Notes from Steve

I'm reading this book now for book club, which is probably a big metaphor for something else. I'll read the whole thing, not understanding much of anything. Then I'll be completely befuddled when I'm done with it and not have any clue what it was "supposed to mean".* When stuff like this happens, I just usually stare out the window and pretend I can't hear the conversation.**  

Last Saturday morning, my friend Kate, the architect, and I were looking at potential properties in Cumming, Iowa. She had her big rubber boots and suggested we march through a field of uncut corn and marshy areas to get a good look at the property. "… sure, ok … that'll be fun …" She was worried about getting run over by a combine, and I was just worried in general. However, I had corn history, so I told her that I detasseled corn back in the seventies in the same fields where the movie "Children of the Corn" was filmed. I also informed her that if I see a snake, I might scream like a 3rd grade girl. It was not a normal scene in my life.

My life right now is pretty much just hanging out and saying yes, "Ok, sure, what the heck?". I did this 5K in Des Moines this last weekend, not because I had a burning desire to, but because friends were doing it. Sometimes life is like this. You don't have to have hard and fast plans for everything in life - it's sometimes fine to just say "ok". (Regarding the race - the best part was breakfast after.)

Saying "ok" can be fun - and you might score a decent breakfast - which is always awesome.

*A bike shop that is overhauling my bike in Des Moines called me up to give a progress report and started talking all bike-ese language. I listened politely and then told him that I had absolutely no clue what he just said - but I trust that he is the expert, and if it's something that will make me go faster or have a better ride, go ahead. He apologized and said he didn't realize I didn't speak bike-ese. Yep, I don't. Understanding your audience and their capacity to understand what you are saying is rather important.

 **FYI - if my laugh seems fake or I have a blank look when you are talking to me - I usually have no clue what you just said (I probably don't have my hearing aids in).