You know, there used to be a time when I could think for myself, at least a bit. But no longer. I now have Technology. Now Technology thinks for me.

Example: Yesterday I had a business meeting at a coffee shop in Sioux City. I knew exactly where the coffee shop was located – I’ve driven past it a million zillion trillion times (or six anyway), it’s right across the street from one of our favorite pizza places, and my band used to play in the bar next door. This area is not a mystery to me. I know where I’m going. Yet for no apparent reason, as soon as I got into town I pulled out my iPhone, “Siri, how do I get to Coffee Works on Pierce Street?” Sure enough, my phone knew where the coffee shop was, too, and successfully guided me to a place I knew how to get to on my own.

Why did I feel the need to have GPS guidance to an address I already know how to get to? I don’t know. Insecurity? (Maybe I’m thinking of the wrong street.) Boredom? (Sitting at a stop light for twelve seconds with nothing better to do than play with my phone.) Testing the system? (Does my iPhone really know where it’s going?)

In a very similar pattern, when I’m cooking something I KNOW how to cook, I’ll still Google the recipe anyway. “Let’s see, grilled cheese sandwiches… I’d better look that up.” I don’t know why, other than to verify information that I’ve had tucked securely in my head for over three decades.

This all leads up to a wonderful thing.

We picked up a cheap steak at the store the other day. Steak is a rare luxury for us, so I fell back on my habit of, “Gosh, I should look up how to apply heat to meat,” and Googled the process and tripped over this very fun recipe: CLICK HERE. It made my day much brighter!