...There's a new blogging service on the block. Well, it's a *microblogging* service, technically.

What is microblogging you ask? Well, it's where you blog in less than 140 characters. How is that useful, you ask? Well, it's exactly what you're doing when you send some text message to someone via your cell phone or IM service and tell them what you're doing at that moment.

Like "I'm eating a pickle right now and it's so sour". Or "I've gone wireless and I'm taking a dump" (credit goes to DH for coming up with that one). Profound things like that.

Twitter is a service that capitalizes upon that. You sign up and then you can send a message either via phone IM or the Twitter website to the entire Twitter community about what you're doing at that very moment. Basically it's a place on the web where you can answer a single question: "What are you doing?" I think of this service as the ultimate for the self-obsessed and for those who have nothing better to do with their lives.

I decided to spend a few minutes on Twitter to see if I could glean any brilliance from it. I saw things like the following:

"I'm having the best cup of coffee ever right now"

"working at home today"

"laughing at youtube"

"Just got a big package from the RIAA, not getting sued, it was just a DVD"

"Hates men who drive her car and don't put has in the it" (followed up within 10 seconds by: "Oops. I meant gas" from the same user)

"checking mails"

"Its a shame that IM is not posting to Twitter." - funny, I couldn't tell that from the rush of items that are showing up on Twitter.

"note to self: giving a Vista Parallels VM 1GB of RAM whilst installing Vista will make even a 2GB/2.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo MBP on battery cry" I think this user deserves their computer to die - they're installing Vista and there isn't even a patch out yet...

"just finished laundry 5 loads ... nothing left to wash"

"postponing jury duty"

"deck planning"

"As days of the week go, Monday is still the bratty rich-kid with head-gear and braces."

...and on and on it goes, some of it in different languages. Oh, and there was one item that was listed as being from foxnews about a wedgie sending a student to the emergency room as a result of a hazing situation. The mom took the 13 year old boy to the hospital (his identity withheld, although I'm sure everyone at his school knows who it is by now) because he was in pain - his boxers had been ripped in 2 - that's how extreme the wedgie was. Now, that's something I wouldn't expect on Twitter, but they seem to have feeds from BBC, GoogleNews and engadget running as well.

Listen folks, I really don't want to tell the world what I'm doing right that minute. I don't need to know about someone's bathroom habits, or coffee, or that you just picked your nose and found the most disgusting brown thing in there. It's none of your business, and honestly, I think it's more information than you probably need (or want) to know.

One guy was really dumb - he said he's out and put his cell phone number up there. Either he really wanted thousands of people to have it, or he thinks that the message is only going out to a few individuals on his favorites list. Or he didn't think that his message would get picked up on Twitter's main page. Who knows, but Peter in the 603 area code was really stupid, in my opinion.

What it really comes down to is this: has society just gotten so over-communicative or have I just gotten so old that texting a friend when you have just picked up the groceries or something just seems... well... pointless? I'm only 35 - I didn't think that that was old in the first place. Or that I was out of touch, considering what I do for a living, where I do it, and what my main source of communication is. Twitter seems like it's the equivalent of calling your best friend and asking "watcha doin'" while you're sitting with your head hanging off the end of your bed on a boring weekend during elementary school or high school. Without getting into the gossip of who wore what and who's going out with who, or who's planning on "going all the way" this weekend and that was more information than I needed to know back then...

...what makes you think I want to know it *now*?