Since we moved to San Mateo a little over a week ago, my commute shrunk from about 25-45 minutes (depending on traffic) to less than 10 minutes. This in itself is great, and I really don’t miss driving. However, it does have a minor downside: I can no longer catch up on podcasts while commuting.

Until about two years ago, I commuted to work by train, about 1 hour each way. I hated wasting so much time on commuting, but on the positive side I was able to get a lot of reading done, both professional as well as personal literature. When I started working in San Mateo, I first listened to the radio but quickly got bored of it and bought an iPod instead. Initially I was quite happy to enjoy my music collection on the road, but I later got into podcasts, and I now have enough podcasts that I regularly listen to to keep me busy for about 4-5 hours each week, about the time I used to spend on my commute.

Oh well, I guess I’ll get into the habit of listening to podcasts at home, while reading email, etc. Now I just have to make an effort to make more time for reading books again…