Iowa Specialty Hospital

Notes from Steve

July 19, 2018

I'm getting excited about Ragbrai next week.  I’m sure there will be a hiccup or two next week, but I’m slapping on my rose colored glasses and planning to be completely ignorant.  “What?  It’s snowing?  What a nice break from the heat!”  “Hmmm?  A 4 mile hill straight up?  That will be a good test of my endurance!”  You can’t ride close to 500 miles and be completely devoid of issues.  Life doesn’t work that way.  Stuff happens. 

I got my “device” yesterday to track my fitness*.  This is the beginning of the end.  The new smart watch I now have tracks my heartbeat, steps, buzzes at me if I’m not moving, tracks the quality of sleep, and a bunch of other stuff I will discover over the next 12 months.  (Now only if I could get it to mow my yard or water my plants, I’d be set.)  Technology is amazing, but you got to do work to earn the “buzz”.  I’m trying to not obsess over the thing … this will take everything I’ve got … 

So where do we strike the balance between planned ignorance and micromanaging every single aspect of our lives?  Perhaps with a massive dose of common sense, this could be easy -- but it never is.  I know when I’m riding my bike I get obsessed with every little noise, but overall the bike rides fine.  With my new fitness tracker/watch, I check my pulse every five minutes just because.  Doesn’t change that much but it’s there and so I must check it.  I had lunch in Des Moines today and looked at the table of six people behind me, and every one at the table was totally consumed in their smart phones.  Made me a little sad.   Just because the data is there -- or a noise on my bike is present -- or my heartbeat is available; doesn’t mean that I need to be pulled in that direction.  Life nowadays requires discipline to avoid the nagging minutiae that are ever present in our lives, and sometimes we just need to slap on the rose colored glasses and enjoy the snow and the hills.  

Ride on.  

*I thought I’m supposed to wear it all the time.  Greg and Amy told me today that it was splash proof, not water proof.  Guh.  I wondered if this was the case as I wore it during my shower yesterday, hopefully I didn’t break it.  
 

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