audio books however did lead me into my best and final way that I waste time daily.

Listening to podcasts.  I know a lot of you reading this may think podcasts are for nerds, but the truth of it all is that there is a lot of conduits for entertainment and education out there, and podcasts can be a lot more niche-specific.  There are podcasts for nearly all industries/hobbies out there.  So I no longer look at my daily two hour commute time to be a waste of but, rather it gives me time to learn more about what I enjoy doing.

I have a hobby of operating and maintaining this website, whether it be designing, developing, seo, sem, etc.  So during my commute, I enjoy listening to a variety of podcasts to make my daily commute time feel shorter. Lately I have been focusing on SEO (If you don't know what SEO( Search Engine Optimization) is don't worry about it.  It is a whole different topic.), and I have been listening to the MR. SEO podcast that covers everything I need to know about SEO.  Just think about your hobby, or whatever interests you, and go on iTunes, and search it.  Put it to your iPod, and go.

It helps if you have a FM transmitter for your iPod too, otherwise it could be dangerous having ear buds in while your driving.

I have been doing this for awhile now, and I will admit that sometimes when I get home, I will stay in my car just to finish the podcast I was listening to.  Ok, maybe I'm a nerd.

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