The first dream was a strange one and a direct reflection of an equally strange Friday. I traveled out of town, attended an undergraduate lecture, and underwent some major realizations. By nightfall, I was exhausted yes pleased with my existence. The dream I had I remember little of. It began with my walking through the Hilton. I knew it was the Hilton, but from what I recall, it was entirely different. There was a mouse to greet me at the door, which, upon seeing me. I walked through the misshapen lobby in pursuit, and the mouse ran into a little hole in the wall near the elevator. I called the elevator. When I entered the elevator it had no walls and one single rod running through the middle and indefinitely tall, as was the elevator shaft, which I was able to see given that there were no walls in the elevator. This next part is what really puzzles me.

I look at the buttons in the elevator and there were literally hundreds! Yet, realizing that the Hilton only has 4 levels, I played it safe and chose the fourth floor. The elevator jerked abruptly, causing me to stumble and support myself using the rod in the center of the wall-less platform, and began moving upward. As the platform rose, the elevator began to grow into a large empty room, further increasing my fear of falling off of the platform. Once I reached the fourth level, the doors on the level slide open and I have all of my closest friends of past and present waiting for me.

Anyway, that’s just the good news. There have been some negative changes, too. I recently have lost a lot of good friendships because of the lack of time that I have to support them. Being the youngest person in business on the island (I think) by at least 20 years (I’m not exaggerating), the island gets very, very lonely. Unless my closest friends are visiting Brownsville or the Island, I don’t have a friend for at least 200 miles. What do I do in my spare time, you ask? ‘Work’ is my answer. I fill my spare time with arbitrary tasks because, while there’s plenty to do around here, there’s no one to do them with.

Quote of the Day:

Who’s more foolish: the fool or fool who follows him?

- Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope

The last few days have been pretty interesting. Alex and I have been making some new music, sampling a bunch of my dad’s old vinyls, which he bought in the 70′s sometime, I think. It’s interesting to think that he probably never imagined how exciting it would be to a 20-something year old, about 40 years later. We’re getting some pretty good stuff together, and you should be seeing it soon on Youtube.

On a completely different note, I just bought a one-month membership at the Sunset Condominiums Health Club. I went to check it out yesterday and liked what I saw. It’s got a steam room, raquetball courts, and lots of room for activities, features that sold me immediately. This is an attempt to get back in shape. I hope it works. I’ve also been blessed enough to be able to go jet skiing every week. The weather’s been great, and Breakaway Cruises on South Padre Island has the best skiis in the business.

Just check it out. http://www.southpadreislandphotos.com/

I haven’t been keeping up with this at all! What’s going on right now, you ask  — or not? Not much of anything, really. I just graduated, and now I’m home. I kicked off a new website, where I will be posting pictures of South Padre Island whenever I swing by. They will mostly be pictures of the beach and some random stuff around the island, like events and such. It’s here: http://www.southpadreislandphotos.com. Pretty creative URL, huh?

Sleep time. I’m pooped.

So far, there hasn’t been a single place that provides wifi connectivity that I haven’t been able to connect to, a problem that I had quite often with my Vaio notebook. This is something that’s pretty vital for a person with a mobile lifestyle. Also, I inserted my SIM card from my AT&T USB Connect into my netbook and it began working immediately, allowing me internet connectivity anywhere within AT&T’s data network (up to 3G speeds).

I don’t do anything too crazy on my netbook, and I haven’t tried anything very graphic- or memory-intesive, but its great for what I have done thus far. I use OpenOffice.org, a free, open-source office suit of programs that are fully compatible with those of Microsoft Office. I chose this route because I heard ravings about its quick load time, thus assuming that it would run pretty cleanly on my netbook (which it does, with flying colors).  The best part is that it also includes the ability to export documents in PDF format. I use CCleaner to keep it mal-ware free, Firefox mobile for my browsing, Defraggler for effective defragmenting, and Foxit Reader for opening PDFs. The best part about all of these programs is that they are all FREE! After a little tweaking and fiddling, my netbook also smoothly runs my favorite game of all time, Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings with the Conquerors Expansion.

My first PC is a pretty cheap Compaq desktop. The cool parts about this, however, are that it runs on a 64-bit processor and I have to connected to my 43-inch LCD high-def TV. I also have a wireless keyboard and mouse so that I can kick back on my couch and enjoy Hulu. I don’t have any fancy software or hardware installed. One very useful program, however, is VLC, which I use to watch movies, and it can play ANYTHING, which is why I have it installed on all my computers.

My next PC is a older Sony Vaio notebook. This is my main work machine. I keep it set on my desk and rarely move it. For this reason, I have it connected to 22″ LG LCD monitor which provides plenty of workspace. The laptop is about 3 years old now and has taken a beating. I’ve had to replace the screen once, which, by the way, I did myself by following some simple online tutorials.

"The Mighty Mouse": Toshiba NB205 Netbook

The next computer I have is this kick-ass, brand-new Toshiba NB205 Netbook. This thing is amazing, and for a netbook, provides great performance. I just started using it, but I’ve already installed my power-suite of highly-recommended software:

• Bumptop
• OpenOffice.org
• CCleaner
• Defraggler
• Dropbox
• Firefox (with the StumbleUpon add-on!)

So far, this thing is fresh to death.

Last but nowhere near least, I have my Mac. I’ve had this one for a little longer than my Vaio, but is a staple for my life. With Dropbox on all my computers I am able to sync files across all my computers and even cross-platform. I am a heavy Garageband user and I’ve got the whole shabang. My M-Audio FastTrack Pro USB preamp, my Shure and M-Audio condenser mics, the M-Audio KeyStudio keyboard, and even a desktop DJ mixing station. My Apple is the bomb-diggity.