This week I’m making it my goal to not say “Busy” in response to a question like “How are you?” or “How are things?”

It’s accurate to say that I’m busy, but that’s not an interesting answer. My life is always busy (especially when sports season overlap this month) and everyone is busy too.

Telling people we’re busy isn’t a great conversation starter. I understand that sometimes we really are too busy to talk, but often I give that answer because I haven’t taken the time to come up with a better one. (Because I’m busy, of course.)

So here’s what I’m going to do: This week, I’m going to try to answer the question “How are you?” accurately and in a way that could prompt a conversation, or at the very least make for a more interesting exchange.

Here’s what I’ve workshopped so far:

• “Satisfied I crushed my interviews today.”
• “Excited about the Seahawks first preseason game on Saturday.”
• “Rested after a good night’s sleep.”

After that I’ll be using one of these sports conversation...

This week marks the start of the Major League Baseball season. Yes, it’s a week late due to their lockout, but each team will still play a full 162-game schedule. Trust me, I know that’s a lot of games. I work the majority of those games as part of the Seattle Mariners television broadcast.

Here’s why I bring this up, the start of baseball season is your chance to map out and plan follow up conversations with baseball-loving colleagues. You’ll know they love (or at least, enjoy) baseball if you hear them talking about Opening Day this week. Ask a few questions and then make notes in your calendar to follow up at various time during the season. You don’t have to talk baseball every day, or even every week, but it’s an easy way to connect with fans who are already talking about it. 

If baseball isn’t your thing here are a list of other sports topics you can use in small talk this week.

Welcome to a holiday Monday!

Although given the current state of work from home schedules, I’m not sure what a holiday weekend means these days. 

Usually I’d remind you these sports conversation starters are great for get-togethers with family and friends. That seems like an unlikely way to spend Memorial Day this year, so I’ll just say these are still interesting talking points for small talk in any conversations you’re having this week, even the ones you might be having with yourself two months into quarantine (Amiright?)