AskLG

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling proudly brings you Victory Road from my hometown of Houston, Texas at Reliant Arena this Sunday.

I must say I am kind of jealous about my cousin David meeting Bubba Ray and Devon better known as the Dudleyz or Team 3D. I mean from what I heard from people who have met them they are some of the most down to earth and humble celebs you can meet. They are arguably the best tag team of the modern era. They have held a collective tag championships twenty time which consisted of the ECW, WWF, WWE, WCW, NWA, and TNA tag titles. No other tag team has come close to this not even the legendary Road Warriors. All they need to win is the AWA and ROH tag titles and they would have won all the major tag titles in the States.

Tonight I have done something I’ve been missing for three weeks now: social activity.  I went to dinner with David and Jennifer.  Then Khoa met us up for some bowling fun.  3 weeks man.  Its been a WHILE!  I guess thats what happens when you start grad school: no life.  The bowling pics are up at my Flickr, btw.

Assuming I steal some time (I have a ton to do), I’m going to be writing some interesting posts this weekend about things that are bugging me.  Hopefully.  You can hit me up on Twitter and ask for them, maybe that’ll motivate me to set aside time.

Now David dancing to Thriller:

Upon entering grad school, I was under the facade that most things will be the same as my undergraduate work. Yeah, I’d learn things faster. Yeah, it’d be harder. Overall though, the same environment (aka FUN!). I truly enjoyed undergraduate studies, but grad school is so different. Let me explain with some simple Pro’s and Con’s.

Pros:

• Learn a vast number of topics at a rapid pace
• Hang out with truly intelligent people
• Learn about things I never ever thought I’d be learning about
• Eventually I’d get more respect and salary in the work place (with a PhD)
• I’d end with a sense of hard work and accomplishment
• Incredible Gym. I seriously love that place.

Cons:

• Learning a ton of old, insignificant material I’ll never use
• Not learning too much material I can use in the real world (depends on prof though)
• I learn in a different manor than these profs teach, so sometimes I end up teaching myself all of the material.
• Grading Scale is insane. Getting a B can and will screw you over.  A B+ isn’t much better.
• Have no life (or very little of one)
• Have no money (or very little money)
• Have to live at home and bum off your parents (part of that whole no money shindig)
• Nonstop worrying about if you’re going to be kicked out, or if you’re good enough, or if you can pull off a miracle, or random thoughts of that nature
• Have no time for yourself.  I seriously have issues finding time to blog everyday.  I end up doing it when I’m falling asleep at night which makes for mediocre posts.
• School is just not fun anymore, so my heart isn’t into it.

Also, let me explain a little bit about my personality.  Maybe it’ll help you get me. I love to learn and I’ll always be learning even if I’m not in school.  I’m also not those stereotypical computer guys who become hermits at the age of 30.  I enjoy going out with friends.  I’d like to think I’m quite social.  A little shy at times, but social nonetheless.  I like to push myself to new limits.  I want to see what I can do, what I’m made of.  Kinda like the Army, except without the bullets, death, and searing heat in Iraq.  I really enjoy solving problems.  If you give me a problem and sincerely are wondering about the answer, I’ll work (and work.. and work) until I give you a solution.  It might not be the best or most efficient, but it’ll work.  After its functional, those other things will come.  Also, I love the web.  I coin myself as a web enthusiast, but thats such a relative term.  I just enjoy that whole social, web 2.0, cool web-based application, type schema thats going on right now.  Its addicting.  Finally, I love sports and music.  Just side hobbies I guess, but I’m a gym rat and always have some hot new track playing.  Thats William in a small, confined nutshell.
So with the semester coming to a close, I must decide soon if I should stay in the beloved world of academia or move on into the work force and try to make a difference in people’s lives (my goal in life). This is one of those tough decisions that can either make you or haunt you for the rest of your life. So friends, family, and random people I’ve never met (but equally as cool of course), contact me with some insight or opinions on this situation.  The more input I get, I figure the better decision I can make.  Thanks a ton everyone.  I love you all (and appreciate the advice!).

Sidebar: Justin just got Twitter so now the AskLG-ites and immediate friends hanging out on twitter include:
Kara, Eloy, Justin, David, and me.

