I suppose I should update my adoring readers (hehe) on what's going on these days.

Well, I'm ten and a half months away from earning my Bachelor's degree. I'm really enjoying this semester, as every one of my classes is challenging and MEATY. For once, everything I'm learning is something that will be eminently practical when it comes time to convince someone to give me forty-thousand dollars a year for what I know and can do.

Four of my five professors are very good or excellent. I have to read an awful lot, but it's made so much easier by the fact that I don't have that nagging feeling I'm wasting my time with things that won't matter, as I've had in past classes. I love my schedule and the locations of classes. I have Fridays off, no class before 11 am, and four of five classes in the Business building. And FINALLY, the classes here are as small as they all were at University of Dallas. Three of my classes have under twenty students, and it's easy to get to know these good folks now that we're on the same track.

I've also joined the Finance department's brand new Student Investment Group. A donor has given us a quarter of a million dollars for the SIG. We are to invest it wisely. The investment income, once the principal reaches a predetermined level, will be used for future scholarships for Finance students. I'm on the Portfolio Management Committee. I have several thousand to spend and I'm going to research a couple index funds (like the S&P 100 fund), maybe the Wired magazine index, and a couple others. I'm also helping with designing and assembling the Orientation Packet, which will be used to introduce future students to the SIG. It's fun, socially stimulating, and good for my resume.

I still have no job and no motorized transportation, but I'm really not missing either. I ride my bicycle everywhere. I'll have ridden it about seven hundred miles during this semester alone by May. And though I have little money to do things or buy things, I'm not really bothered by this. I have enough to do with school and a couple of clubs. And I have a plan.

All my bills through August 2004 are basically paid for (I've earned the revenue already but just haven't collected the cash yet). So most of what I earn this Summer and all next year, about $12,000 or more, goes to buying a new car, and the rest goes to the first month or two of living in a new place. When I leave in September 2004, I'm going to use my mother's house as a base of operations from which to search for a job anywhere in the metroplex (using my new car, probably a Civic, but maybe a Mini Cooper S). When I'm hired, I'll then take my time and pick out a place to live that's near enough for my liking. Sounds good?

Anyway, since playing amazing games like MotoGP on Xbox and Jak and Daxter on PS2, I've realized I miss playing games, so I'm looking to delve into console gaming again. I'm currently awaiting delivery of a Dreamcast and an N64, each with seven or eight games. The Dreamcast really had some good games, and its ratio of highly-rated games to poorly-rated games seems to be quite a bit higher than the Xbox's. I've got some games picked out for each that I want to order. I'm going to hook the Dreamcast up to my 19" monitor.

After that, I'm still trying to decide which of the new systems to get. Xbox is calling my name loudly right now, what with their awesome online network and games like MotoGP 2 and Halo 2 on the way. Halo and MotoGP, two phenomenol games alone make the Xbox stand above the others, but the PS2 has a solid ton of really good games as well. I'm also debating whether to splurge for a progressive scan television and surround sound system--if I did, the Xbox would have yet another ace in its favor, but I'd have less money for a car. Microsoft has also announced a slimmed-down version of the Xbox will be coming soon, although the bigness of the current model doesn't bother me (indeed, the GameCube's 'cute' design is more awkward and out of place than the Xbox's). Ultimately, it's really good to have this choice instead of choosing between, say, Jaguar, 3DO, and CDi. The game industry is truly unbelievable these days.

I think I will come back here for updates on 1) Politics/current events, 2) what I did over Christmas, and 3) the games I'm playing in the next couple weeks.