Another good use for…

Today is Sunday, and it’s 3:45 pm. Better yet, I am sitting in an office building in a Rotterdam office park. Yes, you read that right. After about 8 days in London, I was whisked off for a thrilling weekend of more work in Rotterdam for preparation of a client meeting on Tuesday.

Not sure I can fully articulate all the fun aspects about spending so many consecutive days with the same (usually quite nice) people…even Santa Claus, the Tooth fairy, and Glenda the Good Witch of the North would be grating on my nerves by now. Thus, as we invaded the office today for another undoubtedly lengthy work-fest (no, I am not feeling the love just yet), I realized I needed the support of another trusty work tool…my iPod.

Sure, I use music as a barometer of my mood as well as a way to “rev up” or relax. Chet Baker or Johnny Mathis for a contemplative mood, Earth, Wind, & Fire, The Doobie Brothers, and Santana for building energy and momentum (which I clearly needed today), for old Blue Eyes for …well, just about any mood now that I think about. Need to clean the apartment? I’d suggest pulling out a little Stevie Ray Vaughn or Dwight Yoakum. Want to curl up with a good book, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Nat King Cole, Pink Martini, and/or Tony Bennett are perfect companions. Need to put in an 18 mile training…well, take Ray, Diana, or Aretha (anyone from MoTown for that matter) along for the ride. So when I need to crank out a little work product and put myself in a writing mood, I remembered my little electronic friend might be just the ticket. So, into the packback it went.

Well, there has been another, far more useful reason to plug in the Pod today. In short…a chatty work colleague who clearly does not have enough to keep him busy. You know the type, the guy or gal who strolls from office to office to say hello and the hello lasts for 20 minutes or more. The advantages of the iPod I this situation are same ones that having a booking on the airplane when the talkative next-door neighbour won’t leave you alone. Sure, you can pull the “close your eyes and pretend to sleep” routine, but when you are in mission critical, “my work deadline is looming large” mode, feigning sleep just can’t work in the chatty work colleague scenario.

The iPod, however, can gloriously provide you with your favourite music as well as “peace and quiet” in a matter of speaking.

Ah….another good use for an iPod. Who’d have thunk it!