I have no clue where the pictures went when they vanished.....

however, I am ever so thankful I  was able to get them back.  Okay, not me, exactly.  As we all know I am technologically challenged, digital camera challenged, card reader recovery stuff challenged.....and well, the list could continue but to cut it short, let's just skip ahead and say I'm basically just "life in general" challenged.  There, that should cover it.

Anyway, I promise, in fact I would even pinky swear, that I stood on that court Tuesday night, with all the other REAL press people, and pretended I knew what I was doing on that shiny parquet floor.....and in doing so, I took several hundred photos.  I know that because my photo count reader went from 693 to 274......in the course of less than 2 hours.  And I managed to even sneak a peek at a few of those photos during time-outs and half time, and I KNEW they were there. 

I even checked the camera viewfinder again after the game, as I was standing in the media room (oh yes, I even got invited to the media room because of my press badge...and was told I could ask questions if I wanted....um, yeah,"life challenged" would also include this area as well.  I was happy to be in the media room, take a few pics of the Q & A session, but I would not be participating in it otherwise.  Basketball terminology is not my strong suit (are you surprised???)....as I once asked the coach why we didn't just play 1 on 1 in defense....and he laughed in my face.  I have later learned it's called man coverage, or man to man, or whatever....and that they also have zone coverages as well as box and 1, and crazy other stuff.  I personally still hold to the fact that if you'd just play 1 on 1 defense things would work out fine.  But, alas, no one has of yet asked me to begin my coaching career....so I'll just keep my playbook to myself and let the others suffer on their own will.

Back to the pictures.....they were THERE.  I packed up my camera bags, hubby loaded them in the car and we headed towards home, arriving to slumber city around midnight.  Too late for me to begin sorting through all those photos to begin the editing process.  However, first thing the next morning, I pulled that card out of the camera, stuck it in my laptop and waited to see if I had any pic that would be newspaper worthy........and the pics were not there.  They were not anywhere.  Not anywhere to be found. Vanished....and they did it like most of those with a criminal mind....in the middle of the night, under the cover of darkness.  It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen...there were pictures I had taken as late as 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon that were on the card, but absolutely none of the game just hours later.

But I outsmarted them this time.  I took my card to a photo shop in town, owned by a very smart man.  A very smart man who is not technologically or digital camera or card reader recovery stuff challenged.  And am happy to report that with his cunning skills, a software program, and lots of patience......he was able to recover all the files.  That's right....he found, retrieved,  rescued and restored all 645 pictures I had taken at the basketball game.  And I couldn't have been happier....breathing a huge sigh of relief. 

Sure, it's just our local, weekly, newspaper, and it's barely mediocre pics that I offer up, but it's important to me that I get something to represent these kids who work so hard at every game. 

So, I figured since I went to all the trouble to get these pictures back, I might as well show you a few.  Let me say right now, sadly, there was no Miracle on the Court for our boys on Tuesday night. As was evidenced live and in person, the team they played is ranked No. 1 for a reason.  They are that good.  Their record is 28-2.  Wow.  That's impressive, I don't care who you are.  But the point is, our guys made it to the Sweet 16....and as I said before, that's nothing to hang your head about! 

Yep, the other team won.  And so what if their boys could do this....often.

We still had the sweetest scorekeeper this side of the Mississippi.

And the best student section, with some fanatic fans.

Really fanatic fans.

Maybe those gals were an omen of sorts, a sign of things to come.....as I had one more hair raising day trying to find the vanishing pictures.  No need now of course to have your hair standing on it's end.....they were able to be recovered.  And I learned a hard lesson, a lesson that gave me a few dozen more grey hairs to add to the stash I'm collecting atop my noggin.