Data mining is hot these days. And there are reasons why.

· It’s fun

· It tells you what’s inside that black box full of numbers.

· It helps you to feel that the things are under control - if there are problems you know which one to fix first

I like doing data mining. What I enjoy the most is what I call applied data mining. What I mean by that is when you take a real life data set you deal with on daily basis (boring stuff) and dig out some unexpected facts (cool stuff). Examples of such data sets: your mail box, your budget or even your movie collection.

Who was the champion in sending emails to you last year?

Who’s the most popular actor in your movie collection?

How much money you left in your favorite sushi place over the past two years? (I wish I didn’t check this one…)

What was the lowest temperature of your hard drive last year?

You’ll be surprised how many interesting facts are hidden behind the numbers. But be careful. After doing this kind of exercise for a couple of times it might become an obsession. You might start hunting for new data sets to mine. Every row of numbers will start looking to you like another opportunity to find some unexpected facts (even if there’s nothing cool behind it :) )