Drive time... waste not!

If you have a lengthy commute like me, you may have thought to yourself ‘how can I use my commute time most effectively?’ Well, I have thought the same question myself and have come up with a few ideas.

One thing you can do is pray. I mention this first because it is what I find myself doing the least of.

Besides praying I have found my drive time is very useful for listening to audio files. Most people think of books on CD when I mention this, but I rarely listen to an actual CDs anymore. Perhaps, like me, you don’t have a CD player in your car. To overcome that, I listen to mp3 files on my laptop. You can use a portable mp3 player or iPod as well. If you choose to go with your laptop, here are some thoughts to consider. Find a file player that uses the SPACE BAR key to pause the audio. Personally I use CyberLink PowerDVD which can be bought here for $39.95 if you select the download option. CyberLink automatically add a TOGOCD (a backup CD) for an additional $10.00 which can be removed from the card to bring the total back to 39.95. There are free mp3 players on the web, but I haven’t found one that uses the SPACE BAR to pause audio. Two other features that PowerDVD offers is that the PAGE UP key work to rewinds a few seconds and you can play the files at 1.5x or 2x the normal speed (I love hearing people sounding like chipmunks). Then, queue up your files BEFORE you start driving. Lastly, enjoy. If the sound isn't loud enough, get laptop USB speakers fot $10 - $20 to amplify the sound. Lately I’ve been listening to Joe Focht’s verse-by-verse series which can be downloaded here. I’ve also been listening to some college lectures. Of course there are many versions of the Bible on mp3 now. Since I find that I don’t have all the time I want to read the Word, I find listening to it read to me is just as edifying.

Another awesome find a colleague showed me was a list of portable FREE programs. I have looked over the list and it is an amazing suite of FREE programs that one can copy on a USB drive and carry around where ever you go. All you have to do is pop the USB drive into ANY machine and launch your programs (including a web browser) and have all your favorites, personal settings and files with you! All you need is an operaing system. If you choose to have the browser save your passwords, I STRONGLY encourage you to encrypt your data. E-mail me to find how.