Kinda Useful

Bruno finds out Nick's biggest fear as a dad. Nick tells two stories that prove his point (and his realization of his fear realizing itself), while Bruno makes two pitches for sponsors. If you've been looking forward to an episode where we talk about bookcases too much, this is the one.

In this episode of Kinda Useful, Nick and Bruno get slightly useful. We find out where to build a crib, what a basinet may be and how many strollers a baby may need. To get in touch with Kinda Useful, email us at kindausefulpodcast@gmail.com

In the wake of Nick and wife's baby shower, Bruno and Nick revisit their previous — and maybe somewhat cynical — conversation about gift-giving (and gift-receiving). Bruno digs deeper into his obsession with the banana-shaped toothbrush.

We go from very a progressive conversation about his daughter's possible gender inclinations to an exploration of the virtues of bullies. It descalates quickly, and we hope we never get taken out of context.

In what could be an actually sort of useful episode, Nick talks about his gift registry, other baby showers he's been to... and then it all goes to hell when he and Bruno start wondering about the practice of gift giving.

In this wide-ranging episode, Nick — "A 5-Year Old With Some Statistical Programming Skills" — explores the topics of beauty, a very real and frustrating story about sexism, and what it will be like to answer his kids' questions (or just send them to Siri).

This is it, this is the one you've all been waiting for! But probably not! This is the episode we find out what Nick's wife is having and how excited he is about it (spoiler alert: very!) but then we hear a story about teenage Nick that makes us worried about the future of boys everywhere.

Nick muses about what it will be like when his kid struggles, and we discover the obvious — that he will be far more empathetic than Bruno will ever be around a heartbroken kid.

Nick is back! After getting some time on the microphones with Nick's wife, Bruno is back in front of Nick to talk about people that insist on giving advice — and not getting into the cloth diaper debacle for the 7th episode in a row!

Nick and Bruno have been talking about Nick's upcoming fatherhood from the perspective of guys but honestly, a visit from Nick's wife Ramya was overdue. We get to hear her side of the preparations to have a kid after some ice cream around the corner. 

We barely touched on politics in the first four episodes of this podcast, but when you're ready to bring a biracial child into the world in 2017, of course it's something you think about. And it's something Nick thinks about too. In this longer episode, Nick talks about growing up in white suburbia, living in Chicago, and how to be awkward about race.

In this episode, conversations get more and more modern — and possibly controversial. We talk about gender, we talk about race, we talk about — gasp — giving children compliments. Send us nice email at kindausefulpodcast@gmail.com

Thanks to everyone subscribing! In this episode Nick talks about what changes he thinks he will have to make once the baby is here, all the way from paternity leave to working from to missing out on some things. 

This is the episode where we stumble upon the name for this podcast! In it, Nick talks about the day they found out his wife was pregnant, and how each of them reacted differently (she will be on the show soon, stick around!). He wonders what they will need from now on, the idea of "being ready" and the dream of having realistic expectations.

This podcast didn't even have a name when they started recording it, so Nick and Bruno had to talk through what they wanted out of it, then delve into what Nick does to feel useful or try to relate to his wife's discomfort. They talk the timing of their pregnancy, what it's like to tell people, and the many doctor's appointments, while the L train goes by outside.