Too Comfortable

I'm playing a Rummy 500 game during a break at work. I'm ahead by 96 going into the 4th round. What happens? I get set and only earn 11 points while the computer (my cell phone) racks up 121 points for a 501 - 487 victory!

I'm certainly not going to get all bent out of shape about a Rummy 500 game, but I did think about something after the game was over. Like many times in life, I thought a victory was guaranteed. I thought I was going to sail through the final round and end up with an outcome but, in reality, it didn't turn out that way.

It's a lesson I have learned many times in my life.

For example, I thought I was going to be the drummer for Avery Riot in April 2016. Instead, I didn't get the gig.

For example, a short 842 days ago, I thought I would be working at Pearson until I retired. Instead, I was laid off 841 days (or 2 years, 3 months, 2 weeks, 6 days) ago.

Sometimes, though, I am the computer.

For example, I thought I would never reach 1000 blog posts. Instead, I have published 6069 posts in 3711 days with an average of posting 1.635408245755861 posts a day. I have 3594 days until 3/28/2028 to post 2.376460767946578 times a day to reach a total of 8541 posts between 3/18/2018 and 3/18/2028, which will bump up that 1.635408245755861 posts a day average to an even 2 posts a day average.

For example, I thought I would never get over my high school sweetheart. Instead, when I saw her at my nephew's Confirmation reception in Cedar Falls, I did not have the urge to go talk to her.

My point is that I cannot take anything as a given. Instead, I must always work hard for what I want.

New AV Covers

This is a rockin' classic.

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This would have been a new song for me to learn.

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Ten Albums I Listened to A Lot in 2016: #09 - Avery Riot Mix

In the spring of 2016, I learned a band from Cedar Rapids named Avery Riot was auditioning drummers. I was one of a handful that auditioned. I auditioned on a Monday night and thought the audition went well. I listened to the recording I made of the audition on the way home and felt reconfirmed. Unfortunately, no, I wasn't selected. I will not allow myself to beat myself up about it any more because, well, God knows what he is doing. To prepare for that audition, I listened to all of the songs on the band's set list, living and breathing those tunes. It is an excellent setlist and a part of me wishes I was playing drums in Avery Riot.

This is the playlist I made for my audition prep:



Notes from the Editor:

• Including an album in this Top Ten list should not imply an endorsement of the album as being "good" - nothing in the title of these posts states that these are "Ten GOOD Albums I Listened to A Lot in 2016". Pay attention to details. 
• Also, this is a post in a series of 10 that began being published at 7:30 PM on 12/28. The #1 album will be posted at 11:59 PM on 12/28. This is the schedule:
  1159 - 1
  1129 - 2
  1059 - 3
  1029 - 4
  0959 - 5
  0929 - 6
  0859 - 7
  0829 - 8
  0759 - 9
  0729 - 10
  

Not Getting the AR Gig

From an email sent to me on Friday, April 22, 2016 at 11:19 AM:
I wanted to let you know that we have come to a decission (sp) and we have decided to choose one of the other drummers that applied. You are a fantastic drummer and it was difficult to pick just one person to fill this spot. If i hear of anyone else looking for a drummer, i will be sure to pass your name along.   Thank you once again for auditioning and for the enthusiasm you brought with you.

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Bummer.

Waiting

No news on the Avery Riot audition. I still don't know, at 3:30 PM on a Sunday, whether I'm their new drummer. In the meantime....

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Explanation

Regarding this cryptic post, the RoboCopy commands to create a backup on my 1 TB EHD (F) completed and the stats for the jobs are on that post. After those commands finished, I began another set of XCOPY commands to further separate the files I had been able to find on my working EHDs:
copy all JPG files that start with 0-9 from f: to a directory on the MyCloud I: drive
copy all JPG files that start with A-Z from f: to a directory on the MyCloud I: drive
to end up with
I:\0\0* files
I:\1\1* files
I:\a\a* files 
... you get the idea. Because I used the XCOPY command with the /s parameter, I then have to use Search My Files to find all the files and cut them from the sub-folder to the root directory. Of course, this creates a lot of duplicate files that have to be separated into at least 5 categories:

1. My pictures
2. Karen's pictures
3. Megan's pictures
4. Alex's pictures
5. Not one of the above

I expect this process to take a bit of time - as in hours - to complete. Even if I could finish a letter or number in one hour, that would be 35 hours and would take about a month, which is a very generous ballpark estimate. It is, of course, mid-April and our "busy" season. Talk has already turned to our soon to be chaotic schedule. On a very non-in-depth level, here's what the next month looks like:

• West High production of "Mary Poppins" on 4/16
• Mark, Susie, and the boys coming to our house on 4/22
• Alex going to Beartooth at Gabe's Oasis on 4/23
• Pulling the camper from storage in Zhwingle to Elkader for camping season on 4/30
• Megan moving home from UNI, Jesse Manibussen concert at church, Karen's XX birthday, Mother's Day on May 6
• Bring Me the Horizon concert on May 12 in Des Moines
• Alex's Europe trip auditions in Des Moines, Matthew's wedding, and Alex's prom on May 14

Finding the time to sort hundreds of files? Going to be interesting...

AV Setlist