As a small note: I will not be giving out any backstage information on this blog.

It’s alright for a child to dream. It’s okay for a person of high social ranking to dream. But the others who dream will be shot down. As one thinks back to their childhood, they remember having large dreams for their futures. A lone child may dream of shooting into space in a rocket. They yearn to be able to walk hundreds of miles above the Earth, floating free of gravity. To explore the cosmos at which they look up to on a clear cold night.

As time passes, the dream falls apart. The child may learn that according to physics, there is gravity in space and that astronauts are constantly in free fall. They may learn that traveling through the cosmos is much more time consuming than they thought. And they may learn that NASA has a really low acceptance rate for their astronaut program. The dream has been ripped to shreds by reality. All that remains is a memory of a childhood spent in wonder and “worthless” dreams.

The lone musician attending college, wishing to score the next generation defining movie, is a dreamer. The courses teach the generally accepted structure, and he accepts it and uses the knowledge. Another set of courses teach melodic work, and he gladly learns it and starts writing based on this knowledge. By the end of his college career, he is writing music based on logic. He follows what was taught to him in college and has lost the pure creativity that was there before. The great composer that could have been has fallen to mediocrity. He no longer stands out and the dream has faded into nonexistance.

Randy Pausch had spoken on the idea of following your childhood dreams. And, after his passing, I raised a question to numerous people: what is your greatest dream? The answers I have been receiving from many people are roughly the same. Everybody in our society wishes to find a secure job, have a family, and retire without anything to worry about. This is not a dream, it’s a goal. Getting a job performing on Broadway is a goal. But getting a lead role on an award winning show on Broadway is a dream.

One must learn to go back to their childhood. Think back to when you dreamed your grandest dreams. Make the dream your goal in life rather than the status quo. Aim as high as you can and do everything in your power to make your dream a reality. And, when you find yourself to be truly happy, you will find yourself to be living your dream.

So, to close, I ask all of those who read my blog one simple question: What is your greatest dream?

On a side note: I just filled up 3 TB of HDD with HD video and audio. Expect a new video later this week or some time next week.

UPDATE: The first phase of the server move has been completed.

1. 1 video-per-day
2. Videos cannot be posted in advance
3. Videos can be posted late as long as they follow sequentially so no dates are skipped
4. As a bonus, try to do something different with the technical aspects of each video.

Two days down so far, 363 left.  You can find the videos on my YouTube channel.

• Hold the Pickles, Please (Time Magazine)
• World’s Only Drive-Thru Strip Club (RoadsideAmerica)
• Road Trip – Pennsylvania’s Drive-Thru Strip Club (Automopedia.org – Best Pictures)

The club has also been featured on David Letterman.  I’ll be getting video later today and some pictures will be appearing on my Twitter feed.

Installation

1. Download jQuery UI 1.7.2.
2. Download dialogs.js.
3. Include the following code in the head of your HTML file(s):

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="path/to/jquery-ui-1.7.custom.css" />
<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/jquery-1.3.2.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/dialogs.js"></script>

Quick Alert

To quickly display an alert, all you need is:

$.alert({text: "This is an alert!"});

That’s it.  Quite easy, isn’t it?

Displaying a Confirm Dialog

A confirm dialog would take more code.  Here’s just a quick and dirty example of how code would be written for a confirm dialog:

$.confirm({
    text: "Click OK to release the hounds.",
    ontrue: function () {
        $.alert({text: "The hounds have been released."});
    }
});

Customizing Dialogs

There are numerous options for the dialogs.  So far you have seen text and ontrue.  However, this small script has been written for full customizability.

• title – The title of the dialog  (Defaults: “Confirm” for confirm and “Alert” for alert)
• text – The text within the body of the dialog  (Defaults: “Are you sure?” for confirm.)
• width – The width of the dialog.  (Default: 300)
• height - Height of the dialog.  (Default: 150)
• text_true – (confirm only) The text for the true button.  (Default: “OK”)
• text_false – (confirm only) The text for the false button. (Default: “Cancel”)
• button - (alert only) The text for the only button. (Default: “OK”)
• ontrue - (confirm only) Function callback for true.
• onfalse - (confirm only) Function callback for false
• onclose – Called after the dialog is closed

MusicHostr Profile View

Introducing the new design for MusicHostr!  In the next few days, I should be able to get a good bit of the site done and get it close to release.

Two quick changes:

1. Music URLs will be changing entirely.  There will be no deprecation of the old URL due to technical issues.  Instead, old music URLs will no longer function. Please be aware of this.  All users will be informed of this change during the release.
2. The site will now be known as MusicHostr instead of MusicHostr.com.  I am looking into possibly naming it zymio as I still own the domain.

And one quick question.  Should the site remain as MusicHostr or should I change it to zymio?

Expect the first screenshot of MusicHostr within the next 24 hours.

I am rather fearful about the touchscreen.  This fear is well supported as I am one who tends to carry an electronic device in each pocket and this device will most likely take quite a bit of stress.  My iPod touch already has a few deep cuts in the surface of its touchscreen.  My LG VX8550 has taken a good bit more damage from use (unreadable screen, broken power socket, and damaged battery contacts).  I have no idea how long the Droid will last especially due to the flimsy camera and volume buttons on the right side of the device.

The Android OS, however, it quite amazing.  Many of the applications I use on my iPod touch are also available for Droid, quite often sporting more complete feature-sets or interfaces.  Even the switch back from Droid to iPod touch now feels awkward.

One feature I will find myself exploring on the device over the next few weeks is the Google Latitude service.  Unfortunately no other friends of mine use Latitude, but I might find a use for it soon.