Coins and silver top my list of interests

A reader survey popped up on a website I was checking this morning.

It asked detailed questions about what I was interested in.

I imagine you have answered similar surveys.

I expressed great interest in coins and precious metals.

For other topics, I expressed much less interest.

It occurred to me that my answers are hugely changeable.

While my interests in coins and precious metals are unshakable, how much effort I spend to look at a website depends on my daily schedule.

It might be 30 seconds to catch one or two bits of information.

On another day, I might have more time and look at things I ordinarily don’t.

How is my behavior measured over time?

More and more data is collected from each us as we browse the Web.

On some days, my extra stops might make it seem that my survey response was false.

I might spend time on something that I said I have little interest in.

Let's salute data managers at my company and others who decipher my behavior.

They are like the guides in the Old West.

They knew where the water holes were.

They were able to skirt danger to get the pioneers to their destination.

Pioneers were looking for a better life.

Web browsers are looking for better information.

Guides were and are important in both cases.

This morning I also took a look at the U.S. Mint website.

I viewed a video about the design competition for the Apollo 11 commemorative program in 2019.

In has been a few weeks since I last looked at a Mint video.

How would I rate my level of interest?

I am not an artist.

I so know a reminder to coin artists that the submission deadline of June 29 is rapidly approaching will not go amiss.

Take a look at the video.

Daydream about potential designs.

I remember what I was doing that Sunday July 20, 1969, as the hours unfolded to Neil Armstrong’s moon walk.

That makes me a motivated potential coin buyer in 2019, doesn’t it?

Mint data managers will have this figured out.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper has twice won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."

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