If you’ve been around me lately (or follow me on twitter) then you’ve probably heard me talking about the Podcast Serial. It’s sort of an offshoot of This American Life (also highly recommended) that started in October. Serial follows the 1999 murder of high schooler Hae Min Lee and the conviction of her ex boyfriend Adnan Syed. The final episode of Serial season 1 aired on Thursday and well, it left questions. Lots of questions that will probably never be answered. Is Adnan Syed just an eloquent psychopath? Was Jay pressured by the state to testifying against Adnan or this that just a red herring? Pakistani Mob? Money hungry attorney? The list goes on and the more I hear about the trial the more questions I have. While the questions abound, there are some good take-aways from listening to Serial.

Here are a few things we can learn from Serial:
1. It’s really hard to remember things. The murder of Hae Min Lee happened in January of 1999. I THINK I was in 7th grade at the time. 7th grade! I was probably listening to Hanson and still mourning Leo’s death in Titanic. But really I have absolutely no idea what I was doing in January of 1999. I would have to look at my calendar to see what I was doing 1 week ago.
2. Leakin Park is a terrifying place. It was were Hae’s body was found AND it’s known as Baltimore’s unofficial burial ground. Hello?!
3. Don’t go streaking because you might come upon a dead body. Go home Mr. S, you’re drunk and pervy. Also, the fact that you’re called Mr. S makes everything about you x10 creepier!
4. Pay phone locations are, apparently, really hard to track down. So much research went into figuring out this Best Buy pay phone situation and we’re still not sure if it ever existed.
5. Keep a diary! Or a calendar. Or at least have Evernote.
6. Sometimes it’s really hard to pronounce the word “chimp”.
7. Cell phone records can be tricky. Adnan’s cell phone records and tower pings do not at all coincide with his or Jay’s description of the day in question. Are both of these guys lying? Was the phone with someone else? Were calls left unanswered? See, more questions.

Have you listened to Serial? What are your thoughts? Do you think Adnan is guilty? What were you doing in January 1999?