Don't Back Down

I had started ripping all my CDs using iTunes, but recently it just decided to belch. No comments on the technical merits, please - it sounds good enough for general listening, and I am not an audiophile by any stretch. This isn't (necessarily) permanent archival. Just making things more available by having the music stored digitally.

I've always had problems with iTunes recognizing the CD correctly in XP - it isn't that it wouldn't work, it just wouldn't work reliably. Some times I'd even need to shut down iTunes and start it back up to have it recognize a new CD had been loaded. Every once in a while, I have to shut down the PC - it's like the CD drive just gets "locked up" - for any application - after iTunes loses it's way. I finally tired of that.

So in my searches, I found Exact Audio Copy (EAC), a sweet little program that does a fantastic job of ripping, including the ability to specify paths in the file name (such as directories for artist/disc) and an interface to LAME, considered by many to be the best tool for ripping quality audio. Most excellent!

This year, both of our boys are playing baseball with the church, and neither has played before. Because he is older, Nathan has naturally done a bit better - while perhaps still a bit timid when it comes to the ball (be it batting, catching or throwing), he has done well.

Matthew has, until last night, had a few more problems. Being younger, the simple act of swinging the bat is a challenge. It's not that he can't do it - it's that he never has, and that sort of coordination isn't his strong suit.

His team, thankfully, has been very supportive, despite that fact that his only contact with the ball came on a miniscule foul tip in the second or third game of the season (last night they played their seventh).

The rain was ferocious. But it let up, and the lightning held off long enough, that the game started. Matthew came up to bat in the third inning, and it looked like it was business as usual for everyone. But to our surprise, he made contact - and perhaps more importantly, he then ran (to the correct base, no less) and garnered the first hit of his young career.

Our team exploded. The first base coach picked him up and swung him around. The coach gave him a high-five and a hug. The third base coach had the foresight to pick up the ball and give it to us so that we could keep it. The parents and the rest of the kids jumped for joy.

It's amazing that such a small moment can render such happiness in so many people, all at once. As his parent, I can understand it for Denise and I. But for all of these relative strangers? It was unbelievable to experience. I wish you all could have been there.