Just What I Need: Another Time Waster

I know I already spend too much unproductive time looking at the many boards found on NDNation.com, the website for fans of the Fighting Irish. There is a separate board for each major sport, plus a political board, a general board (called the Back Room), and several others. I also enjoy reading a few columnists and bloggers on the internet, both locally based and from out of town. As of yesterday I have yet another guilty pleasure, PrivateNoise.com.

Earlier this week I was on one of my winter skyway power walks (don't laugh) in downtown Minneapolis listening on my i-pod to a homemade fifteen song mix of Bon Jovi tunes. A young man wearing a jacket and tie signaled for me to stop. Begging my pardon for the interruption, he told me his name was Sam and he asked if he might take my picture and ask me a few questions about the music I was listening to. He said he worked for a website called PrivateNoise, which interviewed random people to find out about their musical taste of the moment. Each day, the answers from one interviewee, plus that person's picture, would be featured on the site. I consented to the interview - - my pathway to five minutes of fame? - - and let Sam take my picture. In response to various questions, I told him that the very song which was playing on my i-pod when he stopped me was "Born To Be My Baby" by Bon Jovi, that I was listening to a Bon Jovi mix I made, that I had not selected the "random play" feature in my i-pod, and that I owned all of the Bon Jovi albums. He asked me how the song made me feel, and I told him that it energized me when I went on fast walks.

When I returned home I checked out Sam's website, and it is pretty cool. In addition to finding out what a variety of folks are listening to at the moment, you can actually play their song right off the site. Like Pandora, it is another way to get people interested in scoping out different kinds of music other than their customary favorites.

Sam said I would be on his site in about a week. Even if that does not turn out to be true, I like the site's concept and will probably check it out periodically.