Book Review: Get-It-Done Guy's 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More by Stever Robbins

Get-It-Done Guy's 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More by Stever Robbins

Stever Robbins was the host of the Get-It-Done Guy's Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More podcast from 2007 to 2020. In the middle of that period, he wrote this book as a physical compilation of the advice from the show. He presents nine steps that organize and maximize work, sometimes by minimizing distractions or re-prioritizing work that really doesn't accomplish anything.

The book has the heart of the show--Stever's personality. He has a fun blend of performance and practicality in his delivery. Listeners will smile as they read the references to his co-worker Bernice and to building a zombie army with Zombie Reanimation Powder. His comic style works well in print as well as in audio. 

The advice is some standard stuff. Figure out what you want to do in life and let that guide decision making. Avoid distractions and tasks that do not contribute to your goals. Use technology sparingly and focus that use on productivity. Be organized, that is know where things are and where they should go so you can put them back (so, being organized isn't necessarily neat, just easy to access). Build better relationships. The big principles are supported by action steps that make those principles into reality.

The book was written in 2010, so a few outdated references show up, like PDAs. Those have been replaced by smart phones, which an astute reader can easily recognize. The fundamental ideas and strategies are timeless and thus as relevant today as back then. The light touch (using humor and imagination) sets this apart from more technical and dry self-help books that can be hard to get through.

Recommended--even if you know a lot of this stuff, it's good to refresh the knowledge and the delivery is very refreshing!

Medieval Zombies from Medieval Archives

The Medieval Archives podcast had a Halloween episode about medieval zombies! He focuses mostly on the Scandinavian draugr and the English revenants. He tells lots of interesting history and various incidents from medieval times. How cool is that?

The Archivist also throws in Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven read by none other than Vincent Price. How even more cool is that?

Go check the episode out here. I only wish I had listened to it earlier than today.

More Family on JACD

My sister has a bit on the latest Just a Catholic Dad episode. She recorded a Sixty-Second Saint about St. Maria Francesca, patron of Naples, Italy. Don't know who she is? Go check it out! She's at about 39 and a half minutes. But listen to the whole episode, because it's great!

Zombie Parent on a Podcast

With the kids in school, I've finally got the audio recording equipment out. The latest episode of Just a Catholic Dad features a clip from me. The show has an occasional segment called "Sixty-Second Saint" and I recorded a minute on St. Bernardino of Siena, whose church I visited back in Verona. Check it out!

Also Forgotten Tales on the Forgotten Classics podcast will return shortly. I am excited about picking that up again. The long awaited tale from Hans Christian Andersen, The Nightingale, is first on the queue.

Zombies Attack Dr. Floyd

The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd is a children's audio podcast that follows the time and space travel adventures of the world's most brilliant scientist, Dr. Floyd, as he stops his evil arch-nemesis Dr. Steve. Dr. Steve's usual scheme is to travel into the past to steal some famous item (George Washington's wooden teeth, for example) and then bring it back to the current time to sell for a fortune on eBay. The show is in reruns right now. The latest episode (in the last week of May 2012) is a Halloween episode where Dr. Steve goes back to 1650 AD Japan. He arrives in a ninja graveyard and uses a device to raise them from the dead. That's right, he's going to use ninja zombies to get Dr. Floyd out of the way! How will it work out in the next exciting installment? I'll have to wait a week to find out.

The show is a lot of fun and you can learn a little history too. The production values are very high and the actors do a wonderful job. Highly recommended for the young and the old.

The podcast feed is here. The ninja zombie army episodes are #504 and 505 if you are reading this in the far flung future. If you are in the first week of June and can't wait to find out what happens in episode 505, check it out here. The whole back catalog of episodes are available on their web site!

Recording Debut on Forgotten Classics

In my spare time I managed to record a couple of Grimm's Fairy Tales for one of my favorite podcasts, Forgotten Classics. Check out my recording at this post. It was a lot of fun to do and I will be recording some more in the future. Check out the podcast too, there's lots of great content. She is currently reading a recent translation of the Book of Genesis and has great stuff like The Riddle of the Sands and Uncle Tom's Cabin in her audio archives.

Zombie Review: We're Alive

We're Alive: A "Zombie" Story of Survival

website for the podcast
subscribe in iTunes or Zune players

MPAA/ESRB/Other rating

Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics/ iTunes tag Explicit

ZPAA rating

Teens and up

Gore level

4 of 10. Since this is an audio drama, you don't see anything. Some of the sound effects are pretty realistic sounding but not stomach churning.

Other offensive content

Lots of bad language, increasing levels of human on human violence, two innocent animals in jeopardy (or are they innocent?!?).

How much zombie mythology/content

The zombies here are mostly classical, spreading their infection via biting others. The big difference between these and classical zombies is they move faster (28 Days Later speeds and up) and some of them seem awfully intelligent. There is a hint of a "ground zero" from which the zombies emanated, but no details have been given by the end of season one for the origin or cause of the zombies.

How much fun

Both situational humor and occasional jabs at zombie cliches are found in this podcast. The story line grabs the listener and brings you along for a great ride. The characters are engaging and well acted, making you want the next episode asap.

Synopsis/Review

Three soldiers, Michael, Angel and Saul, are called up to help quell a riot in Los Angeles. When they get to their headquarters, they realize this is no ordinary riot. People are going after each other in frenzied, frantic attacks everywhere. These soldiers wind up at an apartment building which they think will be relatively easy to fortify. Gathering a random groups of civilians and whatever supplies they can, the intrepid band searches for answers about how the zombie hordes started and how they can be stopped.

This audio drama comes out in weekly installments of about 20 minutes each (season 2 starts/started on August 23, 2010). The production values are extremely high, with great sound effects and atmospheric music. The writing is sharp and with the podcast format the creators can have cliffhanger endings to episodes without shoehorning them into a time slot. Consequently, there's no filler and also nothing left out except to create more suspense.

The actors all deliver fine performance. Some of the characters when first introduced seem a little cliche (I'm thinking primarily of the "no field experience" officer who leads two Iraq War vets and the very Clint Eastwood-esque gun store owner), but they are quickly moved beyond one dimension through character development. The cast is big enough to give the listener a variety of people to identify or agree with while not losing track of who is who. Also, the role of narrator switches from the army guys to other characters, allowing a balance of points of view and following different action in different locations.

I've really enjoyed what I've heard so far and can't wait for the next season of episodes to start next week!

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Check out their promotional video (warning: one use of crude language)