Thursday, October 25, 2018

Day 26

I'm not sure I have come out and stated this explicitly on my blog, but in case my interest in having an excellent planner, adoration for office supplies, excitement about doing well in school, and love for knitting weren't obvious indicators...I am a nerd. I am especially interested in business leaders and the way they live their lives. In recent years, I have read Clarence Saunders and the Founding of Piggly Wiggly: The Rise & Fall of a Memphis Maverick and The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: The Amazing Story of How America Lost Its Mind Over a Plush Toy--and the Eccentric Genius Behind It for fun, and I loved both books. Although I don't aspire to follow their trajectories, there is something about businesspeople and their life stories that makes me want to understand their paths. Perhaps I am interested in their leadership styles and want to learn from what they did well while also recognizing some of their choices that could have been better. Leadership is an important component of my field.

Today, that nerdy interest spread over to my podcast listening. When I lived in Natchitoches, I rarely carried my phone on runs, and I didn't listen to music most of the times I went running, either. After I started working at Centenary in July 2016 and had access to a treadmill, however, I decided to start listening to podcasts while I trained, something I do now if I am training on a treadmill or running by myself for more than five miles or so. Then, the podcasts spread to my kitchen and my car.

My car doesn't have an AUX port, but I recently bought a radio adapter for my car, and now it's all podcasts all the time. Today, while I was driving from Louisiana to Georgia, I listened to a couple of different podcasts, including a new one called "Household Name." It's not exactly about the people behind the businesses that are household names--although they are sometimes featured--but being able to learn mostly unknown stories about these companies absolutely drew me in. Some people binge-watch entire seasons of TV shows--and sometimes I do that--but apparently, binge-listening is also a thing. 

Image result for household name podcast
Image from the podcast's website on Stitcher

I listened to most of the episodes that were posted (the podcast has only been going for a few months), and I was fascinated by some of the stories about familiar brands that most people probably have no idea about. "Household Name" tackled the Mattress Firm conspiracy theory (I'm still not sure about Mattress Firm...), visited the last Blockbuster stores in Alaska (and explained why they were able to hang on for a few extra years in Alaska), told the story of Charles Shaw (the man whose name is behind Two Buck Chuck wine from Trader Joe's), and even discussed the sexy origins of TGI Friday's (hint: it hasn't always been a family-friendly chain restaurant). I have a few more episodes to listen to, but I will soon have to wait for one release at a time, and I'm not looking forward to that. Fortunately, there are plenty of other podcasts to listen to, but I will definitely be waiting for the next episode of "Household Name."

Something that made today great: Home-cooked family dinner with my mom and Leah. YUM!
Time I woke up: 5:23 am...then again at 8:32. I really shouldn't have gone back to bed after I took a shower.

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