Some friends and I have been talking about music taste and realized much of it came from within our group while were in high school. What didn't rub off from friends was forced on us by older siblings. It's been fun to look at why I listen to what I listen to.

Pre-Joshua Tree U2 -- My bother Dan (I argued most of my junior year that I only liked early U2 -- oh how foolish I was.)

Post-Joshua Tree U2 -- Ben, Norm, Jentz and that Zoo TV tour video OJ lent me.

The Samples -- Rob Gillespie

John Denver -- Greg

Billy Joel -- Dan

Midnight Oil -- Cody-I also break out "'74-'75" every so often. I'm sure that came from one your incredible mix tapes, Cody.

Sting -- My sister Janelle

Wilco and/or Uncle Tupelo -- Dave Anderson

The trifecta of the Who, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd -- all came from Dan.

Never took Michael Jackson seriously until I started hanging out at OJ's house. I still regularly break out "Billy Jean" in the shower.

REM -- Pete and I'm sure everyone else that listened to them.

Neil Young -- Jentz - at least, I remember listening to "Harvest" at his house and getting hooked.

I also owe Tom for lending me his audio tape recording of the film "Rattle and Hum." For the longest time after that "Bad" was my favorite U2 song.

Jeff Buckley -- John Lameroux. He also got me to check out Supergrass, Gomez and the Afghan Whigs.

Push Stars -- Danny Anderson.

And then there's the stuff I started listending to because of U2: Johnny Cash, John Coltrane, B.B. King, the Corrs, the Sterophonics, P.J. Harvey and the like. So there it is. Good times.

Here's the poo. I stumbled across an article in Wired magazine last week about those free iPods ads and banners splashed all over the internet. There are scams aplenty offering free iPods, but the Web site freeiPods.com -- according to Wired -- is legit. If you and five friends sign up for some kind of service from the companies they shill, they'll send you the iPod.

Here's the link to the Wired story, if your curious: http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,64614,00.html

I want to do it, but it feels so NuSkin/Amway that I'm hesitant. But then again, I'd be getting my iPod. So I started the process; we'll see what happens. Anyone's eligible of course. So the five people I find would automatically start the process for their own free iPod, or you can just start on your own without my referral. Or you can quiety shake your head and say, "What happened? Rob used to be so sensible. When did he turn into such a sucker?"

So, if you're willing to let me exploit you, here's the link to the Web site:
http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=14386104

Or if you simply want to check it out on your own, you just go to www.freeiPods.com

And please, feel free to tell me I'm insane.