Restart

Alex tried to download content from his iPod to the Toshiba last night and iTunes wouldn't open. Megan had mentioned the issue to me a week or so ago and I finally got around to trying to resolve it by reinstalling iTunes myself. It wouldn't work. I even verified that I had the correct version of iTunes - 64 bit - and still, nothing worked.

Since it is nearly half-way done with the year, I have decided I am going to reset the Toshiba back to the factory default. There is something wrong with the installation of Chrome in that it defaults to Tuvaro, not Google, for its home page. I am in the process of copying all the MP3s I converted last night, files from Megan's profile, and pictures I just offloaded from the camera to the MyCloud drive. When that is done, I will reset the laptop. I'd like to get that reset tonight.

In other news, today is a milestone. It is my 3 year anniversary at work. I really embrace where I am as a person and like myself more than I did prior to starting here. I have made strides as a person. While I remained a flawed husband, father, and son, being sober has eliminated at least one troublesome area of my life. Today, in fact, is my 3 1/2 year anniversary of sobriety - how awesome is that?

We have a busy weekend. It starts tomorrow with Alex and I mowing a yard (not ours) before his double-header baseball games at 2 & 4. Karen's brother is picking up Karen and Megan on their way to Rachel's graduation party and then, after the 4 PM game, Alex and I are coming in the Ford truck. It continues on Sunday when we are going from Blue Grass to Zhwingle to pick up the camper and take it to Elkader and parking it on our spot. Then we will come home. I hope to be home by 5.

Next week is crazy. Monday night, we will prepare for camping / Sigwarth campout. Tuesday, Alex has a game. Wednesday, Alex has a game. Thursday morning, Karen and I will drive up to Elkader. Friday morning, I will play golf with the other guys at the Sigwarth campout. Friday afternoon, I hope playing 400 games of Euchre on my phone has prepared me for playing Euchre with the same group of guys that went golfing. Megan and Alex are bringing the GMC to Elkader when they get out of school on Friday. On Saturday, I may be swinging down from Elkader to Ely for a graduation party and then back to Elkader. Otherwise, I'm fairly confident there will be more Euchre and a bean bag tournament. I was on the second place team last year so if I play, I hope I do well. Then, finally, on Sunday, we'll slide the slide-out in and come home.

I haven't even looked beyond Monday, June 9, on my calendar.

Reconverting Continues

I ran the DOS batch file last night for yesterday's statistics. The total was 46683, but rises to 47237 when I consider 554 files that have not been merged into the "master" directory of my music on the My Cloud drive at home.

My CD Collection as of Today

As I mentioned, I have been working on the CD conversion project and, as of today and excluding the CDs that are being ripped right at this moment, my count is 45737 File(s). Using the calculator, I have determined the number of MP3s created by the conversion from the first entry on my status page to now: 43499. Again, that does not include the files that I have created thus far today, as CD number 8 is ripping at this precise moment.

In Des Moines

1. First off, I'm writing this from the library on Franklin Avenue in Des Moines. Megan is at her IAMB audition / rehearsal at Roosevelt High School which is a brief 2.3 miles away, as shown here:
   
   
2. Next, while looking for something else on my phone, I came across this text message I sent to my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and mother-in-law:
   
   Wife with drinks check.
   Kids off to the pool check.
   Don't write back for awhile....
   
   
3. I am working on ripping CDs while I sit here. Number 6 is in the CD drive now.

Surviving the Chaos

This photo is what I will remember about Megan's prom in 2014. I love how Alex has on green socks, orange shorts, and a black shirt - what a fashion statement!

As expected, this week is crazy.

• Monday - band concert
• Tuesday - I need to mow for the 5th time this season and Alex has baseball practice.
• Wednesday - Alex has a baseball game in Ainsworth. Megan works 5-10.
• Thursday - Uncle Rico rehearsal was scheduled, but that has been moved to 5/21 - I think Karen has a hair cut.
• Friday - Alex has a baseball game & Megan works.
• Saturday - Alex has a double-header in West Branch, which Karen is taking him to, while Megan and I are going to her audition / rehearsal for the Iowa Ambassadors of Music Europe trip in Des Moines. If there is a Mass around 5 or 5:30 near the school where she is auditioning, I plan to go to Mass there.
• Sunday - At least Karen and Alex need to go to 11 AM Mass.

Some articles to read about politics:

• http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/05/09/pope-francis-should-stick-to-doctrine-stay-away-from-economic-redistribution/?cmpid=NL_opinion
• http://eaglerising.com/6109/conservative-destroys-fox-news-juan-williams-unmasks-common-core/ 

I haven't posted an update about the CD to MP3 conversion project. I have been working on it. My main issue is that I don't anticipate having a lot of time to sit in the den and have multiple PCs ripping. Instead, I have been able to use the Toshiba laptop in the living room when it is not needed by either kid or Karen. I can say that I crossed 45,000 files over the weekend. I began going through the CDs that I had originally scheduled for June and July, mainly because the rip is more automated than when I am ripping a CD-R and have to manually enter artist, album, and track information.

Finally, I am not all that huge of a Rob Zombie fan. I like his singles but that's about it. I do like that he has recently covered "Enter Sandman" in concert and that he also has brought up former KISS drummer Peter Criss on stage to jam "God of Thunder," which is the first song I ever heard with a drum solo on KISS' "Alive II" release.

Vinyl Making a Comeback & FFDP in Cedar Rapids

Does the fact that vinyl is making a comeback make the conversion projects unnecessary?

To me, no. I want to be able to store all of my music in a single place. I don't anticipate I will sell or get rid of my CDs or vinyl.

In other news, Five Finger Death Punch and Volbeat have announced a tour that includes a stop in Cedar Rapids on a Saturday. I was flabbergasted. The prospect of seeing FFDP in the US Cellular Center and on a Saturday? How freaking awesome! Hell Yeah and Nothing More are also on the bill. My calendar has a big circle around this date!

A New Month! Yeah!

My night was spent driving from North Liberty to Marion (for my co-worker's sister's wake (http://thegazette.com/article/20140429/Obituaries/304299973) and then down First Avenue to visit my mom. I thought a lot about my past as I drove down First Avenue. From cruising with Serbi in high school, to the old Sports Page restaurant that is now a different bar, to the old DeSoda's that is now an Aaron's Appliances store to the old McDonald's that is now called Club Basix to the Irish Democrat that still exists to the old music store that is now a secondhand store to the building that had a software company in it that I tried to get hired at (but didn't - I can't even remember the name of the place) to the old drug store that is now Barb's Computers to ... you get the point. There's a lot of history on that road and it had been a long time since I drove it from Marion to downtown. I thought about how all of those memories, while great, are not who I am today, in 2014.

In 2014, I feel like I have my life in order for as much as a human can.

• I have a great job - my 3 year anniversary is May 31, 2014. 
• My focus at work is on a project that is challenging and rewarding as it has challenged my definition of "documentation" each day. From 2/10/1995 until this project started in March 2014, I thought software documentation always was about the UI in the software. That definition has been thrown out the window. I am thinking at a higher level, thanks to the direction of my manager and co-workers. It's not about what the end-user does as far as clicking this and clicking that in the UI. It's about what happens when they click this and click that - what is the result, the outcome. 
• Karen and I are doing well. 
• The kids are doing well. 
• I am sober. 
• I play drums in Uncle Rico the Band and that's making me a much better drummer than I could have hoped for because, in previous bands, my tempos were not scrutinized the way they are with them. 
• I have the conversion projects - the CD, the cassette, the video - that keep me occupied.

In conclusion, I think May is going to be a good month and admit to being excited about all that I expect to happen between now and May 31, 2014.