#21

The number 21 is my lucky number...and I did prove to be lucky when exploring Thing #21: Podcasts. I don't have much experience with podcasts, so I started this excersise with no real expectations. Well, I was pleasantly suprised. I found a podcast for one of my favorite NPR shows, and I am thoroughly excited about it. If you haven't heard of This American Life , which is a weekly radio show found on NPR, you are missing out. The basic premise of the show is just that, basic. Ira Glass, who by the way is an amazing personality, presents a weekly theme and three stories that align with that theme. These stories are about every day people or events, that somehow take on an epic quality. The real appeal is that these stories appear ordinary at first glance, but viewed through Ira's lense they take on this extraordinary magic of their own. Check out one of their favorite stories, Episode 360: Switched at Birth

Podcasts are generally easy to use, and can be valued for both informational and entertaining qualities...yet another 2.0 tool we can utilize to streamline our busy lives. I never catch This American Life on the live radio, but now I can keep up with the episodes on my own time. Now that I've added it to my Google Reader, I can have easy access to my favorite radio show!