Who’s next on Twitter? I’m not sure, but I’m hoping its you.  So get an account and add me. Go ahead.. I’m waiting…

Great News! David now has Twitter! Hit him up: David’s Twitter. Announcements aside, I’m swamped with homework (go figure) so we’ll just cover a few topics today.

Being a long time cell phone user, you probably have all the answers when it comes to provider pricing. Well just to ensure you’re paying the least amount possible, you should visit BillShrink. It is a nice little online app to show you the cheapest rates in your area. Unfortunately it only does minute-based planes and disregards internet/text usage. That’ll come in due time though. Novel concept. [Via Lifehacker]

While I’ve been deep in Linux and Sebek security, this song (Calabria 2007 by Enur ft Natasja) has helped me make the time pass faster. I love it and hopefully you will too.

Remember how some people use two fingers to say bye? Kinda like a peace formation mixed with a cool wave? Well I’m one of those people, and you can’t exactly do that online. So David and I have come up with the clever solution to use the number “2″ to say goodbye. 2 as in 2 fingers as in bye. Get it? Bleh. Its a new trend, you should join the cult! Until next time, 2!

My buddy technology called, so him and Lifehack came over today for some fun.  Lets go right into what we talked about! According to Engadget, my cell phone provider, AT&T, has dropped some extra cash on those fancy Microsoft Surface table computers.  You can drop any AT&T display phone on the table and get the specifications.  Putting multiple phones on the table allows you to directly compare them.  Pretty awesome technology overall, but it certainly doesn’t make help them not drop my calls.  Take a look at the new surface mod:

Being an avid soccer fan, I truly can appreciate anything David Beckham does.  Although I’m not a huge fan of Beckham since he plays for the Galaxy instead of my ol’ Dynamo, its nice to see he’s getting appreciated for his 100th cap in England by an American company.  Look at this hunk of gold Apple presented him with [via Gizmodo]:

Speaking of Apple, the iTunes store has finally hit #1 according to Ars Technica.  It seems the iTunes store is now the leading seller of music.  This includes all those people who sell CDs.  Yes, congrats to Apple.  Its been a while but the digital wave has apparently caught on.  Now can you make it cheaper?  I’m just saying…

Finally, Lifehack commenters have come up with some genius advice for the younger generation (me?).  I really hope some of these things stick with me.  I sometimes need to take this advice: 

8. Keep playing, laughing and having fun, don’t get too serious!

 
Other times, you just have to go for it.  I thought #20 was funny:

20. Get over it and kiss the girl!  

Finally for some inspiration, this was thrown in:

32. Whatever you do, believe in yourself. You have untapped potential, and you will accomplish everything you have dreamed about. 

For more great advice, check out the article, here. 

As most of you noticed, and I alluded to previously, we were all gone this past week.  Justin, David, and I took a nice spring break trip to San Francisco for 7 days.  I typically travel quite often for a student.  I try to go somewhere every year.  This journey has taken me to several incredible places.  After this trip to San Fran, I am left wondering where I want to eventually live.

San Francisco is gorgeous.  It is also home some beautiful weather.  I truly enjoyed my time there.  They have a different, easy-going mentality about life out in those parts.  I felt at home.  Not all is good in the San Fran though.  First, space is a premium.  Its tough to own a car there.  I love to drive, so this is a concern of mine.  Also, since the streets are a perfect grid, there is no room for yards in residential areas.  To make up for this, they do have several open parks.  Its very animal friendly.  I think the environment and sheer beauty could outweigh those negatives.

Aside from being a good environment, I’d have to find a place to work.  Being near such big companies such as Apple, Yahoo!, and Google, I would hope someone would hire me.  I’m not proficient enough in Cocoa to work at Apple probably, but I’d take a job at Google or Yahoo in a heartbeat.  I have long loved Google products and really like where Yahoo! is going recently.  Big things are happening there.

Oh, Did I mention I loved the Wineries?

Anyways, I had plenty of fun experiencing San Francisco.  Thanks to all the lovely people there.  San Fran is officially up there with New York and Houston fighting for my love.  This knocks Los Angeles out of my top 3.  Now if only I had some employment love to motivate a decision.

Lastly, I’d like to thank all the readers for being cool with our week’s absence.  Today we are resting from jet lag and celebrating Easter.  Tomorrow, we’ll be back in business for sure!